Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

T he AMA Boa rd of Trustees h as raised the claiming p r ices for Pro motocross machines . This season it will cost $3 .000 to claim a I25cc; $3 ,500 to claim a 250cc; and $4 ,000 to claim a 500cc motorcycle. Unlike in Class C racing, motocross claimants get the entire machine for their money. not just the engine, electrics and carburetion. • The Cycle News W in -A-Honda Contest entry deadline is past and the judges are locked up in their little room. By the looks of some of the entries, the j ud ges won't be coming out for a long, long, t ime. Would you believe that one contestant provided part numbers for NSU and Zanella components? W hen we lost Century Ranch to th e environmentalists. little did we know tha t we might also lose Indian Dunes as a direct res ult . The TV series displaced from the movie ranch have to have some place to build their sets. film their episodes. a nd gu ess where they loca ted : the Dunes. When Baa Baa Black Sheep , etc. are shooting. the Du nes is off limits to day riders . NMA h as .a lrea d y shifted their motocross to Escape Country (Racing World) . and it could get worse. As of December '17, the Carson City District BlM Office has a new address: 1050 E. W illiams St.. Carson -City, NV 89701 . Phone . number remains the same - (702) 882-1631. AMA Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen won the Seventh Annual Gary Nixon New Year's Day Hangover Handicap Mini GP , held at Phoenix , Maryland . Nixon was second , Gary Fisher third, They've got some heavy sponsors down under in New Zea land. According to AMA Competition Director Bill Boyce, the promoter of the Camel Pro Series road race scheduled for July 3 in Texas withdrew the race from the series, starting a wh irlwind round of schedule changing. The San Jose half-mile and the Sears Point road race were originally planned to run back-to-beck on July 9 and 10, (t he same weekend as the Superbowl of Motocross in los Angeles). Now the San Jose event moves into t he open weekend of July 2. In order . to assure the Sea rs Point promoter of as many California spectators as possible, the road race was changed t o a two-day event on July 16 and 17. The Castle Rock IT. originally planned for the 16t h. will now be July 9. The changes were confirmed by the AMA Board of Trustees last week. The AMA Board of Trustees has rescinded the Amateur competition claiming rule ' after receiving " con sid er a b le advice" about the possible problems if the rule went into effect. The Board directed AMA staffers to create "stock" classes for '77 Amateur competition, allowing no change in the bike's engine , carb u retion , exha ust , frame , swingarm , forks , wheels and hubs . 2 The Environmenta l Protection Agency has announced t hat motorcycle emissions will have to be cut by one third for new models buil t after January 1, 1978. The blan k et standards for 1978 incl ude both two strokes and four strokes: According to Dennis David. Manager of the legislative Section of Kawasaki Motor Co rporation, the 1978 standards will have little effect on the consumer level. He told us that four strokes will need leaner carburetion t o meet the standards, which will bring slightly improved fuel conomy and little if any loss in performance. Two strokes will also have to be leaner. but may lo s e abou t 10 % in performance. 1980 EPA standards will probably be impossible to meet with a two stroke larger than 400 -500cc displacement, because the 1980 standards call for a flat five grams per kilometer hydrocarbon emissions maximum, where the 1978 standards are keyed to displacement. The 1978 standards require the manufacturers to warranty their engines at approved emission levels for up to 30 ,000 kilometers or five years, and to test new models up to that maximum before certification for sale in the U.S. That will mean better warranties and testing protection for the consumer. according to David. Yamaha assaults 19n with a full line of IT-se ries competitionl enduro bikes (175, 250 and 4OOcc), im prov ed off-road suspensio n systems. and a four-cylinder DOHC 1000cc shaft-drive road-wrinkler which, unfortunately, most of us won 't see until it's almost 1978. However, the recent las Vegas . dealer show seemed li ke a good ti m e f o r Yamaha to whet our appetites w ith it. so they did . Full story and pictures on page 17. Firestone, after a 16-year lull, has decided to get back into the motorcycle tire business. Top AMA club in 1977 will receive a new Chevrolet pickup truck. Clubs win points for me mberships sold, ho lding sa nctioned events. good med ia cove rage, good referee reports to' headquarters . and pa rticipation in the AM A's Ride Against Hemophilia program. While Can-Am has said " Yes we can but no we won't", Cotton in England has unveiled a 250cc sixspeed watercoo led two stroke single clubman race r w ith an engine built to t heir specs by Rotax of Austria - the same outfit that supplies Can-Am w ith engines. Target price in Eng land is 1,200 pounds Sterling, which works out to just over $1500 American. We get a lot of ed itors through Cycle News who're on their way to being moto -rnoruhly magazine personnel. Latest graduate is Jody Weisel, who takes over th e editor's cont ro ls of Motocross Action from another CN alumnus, Paul Boudreau, who departs for parts unknown . Read all about it in MX Action a few months hence . Fred Chase, 36, goes into the unoffic ial record books with ' an unofficial Canada-to-Mexico three flags record of 18 hours and 25 minutes. Chase rode a Honda Gold Wing equipped with radar detector and Kimstock " f lip-out" f ai ring. Previous unofficial th ree·flags record was held by Darrell Triber at 23 hours, 35 m inutes, set May 4, 1969 on a BSA Rocket Th ree . . Wa lter Villa, th ree -time 250cc World C ha mpion for Harley-Davidson, has a 250cc Moruesa road racer, vintage 1967 . undergoing loving restoration in his home workshop . We were out riding in the Santa Monica Mountains last week w ith a Honda CB15OF2 and a Suzuki GS750. The GS750 is faster, hand les better, and vibrates less. The Ho nda has better low and m id -ra nge torq ue and comes equ ipped w ith t he new pressedsteel wheels. Both machines ride on Bridgestone F-series t ires. With equally-sk illed riders, the GS750 can pass at will on tight and twisty roads. While slightly slower than a Suzuki GS750. the new KX650 four-cylinder Kawasaki is very impressive in low-end response and overall horsepower. On a ride in the San Bern a rd ino Mountains of California recently . the KX650 demonstrated its ability to drive out of a slow turn past just abou t anything, especially when the road was a bit slick. A little less of a handler than the GS750 Suz uki , the KX650 is very tractab le, makes a nice street bike, a nd costs less. The Dirt Diggers tell - us that Hangtown will be held on Easter Sunday, April 10. The famous race is a dual American Motorcyclist Association l A M A) motocross National event, featuring both 125cc and 250 cc classes for a combined purse of $15,000. There will be no Open Support class. On Saturday, Apri l 9, there w ill be a full AMA 0 -36 Sportsman program. Thanks to action by the Plymouth, Calif. City Council, there will be no camping at the t rack this year. Pa t Alexander won 't be wre nching for Tony DiStefano as we reported last week. Alan Hahn will. Alexander will tune for DiStefano's teammate. Dan ny La Po rt e , Hahn was L a Porte's mechanic last season. Jeff Bum has been named Public Relations Manager for U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp. Bum, 30. succeeds Rom lovil, who left for the bigt ime ad agency business. Bum aided lovil in a successful campaign to make Suzuki the most-tested. most written-about brand from the land of the Rising Sun in the past two years. (Continued on page 19.) Retraction Seems as though we journalists keep taking liberties with the good name of Triumph . Regardless of how many "oil stain" jokes or over -the-hill references made in jest about the proud British marque, they are still in business and doing quite well - as witnessed by Big D Triumph's Bonneville records, Jon Minnono's WERA road race victories and a dynamite American Graffiti-based ad campaign. In regards to the puns after Gary Scott. Alex Jorgenson , John Hateley , J on Minnono and Dennis Kal mus rode t h e ir Tri ump hs and Nortons to high placi ngs d uring the su m mer, NVT President Roger Stange said, ..It certainly makes one wonder what the competition has been doing when these fine riders can do so well on si..ch ' a n t iq u e ' equipment."

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