Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126244
'THE LATEST o BY PAPA WEALEY 1.0 CN >. I-c t'd ::s ~ t'd ~ Evel Kn ievel Evel Knievel to sponsor Gary Scott MI AMI , FLORIDA. JA N . 15 Evel Kni eve l, world's fore mos t m otorcycle showma n a nd Gary Scott , who ca m paigned successfu lly t h rou g h 1976 with out factory spo nsorship , have signed a 5·yea r agreement which Evel says will pay t he you ng racer "more than an y factories pay a nybod y." "I will assist him all th a t I can ," Evel said in a telephone ca ll to Cycle News from his yacht. "T his will benefit the fut ure of mot or cycle racers, who have never had more than a d rea m beca use of t he tight hold on t hem by factories. It is time m o t o rc ycl ists became bu sin essmen a nd have spo nso rs with respec t for their desires, sponsors with t he a bility 10 b c invol ved wit h th em as human beings because of resp ect for t he co m pe ritive spi rit. a nd spo nso rs who hav e noth ing 10 gai n fro m it. We will give it a 100% hon est effor t a nd I a m proud to be associated with Gary. . " W e will t ry to win the Grand Nat ional Championship th is yea r. a nd yea r a fter year . We will help th e AMA a ll we can ," Evel concl uded .. Earlier in th e week . Eve l became probably th e first personality 10 sign with two T V networks a t once . He inked a 5·y ea r agreem ent with ABC to perform on ' spo n s programs. an d a prim e-t im e television contra ct with CBS to perform at least t hree live spec ia ls a yea r for that net work . T he first will be Evel's Janua ry 31 a rtem pt to leap 13 live sha rks in C hicago . T he show . hosted by T ell y Saval as, will be ca lled "Ev e1presents th e Dared evils." " Moto rcycle racers a re da redeviIs, 100," sa id Evel . Evel an d Ge ne Rom ero arc sti ll roge ther as th e popular AMA racer makes his tra nsi tio n into ca r raci ng . "Gene is m y fri end for life ," sa id Evel, which ma y not mea n lon ger t ha n J a n . 31 if Evel ends up as Ch icago sha rkbait. Tune in a nd see if he mak es it. Gary Scott 2 Good news: Indian Dunes is NOT closed to day riders w hen Baa Baa Black Sheep is filming. W e were in error w hen we reported that un fact here last week. Our humblest apologies to Wa lt James and the Dunes. Mr. James inf orm s u s that only the east end of the 6oo-acre park is off-limits to bikers when the popular TV series is fi lming. The Int ern at ional Course and all the rest of Indian Dunes Park is open, even on the rare oc casions when the cameras are ro lling . So give them a call at (213) 2598000 for up -to -date information on when Baa Baa Black Sheep is using the :east end of the Dunes. You can still ride t here as usual, 'and you may eve n get t o see a TV star. Th e Na tional Mo t o c ross Ch amp ionsh ip cir cui t gets th e Hollywood trea tment in "Sid ewind er I," a movie starri ng Mich ael Parks, Marjoe Gor tn er and Susa n Howa rd . T he "Sidewi nder I" is actua lly a n AW 250 Ma ico with Morris Mag wheels and d isc bra kes, Edd ie Mulder, Ga ry Da vis . Ga ry Fiel a n d Sc o tt y Docksteader d id most of the stu nt rid ing. It' s d ue to be released in lat e spring. SCORE presented Off-Roadsman of the Year awards to Ed Rodine l125cc); A.C. Bakken /250cc); Mitch Mayes /O p e n); a nd Bryon Farnsworth /Over-38I. Motorcycle Manufacturer of the Year went to Husqvarna, with Bilstein earning Motorcycle Sponsor of the Year. The awards, voted by the SCORE membership, were announced at the SCORE banquet at Anaheim, Cal., Jan. 15. At the banquet, Director of the Committee for Development of Tourism for Baja California, Francisco Santana Peralta, announced the signing of a three-year contract w ith SCORE for the promotion of off-road races in Baja . Jod y Weisel has join ed Paul Boud rea u a nd Dick Miller at M otocross A ct ion . He has not replaced a nyon e , a nd Bou dreau ha s not "'ft for th e great un known . as reponed in error last week . Faced w ith a ras h of inaccurat e reporting, t h e new Editor has t hreatened to fi re any staffer who doesn 't double-check his i n f o r m at i o n , · j u st li k e r eal newspapers. T hat go es for feelance contributors, too -check, and double-check. J ammin ' J imm y W einert won t he swim m ing contest a nd placed seco nd in rowing a nd bicycling 10 qu al ify third overa ll in th e ABC SuperSt a rs TV sports specia l. The qualifyin g ai red nationally J anu a ry 16. Fin als. with J immy going up against a multi sport s arra y of sta rs, will be in February. AMA District 37 motocross steward Dee Granger has proposed a Semi Pro program for SoCal's sportsman riders. If it goes int o effect, t he program w ill be called " Optional Semi Pro " to give 0 -37 motocross Experts a choice of rac ing for money. Off-road rid ers in th e Los An gel es a rea will hav e a cha nce 10 rally around possib le sites for an Off Highway Vehi cle (G reen St ickie) park within a reasona ble d rivin g d istance. The first meet in g Febru a ry 9 will consider Hungry Vall ey a nd Ritter Ranch as possibl e sites. The hearin g will open at 7:00 p.m . in th e Palmd al e C it y Council Chambers a t 780 E. Avenue Q9 . Palmdal e. CA . A possib le site in Riverside County, ca lled the " Potrero site ," will be discussed begi nni ng at 7:00 p .m . Feb ru a ry 10 in t he Riverside City Cou ncil C ha mbers . 3900 Main St. , Riversid e , CA . A la rge tu rn ou t in su pport of t hese sites is essentia l to offset a nti-mo torcycle resistance 10 th e ridi ng areas. Gen er al locat ion m aps of th e sites will be publish ed wh en avai lab le. Go for it! Can road racing be taught in a school? W ill associating with fast racers make ' you faster? Two Superbike Production stars have started their own i nst it ut ions of faster t hrashing . 1976 AMA Superbike Production Champion Reg Pridmore is still exploring the potential of a school for both beginners and experienced riders, w hile upstart Keith Code 's Rider Im prov em ent Course is already roari ng down t he straight and around t he banking . Ge t i nf orm atio n f rom Pr idmore by writing 5718 Hollister Ave.. Goleta, CA 93017. More on Code 's " g uar ant eed resu lts " course is ava ilable at (213) 463-6594. Time to drop a few more names (Crash - tinkle!) Warren Reid , Ron Turne r (FMF). Broc Glover , and Danny LaPorte (Suz) are pre-entered for the first motocross of CMC's Golden St ate Se ri es, se t for Sacramento Off Highway Vehicle) Park in Sacramento, Calif. on January 22 -23. The doubleheader event carries a $5000 purse for Sunday's pros . Sportsmen will ride three . motos on Saturday. Second round of the CMC Golden State Series is set for Saddleback January 30 with a $3,000 purse, The third and final Series event will be at Helvetia Park in February. Rich Eierstedt , formerly of Team Honda , has joined Team Bu ltaco for 1977 . Eierstedt , a two -time Trans AMA support class champion, rode for Bu lta co before joining Team Honda in 1973 . Distressing news - Diane Cox, after a dynamite performance on Gary Scott's spare Harley at San Jose, is searching for sponsors and bikes. Was Gary Scott t he Last Knight of chivalry? Will no one rescue Class C's fair damsel i n time for the Houston Nationals? Seriously, folks, we all know that AMA Expert Number 660. given a competitive motorcycle, is capable of becoming the first female to earn National points - and more besides. Doesn't anybody out there want to share in the glory of that accomplishment? Don't hold you r breath wai ting fo r the MTI25 R Ho nda road racer. The El sinore -b a sed ma chin e prob ably won 't see production for t he U .S. Why? Because wa te r-coo led , singlecylinder Yamahas have been winning everyt hing in sigh t in Asia . In side sou rces say th e ex tremely fast 125cc Yam ahas will be ma rke ted next yea r. The American Motorcyclist Assoc. /A M A I and R.J . Reynolds Tobacco Company, have announced that the 19n Camel Pro Series , will have $100,000 /up from $75,000 in 19761 for t he series points fund. The f irst leg payoff /f oll owing the July 17 Sears Point Road Race ) will be $25,000 to the top ten racers, $8,000 to f irst. The final payoff will be another $75,000 to the top 15, w ith Number One getting $18,000. In addi tion to th e $100,000 Camel Pro po int fund , th e 28 ·race AMA Gra nd National Circu it ha s $585,000 pledged in purse awa rds. As ever , the 1977 running of th e Daytona 200 tops th purse list at 579 ,000 . Both nu mbe a re new record pa youts. Darryll Bassani will host the third annual Bassani Indoor All Adult M inib ike Madness (rated PGI somewhere, sometime after the Anaheim Trade Show. Check a t h e Bassani booth for time ' an place; there are to be goodies an cash paybacks to the survivors er - w inners . Davt o n a ; cc lc b r a u -s its Di a rnoru Ju bilec (75 years) as a speed Mecca rhi year. In com me mora tion. di amon rin gs will be give n to th e win ners 0 ten m a jo r D a yt o n a l n re r n a t io na Speedway races includ ing the AM Ca mel Pro Seri es Da yton a 200 . The Western/Eastern Road racin Association (W ERA) has incl u de in it s pa cket of promot iona inf orm atio n for 19n a ::T ent at iv California Region" schedule that i i d en ti ca l to th e Amer ica Federation of Motorcyclists (A FM schedule. The membership an Board of Directors of the AFM , Lo Angdles Chapter have voted t have no affiliation or license trade out w ith WERA. AFM, Los Angele Chapter President Hary Bresac isn't happy about WERA's use 0 the AFM schedule i n WER promotional literature. We don' blame him. T he p hoto helow shows T. Sh igen o of U .S. Suzuki accepting the Fu Hou se Ma nufactu rer's Trophy fro Ca rm en DeLeone of Fu ll House , wit T ony DiSte fa no loo king on . Fu House , an acc essory manufactu rer a distributor, started the annual awa this year, and Suzuki wo n it finishing the highest in National AM MX manufacturer's stand ings f 1976 . W e ran th e photo beca use M Shigenoya makes a ll th e racing-relat decisions for Suzuki . and we thi everybody ou ght to know what Rog DeCoster's boss looks like.