Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.spot. Moto tw o looked more like a pra cti ce r u n th a n a race . Tidwell led th e way wi th S pringma n second . Nobody was c ha lle nging a ny bo dy else a nd the fin ish order was: T idwe ll. Sp ringma n . a nd Se lvy, Edd ie Beeson usu all y rides a 250 but ton ight he was tooling arou nd on a 125 a nd fou nd h is wa y into t he 250 class . Edd ie even h a d th e le a d o ne lap. but his b ike went so ur and T idwel l took th e win - Se lvy . a nd . Zam or a kept switc hi ng pl a ces every co u p le of la ps with Selvy co m ing out o n lOp . T idw ell . Sc lvy a nd Zamo ra comprised th e top three in the overa ll tabulat ions. • Results ran last week . Greg Perolio a n d Tom Claire. Claire pushed Pe r olio rel entlessly throu ghout bo th m ot os, staying on his tail over every ju m p, throu gh every turn . Bill H a g en (Suz) and Chris Kn ow l ton stayed close , bu t the checkered saw first go to Perol io , secon d to Claire a n d th ird to Hagen. Moorewood mauls 'em at ECRA MX Mike Gosselaar (S uz) and M ik e Rauch (Suz), 250 Intermediates , were b oth in pursuit of Glen Senecal (Suz). Rauch wa s lead ing Gosselaa r a n d closin g fa st on Senecal , getti ng b y on the wh ite flag lap . First overall went to • Gosselaar. though . seco nd to R auch a n d third to Senecal. • R esults in 'R esu lts Section. Lance Moorewood(Su z), the Min icycl e expe rt who's graduated to the big bikes in the p ast year, m ade everybody wish Chandler walks away from A.M.E. 250 Pros By Lee Taylo r VA L ENC IA . C AL.. J AN . 9 Dan ny Ch andler ( KT M) , ran away from everyone in sight in the A.M.E. 250 Pro clash at Indian Dunes, Chandler worked up a tremendous lead Over secondplaceJim Hale . A battle raged between 500 Pros USo• e guys will do anything to prove a point!11 .. t ; " T h a t ' s what they said when I told them I was going to ride a Hodaka Wombat from Los Angeles to Denver and back . "Now, 1 kn ow . f. ; 2,370 miles on a l25cc two-stroke bike may not be everybod y's idea of a dream vacation , but I had to find out if the new Wombat was everything Hodaka said it was. "I started out with an abso lutely 100%stock Wombat, right out of the crat e, It had about 200 miles break -in, and I adjusted the carburetor and taped some solder to the wheels for perfect balance. That was it! 1pulled out of L.A. one bright, crisp morning with nothing but some clothes, a couple of spare plugs, and my wits. "After three days in the saddle and two nights at whatever motel I happened to end up at, I rolled into Denver - a little weary, a nd glad 1 hadn 't hit any bad weather. "I rested up a bit, then turned around and start ed back . Three days later I was home. . "For a lmost 2,400 miles, all I'd needed was gas and oil, and the Wombat felt just as strong as the day I left - infact, compression readings before and after the trip were dead-on identical! "What really amazed me was the way tha t e ngine just kept on pulling , wheth er I was running through the desert heat near sea level, or crossing a mountain pass almost 2y' miles up in the air. With no ca rburetor adjustments! " Now , I'm not e xactly a no vice rider - .1 won my first 2<1ay enduro in 1947! There's not a lot in the world of cycli ng that I haven't seen. So when Hodaka said they'd come up with the ultimate dual purpose bike, I said 'we11 see'. Well, I saw. "Of cou rse, I already knew Hodaka made great dirt bikes - been ridingthem for close to 14 years now. In fact, I won the enduro trail bike class for my district four years straight on Hoda kas , starting in '69. "So it was the 'st reet' half of the Wombat I was really curious abou t. Now nobody expects a single cylinder 125 to ride like a 1,0000 road burner, but wha t c better way 10 test it than a nice, long ride through the wide open spaces? "That 's why 1 did it. And you can call me crazy if you want. All I know is I had a real experienc e proving that this new Wombat street/trail machine can rea lly handle the street !" - Max Bubeck Glendale, Calif. - . Cruel & Unusual Punishment? We'd like to say right off the bat that we have tre mendous respec t for Max Bubeck's many accomplishment s - including the Denver trip - and we're delighted that he's chosen to compete exclusively on Hodakas for the last 12 years. But we'd also like to say that we don't recommend the .Wombat for too many trips like Max's. Not that we don't think the bike can handle it - we just don't want people getting the idea that every Hodaka rider is a fanatic out to prove a point! Above all, our bikes are meant for having fun, and in spite of all the victories people have racked up on Hodakas over the years, we always have the average rider firmly in mind when we sit down to design a new bike, We think most people who buy a cycle for off-road recreation want it to be as versatile as possible. That's why the new Wombat is legal on the road too. Because what's the point of getting off the beaten path if you have to worry abo ut getting back on it? High standards : standard "Built to a sta ndard" may sound a little corny and old fashioned, but at Hodaka it's something we really believe in. That's why you may find a Hodaka costs a bit more than similar-size bikes from the "Big Four". But we think in the long run (like, say, abo ut 2,400 miles) you'll find it's money well spent. Take the cylinders in our engines, for example. We could build them like mos t everybody else and just slip an iron sleeve into an aluminum casting. But then we'd face the same problem of powerrobbing mismatches between the holes in the sleeve and the ports in the aluminum. Instead, we use a patented process to cast the iron liner and the ports in a single, seamless unit, then fuse the aluminum to the outside. Our "Alumiferric e " cylinder costs more to make, but we think the top performance , long wear, and effi cient coo ling it gives are worth it (Max told us that after his trip, the piston and cylinder in his Wombat showed no signi· ficant wear.) Like we said - built to a-standard. Our Tab le 0 1 Contents It's always seemed a little strange to us how some people will sell you a "do HODAKA MOTOR'CYCLES PABATCO everything" bike, then turn aro und and hit you with a long list of ext ra-cost goodies you need to make the machine do what you really want it to. We think a bike should live up to its billing right off the showroom floor, without you having to add or replace things. So the Wombat already comes dec ked out with a lot of the trick stuff you'd pay ext ra for with another bike. What kind of things are we talking about? Well . . . Starting at the fro n t, we've got supe r heavy duty forks (the same as on our 250) with over 7 y' inches of travel. Plus "dog leg" control levers with competition quality cables. An enduro speed ometer with rese lt a ble trip me ter. A conical hub brake, and a powerful headlight and signals protected by an electronic voltage regulator. Moving amidships, notice the racy tank that flows into the .seat contour for unobstructed freedom of movemen t. A see-through oil tank for instant supply checking. A folding shift lever that shrugs off rocks and logs. A sturdy skid plate and splash-proof air box for the engine. And a rugged , wide ratio 5 speed box with.. ~~~~!!!9.",~Jhifti na . """>-·· By Rex Reese T RA BUCO CYN .. C A L.. J A N . 16 tha t he would 've stayed in the Min i class as Moorew ood whi p ped the tro o ps in both the 250 a nd Open Exp e rt classes . A rider who 's never cam paigned " th e b ig time" on this tr a ck , M oo rew oods pe rformance was ce rtai n ly a s hock to eve ry body. especia lly the m ore esta blished expert rid ers wh o ha d to eat his d ust. While the 250 a nd O pen classes we re cle an swee ps for Moorewood , Lance had to tak e th e back sea t in th e 125 'Experts wh en T odd Peterson took th at class. Moorewoo d bega n his threat in th e 125 Expert class . but only succeeded in b e ing tu rned b a ck b y Peterson (H on) in the first rnoto, The second moto went sou r for Lance when he fe ll a nd retired while Todd we nt on to win again. W it h the 125s a ll loc ke d u p . Pet erson did n't p ush h im sel f as h e eve n waved Moorewood by to win the fina l moto . Pete rson e nd ed u p th e overall winner ; the co meback win by Moorewood p u t h im into second p lace whi le Roy H old r ime r (Hon) took t h ird place. I n the 25 0 and O p e n classes h oweve r , Moorewood had it made as he b lew everybody into th e wee ds with unusual ease, La n ce wo n both classes with clean sweeps while the res t o f the pack eit her flound e red in tra ffic or b roke . Tim C riswell (S uz) rode to a rather consiste nt 2 -3 -2 fin ish to place second with J oseph A lle n (S uz) goi ng 5-4-2 for th ird . In the meanwhile, J ohn Gilbe rtso n (Suz) a n d Pat Nash ( Ma i) tr ied to ini tia te so me acti on o n th eir own aga inst Moorewood , but were u nsu ccessful. Moorewood won the Open class virtually by d efault wh en regular Open -class victor Tom Ma yfield ( Mai) broke in th e second round a n d ca lle d it a da y. • Results ran last week . Olson tops Master Old Timers at Carlsbad rl, a c oxe a upng t or "laid down" mounting positions for the nitrogen-oil shocks, reed valve induction for more low end torque , and wide, comfortable MK type handlebars, and you've got a machine that's exactly what we say it is - the ultimate light dual-purpose bike. Just ask Ma x Bubeck! FLASH I we've jusllearned thai John Townsend and Bob Brownell of Santa Ana. Calif. look 2nd in the 125 class In the SCO RE Baja 1000 - on a Womba t wIlh a lCX)ll1, slock englne~ For delails on t he Wombat and ot her eltciflng Hodakas from 100 to 2SOCc, p lus the name 0 1 yOUr nearesl dealer. send a 1311: stamp 10: PA BATCO ; Box 327. ShfH'm an Road ; Athena . OregorT97813. Tell 'em Malt sent you' PS, We'll also th row in a free HOD A KA decal lor yo ur van . car, or pi ck up w indow " ·By O. T. Oal CARLSBAD , CA ,JAN. 2 The crimson and gold of the Old Timers MX Association slowly faded to grey and grey in Carlsbad's mud and slop as Marvin Olson held off a surprise challenge from guest r id er Adam Padilla on a 100 Suzuki for the win in the Master class. Olson won both motos to place in the top spot, while the visiting Padilla ed ged out club president Norb Brown (KTM) . Local rider Bob Berdyck (CZ) won the Expert class with two wins . Bill Bird and Kenny Williams tied on points for second. Williams fin ished third while Bird finished fourth in the final moto and thus wound up seco nd overall . Novice Ro y King a lso won wit h a 1-1 score, moving ever closer to a transfer to Amateu r . Don Edlund followed King both times to finish sec ond . • .R esu lts in Results Section. 2

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