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/126248
The Honda MT125R will be released to dealers in limited quantities (the first production run will be 200) late in March. Production models of the Elsinorebased road racer will be faster than " the prototype used by Honda test rider Mike Hishiki to win 125cc GP at a CMC race at Ontario last December 5. Retail priG:8 is not known at this time. According to American Honda. the seven-port magnasiUm and alloy twosu;oke.puts out 25 horsepower at 10,500 rpm. A special 34mm road racing Mlkum carburetor, a close-ratio six-speed transmission. and COl ignition system are all standard. With a chrome-moly frame and mechanical front disc brake. the bike weighs just 154 pounds. One staff member remembers following Hishiki in practice at Ontario Dec. 5.Riding an extremely-modified RD350. he was impressed both by the top speed and out-of-the-corner drive that Hishiki's Honda had. events will receive a $25 gift certificate if they ride a Suzuki. The program is goo~ for the entire 19n season. The weekl y rock concerts at Escape Co~ntry have been stopped. The action came after rowdy concertgoers and related fights started upsetting family groups at neighboring Racing World. Call (714) 581·6400 for details. (Above) Part of the Vetter Fairing Company manufacturing plant went up in smoke on January 26. Destroyed were molds for Windjammer III fairings and a thermoformer machine for manufacturing fairings. All hardware. fairing lowers. windshields. and the windshield production line were lost. (Below) Saved were the aluminum molds for making the new Windjammer 55 fairings. Windjammer SS tooling. and a warehouse full of Windjammer Ills. Craig Vetter predicts that production will be normal in April. arm. Hurricane Hannah and Rick Burgett used stock swing arms on their YZ250 and YZ 400. respectively. According to the British mo torcycle papers, Honda will introduce a wat er cooled 1,200cc V6 in m id -1977 . The newspaper Moto rcycl e also predicts an 800cc V4, and 600cc a nd 400cc Vtwins. The 1,200 cc m a c hi ne is pred ic ted to have a c hoi ce of au tomatic or co nven tio na l transmission. Gary Nixon ran what he called his fastest lap ever at Daytona during a pre-Houston Michelin tire testing session . " I'm still off Roberts' and Baker's times, but we'll be hunting." The " we" is the Nixon -rider/Erv Kanemoto · tuner combo. "We wasted a clutch and a crank plus exhaust pipes broke so it was one hell of a week for Erv . He worked his tail off," said Nixon. 2 The Yamaha YZ125 that Broc Glover used to win at the WinterAMA opener in Jacksonville. Florida was not 100% stock. It was fitted with " an experimental aluminum swingarm being tested for sale by the factory if it proves to be better than the stock swing The same publication boasts of four new RG700 Suzukis, similar to the RG5OOs, being prepared for Barry Sheene. Pat Hennen, and perhaps John Newbold. Sheene will have two if the report is true. Carl Hailey , fo rm e rl y with the advertising department of Ame rican Honda, has gone off to find his fortune in partnership with Richard Corw in , formerly Vice President and General Manager of the FSR agency in Chicago. The pair have formed Hailey/Corwin , a new advertising agency in Inglewood , Calif. , specializing in motorcycles and related accounts. Town and Country Cycle of Fullerton. Calif. will award a $10 gift certificate to any California Rac ing Club (CRCI or United Enduro Association (UEA) enduro class winner riding a Suzuki. Overall winners of CRC and UEA Pierre Karsmakers is recuperating from a broken toe suffered in practice near his home in Mission Viejo, Calif. Karsmakers is expected to race in the last of the Winter-AMA races. scheduled for Orlando, Fla.• Feb. 27. Lands around th e Prineville Reservoir, Crooked River Project in Oregon which were previously closed to offroad vehicl es by the Bu reau of Reclamation have now been re-opened on a "designa ted roads and trails " bas is. The Prineville Reservoir Resort , the Bureau office in Boise , Idaho. the Prineville Sta te Park and the Crook County Courthouse all ha ve on file maps of th e d esignated routes. According to a " Speedw ay Cycle Racing" press release. three time National Champion Mike Bust will be in Daytona and Barberville, Aa. to contest a seven-race speedway series scheduled during Speedweek. March 6 through 12. Since three-time U.S. Champion Mike Bast will also be there. the motto for the series will be "Beat Bast or Bust". Happy endings dept: Remember the item in this column about a " hot" pawned camera that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Dept. picked up? They had processed the film in it , found scenes from a Saddleback motocross and immediately thought of Cycle News. After reading of it here , the legitimate owner, Mark Gonsalves, contacted the Sheriffs and has his property back. He 's quite pleased. If you have purchased a radar detection device, you know that they work. They work so well in fact, that legislation to make" the items illegal has been cropping up at an ever quickening rate. According to the Insurance Institute of High- way Safety, the devices are illegal in Virginia and Connecticut as well as Denver. Colorado and Washington. D.C. Use of the item in these areas can result in confiscation, fine, imprisonment or a combination thereof. David Aldana has traded his steel shoe and Superman leathers for more conservative attire for the present time. David is now a real estate "tycoon" and without sponsorship for this season. Although he has not yet applied for his license, David is not ready to retire. 1976 AMA Superbike Production Champion Reg Pridmore will hold his first road racing school at Riverside Raceway in Riverside, Calif. on Feb. 25. · The one-day course costs $125; and is limited to 25 students. An ambulance will be on " hand for slow learners. Interested racers or would-be , racers should contact Reg at 5718 Hollister Ave., Goleta, CA 93017. . - Pridmore will ride for Butl er and Sm ith, th e U.S. BMW distributors, at Daytona thi s year. H elm et Kern of Butler and Sm ith has pr epared two RIOOS model mach ines. a nd te lls us that it is still un certain whether or not another rider will join Pridmore on the Bu tl er a nd Smi th Superbike Prod uction te am . Johnny Kokinos of Johnny's Motorcycles in Bakersfield, Calif., has purchased from Butler and Smith the BMW that Steve Mclaughlin rode last year. Ron Pierce will ride the bike for Johnny in Superbike Production. David Emde has been expe rime nting with Yokohama road ra cing tires a t local races in California. Working with Mack Kamba ya shi , the Yokohama people hope to de velop a slick to compete with Goodyear, Michel in , and Dunlop. Emde rates the treaded Yokohamas he used at Willow Springs and Ontario this year as being "as good" as the Dunlop slicks he ran last year. Lance Weil will ride a Laverda 1,000 in Superbike Production at . Daytona. The bike is being flown over from England by Slater Brothers. (Continued on page 46)