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/126249
INSIDE ROC post ponement explained Yoshimura fire .. . , . . . . .. 5 Pops hurt figh ting flam es Winter·AMA 6,7 La Port e, Hannah a nd Burgett blow into Gainesville Ossa Test, , 8 Desert Pha ntom : O ut of the Rarts bin , int o the fire Politics 12. 14 Mass bik er b usts in Ca lifornia : age ncy cooperation in Utah Barry Sheene . .... , , . . . 15 Catchi ng the World 500cc Cham pion apres jet -lag . RM250 /370 upgrade ... . 16 Makin g you r " A" tric ker th an " B". Desert . . , , 18 Two ra ces , two e nd u ros, cast of thousands West ., . . . . : . . , .. , .. ... 22 All th e d irt you ca n cat _North 30 Tales from th e la nd of ta ll trees Central. 34 The Colorado-T exas pipeline Results .. ... • . . ... ..... 36 Cat, Calendar 40 Pussy sq ueezed to fit more event s ON THE FRONT PAGE: Ron Rigler says his p ra yers and jum ps off in to th e suns et. Photo by John Ulrich, stylish bravery by R igler. dese rt by God . Charln C . Clayton. Prnident Bc bi Seen, ·Asst . to tbe President Sh aron C layton , Publ isher Edna Mewton . Secre tary to the Pub lisher Advertising Robert L . Nor Velie, Nationa l Ad vertising Sal" Man ager Debbie Wilkins, Western Regional Adft'rtising Sa les Man a ger Chris KoIM1, Adve rt ising Assista n t Editorial Joh n n. Ulrich . . . Ed u or . . La m' Ca m pbe ll, Ed itor. 1>all· Brown . A.....isra m Ed itor . Graphics and Production Product ion: ' Bonnie Strurin . Ju d y Klinger . Typogra p hy : Ma ri on H a ta shi ta , C arolyn Br anham . Lab orat ory Prod u ction : Dennis Cox . Circulation Rheb a Smit h. Ma n..ger . Pa m Grttn and J uan ita Blan ton . Assista nts . Accounting Caykne ZaioRZ. Ma nager . Mi u Klinger . ASiI. Mgr . Jean ne H ammond. Accu. Recei vabl e. Pamd a Oicknon . Asst. Attts. Receivable. Cathy Stodgel. Credit Dept , Rhon da V..n Doren. Colln:tion Dept, Services and Support Miclud Colibs. Dennis W atls . Brenda Zodda . Recepncejsr . West !!O I Cherry Ave. • Lon g Beach. CA P.O . 80J:498. Lon g Be ach. CA 90801 . ~(3 )4!7 .7 4" : LA. Line 656-88 44 . East . P.O . Box 805 . Tucker, G A ' 0084 . (404) 954 · 7850. Subscription One year , second c1... m..il SI S: % yea rs. ~on d c1us ma il. $%7: :\ yun. seco nd cIau m a tt. S:\7.S0. To IRC or not to IRC W e are.. surprised to find you r d escription of our IRC tires in your report regarding Suzuki 's RM1 25B , in Cycl e News West , J an . 26 , 1977 . It says on pa ge nine that "Some tir es are going to work better on the new RM th an th e stock IRC rub ber (3 .00x2 1 fro nt. 4 .10x18 rea r). In fa ct . tir es are the only substantial cha nge we- would make on the machin e." W e have d evel oped these tires wo rking to get her wit h ma ny o f profession a l MX riders . Most riders have agreed that these are one of the best tir es fro m any point of ,;iew. traction , handling . durability and so on. An d we sta rted to suppl y these to OEM a nd t he replacement market as well with con fidence . We wou ld like you to let us- know t he reason why you ha ve come to that comment . W e a re happy- to hear something new 'which m ight ha ve been overlooked through ou r tests. We are more th an happy to hea r from you about following qu est ions: I ) N ame of race track wher e you tested on th is machin e. " 2) Condition of trac k (h a rd . soft , dry. wet , muddy, sa ndy). 3) Mileage before you sta rted . 4) Mileage you drove for th is report. 5) What a re th e tires that a re going to work better . and th e differ ence from IRC? MORI NAKASHIMA Inoue Rubber Int'L Co . . Ltd . Garden a . CA 1) Indian Dunes - both m oto cross course and cross country. 2) Tra ck was hard and d ry; cross count ry was bumpy san d . 3) T ires were a bsolutely n ew - zero mileag e. • 4) 40·.50 laps of approximately one mile track , plus 30 min ut es of cross country riding at varied speeds. .5) It is th e op inion of both Hu ett er and Hymes that 3.00x21 M etz eler or 3.20x2 1 Barum tire wou ld pro vid e bett er p erforman ce on th e front en d . Our objection to the IR C was a marked t enden cy to wash o ut once a lin e. was select ed through a corner. Tire inflation pressures were checked and ' a dj ust ed by U . S. Suzuk i " .m echanics to m eet track conditions . In our past experience, Barums and Metze lers track bette r . an d im pa rt a greater feeling of control in cornering, a trade-offagainst useful tire life . Our first choice for th e rear would be based upon tra ck condition. The 4.10 IRC t ire did not raise many objections , but it did not "h ook up " as quick ly or controllably on hard, adobe surfaces as did oth er tires we have ridden , Th ere was more uiheelspin and side -to -side lurch th an eit he r rider rem emb ers with a -4.00 M etx eler. However, side by sid e co m paris on of th e tires would be th e only really f air test, along with lap times . . . Ed . , Trick Husky not magic Regarding Cycle News, #4 , Feb. 2 . 1977 , page 10, paragraph four: I will not argue the " trickness" of the new Husky Automatic . However, I will discuss th e "newness" of it. It certainl y - isn't in the realm of " ... completely new ." Or, " .. . never seen anything like it in any other mechanism ." The clutch is a sp r a g clut ch , . as manufactured by various firms . (BorgWarner a nd Formsprag. to na me two) . Ai Research uses a B-W one-wa y clutch in , its starter system on _the Boe ing 747- Auxiliary Power ' Unit: GTCP 660 -4. Automatic automobile transmissions use them , which is how Borg. Warner got into the ac t. In fact , B-W makes so many of them that the unit cost is very low, even for the a ircra ft application. The release speed is a black-art function of th e sprag (" bearing") sh ape: inter-sprag spring tens ions. a nd inner a nd outer race d iamet ers . The AiResearch ca pe r was circa 1970 . Trick, ' yep. Magic. nope . Let's not canonize the Husky engi neers. A . H . TELLIER SunMC Phoenix , AZ As you k now , the Monroe Motorcycle Olympiad has been rescheduled for September 17 and 18 . The reasons for doing this _are numerous , but we will try to explain the major ones. First . the weather in Southern California is very unstable at this time of the year. If it did rain we could not hold some of the events. It would be impossibl e to hold. the riders for the follow ing weekend because that isthe start of Da ytona Speed Week. We also know that many of the riders voted in have strong factory contracts to ride.in the Florida Winter MX series at this same tim e . In short , we want all the top riders that were voted in , not just a handful. The Monroe Motorcycle Olympiad will now be held the weekend before the Trans·AMA series so we will have the top Europeans in the country .to contest this event. The riders selected will remain the same; there will be no changes in the line up . W e no w are arrangi ng contracts to insu re that th ese riders do at tend and prom ise t o m ake th is the most spectacul ar a nd p restigious motorcycling event ever . BOB MAYNARD Garden Gro ve. CA . Advice from a desert racer's Mom I have a son and nephew who r ace desert . They are both Novices. M y nephew has won several of his races. The only thing they say about hi m is. he won . All th e reporting is done about th e Experts. Even the Amateurs aren't report ed on much. . It 's not very morale -building to win and get one sentence in your paper. W ith a little more news about these winners it might also hel p to get a sponsor. Especially when a boy has won in a 130 mile race a nd ro de over ha lf of it on a frame b roken in six places . I think this is d iscrim inating and shou ld be rectified. Aft er all . we know who th e Nu m ber Ones a re. Le t's talk as much abou t the Amateurs and Novices . Novices What's all this coverage of Novices all t he time ? You think I ca re who won 125 Novice? I want to read about t he fast gu ys at the tracks . Everybody starts out as a No vice. It's th e ones who hang in there a nd get fast who deserve th e ink . If the Novices want to get fam ous . let them beat me big bo ys. PATR IC K EAGAN Santa Ana , CA Opinions expressed on t his page_are those of th e letter writ ers. and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Editors and Publishers of Cycle News. SI/,fE/ 7JlI/T:f!HEj'I/N~ tJlPM~AAlPMKa'/ er £'/I£fl'IfIIiOZ/ ,;p, CLASS . • iUf(I ..E....f " 4 Copyright Cycle News . Inc: 1977 . T rade m ark regis tered U.S . Pat en t Office . All righ t. reserved . Pu blished wn'k ly rJ!;C<"pt t he fin t a nd last wrd l. of rh e c ale nd a r yr a r b y Cycle News. Inc.• P.O . RaJ: 498. Long Br ach. Cal ifornia . Second cl ass postagt' paid at Long Beach . CA 90801. Edit orial srori es. ca rt oons. ph otos. ere. a re wel come . Add ressed . stamJlfil enve lope auurn mum of unpu rch ased editoria l m at ter -. Reprint ing in wbole or pan only b y permission of the publishers. Advert ising rates and circula ric n information will be sesu upon rT1IU("Sl. Sfof'S.R .D .S. ~p,r£ ,fI6!/[ ... AOWILLtWEii/h"rUT W ~I/,f SIKEI/h'Ilt J--\--fIlNEli1 NOTTlJEfPAt IE \