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/126252
, The Hangtown (California) Chamber of Commerce informs us that no overnight camping will be aIlowed at the ra cing site of th is years opening round of th e 125 and 250cc Na tional MX Championships at Hangtown , MX 'ers look ing for a place to camp may caIl the Hangtown CoC fo r assis tance in locating campgrounds in the area . Dial 916 /622 -5611 , Another victim of the continuing hassle around the eastern Antelope Valley (Hi Vista, Calif. and surrounding area) is the Ponderosa series of low·key desert races. Los Angeles County Sheriffs pulled into the Ponderosa lot Sunday, March 6, and told the event organizers that anybody riding without a notaritzed permission slip from the property owner could be issued a citation. Not wanting a major confrontation, the event promoter sent everybody home. AMA Grand National Championship competitor Greg Sassaman has appealed his suspension by the AMA . A board wiIl be appointed by AMA president Bob Rudolph to hear the appeal at a future date . Meanwhile Sassaman may continue to compete pending the outcome of that meeting. Saturday night after the Atlanta Supercross, Yamaha racing team manager Ken Clark expressed some dismay over Bob Hannah's use of the box stock YZ 250 to win the race. Clark had wanted the "Hurricane" to use the OW 26 factory bikes like Burgett and Karsmakers. "He's making my job a lot more difficult." said Ken about Bob. "If he keeps wanting to race a production bike and winning with it. then the factory certainly won't want to provide us with any more bikes. That could be a setback for developement." The YZ 250 D which Hannah used at the Supercross was the same bike Bob used to win the 250cc class of the . Florida W inter-AMA Series. Hannah, who can jump five people lying down using a bicycle with out a ramp; says he would like to jump ten people during intermission at the LA. Superbowl of Motocross. Billy "Suga r Bear" Grossi suffered a bruised kidney in the final Florida W inter-AMA Series race and had to m iss the Atlanta Supercross . Russ Darnell, journalist/motocross instructor, has offered free motocross schools for riders selected to represent the United States in the 52nd International Six Days Trial, September -5-10 in Czechoslovakia. Darnell has been conducting motocross schools for a number of years. His offer comes .. a rasult of growing sentiment that motocross ability is becoming absolutely _ential for any topnotch ISDT rider. The Flying Machine Factory's 1977 National team will consist of John Savitski, Ron Turner and Gary Ogden. Team members Gregg Toyama and John Smith will ride som e Nationals. but will primarily concentrate on local club racing. 2 The Cactus Cats M.C. will be holding a benefit D-37 hare scrambles on March 27. Proceeds will be divided equally between the Mitch Mayes Rehabilitation Fund and Rescue 3. Husqvarna's "King Richard" Burleson rode through the first two AMA National Enduros of the season as if the competition weren't even there, winning the Feb . 29 Masterlinks Enduro in Mississippi, then rolling right through the soggy Stone Mountain run in Georgia, March 5. Will there be an unprecedented fourth National Championship for The King? It's beginning to look like it. The first bi!\' .p re -Daytona ha ppenin g . th e Barber ville Ha lf Mile on March 6. saw G uy McClu re . Mark Co x a nd Rich " W h itey" Kirschner ta ke Exp ert .' Junio r a nd Novice Ma ins, respectively . McClure's victo ry ca me after a priva te d uel wit h fellow Texa ns Terry Poovey and J.R. Rawls. Co rky Keen er " tested m y leg aga in" whe n his cra nk broke a nd he slid down in p ractice. T he leg held . California's Ed d ie Lawson got third Junior a nd sem i-Factory roo kie Sco tt Pe a rson took fo urt h Exp e rt behind Ste ve Fr eem an afte r Rawl s went wide in the fina l tu rn . The Endoes MC have picked up the first District 37 Semi Pro motocross date, April 24 at Edwards AFB, Calif. There will be three Pro classes plus sidehacks, w ,ith payback subject to the AMA's $600 limit (or $200 per class) . Sam Walt er of New York Sta te has 1900 acr es east of San Diego which he'd like to see become a motorcycle park . He did a spo t su rvey of a neighboring town . found the bu siness co m m un ity 100 % for it. He's writt en two letters to Cal ifornia Department of Pa rks a nd Recr ea tion without answer , he says. Anybod y th at wa nt s to ta lk to h im a bo ut it , ca ll Walt er & Associates. (2 11 251 ·8300 . - British League speedway opens March 26" and our own SoCal circuit opens its regular season April 12 at Ventura. This year, the team speedway schedule at the five California tracks will be cut to eight weeks, topped by a Team Championship. Remaining dates will be old -fashioned Open Nights of traditional Handicap and Scratch racing. Corky Keener reports a pro-Keener bartering session which took place during a recent visit to Mexico . Seems as though a young Mexican approached Corky and Mary and offered to trade some ' jewelry for Corky's sneakers. Check out 162's new ring. hope the shoes fit the lad. Jimmy Weinert and Racing World President Jack Cummings give the park's master plan a last going-over, as the official Grand Opening, the April 1-2-3 Cyclerama '17, draws closer. The revitalized cycle park, now divorced from Escape Country, is being heavily invested with improved, quality facilities and racer-designed competition courses. National Minicycle Association World Mini GP, a $5000 CRC/Bosch motocross, ATA trials and carnival entertainment headline the weekend Cyclerama bash. The highly-publicized drought is having its effect on Northern California dirt track. Lack of water has caused the cancellation of San Jose's March 20 half mile and the postponement of the San Jose pro half mile from April 3 to April 17. The American ' Motocross Club (AMCI has changed their schedule. They will be holding races at Carlsbad on first and third Sundays and at Saddleback the other two Sundays of the month. Or, more simply, the opposite of CMC. Wom en ' Na tio nal C ha mpion Su e Fish con fided th at sh.. woul d lik.. to race th e AM A 125 Na t iona l motocross circu it. start i n ~ in 1978 . Ove Fundin did not m ake th e "U .S. vs. the W orld" lin eup. The five-t imes World Spee d way Champion was sideli ne d by a wrist injury. It seems that being Womens' National Champion does not necessarily guarantee a license to ride bikes on the street. A Department of Motor Vehicles tester wouldn't let Sue Fish take a California Driver's license test because she couldn't stand flatfooted on the machine. Gary Nixon, who had a good chance at winning the Daytona "200" (changed into a 100 by rainl, didn't qualify. He broke his right wrist when Harry Hunt's TZ250 seized both cylinders in 'Turn One during lightweight practice. If only Nixon had stuck to his ErvKanemoto-prepared 75Os. , . Gene Romero ca me nu t the winne r in During the 100 -mile 250cc International race a t Daytona, 10% of th e starting field crashed at one turn . It all started with two riders down. but th eir spilled gas slickened th e inside line in infield Turn Four. Corner workers refused to display th e oil flag or apply powder to th e sp ill ' until Randy Mamola (one of th e unfortunates who crashed th ere) grabbed the bag of powder and started to throw it on th e slick spot himself. By that time , eight riders had crashed , including Mike Clarke , who got up to finis h 14th. CB S' "C ha lh-ngc of t he Sr-xes." Racin ){ 360cc short t rackr-rs on Ascot" qu arte r-m ile track . Rom ero h..a t Dian e Co x hy a cou ple of h ik.. k-ng t hs in two co nsec u tive five-la p hea ts. U.S. Speedway Champion MikeBast was a Sunday-only entrant at the V.O.T.E. Two Day Trial. riding as an Amateur. Bast's an avid trials rider who says trials practice helps' build stamina, wrist strength, throttle contraol and other good stuff that helps him go fast at night. "T h is isn't a sissy trac k" . says 20 'Y"a rold Ma rt y Sm it h . who is su pervisi ng cons tr uction of a mi nicyc le Su perc ross track t hat will hea r h is na me . T he Smi th c ircu it re pla r ..s t he old MX track at Racing Worl d (fo rmerly a pa rt of Esca pe Co un try ) wit h a 122foot a utoma tic starring !\'ate a nd night li/{htin){ . Sm it h will he on hand to dedicate his track a t Noon Ap ril I , as th e Ra cin g Wo rid /NMA /Bel -Ray/ Cyclerama '77 !\'lts · everybody underway. 'I'm going to keep this one classic alive", says Desert Racing Assoc. (DRA) promoter Ron Burpo. He's speaking of the umpteenth Blannual Last California City Grand Prix, to be born again on the weekend of April30-May 1. Can't keep a good round-the-houses race down. You've heard of foreign exchange students? Well, SoCal MXer Warren Reid's family is harboring a "foreign exchange racer" - 17 year-old Darryl Willoughby from Australia. He's a top-scoring 125 Pro motocrosser at home, and will be here about eight weeks Last minut e hassl es wit h th e landowner prompted th e Sacramento Jammers MC to ca ncel th eir sched uled March 13 Wild Hare Scra m ble . T he event was to ha ve provided ben efit funds for th e Georgetow n Divid e Med ical Ce nter. There m ay be a resc hed u le d at e thi s fall , says th e cl ub , . One chance to tune for Ascot's 100 ·lap TT. says Don England at 395 Raceways, near Ad elanto. Cal if. Responding to ra cers' cries for a tuneup ra ce on a big t rack , the AMA Distri ct 37 TT Mot orcycle Club will throw a TT a nd H alf Mile at th e high desert race site Sunday, March 20 . I Steve Mclaughlin's Daytona effort was ill-fated at best. He siezed three engines in practice, crashed in practice, and couldn't get his monocoque TZ750 together at all. Mclaughlin finally qualified on a friend's bike (one of Mclaughlin's old motorcycles), but didn't finish. At one point during the long week, he said he . was ready to retire. Mike Clarke flew back to California with a broken foot and major road rash after being bumped by a nother rider in the Daytona Chicane during practice for the F750 race. I Californians at Daytona won the Supercross (Bob Hannah): swept the first four Superbike Production places (Cook Neilson, David Emde, Wes Cooley, Reg Pridmore): won the Novice race (Eddie Lawson): finished second in the F750 race (Kenny Roberts): and took fourth in the 250cc race (Harry Klinzmann.) More racers from California (20) qualified for the F750 race than from any other state or country. Some people say they don't care how the hell they do it in California.