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
;: INSIDE == 6,36 Baker's F750 Baker's 250cc Cook 'n Superbikes Lawson's Novice race Supe rcross Infield berm bash to Han nah lOBS 01' II Speedway ., ... , .. " _, . 12 The furriners won Dese rt- 16 Roeseler cracks Squ irrels' nuts West. " , 18 V.O.T.E. Two Day "surviors" trial; Gila Bend classic North , .", .,3O MX at Lake Madera and Spillway Central.. "" , .. .. .. . "34 Kansa s cross country and T ex -MX Results ., , ., __.. .. 38 Cat. , _.. , , ., _". _" 40 Calendar, . , , , , , , , . . . , . 41 ON T HE FRONT PAGE: Steve Baker . up close and far away (lapping Australia n Murray Sayle). the do mi na nt figur e in the rain - plagued Daytona Speedweek. Photos byJoh n Ulrich. Cha rles C . Clayton, President Bobi Seen . Au e. to the Pres ident Sharon Clayton . Publishe r Edna Mewton . Secretary to the Publisher Advertising Robert L . Nor Veli e. Nation al Advertisi ng Sal" M ana ~ r De bbi e Wil kim. w estern Regional Ad venising Sales Manager Chris Kolber , Advertising Assistant Editorial john D . Ulric h . blit aT. L am" Ca mpbell . Ediror , IlAlf·Brown. Assistant Ediwr. Graphics and Production Production : Bonnie Strutin. Judy K lin~ r . T ypograp hy: Marion H a cashira . Carolyn Branham . Laborat o ry Produ ct io n : Dennis Cox . Circulation Rh eba Smit h. Manage r. Pam Green and Ju a nita Blamon . Assistan ts. Accounting uion~. t-ta na~r. Mike K l in~r . ASI. Mgr . Jf:'annr Hammond. Accu. Receiva ble . Pamela Dickerson . Asst. Accu . Recei va ble . Ca thy Srodgel . Cred u Dept . Rhonda Van Dorm . Co llection Or-pt . Gaylene Services and Support Steve Richardson, Brenda Toomey, Rece ption ist. West n Ol Chrrry Ave. . Long Bee ch. CA P.O . Box 498 . Lon g Beach. CA 90801. ~(3) 427·7 4" , L.A . Lin e 6S6·8844 . East P.O . Box 805 , T uc ker , GA s0084 . (404 ) 9"' · 7850 . Subscription Onr yrar . second class mail S15: Z ~an , seco nd class mail . 1%7: :s )'C'an, secced clUi mail, S:S7 .5O. cuss. ~ . .[ ... [l1li Copyright Cyclr News . Inc . 1977 . Trade mar lr. registered U .S. Patent ornee. All nghn reserved. Published weekly exce p t the finl and last wrrk o f rhe cale ndar year by Cycle News. In c. , P.O . Box 198 , Lo ng Bea ch . California . Second class post a~ pai d at Long Beach . CA 9080 1. Edit ori al stories. ca rtoons, pbotce, etc. art' wel com e . Addressed . stam ped en velope Ulum ret u rn of unpurchasrd edito rial matter . Rrp rinl ing in whole or pan only by permission of the p u bl ish ers . Ad vertisin g rates and circ ulation info rma l io n wilJ be srnt upon "'q uest . SttS.R.D.S. 4 Policing our ow n Your article in th e March 2 . 1977 issu e on ' la nd o wn er . a nd polic e harassment of d irt rid ers prompts me to write . We have a n a rea ca lle d Paleface Park bordering La ke Travis near Austin. TX . At one tim e thi s area was open to b ikers. ca m pers , and weekenders. A good time was ava ilable for whoever desired to take advantage of it. Soon, however, th e bikers began to inc rease not on ly in nu m ber. bu t in noise a nd rudeness as well , Riders rod e righ t t hro ug h the mi ddl e of ot her people's camps. totally oblivio us to th e righ ts of others . Befo re lon g a trip to th e. lake was about as pea ceful as ca m pi ng in th e m eri dian of Intersta te 35 . Needless to sa y, pa rk officia ls soon ou tla wed the presence of bi kes. W e have othe r cases of a b use r anging from early m o rnin g adolescen ts on their unbaffled Hon da 90's to adults (who shoul d know better) chasing livestock, Pl ease don 't mi su n d ersta nd m y intent . I have owned severa l d irt bikes a nd enjoy the sport im me nsely, The point I am making is we had our opportunities and lost th em through the abuses of a few who disregarded th e rights of others. Now we all su ffer. I will not be so pret entious as to pret end that I underst and yo u r problems in California ; but I do know that if bikers don't police their own kind , someone will be more than happy to do it for th em . Then who wins? DON ROBERTS W aco . T X Your cheati n' grass The UOR A a rticle (" U t a h 's R esou rce I nv entory . . . " Mar. 2 , Issue #8) looked rea lly nice . Bu t m y bota nist frie nds , if the y ever see it. are going to t hin k I never lea rned a nyt h ing . In t he phot o described as na tive grass is the m ost thriving stand of intro d uced annual cheat grass I ha ve ever see n in the state . It must have once been lo vely na ti ve grass for the cheat grass to th rive so. It 's a good place to ride because che a t grass is adapted fo r dist urbed a reas . T he only damage is where vehicles have gone on too stee p slo pes causing a ccelerated erosion . That a rea is far too open for anything native to thrive . Native grasses su r vive in some accessible places but arc sparse a nd short . They on ly grow in their fu ll lux u riance in ' pla ces inacessible to domestic animals . Every once in a while in my travels I come across an ungrazed area . They are amazingly beautiful. DORDE WOODRUFF Salt Lake City, UT lesniewki note of tha nks I wish to thank Stev e D~Bose a nd of Brvant Bros. Bob Brvant Mot o rcycles . C harles Young of OSSA West . Bru ce Youn g of · H i Point Accessori es, a nd Geoff Fox of Moto-X Fox for thei r assistance and genuine int erest in helpin g m e work to ret a in my District 36 No. I m otocross plat e . It 's peopl e like these who gin' motorcyclin g a gOOlI na me . For a nyo ne unsu re of or d issa t isfied with se rvice elsewhe re in t hc ind ustrv , . chec k th ese peop le o ut. I reall y a pp rec ia te wha t th ey've done fo r m e . It is m y sincerest des ire to sh ow th at th eir fai th in me was no t misplaced . JIM LESNIEWSKI Sa cramento, CA The shirt's off our back Being the T -shirt fanatic I am I hate to see an unloved T -shirt sitting around . Such is the case of the shirts m y fiancee bought us at the last Super Bowl (of Motocross). Real j u nk; we had no inten tio ns of getting see through che a p imitations for $5 each . Ripped off MARK& KAREN Ro vers M.C . Canoga Park , Calif. To IRC o not to IRC ? r After reading you r article regarding th e Suzu ki RM 125B in Cycle News W est . Janu ary 26 , 1977 plus you r " Voices of th e W est" co m ments by Mori Nakashima of IRC and testers J o h n Huetter and Gary Hymes in Cycle News West . March 2. 1977 . I would like to offer th e following : During the summer of 1976 , whil e pract icing regularly at Saddleback Park , I witnessed a seri es of tire test s. For abou t eight days, Suzuki tested three van loads of tires with suc h riders as La Porte , Ellio t. Turner . J ennings a nd Moates. The tires were mounted o n wheels a nd numbered to indicate trea ds and rubber d ifferent com po unds . T he tra ck was in poo n cond ition a nd pla ced a high demand on th e tires. After the test s. I ta lked with m ost of t he rid ers and asked them how they felt th e IR Cs com pa red to Met zelers a nd others. They a ll ind ica ted that the IR Cs wer e as good o r better and th at Suzuki would be offering th em as standard eq u ipme nt on the RM -B models . I su bm it th at th e Suzuki test s were more ac cura te a nd thorough than the Cycle News tests a nd sho u ld be seriously considered before one rushes out to ch a nge his/her stoc k IRC tires. LORI E WATSON Cypress, CA More Hurt Study praise Cycle News, Lane Ca m pbe ll and th e Un ivcrsitv of Southern California a re to be co~ mendl'd for the outst anding effort to publi cize import ant findi ngs o n motorcycle safety (T he Hun Stud y). Hopefully, th e Department of T ransp orta tion will listen a nd re act accordingl y, a lt ho ugh the fed era l go vern me n t is not known for accept ing logi c. Only a few weeks ago , a t th e age of 35 a nd th e co nt in ued prodd ing of Ron Pier ce , I finall y purchased a moto rcycle . Now som e of m y friends perceive th is as a bit outlandish wh icli it well may be , a grown man fla iling aro und in th e d in , ( I don't plan to ride o n th e stree t a nd jou st with 5.000pound autornobiles.) My point is th is: I sho uld hate to think th a t on e who decides to ride on th e street would d o so without a n off-road ground school of sufficient duration . My half-doz en spill s to dale - humorous for th e most part - well cou ld have been fata l in a crisis situation o n the pub lic hig hwa y. Dr , Hun 's findings about dirt riders esca pi ng the "sta t ist ic" ca lego ry seem to be most rea son able. Doing it in till' dirt is mo rt' th an J USt fu n - it's co m m on se nse . O WEN KEARN S,JR . Ed itor , Ed itori al Page The Bak er sfiel d Ca lifornia n Bak ersfield , CA Gary Laudig \ Ve want 10 compliment Gary La ud ig on doi ng a g reat jo b of re port ing AM A Dist rict 37 d esert races. ST UMP J UMPERS M .C . Whitti er , CA Laudig is not a Stumpjumper . . . Ed.