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/126255
Jack Penton won the "dec ision" over Dick Burleson, taki ng High Point honors at th e John Zin k National En duro presented by the T ulsa Trail , Riders on Ma rch 20. Tied a t seven po ints each, Penton a nd Bu rleson 's final scores were still under question until la ter in the week when an AMA decision put Jac k ie on at the tiebreaker check. The Supercross double header scheduled for June 3-4 in the New Orlean., Louisiana Superdome has been changed to a s ingle event June 4, the Battle of New Orleans. as the event , will be called, was shortened to allow riders and spectators alike the opportunity to sample the delights of the Mardi Gras city. HosPITal stop: Texas motocross sta r Bobby Pickard broke his hip at the T exas Stadium SuperCross. and will be in trac tion fo r six weeks. He 's in St. Joseph's Hospital. Room' 406 . 1401 South Main. Ft. Worth, TX 76102. Mike T idwell was mo ved from the Ba y a rea back to his hometown of Upland, CA . Cards , letters a nd anything else that would make Mike feel better sho uld be sent or d irected to San Antonio Hospital , Room 461 ,999 San Bernadino Rd. , Upla nd, CA 91786". • Ron Turner will not be riding for FMF in European Grans Prix after all. Under AMA rules, riders need 80 points to advance from Novice to Expert within the Pro ranks. Turner has 75. but could have become an Expert. He made a conscious decision to remain a Novice according to the AMA. not realizing a Novice couldn't hold an FIM license. Bob Hannah will rid e the 125 class at Hangtown. Marty Moates' first GP outing - in Spain on April 3 - started when Moates posted sixth fastest qualifying time. He was running fourth for 15 minutes in the first moto when the bike quit. and had moved from 40th to seventh in the second round before a shock snapped. Ossa was reportedly pleased. and Marty's mother. who told us. was so excited she forgot to ask her sor' who won. " Yo u'Il be s..rin~ a 1 of me this year ." 01 Many Tripes has said several times this y..ar . His intent is 10 pUI one of the orange and black Harley -Davidsons at the top of either t he 250cc or 500cc AMA National S.. rics standings , When Ihin~ are ~oin~ right . Tripes is a t hrcat , The qu ..stion is, will ev .. ryl hing go rig hl? dr-finite Mitch Mayes thanks everyone who made it to the benefit races on March 5 and March 27. Their concern is appreciated. Bob M..sscr of Team Army ca ll..d to let us know tha t the rod bea ring s..izur.. th a t forced him to park his Mai co in the last Sa tu rday sec tion of rh.. Ca lifornia Two-day Q ua lifier was caused hy a fau lty pre- production (prototyp..) bearing . Rod hearings t ha t seiz e wi ll no t be standard 2 e-qui pment on new bikes . Maico enduro The Southern California speedway season opening has been ,o ffi c ia lly delayed one month to May 3. The delay is the result of a raging controversy over purse money between promoter Harry " Go d fa t he r" Oxley (International Speedway, lnc.l and the Speedway Rider's Association (S RA ). The riders want 40% of the gate receipts, which Oxley says is im po s s ible - there isn't that much left after paying expenses. Talks with the SRA have stalled, and now Oxley is talk ing to the Amer ican Motorcycl ist Assoc iation (AMA) about promoting Class C short track every Friday night at one of three tracks. on a rotating basis. It could be that Class C will replace Class A (speedway) at Orange County, Irwindale, and Ventura. Speedway promoters and th e SRA board will meet Wednesday April 6 to d iscuss the speedway riders requests. T he riders want 40 % of the gat t;, compared to the 30 % th ey now get , a nd a $300 increase in th e guaranteed purse, with the increase going to second and third division riders . Gary Tonda, not Rick Hocking, won that Northwest Indoor Series opener at Portland , Oregonr Hocking was second. The full story appears in this week's N rthern Dateline. On February 28 . Nathan Hu was born 10 Bill and Deb Uhl . The baby weigh..d s..vcn pounds...ighl ounces. Showing re freshin~ good rasu- . rheannouncements sent out by one of America's most talented ISDT competitors made no reference 10 the haby being expected to be " futu re world cha m pion ." A tip of the Wea ley duckbill to the proud parents. Bob Barkhimer, promoter of the Camel Pro Series Mile slated for San Jose on May 15, will hold a half mile at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds on April 17. Many Pacific Coast National Number riders make this annual event as sort of a shake down of equipment for the coming season. Walch for the J oo<'S Motocross "Cycle Prop" 00 an u pco m ing episode of t .. k-vision's " Lia r's Cluh ." W hat is a "Cycle Prop?" w-n . it looks lik.. a pi.....· of protr-rt ive "'luipm.'nt worn in pairs hy Joa n of Arc . only with a dent in t hc middle . Got it? We ha ve photos, courtesy of W .W. Wilson , Jr . of Clarendon Hills , Illinois, of a cert ain ra cing superstar receiving the ' undivided attention of one of Da ytona's finest -vright smackdab in the center of the "W orld' s Most Famous Beach" during Speed Week. Seems like a certain factory rider sprang when he should have sprung. According to Wilson, " It looked to me like he was trying to do wheelies in the sand with his van ." Wonder if he had altered the springs in his va n? A new AMA 0 -36 rule change allows up to 500cc singles to run in short track events. 500s will now be added to the programs promoted by the Monterey Bay Rams at the Salinas A irport, starting April 24 . As a result of a seminar held with rhe Californi a Highwa y Patrol . t hc Californi a Department of Motor Veh icles . and th e California Mot orcycl e Dealer's Asso ci at ion in Anaheim . a sp..c ia l bulletin went nut to a ll DMV offices explaining that a com pe tit io n bike does not haw to be brought into a DMV office to he issued an "ora nge sticker" (re~islration for c lo sr-d- c o u r sc r a crt r a r k -o n ly machin es). Malco's Graham Noyce won a nonGP 500cc MX in Herentals. Belgium on March 8. Young Noyce beat out Roger De,Coster and Sylvain Geboer. among othar European notables, Billy Uhl, starting in Ap ril , will join the Maico Enduro Team on a WR250 . Listed on the '77 Maico line-up are Lars Larsson, Barry Higgins , Bob Mercil, Bill Harris, Ben Watkins and Fort Hood's Team Army. The Baja Inter"national drawing is at 11:00 a.m. Saturday. April 9 in Parnelli Jones' race complex: Torrance, Calif, Tours of the "PJ" race shop and light refreshments will supplement the drawing for start position in the S .C .O .R.E . off -ro ad classic. The race itself is set for June 10, first vehicle out at 8:00 a .m. T he Bureau of Reclamat ion ha s released a proposal for lim ited re o opening of three areas a round Ca scade Reservoir. near Boise, Id aho. The a rea had been un der a blanketclosure to ORVs since August , 1974 . Copies of the proposal . with maps . a re on file at the BOR Region al Offi ce. 550 W . Fort St . , Boise; Valley Co unty Cou rthouse . Cascade City H all : a nd at Donnelley City H all, Donnelley. Idaho. , •(C01ltinue d on page 1.5) ~he late Randy Cleek in 1976. Cleek, Evans die Tragedies mar Roberts' Imolawin IMOLA, ITALY, AP R. 4 A superb performance by Kenny Roberts of Modesto , CA , in win ning Sunday'S200-mile Formula 750 World Ch ampionship Road Race at Imola , It aly, was clouded by separa te tragedi es which claimed th e, lives of three Am ericans. Pa t Evans of EI Cajon , CA , suffered criti ca l injuries in a single- bike crash du rin g th e opening 100' mi le segment of Sunday's race on the 5.15 -mile course at Im ola . Evans , a 2 1·yea r·old bachelor , crashed at an estimated 165 mph , su ffering severe brai n, spi nal an d chest injuries. Doc to rs a t the Bella lr a Hospita l in South La zar row, Italy. listed Eva ns in gua rded condition late Su nday a nd indicated his chances for survival were slim . Evans la ter died. Just hours after the co m ple tion of the race. 1976 U.S. Road Racing Champion R a nd y Cleek . 21, of Shawnee, O K, and five other pe rsons were killed in a two-car traffic accident near Imola . Cleek, Kurt Kiefer of the Bel -R ay Lub ricant Company, (which sponso re d t he talented Oklahoma rider), and Ita lia n translator Giuseppi "J oe" Geraci , as well 3'S three persons in the second ca r. all died in the cras h . Cleek, 21. is survived by his wife Tracy and his paren ts. Bill and Mona. Evans is survived by his parent s. Dave an d Hann ah. Kiefer , a ba chelor fro m Farmingd ale, N.J, is surv ived by his pa rents. . Just prior to Sunda y's ra ce , th e second in the 1977 Form ula 750 Wo rld Champion sh ip Series. Eva ns had signed a con tract with the Honda factory to ride in ma jor Europea n end u ra nce ra ces thi s yea r. Both Evans and Cleek had been selected as Am erica n team members for th e Anglo-Am erican Match Race Series. a tr aditional Great Brita in VS. U n ited Sta tes roa d r ace seri es conducted in England over the -Easter weekend . On t he r ace track , Am ericans Kenny Roberts a nd Steve Baker of Bellingham , Washi ngton. dominated the twin l OO-milers at Imola, fin ishing 1·2 respectively in both heats. That finish left the pa ir tied for the World Formula 750 points lead with 27 points each. The series' opening race was March 13 at Daytona International Speedway, where Baker won and Roberts was second. Fin ishing third at Imola was 15-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini of Italy. following by Christian S'lIrron of France and Boet van Dulmen of Holland. The top five finishers were all rid ing Yamahas. Sarron's effort , cou pled with a sevent h- place finish at Dayton a . moved him int o fou rt h in th e F750 sta ndi ngs behind th e Bak er Ro berts d ead lock a nd T a ka zu mi Kat a yama o f Jap an . Kata yama fin ished sixth a t Imola and has 15 points , closely followed by Sarro n's 12.