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
i Cyelerama '77 1:' 1:' O"l I""""l Jeff Ward wins Race of Chan:wpions: .~ . (Above) While the overall Cyclerama concept suffered. the racing was still...racing. (Above left) Riders wait to smoke it at zoot-capri hydraulic starting gate. The gate, however, wasn't so zoot when it broke Friday night. An old-fashioned rubber band start substituted. . (Below) Saturday's rainstorm turned Cyclerlima into a slip-n-slide mudfest for both riders and spectators. Mini Riders slam it, jam it, at NMA Cyclerama '77 By Rex Reese TRABUCO CANYON , CA . APR. 1-2-3 The National Minicycle Association's (NMA) midnight trophy presentation Sunday night was the final scene of three long days and nights of racing at Cyclerama '77. T~e event, which had been advertised as a moto rcycle extravaga nza, had as its ce nterp iece the NMA World Mini GP and Race of Champions. At the other distant corn e rs of th e Ra cing World Park were the CRC -Bosch $5000 motocross, the Jimmy Weinert Supernationals of Bicycle Motocross (BMXl : and a Southern California Trials Associati on (SCT A) tri als me et. The ind ivid ua l events wen- stag ed with varying d egrees o f success. However , th e overa ll "Cvclera rna. ' (c o-sponso red by Ja ck in ' the Box , Coca -Cola . and Bel Ray) failed to live up to all the public relation s-hyped ex pecta tio ns. . 16 Up fro nt , the World Min i G P dominated . Cyc le r a m a . Frid a y afternoon was the schcd u led start , wit'h th e running- of th e 100s and 125s. but inadequate lighting delayed th e proceedings unti l 9:00 p .m . By the time t he hydrau lic starting g a tl' unleashed th e first moto off th e line. t he track was a mottled picture of poo ls of light a nd d a rk , lea ving the young riders to race th ei r litr le hea rts out on a ha lf-lit course. T he re were a few get o ffs beca use of th e la ck of ligh t. O f th e mo re int er estin g cras hes, 100 Pro j eff Botim a had his Hond a seize up on him in mi d -a ir and su bseq ue nt ly the rest of th e pack ran him over, H(" d idn't get hu rt too bad. Lance Moo rewood (Ya m) , son of NM A racing di rector Ted Moo rewood. was run ni ng in the 125 Pros in a bo ut t hird p lace wh en he rou nded a tight left hand turn and anot her rid er ce n te rpunch e d him , jamming his th um b and ru nning over his face . By the time the firs t n igh t of racing was over , it was 2 :00 a. m . .. ln th e morning . It was co ld, th e sky was clouded over and ready to ra in. The few people who had an y iruelligcn ce were a lrea dy in bed a nd /or asleep by thi s time . Kids who normallv would 've gott en killed by their parents for sta ying up thi s lat e wer e dead tir t-d. Those who were ra cing ou t on th e tr a ck wer e rid ing more radi cal than rhey would hav e it they were in th eir right mind s . It wa s that late . Evervbodv was that tired. Whh th e IOOs a nd 125s ou t of the way , Saturda y a nd Sunday were devoted to mini racing, with Sunda y b eing focused o n t he Race of Champions. Saturday'. first event was scheduled to get off the ground at 8 :30 a .m . , but actually got under way at 9:00 to begin th e first moto of over 100 (36 classes) that wou ld be ru n , T he racing was heavy and tig ht in most classes, a nd in jus t about l'very race, th e start was a wave of yellow a nd black Yamahas and Suzukis . At first it look ed as if Suzu ki's RM 80 wou ld be co mpetition for th e YZ 80, YZS pulled the RM s off t he line al mos t "Vl'ry time . Becau se of th e swoo py ba nked co rners of t he Ma rt y Sm it h track , th e stoc k top g-ea ring on a lot of bikes wasn't tall bom bs eno ugh to keep the littl e fro m over revving and blowing u p fro m under the rid ers. >