Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

INSIDE Southwick 250 MX Nat'l , 6 Marty Smith wins A use for CR125s .... , ... 8 Will Hondas be competitive again? California City GP 10 VOICBS OPTIIB WIIST Maybe Keen won ; maybe not World Champion, .. . .. , 12 The authorized Roger DeCoster story Imola and Paul Ricard . .. 14 Victory and despair in Europe Friends in hig h places. . . 16 T ed Mondale races MX Western hotline .. . , ., .. 18 Local heroes and stars Northern Dateline, , , 31 Central Pipeline , 35 Results .. , . " ,. , " ,38 Calendar , ., ,. ,. , , , , , .. 41 Motocross Cat, , , . , ... . 48 ****** ON THE FRONT PAGE; Roger and DeCoster. the five -time curre nt - World 500cc Motocross Champion . His story begins on page 12. Photo by T omie Lafon . C ha rln C . C tavecn. Presid en t Bobi 5<-0 11, A~~t. to thf' Presi de-nt Sharon Cl ay ton . Pu blishe-r Edna Mrw t'on . Se cre tary to tbe Pu bl is he- . r Advertising Deb bie W ilkins, Sal n ~1 KT . J im Rya n , 501 11"5 Mgr . C hri s Kolbe r, AS!ii'lla nt. . Editorial joh n n. Ulrk h . Edit or . Da le Brown . As"istall t F.t1illlr . DaveHawkin s. As, isl anl EdilOr. Graph ics and Production Product ion : Bonnie St ruri n . J ud y Klin,l(('r. Tv pogr a p h y: M a r io n H a ra shir a . C arolyn Bra n h a m . L a bo ra to ry Prod ucti o n : Dennis Cox. . Circulation Rhe ba Sm ith . l\1a naKr r . " a n Green . J ua nita 81.. men a nd Dia flf' Felton. A"istantli. · Accounting Ca ylene- l aiom . ~b. na Kt" r . Mikr Klinger, Au t. M~ . jeanne Ham mon d . AC'cu . Rece iva ble . P ~mrb Dickerson . AnI. AC'C't! . Rec eiva b le. Rh ond a Villn Dornt . Coltecnon De pr . Services and Support Steve Richardson. Patti Bair Receptionist. West ~20 1 Chf'fry Ave.• LonR Bea ch . C A P.O . Box "'98 . Long Beach . CA 9080 1. L.A . LJnr636·8844 . ~1 5 )"' 2 7 .74 5 5 : East P.O . Box KOS. Tu cker , GA 3008 4. (404) 9:H · 78SO. Subscription O ne yt'iIr . second cla ss mail Sl ~ : 2 yt'an. seco nd cl U J mail. S27 : 3 )Tan. seco nd clus m ail. S37.S0. 4 Co pyrig h t Cvcle News . In c. 1977 . Trade mark regi stered U.S . Paren t Office . All rights reserved . Published weekly except the fiBl and I~st week o f the cale nda r yea r by Cyc le New s. Inc . P.O . 60x 498. Long Bea ch . Cal ifor nia Sec on d dill" po6ta gt' paid ilt Lo ng Beach . C A 90801 . Editoria l src ries . ca rtoons . photos . etc . art' .....e lcorne . Ad dr essed . sta mped en velope UlurM return o f unpurcbased eduori.. 1 man er . Reprint ing in whol e o r pan only b y perrnission of th e publishers . Ad\,t'rt ising r ates and circ ulation infcrm anc n will be srn t upon reqcesr . ~S . R .O .S . Bultaco vs. Gia natsis As a m atter of po licy. Bult aco Int e rn a ti on al h a s neve r tr ied to in flue nce the repo rt ing of races or t he o p inions of t he reporters. W e have a lways d one. a nd will co n t in ue to d o . th e best we can o n th e race track a nd let th e chi ps ( read editoria l co mment) fa ll wh e r e th e y m a y . Re centl y . however . you ha ve penned a rti cles wh ich we co nsider un fai r a nd . as a point of fac t . untru e! Specifi call y. I would like to qu ot e fro m you r ed ito ria l co m me nts in th e recent article you wrot e about Jim Pomeroy. featured in Cycle N euis. Sp eaking of J im 's 19i 6 G ra nd Pri x seaso n. you wrote . . . . " Bu t at a lmos t every race his ( Po me roy 's) bike br ok e in O'1e m ot o or both . . ... a nd . " Bu ltaco gave Pom ero y two m ech anics - Rubio Flor es and Arni e Beam an to try an d keep th e bikes run ni ng , but even th ey co u ld n't be God to a hi ke th at required m iracles to fin ish ." Of the 24 Grand Prix m ot os th e re were exactly two rn or os th a t Po m ero y fa iled to fin ish du e to a m a ch ine' m al fun cti on. One DNF was ca used by a b roken sh ock absor ber ( n o t m anu factured by Bult aco) an d th e other by a stuck throttle . Jim Pom ero y had th e high est fini sh ing record of any m orocro ss rid er in t h e W orl d Championships and finish ed fou rth in W orld Champ ion sh ip sta n d ings . Cert a inl y. much of th e cred it bel ongs to Jim . wh o . in o ur o p in ion. is o ne of th e fin est riders to eve r st radd le a motorcycle . How ever . d on 't you think so me c re d it s ho u ld go to the m anufacturer as well? Bult aco did spon sor Jim in Europ e for four yea rs. lo ng before an yon e else wou Id co nsider spe nd ing the time . m on ey o r effort on an Ameri can in Grand Prix co m pet itio n . Furth ermore . in 1976 . Bu lta co m otorcycles m anaged to win ; Two World Championships (o ne for the fourth yea r in a row ); Fin ish seco nd in a no the r World Championsh ip ; Win three of the five Am eri can Nation al Sh ort Track ra ces (wit h three different riders ); Win nin e Gold Med als at the International Six Davs Tri al. This yea r ou r Gra'nd Prix effo rt has th e sam e me chani c ( Ru bio Flor es). th e sa lTY!' bike (25 0 Pursa.ng) a nd a seco nd in c u r r ent W orld pl ace sta nd ings . . . onl y t wo points from th e leader. I wonder if yo u co uld tell m e how results like this are po ssible o n motorcycles that requ ire " m iracles" to finish? Since our inception in 1958 . we have endeavored t o test our mot orcycles in virt ua lly eve ry for m of competition withi n ou r displacement limitations . and o ur success is legendary . Every racing effort has fail ures . because racing is meant as a proving ground and we use our successes as well as a ll our fai lures to help put into production the best motorcycles possible . RA Y BRUMBELOE Promot ions Coordinator Bulta co Int ernati onal . Ltd . Dusty Sacto OHV Park MX The racc held a t Sacramento ORV Park on April 17 was unbelievable. Du sty co ndi tio ns a nd sho rtened races ca used .m a n y of th e riders to lodge com pla in ts a nd more t ha n o ne to requ est a refu nd of th eir ent ry mon ey. T he tr ack d idn 't get wat ered unt il a bun ch of riders co rn ered " Da ngero us Dion " a nd sta rte d lean ing o n him . Ther e are a lot o f riders who a re sic k-a n d -t ired o f th e i ll-prepared . un organi zed m ot ocross races held by BOSS·CM C Sem i- Pr o MX . Danny Turner pu lled off the tra ck in the seco nd moto be ca use he co uld n't see whe re he was rid ing . T he riders were forced to sh ut off wa y before the turns so th ey co u ld see where the tra ck act ua lly was. A had start m ad e it impossible to ca tc h th e leader s in th e sho rtened four-lap ra ces. Th e t r a ck s hou ld h a ve b er-n p re pa red Sa tu rday n ight so it woul d han' held wha t littl e wa ter ' was p ut do wn instead of t he ha rd pa ck soil t ha t ca used th e Wa te r to run o ff a nd co llec t in th e turns. Eve rvone was a mazed to lea rn that Dio n 'm ad e 75 .000 las! yea r. Fo r th at kind of money I woul d grade th e track with a Hula -H oe . We a ll kn ow th en ' is a wat er shortage. however . I feel th e track su r face wa s in no position to acce p t a ny wat er at a ll. A lot of riders are o ut th ere to make a living a nd when you get a bad sta rt it made it impossibl e to ca tc h th e lead ers with th e thi ck dust in o n ly four lap s. T hese weren 't m ot ocross race s I a tt ended they were dusty drag races . The rid er s deserv e better co nd it ions th an those de scribed . Promoters like this o n ly discourage even the finest of rid er s. Pleas e help if yo u ca n . G REGNEUKUM Sa cramento , CA Fred Dion , promot er f o r BOSS·CMC Semi- Pro MX . whe n calle d by CN, . said he did eueryt hrng in hi, power t o put on good race, . " It ', my bu sin ess to ma ke th e p ro, happy an d I tr y t'ery hard to do '0. " Dim, said . "I sp ent ov er $ 550 wat ering th e tra ck Saturda» night bef or e th e race o n Sunday . M )' o rigin a I uaterin g t ruck brok e doum a nd I had to find and hire anoth er . " he co ntin ue d, "and we didn 't , to p putting wat er down until 2:00 a. m . Sunda y . What really killed th e moist u re wa, the night -long st rong north ern uunds. "A lso. ea rlie r on Saturday . a D-8 Cat erpillar worked fo r 10 hours o n th e AlE1111 R£fLIZEITJ;J!tJIIR.4Y. / K#OM / k'NtW. ... /T:JvaTllI11T/ /1111/£1711/ rVt1l1lYF£fL/A'G AStJ/!T MWMY-r. / r/P'JTM'tJA!, Mlel!/ tJf¥#711£faY//"£ PP'.4A'lio/Eh7'tWA: 5tJ;J!E wrz, s:~#t>1#6l!1ERf M!!IJ(Jt'!E!1II!16 71I11TY 6CJ1I1I4';t!.4KE;+/,YMY. ) ~ ~~ / tra ck wh ich wa, hard pa ck ed th e week before by a dune buggy race. " (not promoted by Dion) . When asked aboiit th e sho rtened race' Dion said, "B eca use of the new wat er truck driver, who wa, supposed to be at th e track by I I :00 a. m . Sunday a, co nt ra cted, I had to post po ne th e sta rt out of concern f or rid er safety until t he tru ck arrived a hour lat er. Because of this d clayand t urnout of 535 rid ers th e race, were shortened t o fo u r laps each ." Wh ich ex plained Dian . "wa, at least 1& minut e, of racing fo r each m ot a since it tak e, Ot'er two min ute, per lap. " In' closing Dio n said . "I unsli / did make S7 5.00 0 a year " __ . Ed . Bikes save gas , deserve tax rebate Don 't you think it's about time som eon e made som e noi se a bout a tax rebat e for m ot or cycl e s? Sin ce Pres ident Carter's energy package calls for a tax o n ga s g uzzlers and a rebate for sm all ca rs, thi s seems on ly fitting . How ab out it A.M .A .. M. LC .. etc? R ICHARD J ACKSO N Laramie. WY On A p ril 25. Am erica n Motorcyclist A , ,,/. (A MA) Ex ecutive Dir ector Barrie Best telegram ed th e Presid ent , ca liinK attentio n to t he f ac t that mot orcy cles. whic h protide veT)' econo m ical transportation , should be included in any rebate programs ena r ted bv th e Presiden t , T he Whit e H ouse ha,-y et to reply . . .Ed. Mitch Mayes raffle Her e's a quick word to remind ev eryo ne a b o u t th e Sled R id e rs' benefit raffle for Mitch Mayes. The raffle will be held Saturday night . May 7 . at 7 ;30 p .m . at the Sled Riders Hare and Hound , Soggy Dry Lake area . Lucerne Valley . And . although you do not have to be there to win the raffle prizes. we do have a lo t of special goodies to give awa y to those present at th e drawing. We wish to express our than ks to those who have a lready purchased tickets and to th e following bu sinesses who have dona ted p rizes for the raffle: Hod ak a Mot o rcycles; Bell Helmets; J T Racing ; Curnutt Shocks ; AI Bak er R a c ing Produc ts ; Webco ; D .G . Performanc e Sp ecia lties ; Vesco Skinny-Fat T anks; Q.E. Engineering; Full -Bore Boots ; Electro Helmets; Uni Filt ers ; Champ ion Spa rk pl ugs; Anaheim Sportcycle; Husqvarna International; White Brothers Cycle Sp ecia lties; Brid g esrone Ti res; Lyn n Wilson Motorcycle Specialties; Bob Ma ynard Off Roa d Racing ; K&N P rod ucts; Torsren Ha llman R acing ; Terry Cables and Fork Kits; Prot o Tools ; SC Ott USA ; Circle Industri es; Cycle G uide/ C ustom Bike Magazine; Malcolm Smith Prod ucts ; Lo ng Beach Ho nd a ; Bria n Klock Color Action Pho tos; Be l- R a y; PJ· }; Du ra lube: Pen nzoil : Ya m alube ; Johnson 1I/11IU£. / t.'IIJWoNNA"1#6IF itJtI CO//LP /lpn/E... ~

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