Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I've never heard of him n ot adhering to .a deal he has made. We need more hardheaded professiona ls to make our sport grow . The risk is great and I don't see anyone else knocking our door down to get into motocross. . The riders . fans . sponsors, and the AMA all need their consideration, but let 's don't short -change the guy who rakes the big risk : the producer. , ( TOM STEVENS Sherman Oaks. CA ~ Headlights on Jim Leonard - Safety Division Citizen's Council on Motorcycle , Inc. speaks of "goo d solid data" but where is his? Visibilit y would have prevented every car-motorcycle acc id ent I have had . Unfortunately I have had quite a few - minor . thank God! How are these for sound statistics? In , 28 years of all kinds of riding raci ng . blue p rint delivering and just fun riding - 1 lea rn ed one thing : Be seen . -I . What accident studies p rove that -there is an increase in accidents? 2 . After the passage of head lig ht laws (l ights on) a lot of things nave happened . Possibly we could tie the passage of these laws into any change that has occurred to motorcyclists i.e. : the loss of riding areas. Not ver y funny but the same type of no logic. 3. Tests in San Diego /Concord proved pedestrians did not benefit by cross walksl 4 . The accident ra te went up in the California tests . Who knows why? 5. The accident rate of veilow and orange cars was higher beca'use orange and yellow cars usually belong to hot dogs and speeders. That's JUSt as good a conclusion as Leonard's, Your "accurate . unbiased information" is not good solid data . bJt hoopla of unfounded statements. ' Person a lly I think you are full of ---The Hurt report may give us something to work with instead of our own unfounded staternentsl I • TED LA ROUCHE I Temple City, CA I want my fame < My first and probably only chance rdr racing fame and you b lew it l In the Rlc,ture on page 14 of the May 4th edition ( Issue # 17) you iden tified th e speedy chap in front (#580) as Heinz Sa'ckrueter. It wasn't him at all it was me . I don t know how you could get us mixed up - he doesn't even have a moustache . SCOTT A . OBERLE World's slowest but most persistent.Novice Westminster. CA Newspapers andrnotor sports Women riders Ti red o f few arti cles in t h e newsp a pers on your favorite drivers and motor sport? Then it is up to you to write your local newspaper and let them know. Use your letterhead if a business concern. San Jose area people write to Tony Ridder. San Jose M ercury N ews. 750 R idder Park Drive , San Jose, CA 95131 . Tell him you wish more sto ries on auto/motorcycle racing . They will listen if you writ e. Do it now. BOB BARKHIMER Scotts Valley, CA Northern California women wou ld like to start an ann ual Northern California Women's Motocross race. We need the support of 150 ·200 wom en riders' from California and other states to make it go . lf interested . please write or call. Keystone defends Sanford against " cry baby letter" In regards to Mr. Pat Stoll's cry baby letter about Don Sanford . 1 can see Sanford's point in becoming angry at a turkey rider who won 't get out or the way . It seems that a lot of this problem would be solved if they would run separte classes instead of mixing t he good experienced riders with the B and C riders . Granted . there are many B riders who ride every bit as well as some of t he A riders . but most don 't ride as well as the. Nationa l caliber rider. It does seem obvious t ha t t here is more at stake • for them than the average district rider. I can understand that . after a person has gone through this problem of trying to pass riders who won 't 'get out of the way for the millionth time. it could be j ust a little upsetting. The sad part of the whole letter is that Stoll is so quick in pointing out how unsportsman -like Sanford is . Well , was the "number one salute" that Stoll gave Sanford (and which probably started the whole thing) sportsman -like? Is a person jumping up and down a nd foaming at the mouth to Al Eames of the AMA . demanding that Sanford be thrown out of the AMA - and changing his story at least three times ( I was standing a few feet away) sportsman· like? Maybe if Stoll asked one of the riders mentioned , in his letter. ' they migh t have some secret cereal a 50 · pound. lighter. six -inch-shorte r person could eat to become aJack Ar mstrong . a ll -American na tional end uro rider. JOHN KEYST O N E Santa Ana . CA .. Please, please forgive us. W e 're sorry. Sob . . please, we beg you , f orgive us . . . Ed . Wasn'tme ' Recent ly. the WERA published a Oyer designed to promote WERA road racing . and distributed it in conjunction with their " A m er ica n oad R aci ng Magazine." Included on the front page of this Oyer was informa tion concerning and endorsing WE RA road racing and the conduc t of WERA races. At the bottom of the ront page appears" - J. Ulrich ." I d id no t a uthor the ma teria l ppearing in the flyer : no r do I ndorse WERA managemen t or road acing: nor did I give permission for he WERA to sign my name to an ad- . ertisernent for their organization . JOHN D. ULRICH Fullerton, CA Bernie Schreiber Great job on the article about Bernie Schreiber (Cycle News Issue #15 , April 20) . Of course. Bernie deserves credit , too! He is a great rider and a fine young man . 1 am not qualified to say Bernie is the best American trials rider - but 1 ca n say I would rather watch him than an y otherl He has a unique "Let it all hang o ut" style that has become his trad emark . I wish him cont inued success. even though I would like to see him switch to Montesa . S.A. " P ET E" NELSON Los Angeles . CA Where is Mitch Mayes? Cou ld you please give some informat ion on whe re Mitc h Mayes is? We would like to know ind ot hers would too . we're sure. THE MODESETT GANG Yorba Linda , CA Mitch is at home at 38558 Malby, Palmdale. CA 93550 . . Ed . Back bone protector JAN WHEELER 3552 Imperial Way . Sacramento. CA 95826 (916 ) 362 -9381 A modest proposal This lett er was prompt ed by everyone's joy concerning the proposed purchase of Hungry Valley as an O .R. V. site. I have been involved all along; I wrote letters, I sent telegrams, I belong to M.O.R.E. , the AMA. and have visited all of the proposed O .R.V. sites. I have done all of this because .of my love for the sport of motorcycling and in hopes t hat more areas not less , will be made ava ilable to us. I ha ve used Hungry Va lley as access to the Los Padres National Forest trail system for almost 10 yea rs, so I know the area well. The main reason I don't ride in the valley is because of the area 's total lack of varied riding terrain which has led to heavy impact on the environment and dangerous conditions with traffic. Cycle News has asked us to write letters supporting Hungry Valley. The AMA tersely replied to my letter saying the same, COR VA says the same , and you have said that M .O .R.E . feels the same (though I haven't heard personally) . I really think you ought to go back and take another look; sometimes the easy way isn't always best. It might make a good parking lot or maybe a good Ontariotype road race facility. I have said all along and will continue to say, we haven't gained a thing. Now that the decision is made and that's all we're going to get , where will the AMA run desert races or anything else for that matter when Carter closes the desert this summer. Sure, District 37 will try to hold ra ces at the park , but soon the people going will just give up because of t he lack of challenge and soon there won 't be anyone to bu y Cycle News. Because motocross and road r acing won't support it a lone . I think abou t it and get sic k, people just don't ca re enough to fight for good riding areas. . I do have a solution though . Require every subscription . every ad. every race report , and every letter to the Editor to be followed by the person's M.O .R .E. or AMA membership number , to sho w the person cares. Don't think for a minute your . circulation would drop . because where else is anyone going to sell their Huskys, Pentons and DK Ws this summer when Carter sla ms the door on th e desert. If th ey don't care SIO worth (tha t's less than half the price of a tire) by getting involved . then you shouldn't worry about them anyway. They a re the same ones that when the dust settles this summer and there's no place to ride. they will j ust walk away saying " Boy , back in '77 I was one of the last grea t desert racers." "You m ean . Daddy. you used to be able to ride a motorcycle in the desert, off the pavement?" . STEVEN M. HO L LEN Garden G rove. CA Cycle News supports both the AMA and M. a .R .E., and will con tinue to expose unfair land closures . B ut to require people to be a member of M . a .R.E. or AMA is not only against the spirit of motorcycling freedom, but is also impractical . . . Ed . .. - ~ .. I n rega rds t o t h e back bone protector - Pa t H en nen and Barry Sheene wear b ack bone protectors, and Pat is trying to get a hold of some to send us in the U .S . (He owes me one for some work I did for him .) Pat plans to sell them through some friends in Northern Calif. They need to be cut-to -fit the rider. and are high -density foam with straps. Barry Sheene credits this pad to saving his life in his 1975 crash at Da ytona . LARRY SCHENK AFM #lIm Burlingame, CA " Corsa Pacifica" flashback I' ve done a bit of riding a nd hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and I'njoYl'd it vl'ry much . I haw my doubts as 10 whether bikes should be a llowed (in the St ar e Parks) : hUI of co u rse that's up to t he Stat" Parks Commission , Howe-ver . has anyotH· thought of using the a rea at the WI'SI I'nd of Los Ang-elt's In te r n a tio n a l Airport as a motnrcyr k- a re a ? It seems to me thai it would fit t he n ee d . as noi se would. he IH! problem a nd the area is not in a n atural sta te . There must be SU in t " reason it hasn 't been used. hil l 1 ca n't Ihink of it , .JOliN DIERKES Santa Moni ca . CA O ru- !" o!m.sa ! .1''' " minibih» pa rk [ina nrcd uut h C" IJ[oT1/ i" SI"/,' 0fr lliit." u·"-,, Vch icl« ( 0 11II) T/·!!.;,I rat ion [unds U'fU rejert ed 0" t h» grOll /lib t hnt t h« minis ico uld stir IlIJ 10 0 m urh du st , ,-I lat cr !mJ!m. the "I",ndon "d st r rrt st o hr used fU (l road ("O ll r.~ I· U'fU .,,,.I''' d en oun ced b ecause or /f'aTed dallla,l!,f' su r ro u n d ing du II f ' .'i\'.~ / I' III!i . Th c CallToruia Cf}(;.~/fll COIII /;lI:uiou urmts 10 10 break up 1/", p"'·"II/I·nl . .......'111 u ral ,-I rra ". . . Ed . r T/'lIlin!!. II Trailbike wins and sagebrush Alice I am a spectator and not a racer, but I a lways do m y tra il riding on D-37 courses and pull in broken racers. so I feel I am in a position to comment eve n though I person all y do n' t know eithe r rider. When Cartledge (2T) passed me from my well-c hosen viewing position at the Rovers M .C. race on the first loo p . he had a threeminute lead on second place Hamill (I T). Cutting across the hill to get a better look at home check Cartledge came in. I watched him pit and he was gone with a four-minute lead on Hamill when he hit home check . Sure enough, I was seeing right , and the picture Gary Laudig took proves it. The picture shows a '77 Yamaha 125cc with a 100cc engine in it . Checking at the finish Cartledge's bike was 100 from wheel to wheel with a ninth overall finish and 12-minute lead on second place. Hamill didn't show so I never did get a good look at what Laudig took the picture of. I would call that balls to the wall riding by Cartledge on the real thing and I might add the course was a big bike one fro m start to finish. Cartledge's riding and the article by Alice Rhea from Mattaw ; Washington remi nded me of th e Bro ok s trailb ike wins and Rhea doing the writing. Nice to know you are still with us in the sage b rush, Alice . TIM JOH NSON Downey, CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send letters to Voices, Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801. 5

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