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/126263
INSIDE 250cc National MX Mot o rcycle Ol ympiad to be held Sept. 16 . 17 . an d 18 .1 977 . . Negotiat ions are now being made with Harry O xley of Int ernational Spe.e ~ ~ a y for the O lympiad's opening ac t rvmes at t he speedway r a ce s. Friday. September 16 , at Orange County Fairgrounds . Costa Mesa. California. The cash purse has been increased to $25.000 which makes t his one of the richest m ot orcycle events in the worl d' For further information , please writ to : MALCOLM SMITH & VIC WI LSON Int ern a tio na l Motorcycle Olympiad P.O . Box 2422 Orange. CA 92660 6 Tony D takes th ird title Fool's Gold Nat'l. Enduro. 8 Technical and Olson perfection. 9 World Champion Part V of the.authorized Roger DeCoster story. . 500cc World Championship MX 14 Heikki 's Dutch treat Greenhorn Nat'l. Enduro 16 Cycle East rider wins in the west Western Hotline 18 Speedvvay 20 Svvedish 500 World Championship MX 22 Thanks Brad wins a battle: Mikkola wins the war. Desert Hotline No':thern Dateline Central Pipeline Results Calendar Want Ads 39 31 '.' . 36 38 41 ~. 44 ON THE FRONT PAGE:· A tremendo us blast of lightn ing blinded us as to the two Saddleback ' riders' identi ties. Photo by Dave ~ ~wkins . who narrowly escaped inJury. CharlM C . C tavion . Presid ent Bo bi Scott . A!'~ L to Ihe- Presiden t Sharon Clav eon . Puhl i,hrr Edna Mt"Wton . Secretary to (two Pu b lis he r Advertising Debbi e W ilkins. SOlin Mit'". Jim Ryan . Sa les Mgr . Chris Kolbcl . Assist ant . John n. Ul ric-h . Edit or . Dab- Br own . A..,,;sla nl Etlilor .llav(' H awkins . As"i"la nl Edit nr , Graphics and Production P.md ucl ion : Bc:inni ~ St ru tin . Jud y Klin l{t"T. Ha ra sbu a . Carolyn Br an h am . La bo ra to ry P rod ucti on : Den ni s Gree ne. . Circulation Rhe ba Sm ith . Ma naKt"T . Pa m Green . J uanita Hlane on a nd Dia ne Felt e n . As.,i..tarns. Accounting Gay l(" Zaioru . Manager . ~1 ik r Klin ger . As-'ll. n(" YlRT. j ea nn e . ... mmond . Accts. Recei va ble Pam ela Dickerson . Asst . Acct s. R l"'Cri\'3 bl("~ R honda V..n Doren , Co llec tion Depr . Services and Support Stev e Rtchardso n. Patti Ba il Receptionist . West 2201 Cherry Avl".• Lo ng Br ach . CA P.O . 80.. 498 . LonK Bea ch . CA 9080 1. (gU) 427 .7 433: L.A . Line 636 ·8844 . East ' P.O . Bo .. 805 . Tud.r r. G A :sGOS4 . (0104 ) 78S0 . . 9~ -. Subscription O ne yea r, seco nd class ma il S15 : 2 years . second cia" m ail. S 2 7 ~ 3 years. second t lan m ail, S37 .50 . CLASS . JH:J 111 £ ..11 " ( 4 - I could not read the Speedway W eek article by Dennis Greene in the May 18 issu e of Cycle N ews and not sa y som ething. . Obviously. th e prom oters like to see thi s type thing written a bo ut their ra ces.. But . the paper is published with the Int ent of informing th e public of what is happening . accurately. a nd not m eant to be used as a pursuasive form of literature. In the article . Green e sta tes th at 98% of th e to p rid er s we re o n hand . On h and: maybe', but ra cing . no! If th e top riders are th e 16 .wh o were in th e Nationals last yea r . th en eight of tho se d id not ride . Th at's 50% . not 98% . If 8.5 00 fans turned out Frid ay night at Costa Mesa . they su re lv weren't in th e st a nds - th e Orange Co unty Fairboard in fo rmed m e th at th e sta nds at present hold a litt le ove r 6 ,000 , and on th e night in qu esti on th ey weren't filled . STEVESCHLANSER P asadena . CA Sch lan ser is a past pr esid ent of th e Sp eedway R acing A ssn . . . Ed : Editorial Ty pogr ap hy : Marl on Truth COPY" Kht C ycle N('W ~ . In c. 1977 . Trade mark rroKistf'rrod U .S . P at ent Offi ce . All riKh u reserved . Published wf'f'kly e xce pt th e finn an d la st week o f rbe cale nd a r yt'ar by Cycle News. In c .. P.O . Box 49R , Lon g Bea ch . Ca lifor nia . Secon d daM postaK(' pa id at Long Bea ch . C A 9080 1. Edi tori al sto ries . ca noon!l. p ho tos . ere . art' .wd com ('. Ad dressed . stam ped enve lope assu res retu rn of unpurchased ed itorial m an er . Reprinting in whole or pa rt o n ly by pe rmission of the publish ers . Adv e rt ising ratrs and circ u lation inf orm ation will be srnt upon rroq utst . See S .R .D .S. . San Jose • The San Jose.Mi le was a sh ow case of professional m o to rcycle racing at its best. Unfortunately . th e program was b lemished by a single in cident of gross co m mercia lism totall y unbecoming such a class event . The in cident occurred during th e trop hy presentation ' for . fa stest qualifier. Mert Lawwill h ad just timed the fast est lap ever recorded a t San Jose. Along with Mert was a man wh o has given motorcycling ove r 60 yea rs of enthusiastic servi ce . ven erable Dudley Perkins. Dud had agreed to sponsor ~ Mert for his com e -ba ck vear: Also o n hand was a slightly bui !"t young m an with an ea r to ear grin .. . none o rh r t h a n th e inco m para b le Mark Brelsford . The presence of t hesc three men and th e circ u ms ta nces su rro u nd ing I their m eeting in front of the packed grandstand set t he stage for a very specia l m omen t. Fo r those of us fa m iliar wit h t he u ps and downs th ese men ha ve experienced , it cou ld have been an emo tion -filled moment. Roxy Rockwood was there as Master o f C eremonies ' for th e prer a ce acti viti es. Surprisingly. Rox y gave th e microphone to a dis c jo ck ey from a local co untry-western radi o station for the act u a l trophy presentation . The d isc jockey was th e perfect stereotype of. a razz-a -rna -t azz , time a nd temp_ D.]. H e proceeded to make a n ass of himself. and -a lso did his best to humiliate Mert . He see m ed to co nside r "T he Mile" nothing more than a sid esh ow : A ludicrous cross between Speedy Babbs a nd Roll er Der bv. T he D.]. th en ga ve a five-mi n ute hard -sell co m mercia l for an upcom ing co u nt ry music fesitval . The riders on th e national circui t are professionals. They deserve to be treated with re spect. . Me r t , Dud and Mark deserved better. RANDY BU XT O N Fres no , CA . Save the desert. .. for bombs Enclosed is clippi ng fro m loca l newsp ape r. P lea se note th at the Government ca n. use our ·desert for dropping 500 po und bo mbs. but we can' t use it for racing motorcycles. I wo nder if an environmen tal impact study was do ne prior to th e bo m bing? Di~ the pa~ticipa!'ts have to pay to register their equIpment and bombs ( i .e. green stickies ) prior to "participation. " Somewhere th e logi c of our r uling class escapes m y comprehension . DO RAN A. CUSH ING Red ondo Bea ch . CA Race of Champions name changed , Th e Monroe /S&W Race of Champion's has been changed in name to the Monroe/S& W Internation al Thanks to the people who hel ped m y brother a nd I at the DRA race May 15th . Chris crashed ha rd just past th e bo mb a nd was knocked unconscious for several minutes . J ohn McCon nell .a nd Darrin Blood - both racing _ I stopped . J ohn stayed wit h Chris. whil e Darri n rode bac k to the bom b to notify ' h el p . T he SC AT re scue t e am respon d ed . checked him ou t. and b roug ht him back to ca mp : /. Later in th e day d u ring t tle a mate ur/expert race I hit a roc k a nd . un loaded. I would like to thank Ed Wa ldheim . Phil Ga ldi and ot her s for ca rryi ng my bik e a nd bod off of th e course . Also I would like to thank Mark Moull et forriding back with me to make sure I go t back to ca m p all right. SCOT DUNCAI DRA 56X Am : Olivenhain, C~ Grand Prix coverage I What happened to the fant asti Cycle N ews MX Grand P rix cove rage of last year? To date th ere have been 10 World Championshi p races this yea r. yet you've onl y had one article.. for t he opening 250cc GP . What gives ? I JEFFTEZER C laremont. CA W e 're print ing everything we can get.! Unfo rt unately , ou r ace E ur op ean, correspon d ent s sen t a bunch 'of stuf., f on a slow boat fro m England. You saw it last week . . . Ed. Jeff Jennings' fox I' d lik e ,to kn ow . who that great lookin ' chi ck was wit h J eff J ennings (Team Su zuk i) a fte r the Hangtown 125 a nd 250 National. What a FO X! Please print this . I have to know. . GA R Y ROBI NSO N Sa cram ento. CA Published letters do not necessarily ref lect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Send letters to Voices. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801.