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/126264
Bultaco owners feel complimented IINSIDE ~ E AMA National Half Mile . 6 Gary tops the tale of two Scotts Yamaha YZ 125 D Test .. 8 The evolutionary Mono World Champion 10 Part VI of the aut horized Roger DeCoster story Up-Close 14 Honda 'sJon R. Italia n RR Grand Prix . . . 14 Sheene keeps winning New Orleans Super· cross : 16 Smith super in Superdome Speedway strike . . . . - .. 18 . The inside story Western Hotline 20 World Championship . 24 Trials : Coutard wins Am erican rou nd 500cc World ChampionshipMX 26 The Flying Finn wins at home Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 49 Want Ads . . . . , . . . : ... .. 52 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Mike Bell pushes the YZ 1l!5D to the max whilst testing it at Saddleback Park. Alan Christ ian isn't one of the striking speedway riders but he's struck three times at Costa Mesa's Scratch Main . Photos by Dave Hawkins and Dennis Greene. Ch,1.rln C. Clayton . Presiden t Bobi Sco n . Asst.·to th~ President Sh .. ron Clayton . P u blisher Edna Mewton . Secrerary to th e Publisber Advertising Deb bie W ilkins. SOlin Mgr. Jim Ryan , Sa l" Mgr . Chris Kolber, Assista nt . Editoria l John D . Ulrich. Editor . Dale Brown , Assista nt Editor. Dave Hawki ns, Assistant Editor. Graphics and Production Produc tion : Bonn ie Sm nin. Judy KlinKt'r. Typography: Ma rio n H a t a ahir a . Carol yn Branh am . . Lab or ato ry Prod uction : Dtn~ia G~ . Circulation Rbeba Smit h . Managn. Pam Green , Juanita . Bbnton and Dia ne Felto n . As.,istant l . Accounting Gaylene Zaioru:. M ana~r . Mikr Kl in~r . A!!o.'it . Mgr. jeanne Hammond. Aero. Recei va bie . Pamda Dickerson, Aut. Accts. Recei vable. Rhonda Van Deren. Col lection Dept . Services and Support Steve Richardson. Patt Bair ReceptIOnist. i West nOI Cherry A~ .• LonK Beach . CA P.O . Box 498 . Long Bea ch . CA 90801. ~J~ ) 427·7435 ; L. A . Line 636 ·8844 . East P.O . Box 805 . T ucker . GA 30084 . (404 ) 934 · 7850 . Subscription O ne year. second class m3i l 1 15> : 2 yran. K'COIld class mail . $27 : 3 yran. seco nd cla ss m a il. 157.5>0 . 4 Co pyrigh t Cycle News . Inc . 1977 . T rade mark registered U.S . Pat rOl Office. All righ ts reserved . Published weekl y except the fint and lut week of the calendar yu r by Cycl~ News. Inc .. P .O . Box 49 8 . Long Bra ch , California . Secced class poata~ paid at Long Bra ch . CA 90801. Edito rial ItOries . cartoo ns . phot ... ere . are welcome. Addressed . stamped enve lope . .urn return of unpurchesed ed ito rial m aner . Reprinting in whole o r pa rt onl y by permission of the publishers. Advrnising ratn and circubtMm information will be senr upon eequ.... ... S.R .D.S. U RA $5 license My fami ly and I race family endures whe never and wherever we have tim e to go . We th ink it is grossly unfair to have to pay $5 per rider license fee ($20) to run the URA ra ce (probably th e only one th is yea r) . This yea r's Frosty Cactus ripoff was st arted 16 m inutes late , th e first check was 10 minutes ea rly . the seco nd ch eck was ap pro xim ately nine mi nu tes lat e. t he second loop sta rter was confused about starting time , check point six people ' pa cked up and went hom e . etc . When I asked what the rider recei ves for th eir license fee . I - was . told . " Mo re tha n you ge t from the A .M .A . , wh ich is nothing ." When 1 compl ai ned a bout the poorly·run race. I was told if I didn't like it to try a CRC event if I wanted to run a really screwed -up ra ce . At one tim e m y wife was told the reason for th e lat e start was to give the lat e comers a chance to get to th e start line on time. ROY TA YLOR Haciend a Heights, CA Thanks to Dirt Diggers M.C. First accept our apologies for th e delay in responding to your group for their generous donation . Ever yone in this valley thanks you for you r gift of $488 and the refrigerator lor our center. Needless to say we ca n put th e money to good use for r epa ir s, equipment and suppli es for th e Apache Community Center. Alth ough we are part of th e Cu yama Vall ey Rec re a t io n District , we have n o budget and depend entirely on th e generosity of our community and our fr iends such as your grou p. In th e past due to a few, motorcycle groups hav e been considered a bunch of " ro wd ies, " a stigma th at you r group ha s dispelled as far as the residents in ou r community a re co ncerned . When d iscu ssin g informally you r Red Ga rt er End uro th e consensus of opi nion her e is th at : "T hey were no p rob lem s;" "Those I met were a nice bu nc h of gu ys;" "Glad -to have th em ." etc. W e th e direct ors of the center a re st ill a little stu nne d th a t any gr oup would be so generous to ou r efforts. We want to thank eac h participant a nd your o fficers for t he ir thoughtfulness. JERRY BEESON . President DONNA SANDERS , Vice ' President JEANNE KLOCOW , Sec. vTreas. Apache Community Center _ Maricopa , CA Kick·'em-up endu ro riding . I am in no way condo ni ng T exas rider, Don Sanford 's all eged ac tion a t th e recent Red Garter. But act ions suc h as his arc not confined to riders outside of D· 37. W e even ha ve some of his kind in some of ou r so-ca lled fa mily cl ubs. ~ As a "C" end u ro rid er [ real ize that I'm nowhere nca r as good or as fast as most "A" or " B" riders. so I'll ge t ou t of a nyone 's wa y as fas t as possibl e, I' ve bee n run over. sworn a t in la nguage not good enough for a sh ip and , best of all . at this year's Prospect ors Enduro, ph ysicall y kicked over on th e side of a hill by a rider as he passed . wit h plenty of room , whi le I was tryin g to recover m yself from an unscheduled visit with th e local ro ck pil e. This same rider also kicked anot he r 'rider about 10 feet furth er up th e hill in the sam e condition as I. It would give you the impression that " A" a nd " B" riders feel th ere is no ro om for anyone on th e co urse but themselves . What these rid ers fail to remember is that they were once "C" class riders and how did th ey learn? My D-37 license says, like everyon e else's , "Sp ortsm an Competition . " All riders, class or event not withstanding . sho u ld remember th is. ANNE CRA WSHA W Trai ni ng Wheels MC Hermosa Bea ch , CA Why, thank you. Mr. Moore. Myself and hundreds of Bultaco owners across th e co unt ry a re blu shing in response to your generous compliments. I am, of co urse referring to you r letter to Cycle News in th e Ma y 25 issue . In it , you described us a ll as "mirac le-workers." W ith all due mod est y. however , I feel I must confess; I a m not a miracle worker. I am not even a very good mechanic. I am , however. t he own er of a quality piece of m ach inery which . like anything else worth ha ving . requires ca re a nd ma intena nce. I hav e own ed m y '76 Pursang twice as long as yours and in tha t time I hav e suffered nothing mor e seriou s than a brok en seat mou n t. Out of a whole mess of races and countless trai l rides . th e bike h as co me shi ni ng through , more often than not , better than me. No , it doesn 't ta ke m ira cles to hold th is bik e together any more than the next on e . It docs. however, tak e a respect for machinery and a little tim e and effo r t. This app lies to anv motorcycle , whet her it is m ade i~ Europe. Japan or on Mars . . RON LAWSON H ighland , CA Roeseler I was up at Virginia Cit y and wa tch ed th e inspired riding th at Larry Roeseler did Su nd ay . Roeseler started as number 274 on Sunday. Aft er th e first lap of 18 rugged m iles he came over th e jum p onto th e stra ighiaway in front of the pits runnin g 41st overall. Being a devoted District -S? desert fan I ju m ped up and yelled. " It 's Roeseler l" Some dude walked over to me and aske d in' all seriousness :'W hat's a 'roeseler'? " I told hi m in n~ uncerta in term s th a t "a roeseler" just ha ppen ed to be th e rid er who was going to win that par tic ular race. Of co u rse, the non -believer was ready and willing to m ake a little bet on th at . so a . fellow So uthe rn Ca lifo rn ia n too k him . u p on it. T he seco nd tim e throu gh th e pits Roeseler was sevent h an d by the third lap he was in seco nd . Each time he came a ro u nd. m y "wa r whoop" got louder a nd the " big bettor" from th e north ba cked o ff farther and farther until he fin all y d isappeared .into th e cro wd . Roeseler ca m e around the fourth tim e doing his usual littl e "wiggle" and cross-u p over th e jump ont o th e straigh ta way in th e lead b y tw o minutes. r It w a ~ a real th rill to watch Larry Roeseler ed uc ate the race fan s of N;'rthern Cal ifornia and Nevada as to just what a " roeseler" really wa s. Her e's a sa lute to young Mr. Roeselerl California bike rental . ':lere is some news for all your street riding rea ders wh o want to go riding but don't have a bik e. They can re nt a 100 ·7 50 at Rid e -O n · H onda Mot orcyles in Va n Nuys at 695 9 Va n N uys Boulevard . JIM T R IPP Santa Barbara , CA It was me JOYCE MAY (SG VMC) Barstow , CA For you r info the gu y on th e I!i33 Indian at th e Din osaur Run was me an.d I sure had fu n. Next yea r . I wili bnng m y Harley W / R mod el. ROBERT TRYON Anaheim , CA