Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

THE LATEST POOP BY PAPA WEALEY h,--- - - - - - - .. In the first moto of the 500 GP in West Gennany on June 5 HeikkiMikkola beat Roger DeCoster, Bengt Aberg. Brad Lackey. Herbert Schmitz , Gerritt Wolsink . Jaak Van Velthoven and Arne Lindfors. In the second round it was Wolsink for the win , t hen Mikkola . DeCoster, Ha kan Anderson , Lindfors, Van Velthoven, Lackey and John Banks. The overall went to Mikkola (1-2), second was DeCoster L (2-3). Wolsink third (6-1) and fourth ' Lackey with a (4,7) . The 500 GP point totals, after five of 12 ra ce s, have Mikkola in the lead with 130. DeCoster second with 101, Wolsink third with 94 , and Brad Lackey fourth with 73 points, ~ suprpise from Kawasaki - Jimmy f Weinert will contest the remainder of th e 125 Nationals aboard a prototype Kawasaki. This will mark the first time "The Jammer" will mount a 125 motorcycle in any National. Jimmy Weinert w ill pass up the 500 GP at Carlsbad to attend al l the ' 125 Nationals. Team Kawasaki will be represented at Carlsbad by Gary Semics and Terry Clark. u Ji' Dick Burleson , unhappy at his defeat the Rose City Two Day, swept to a convincing victory at the Trask Mountain Two Day in McMinnville, Oregon June 4-5. Frank Gallo (Pen) T had established a lead on Saturday only to destroy a rear wheel on Sunday. Tom Penton nailed down the b" 250 class win with Carl Cranke (Pen) 2"edging Gary Youngkins (Pen) in the 10 350 class . Ou r man on the scene ,rreport ed rain on Saturday and 80 . ' degr ee hot weather on Sunday. Full ""report next week. ~ in For one day only. Saturday June 11 , at the Los Angeles Sports ..rAre na Box Office any purchase of a $15 Adult V.I.P . ticket will entitle the bearer to a free Superbowl of , Motocross t-shirt, la $6 value). The French Formula 750 at DiJon , '-France was won by Christian Estrosi (Yam) with a 1-2, second was Phillipe Coulon (Yam ) with a 2-2, and third was American Steve Baker (Yam) with a 3-3. The top three were followed by Michell Rougerie (Yam), Bernard Fau (Yam), Marco LuchinelIi (Yam) and Warren Willing (Yam). motorcycles only a mong bike . registration figures . while 21 states include mopeds and motor-driven b icycles and two states includes tricycles. How do Washington D.C . bureaucrats ha ve the nerve to suggest th ey know what is sa fe for th e motorcyclist. when such confusi on in th eir statistics reigns ? The 250 National Motoc ros s Championship final point totals are: 1. Tony DiStefano (295); 2. Marty Smith 12611; '3. Jim Pomeroy (241); 4. Kent Howerton (1871; 5_ Tommy Croft (1721; 6. J immy Ellis (158); 7. Bob Hannah (1521; 8_Ch uck Sun (1501; 9. Danny laPorte (1451; 10. Gaylon Mosier (137). This Saturday, June 11th from 11:00 a.m.-l :00 p.m . ~arty Smith will visit Kolbe Honda, 7514 Reseda Blvd. , Reseda . The "Bionic Man " of motocross will be on hand to narrate a film on his Hangt own win and sign autographs. Kolbe will also be giving out some free prizes. All the bases are covered; a good flick, freebies and a chance to meet - earn Honda's Marty T Smith .' . Brad Henson won the June 5 Desert Racing Assn. (DRA) Snake Chase Hare Scrambles at Red Mountain, . Calif. overall on a 175 Yamaha. Unless 100 riders pre-enter the . American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM ) road race scheduled for June 17 at 605 Speedway, the San Gabriel Valley (Calif.) track will bite the dusi . Although 600 spectators showed up for the last class C-style road race held at the %-mile , eight-turn stadium course, onl y 30 riders entered. The AFM , a non-profit club , lost $800 on the deal , in spite of the fact that the course and format lead to hot and heavy dicing and spectator cheers. It costs $10 to enter. Write 4996 Argyle , Buen a Park, CA 90620. Alas, poor publications; we knew them well. Dirt Rider and Street · Bike have gone the way of the flesh, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. !That means they've folded, closed down, ceased publicationl. Both Yamaha and Suzuki seem ready to put their I ,O OOcc road bikes on dealer floors . The Yamaha fourcylinder. shaft-drive XSI000 ha s alrea dy been seen by the press. Suzuki 's GS1000 will be sim ilar to the very popular (and fast) GS750, but with beefed-up clutch and cam chain tensioner pa rts. Race. development by Pops Yoshimura, which incl ud ed upping displacement to 845cc . pointed out weaknesses not encountered at the stock displacement. Remem ber the Norton Hi-rider? Look for . about a 250ce-,ultra-short-str oke Honda that looks like a sm all Hi -rid er . Wi th almost-a pe-hanger bars and a step seat, the "Twin-Sta r" is defi nitely different . Our guess is that the threevalves-per-cylin der, single-overheadcam twin-cylinder Ho nda is aimed at " Hond a Express" graduates. . - ..- . _" "' South Bay Park Speedway in Chula Vista now offers a new quarter-mi le track banked six degrees. 100 % pay back to pros, 33 % trophies in the sportsman ra nks , and a special class (if six or more riders enter) for speedway bikes. If you want to try something different call (714) 420-7414 for rules and inf o. ca ree r. Currently the Ariterica n Motorcyclist !A.ssoc ia t io n's (AMA) ~ Leg isla t ive A ~alyst Gary Winn is working on uni form record-keeping in all 50 states. The a im is to help state governments obtain valid facts before they enact motorcycle safety laws. states incl u de Cu r re n t ly 25 .. Bruce Cox , of Trippe-Cox Associates, {promoters of the U.S . Grand Prix and the Laguna Seca Champion Spark Plug 200) was responsible (with a little help from his wife , Sue) for the appearance of a 7-lb . . 15-oz. daughter. Hillary Ann , born Tuesday, May 17. Current CMC #1 Val Tamietti has decided to take some time off from racing. "After racing every weekend for six years I'd like to do a few other things," Val is stepping down from Maico support through Wheelsmith and has decided to take at least the summer off to evaluate his racing The Formula 750 World Championship points show Steve Baker in the le ad with 52, second is Kenny Roberts with 27. tied for th ird are Phillipe Cou lon and Christian Sarron w ith 25 points apiece. All these riders plus the remainder of the top 10 w ill be in action at Laguna Seca later this year. -_ . .- Jimmy Ellis will race the 366cc CanAm at the U.S. Grand Prix . This will be the first race for the Wo rld Motocross Championship the Canadian marque has ever entered . Team Harley-Davidson has entered their riders, Rex Staten and Marty Tripes. Gary Jones will also be at Carlsbad on his new AMMEX , Jones . Works Replica mount. A re c o m m e n datio n that County Supervisors end the ban on all motorcycles in Orange County ICal if.) parks was made and passed by the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Comm ission . The recommendation came after a oneyear trial program at one county regional park. Speaking before the commission were Motorcycle Owners, Riders and Enthusiasts (M.O.R.E.) Chapter members. w ho a lso asked O range County motorcyclists to contact their County Supervisors and urge s up port of the measure. Rumors are hot and he avy that Honda will soon introd u ce a series of water-cooled. shaft·drive street bikes. inclu d in g a 1.200cc vee-six. an 800cc vee-four. and a 500cc veetwin . But why is Honda advertising RCB a ir-cooled 991cc four-cylinder wins in European endurance races? Could it be that Honda will also int ro d uc e the si x-ey lind e r air cooled 1,OOOcc first speculated about prio r to the introduction of the GL1000? And what about rumors of double-overhead Cams and many valves per cylinder? I Jack Penton edged out Frank Gallo for the overall win at the Rose City, Michigan Two Day Rel iability Trial he ld May 21-22. Ga llo le d on Saturday but Penton flew on Sunday- to overcome the deficit. Gallo picked up the Open class w in, barely beating out Dick " Kin g Richard " Burleso n by fou r seconds. Penton took the 250 class honors. Te a m Suzuki !Ted Worrell, Bruce Kenny; Herluf Johnson ) won the t rade team t roph y. Other winners in cl u d e d Ted Leimbach (125 Penl; Drew Smith (200 Her); Gary Youngkin (350 Pen ). For the' Motocross des Nations and the •Trophee des Nations the United States team will consist of Tony DiStefano, Jim Weinert. Kent . Howerton and Gary Semics. To help defray the costs of fielding the team the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is offering trick T-shirts. All proceeds will be used strictly for the Motocross and Trophee des Nations efforts. Here's a chance to get a good-looking sh irt and support the sport we all love at the same time. They're available for five dollars in the regular sizes, from AMA Sales Dept. P.O. Box 141. Westerville, Ohio. Skip O lson (C-A) finishe d first overall at the Fools Gold Enduro in -Ala,•so, CA. Dick Burleson m issed/ the Alamo event to compete in" the two -day reliability trial at Rose City, Michigan. ..._... .J ~ 1"""'4 Larry Roeseler in action on a speedway b ike . at Costa Mesa. Roeseler ha s n 't yet achieved the measure of success on the ovals that he did amongst the creosote bushes, but watch out in the future. (1) ~ ;:l ~ Hodak" lovers can breathe a cool sigh of relief. Tiger Distributing is developinga water-cooled hea d for all later-model Hodies. Availa ble with or without a ra diator , they were suc cessfully tested at t he 500-mile Green horn enduro. According to Neil Pfulb, heed of the ' BLM Desert Planning Staff. BLM personnel have been ordered not to interpret Pres ident Carter's Executive Order 11989. pending interpretation at the Washington level. Stay tuned for further details. / Now they tell us: Californian Mike Griffitts (Mon) did earn third pla ce ' World Championship points in the American round. Griffitts was not pre-entered in the ch a m pionship class and received his FIM license (hand carried to him by AMA Amateur activities m anager AI Eames) on the day of the event. The initial fina l results were posted with out Mike's name, However, the results were later amended to reflect Griffitts' correct p laci ng by the organizers, despite information to the cont rary elsewhere in this issue. Our report on the event had left for the printer before we received this information, Coutard scores in Canada By Jack MangLis CHIC OUTIMI , QUEBEC, CAN .. JUNE5 Bu ltaco works rider Cha rles Cou tard , fresh fro m a victory in the American round of observed trials World Championships, continued his winning ways with a victory in the Canadian round . The trials, held in the wilderness near the resort area of Chicoutimi , was plagued with ra in . Coutard, unaffected by the weather, turned in a first loop ride of 10 marks lost and then cut that in half on the second loop to drop onl y five. Defending World Champion Yrjo Vesterinen (BuI) finished second dropping 2~ marks with Malcolm Rathmell (Mon) taking third with a tally of 26 marks lost: Roun ding out the top four placings was Martin Lampkin (Bul) who ca rded a loss of 39 marks. Don Sweet led the American rider contingent 'finishing fifth with Berni e Schreiber seventh a nd Ma rland Whaley 12th . T he Ca n adia n round served to tighten the ch ampionship standings even more as Ra thrn ell no w lea ds Vesteri nen by only two points (69-67) while Lampkin sits j ust one po int further ba d . • 5

• Cover