Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Bengt Aberg's thumper has a 11:1 compression ratio piston in the engine and everything else is stock in the power plant. The mighty Yamaha was sidelined due to a blown head gasket. A $4.84 part cost Bengt a shot at valuable championship po ints. The California Racing Club (CRC) Moonshiner enduro. originally scheduled for July 25rd, has been ca nce lled d ue to a Bu rea u of La nd Ma nagement (BLM) perm it denial. An appeal wou ld take a bout a year to be rul ed on . The BLM said their gu ide lin es for land use don't cover night event. Bob Hannah continued to win on the 125 National motocross circuit, going 1-2 in the June 19 round at Midland, Mich . The top 10 were: Bob Hannah 11-21; 2. Broc Glover (5-1 I; 3. Jimmy Weinert (2-41; 4. Danny LaPorte (4-31 5. Steve ; Wise (3-51; 6. Gary Ogden (9~); 7. Pat Richter (8-91; 8. Mike Guerrera 114-81; 9. Chuck Sun (11-111; 10. Warren Reid 119-71. • Watch for a new 450cc horizontall yop posed twin cylinder from BMW. A mil d 27 horsepower, two-into-one exhaust and a shoner than / fi-series wheelbase is expected. No relase date or official confirmation has been issued from the factory . The extra-long shocks on the rear of 125cc World Chapion Gaston Rahier's Suzuki extend below the swingarm . similar to the low er part of lead ing-axle forks. Some say the additional lengt h adds two or three more inches of available shock travel. Remember when you and your brother were little and used to beat up ea ch other? Ha nk and Gary Scott are still going at it. At the Ma y 29 Reading , Penn. half mile, Hank got in the first words and Gary got in the first punch . The battle was a draw . B.J. " Captain Amer.jca" Breece continues his "Ride Against Hemophilia" after raising $1,000 for the research f ight against the blood disease by driving a miniature formula car around Malibu Grand Prix in Anaheim, Calif. for 150 laps recently. He's shown here with Harold Wold, a hemophilia sufferer. Roger DeCoster , though cert ainly down hea rt ed a bout his second mota DNF a nd the resulting widening of H eikki Mikkol a's points lead, still showed up to sign au tographs after the Hang Ten/ Bel-Ray GP. series and motorcycle give-away contests at the Texas, Missouri, Georgia and Florida rounds there will be a $6,000 rider po int fund to be distributed to the top 10 in the serie s. Unofficial 600cc Motocross World Championship point standings after the Hang Ten/Bel-Ray GP at Carlsbad: 1. Heikki Mikkola 11801; 2. Roger DeCoster 11361; 2. Gerrit Wolslnk 11361. OnlY. five events 110 matosl remain. _ Team Suzuki motocrosser Billy Grossi , said bye. bye to Iiis bachelor days on May 51 when he m arried Lisa Pereira of Portla nd , O regon. Billy missed th e June 4th Supercross Series - no doubt he had something better to do. .Pon iOl'll of th e" Los Padres National Forest (Ca lif.) ha ve been closed d ue to extreme fire hazard. A 120-square· mile are a 10 miles west of King City is closed until further notice. T wo ot he r small a reas are also closed - on e in th e Na cimenio Sta tion /Chalk Pea k area and . the other surrounding the Piney Creek area , 2 On June 9, at Coca-Cola's headquarters In Atlanta, Georgia Mr. Pibb/Coca-Cola USA announced the sponsorship of the 500cc National Championship Motocross series. In addition to promotional activities for the six race It's catching. Gaylon Mosier felt so good after taking a fifth overall and a third in the second moto at the U.S. Grand Prix that the very next day he married his favorite squeeze, Pam. The wedding took place In Huntington Beach. It 's an epidemic! Florida's extremely foxy Kimbo Ne wman is visiting th e west co as t and t a king in so me motocross. The only th ing hotter t han Heikki Mikkola at the U.S. Grand Pr ix was t he ru mor th a t Kim bo was staying wit h Bu lt aco 's R ic h Ei ersted t. Michelle Ma rkell , Rich 's girl friend knows of the set -up, This reminds Papa of "Peyton's Place." The Joe Zeigler motorcycle safety hub; designed to let the rear wheel coast instead of lock up when a road racing engine seizes, is now being marketed. Get information from Bettencourt's Honda, (6171 695-1453. In an attempt to secure more European stars for the TransAMA series , the American Motorcyclist Assn. (AMA) will pay - up to $1 ,000 - the traveling expenses for eight selected Europeans. According to the AMA 's Mike DiPrete, the money is to help the Europeans get to the U.S. After that , they will have to pay their o~~ expenses, just like the Americans. Hank Scott will ride a Triumph at the Columbia National. Bill Kennedy of Elyria Triumph (Ohio) is building him a sUp'er fast machine, according to Hank. Kennedy's Triump.tJ ~ have been proven winners this year in the hands of Junior Lance Jones. Hank's Shell Motors Yamaha ride is in doubt with the recent bankruptcy of that compa~y. ' . This yea r's Hang Ten Grand Prix a t Carl sJ:>ad ~a y be t he last. According to MIke D,Prete, AMA Profession al Motocross Manager, the p relimi nary 1978 FIM cale ndar grants the U.S. a 250 Gran d Prix at Unadilla , N .Y. but no 500 round. T he AMA is trying to get the 500 round reinstated, sai d DiP re te . AMA National motocross will probably undergo drastic chances in 1978. Present plans call for the elimination of 125, 250 and 500 National champions. Instead, there will be an outdoor motocross champion and a stadium motocross champion. There will be seven 250 Nationals and seven 500' Nationals, each with a 125 Support ?8ss. The outdoor MX champion will have the best combined score, and there will also be a support class champion. The sta di um Su percr oss series will prob a bly rema in m uc h the same as this year. T here is a stro ng possibility that th e qua lifying mo tos will pa y na tional po in ts.. three for first , two for secon d a nd one for third. Westerville is consi de ring t he idea of shonening the conso lati on mo to to six la ps and advancing th e win ner to the final. As well as changing rules slightly, there will probably be new ·Supercross sites. Though Dallas may drop its race, Seattle, Chicago and Foxboro, Mass. stadiums are . interested in promoting Supercross events. Racing World , in Trabuco Ca nyon, Ca lif" will host two AMA Pro · motocross qualifiers.. one on August 14 , the other September 11. Also, DiPrete said there was " a good chance" that Racing World would host a National in 1978 . On July 22 there will be a motorcycle jump contest pitting American co-champion Gary Wells against the French champion. We lls, who tied in t he Houston competition f or the jumping championship with Rex Blackwell, w ill meet t he French champion in scenic. surroundings - the lake Geneva Playboy Club. Jumpers may be crazy, but at least they have good taste . Pavel Rulev and Yuri Kh ud ia kov have ente red the July 17 Valvoline 125cc U.S. Grand Prix Motocross. The appea rance of the Ru ssia n CZ riders will m ark the first time Soviets have . raced in the Uni ted States. Chuck Tannland used to tune fo r Pat Richter when Richter was sponsored by KTM. Now, Richter is sponsred by Moto-X-Fox, and Tannland has been hired as Richter's wrench. That makes Tannland a new-to-Moto-X-Fox mechanic, but not a new-to-Richter wrench. Got that7 Never believe a PR ma n : According to the official entry list we received from th e Hang .T en U.S .G.p, promoters, Bob Hannah would rid e a Yamaha in that race . Seems that Ha nnah went 125cc raci ng instead , in spi te of the PR ·m otiva ted entry in the 500cc international race. No, that was not Heikki Mikkola in the photo on page 11 of last week's CYCLE NEWS. Yes, it was Pierre Karsmakers, and yes, the caption-writer responsible feels stupid and vows to never screw up like that again. Look at it this way: have you ever in your life made a stupid m istake at work7 We plead humanity. For th e less than clever : T he reference on last week 's cover to Ted Boody's first grand National win was, in fact his first 1977 Grand National win , as stated in the stary on 18. Why a re we telling you this ? Because some people could n' t put two and two together and wrot e us nast y letters inste ad.

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