Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1977 07 27

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Ho nda will send Marland Whaley to Eu ro pe for. the four final Wo rld Championship Tri als Ro u nds . in Sweden, Finlan d , Czechoslovakia and Switzer la n d . Then W haley, who recently clinched a nother U. S . Championship, will return to American to finish the National T rials Series. Mike Baeder crashed hard in the Sears Point Expert 750 Final Sunday when the slda gasket blew out on his TZ36O, spewing oil onto the bike's rear tire. Despite early fears of onlookers who saw the bike jump up and down on Baeder during the violent crash, Beader was not seriously Injured and is resting at home. Before Sears Point. Baader had been dominating 250 GP 'club races In Southern California. The 500cc World Cha m pionship point standings after the British GP are: 1. Heiklc.i Miklc.ola (Yam) 220 2. Gerrit Wolsink (Suz) 172 3. Roge r DeCoster (Suz) 156 '4. Brad Lackey (Hon) 130 5. He rb ert Schmitz (Mai) 67 6. Jaak Van Velthoven (KTM) 55 7. Hakan Anderson (Mon) 43 8. Graham Noyce (Ma i) 42 9. John Banks (CCM) 41 10. Bengt Aberg (Yam) 33 American Motorcyclists Assn. lAMA) District 37 will hold an enduro rules meeting on July 27, 8:00 p.m. at Mishlma's Restaurant. 18515 S. Western, one block north of the Sen Diego Freeway, in Torrance, Calif. Get more info by calling 1213) 421·9179. If you 're In the market for an advanced 395cc four-stroke twin-cylinder motorcycle with a 7O.5mmXSO.6mm bore and stroke, start lining up at your local Honda dealership. The Honda Hawk series Includes an automatic labove) and a deluxe modellbelow) as well as a spoked-wheels-and-drum· brakes economy model. The single overhead cam engine has three valves per cylinder ltwo intake, one exhaust), COl ignition, counterbalancers to control vibration, constant velocity carbs, and a collective two-inch-two exhaust system with a balancing chamber. Two-stage shocks, a new frame design and an effort to keep weigth toward the center of the bike and as low as possible aid handling. In an as·yet-unpublished Cyde Guide magazine test. a standard model Hawk took 14.7 second to run the standing, start quarter mile, finishing w ith a terminal speed of 87.0 miles per hour. That's faster t han the Suzuki GS400, Honda CJ360, Kawasaki KZ400 and Yamaha XS360-2D tested by Cycle Guide. The Hondamatic Hawk turned 17.7 seconds at 75 m.p.h. Bubba Rush rolled his van outside of Ott umwa , Iowa two weeks ago but esca ped with minor leg injuries. He should be rea dy to defe nd his lead in the AMA central region dirt track , cha mpionshi ps when the series resumes at Santa Fe. The American Motorcyclists Assn. lAMA) Board of Trustees has announced that AMA Executive Director Barrie Best will assume overall responsibility for all AMA activities, including professional racing . Best immediately appointed Doug Mockett of Manhatten Beach, Calif. t o be comm issioner of professional racing, a newly-created position. Mockett, 37, will direct the professional racing division, . On a recent swing east, the Cycle News, Inc. president saw two paved short tracks where motorcycle races are successfull y run . One was a plain asphalt ~· m il e oval in northern Wisconsin , the other a " d usted" asphalt ~ ' m ile next to the Laconia ,road race course. The local association spreads about l-2 inch of oiled clay on the surface and the action is terrific. Especially those rooster tails . None of this is AMA, by the way. 2 According to a rece nt copy of the National Enquirer, Gary Davis does all the motorcycle riding and stunts as a double for Evel Knievel in the new movie "Viva Knievel: ' Davis, 2ti". was quoted by the Enquirer as saying "The producers wouldn't let him lKnievell ride at all in the picture. I did the stunts because they were afraid he 'd get hurt he's been hurt a lot:' The Enquirier story went on t o quote Dav is as saying that "He IKnievell is always scared going into a ju m p. He paces a lot and dr in ks to calm him self down." Super bowl of Motocross winner Jimmy Weinert broke his left arm in a crash at Saddleback Park in Orange, Ca lif.. on July 12. Weinert crashed on a jump, and according to witnesses. had to wait an hour for an ambula nce . He'll be out of action for most , if not all , of the 500cc National motocross series. R.J. Reynolds Co., through Camel cigarettes, pumps in a lot of money to the AMA Grand National series. The money is presumably spent to promote and sell Camel cigarettes. How come a cohort of Papa's couldn't find a pack of Camels at the recent Castle Rock TT, a race on the Camel Pro Series" Due to the water shortage an d high fire danger. fires at Hollister Hills Sta te Vehicular Recreation Area will be limited to approved portable cam p stoves. Smoki ng will be restricted to a reas free of easily comb usti b le materials. The American Motorcyclist Assn. lAMA) is pondering the problem "how fast Is too fast"" TIre makers say they can't keep up w ith present·day 180 m.p.h . racing speeds and bikes have to either slow or blow. This will be a blow indeed to the motorcycle tuners and modifiers, who rather expected the tire industry to keep up with their efforts. One would think that if car tires can withstand 800 hp, 200 m.p.h., motorcycle tires could be built that would go the lim it. But such is life. Due to poor rider support, the everyFriday-night American Federation of Motorcyclists $500 purse short-track road races at 605 Speedway in Irwindale, Calif. have been cancelled. Dicing on a %-mile, eight· tum tr ack just doesn't seem to appeal to California club racers. Word from the continent is that Takazumi Katayama, who f inished third at Daytona t his year, will miss both the Laguna Seca, Calif. and the Mosport. Canada Formula 150 races to instead enter the Bol D'or 24-hour endurance race a't Le Mans, France. Katayama and partner Roger Ruiz will share the same TZ7SO that Katayama rode at Daytona. Heard In tlie pits : Superb ik e Production riders are ta lking about boycotting Laguna Seca because of a hick of prize money for the popular class. Probable participants in the boycott, which include Cook Neilson, Mike Baldwin, Steve McL aughlin , Ron Pierce and Reg Pridmore, point out that the Superbikes cut lap times as fast or faster than the 250cc Expert and 250cc Novice bikes , sound better, and provide a much better spectator show. Yet the Superbike Prod uction winner at Sears Point won a paltry $280. In fact , the ra cing in the Superb ike class is usually closer and fiercer than in the 750 Expert class, which paid runaway winner Kenny Rob erts over $3, 000 for the win . Model Motorcycle Noise Control Program is not about those noisy model motorcycles, but is a study and proposals by the Motorcycle Industry Council aimed at guiding federal and state government in writing reasonable, effective noise regulations for new and modified motorcycles. You can check out their recommendations by writing for a copy to 4100 Birch St ., Suite 101, Newport Beach, CA 92660.

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