Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

- l itteresting fa ct - Ad m inist rativel yd esigna ted W ilderness Study A reas ou t -nu mbe r , Congr e s sion all y . ma ndated ones , 12-1. There are 283 Admin ist rati vel y ·des ign at ed a re a s co m p ris ing 12 ,483 ,000 ac res , vs. 32 /1 ,5 5 7.498 ac re s wo'rt h of st udy areas Congressio nall y m and a ted . The same old st uff7 The same old stuff? How could a major Japanese motorcycle manufacturer continue to attempt to sell the same old 125cc and 250cc motocrosser in 1978 as they have in 19n, 1976, 1975 and 19747 Well , w hen y ou 're that big, you get to do t hings your own way. O f co urse , a ma nu fa cturer co uld s.-ll' th e sa me o ld lin e of sta nda rd MX ers, . a nd then introd uce new line of racer r e pl ic as , ri~h t ? Just r e m ember , yo u . read it here In Cycle N ews first. a Lust In Japan: Two RX125R single-cyllnder, water-cooled two-stroke Yamaha road racers sitting In the Iwata factory race shop were seen by the Editor on his recent visit to Japan. It was lov e at first sight. Unfortunately, no amount of discussion could convince the factory to pan with one of these beauties for a test ride. According to o ne Yamaha man, the bikes, if produced, would cost considerably more than TZ25Os. THE LATEST BY PAPA WEALEY Someone sto le a wo rks 250cc Kawasak i engine o ut of a tea m truck near Fort Myers. Florida on A ugust I 7. The engine , which was heading for th e Trophee des Nations for use by G ary Se mi cs, doesn 't look a nything like a p rod uction engine. In face , it 's read ily ident ifiab le by a ny Ka wasaki em ployee ' o r dea ler . and of co urse th e pa rts for it a re not for sa le to the pu bli c . In ot her words, whoever sto le it can't use it without risk ing detection , and if it breaks. 'there are no spares. H o weve r , if the thief re t urns ' the engine 'to a ny Kawasa ki deal e r , th e y will not be prosecu red o r ha ssled . ac cording to Raci ng Manager. Tim Smith . Heikki Mik ko la won the August 14 rou nd of t he 500 Grand Prix in Luxembourg w ith a moto score of 3-1. De Coster was second w it h a 22 t ally and Bengt Aberg place d third w ith a 1-3. A ll three ri ders were t ied w ith moto totals of four, so the nod for t he overall was ba sed on th e o lympic ti mi n g syst em . To further c om plicat e t he scoring Bra d Lackey w ent 4-5 for the day as Hakan Andresso n ro de to a 5-4. DeCoster 's 22 GP po ints for the da y tied him with Wo lsink for seco nd in the World Championship . Mikko la has 272 points, Roger and Gerrit 195 . and Bad Br ad lea ds t he rest of th e worl d wit h 164 . 2 a.F. Goodrich ' Company w ill sponsor the SCORE Off-ro ad world Ch ampionsh ip at Riv er side Intern ati o n al Raceway in Riv erside, Cali f on August 27;28. It w as im p ossib le to t ell from the press release w e rece iv ed what this will mean fo r m otorcyclists compet ing in that event. but for four-wheeler fans it means lots of money. Scr een st r uc k? Wan na be in m ovies? T hen m ak e it to 9 165 Su nset Blvd , Su ite 203 H ollywood . Ca lif Sa turday morni ng at 10:00 a . m . and be interviewed by Mall Cirnber. producer of t he forthcoming hare ' n ' hound e pic titled " Do it in th e dirt ." ,T hey' ll be loo king for" about 15 featured extras who are good dirt riders , racers. wheelie artists . .. rc. Mountain Roadracing Assn. (M RA ) ref eree John Petro said that there . w ill be no purse at the September 3-5 MRA/WERRA National road race at Aspen Raceway, Aspen, Colo. " The club j ust doesn't have the money to cover a $3,000 purse', " said Petro. A reference was made i n the Cycle News Calendar to a $3,000 purse because MRA's Woody W itte sent i n a Calendar li sti n g prom is ing the money. Colt 45 Ma lt liquor has j um p e d o n t he ba nd wagon as a m ajo r sponsor of the Northwest C h a lJe nge of Motocross . The series of five motocross races will ta ke pla ce in and a round Portland during Labor Day we e k. T he se ries will be ca lled the S10 .000 Northwest Chall enge. Colt 45 Malt Liquor pro series. The first race will be September 4 at Washougal MX Park . The se ries trav e ls to Mulkey O RV Park in McM innvill e on th e 5 t h . goes to Albany Speedway the night of the 6th , on to P IR Delta Park th e evening o f th e 8th and ends a t Fo x Ho llow. nea r W ood burn . on the 10t h . Mail entry f or the fourth Annual Women 's Gr and National Motorcycle Championship at Racin g World in Trabuco Canyon, Ca li f ., August 27 -28, h as b een extended unt il Augu st 26th. The race is shaping up to b e hotly contended with the nation's best women racers out t o de-throne de f en d i n g. Grand N ational Cha m pio n Sue Fish. KABC 's crack sportscast er, Ed A lexander w ill be running int erv iew s w ith Sue and other women racers on the 6:00 . new s, Channel 7, M on day through Friday in the Los Angel es area t his week . . The Laconia Motorcycle Classic (also known as the Loudon, New Hampshire Camel Pro Series Road Race ) is looking for sponsors for 1978 . Director of Racing John Jacobson points out that 50,000 people v isited the area during " M ot orcyc le Weekend " in Loudon this year, and 30,000 of those people j am m ed into Bryar Motorspon Park to watch the actual r aces. Interested persons can fin d out how they can get into sponsoring America's oldest road race (est ablished in 1923) by calling Jacobson 'at (617) m -1748. Ka wasaki Motors invite d a group of H onda X L250 o wne rs to th e Ka wasa ki headquarters in Costa Mesa , Calif. rec entl y to take a loo k at some new m odel detail and pa int sc hemes. According to o ne of th e persons chosen for th e su rve.y. the new Ka wasa ki four stroke 250 cc o n /off road bike loo ks very m uch like an e a r ly-m ode l X L250. The e ng ine looks just like the m otor in th e Ka wa sak i 200cc road b ike . According to o u r source (w ho j ust happens to be a natio nal enduro win ner) . the new Ka wasak i has o n ly six inches of fork t ra vel. four in ches of rear wheel t ravel. a nd almost stra ight up shoc ks. Al as. .Farewell. Former Cycle News Editor John Ulrich has gone off to become an Associate Editor of Cycle magazi n e ~ T ot al 'gaso line will co-s po nso r th e Ra cecrafte rs Kaw asaki KZIOOO ·based endu rance ra cer at 24 ·hour events held in Belgium , Spa in and France next year. The machine is tuned by Pierre DesR och es a nd ridden by Reg Pridmore . Pri dmore also plan s to return to sidecar racing with a ' Rob Nonhframed, Do n Vesco-tuned, Yamaha TZ750-powered hack. Kenny Greene w ill be t he passenger. Look for Reg t o w in t he sidecar class at the Rivers ide, Calif . Camel Pro Series road race to be held on t he first w eekend in October. The California Ra cing C lub (C RC) will ho ld th e Cal ifornia City Grand Prix o n O ctober 1-2 in (wh ere else) . C ali fornia itv, C a lif. T he event had o rgi nall )' been sc hed u led fo r O ct ob er 22-23. - b u t C RC m oved up rh r d a te because - 1) T) lt' AMA D-3 i Desert Vipe rs Ba rst ow 'G P sc he du led fo r O cro lu-r 1-2 ha s be e n postpo ne d o n t h,' a d vice of the Barstow C ham ber of Co mmerce . a nd 2) t he re will be a C RC raCt' he ld at Il ungrv Va lley on O ct o be r ~·23 for thr fillTling of the new m o vie "00 IT I 'Tille DIRT. " You ca n !(Ct t lu- details hv ca lli ng CRC a t ( 7 14) 6 9·6114, HOT FLASH: Honda will soon introduce several new street models, i nc luding 500cc and 350cc water-cooled v -twins w ith shaft drive. The bikes are already being test ridden in the Un ited States. The engines are mounted in the frame like a Moto-Guzzi motor, and come in a mild stete of tune. For more ag ressive ri ders, Honda w ill i nt rod u ce an air -cooled, doubleoverhead-cam l.200cc six-cylinder street scorcher w ith over 100 horsepower stock. The existence of these machines has been verified by three in dep en de nt so urces both in the United Stetes and Japan, T he above in fo rm a tio n is so secret and sensiti ve to H onda that th e company has flown in spe ci a l key people fro m Japan to m an ag e and oversee the su per-sec ret testing program . These peopl e are sequ estered in a commu nications- center / command post penthouse j'n th e Los Angeles area It's amazing what one' can learn about Kawasakis and Hondas while on a trip to Japan sponsored by Yamaha. Yamaha , Kawasaki and H o nda a ll plan the int rod uc tion of sec ret . la rgertha n- usual size street burners in the near future, a nd a ll are look in g for a " fas test . box-stock prod uc tio n m ot orcycle" label . to be applicable to th eir mac hiues . It will be interest ing to see if o ne or m o re of the three ge ts .stu ck in a sit uation simi lar to the o ne created by Ka wasa ki's advertisements introduci ng the 650cc fo ur-cylinder a whi le ba ck : If you 'll recall, Kawasaki advenised that their 650cc was f ast er, out-of-tha-box. >than any 750cc motorcycle. About the same time, Suzuki introduced the quick GS750, whic h" can eas ily blow off the KZ650 Kawasak i. Kawasaki was so eager to verify their advenising cla im that they flew KZ650s and test riders to test tracks all over the country, loo k in g for a bullet-fast run. At each track they'd pull a KZ650 out of a crate and ru n it, What they didn't tell anybody was the fact that the . bikes were " b lu e pr in t ed " and breathed on before they went into the factory crates. In one case. Ka wasa ki took a tes t rider to Fr em ont , Calif. and were ela te d when a 12 .8 e la pse d t im e was re corded . Ur-fortun ar elv , a mor orcvcle maga zine -ed ito r was th ere with a GS750 . Th.. ..di ror offered the GS750 to th l;' rid er wh o had just b litzed off the good KZ650 time . and that same rider insta nt ly reach ed 12.2 on th e GS750. So mu ch for th e verific a tio n plan . Mo ve to squa rl' o ne. and c ha ng e a d ve rtis in g p rog ra m! Viv a D istri b uti n g~ t h e we stern stat es distributor for Montesa motorcycles, wi ll spon sor Rhe Helms in the upcoming Women's Gra n d N ation al Motorcycle Championship to be held on Au gust 27 -28. Fact ory w ren c h Martin Belair will pre p th e machine. Teri Kezar . who wo n th ,' W om en 's 4 ~a.t io na l 1T f o (" TO S, ch a mpio ns h ip if 1o 19i5 a mi ha sim'" he e-n pursu ing a caree-r I!, ramp-to ra mp ju m ping. will ap pl'ar at t he l\VM A W o rn .. ns na tio nal championship Augu st 2...<; at Racing Wo rld in Trabuco Cyn .. Galif. T e-ri wi ll d o a ramp -(o ·r,amp junlp Sunday after noon . (Con tinued on pag e 13)

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