Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ship ' as a big" rider like Maico's Steve Stackable or Suzuki 's Tony DiStefano. Some riders m ay p ro test that they ean' t ride a lillie 125cc ma chine or a big 400cc bike, but th is yea r that reasoning has been buried in th e din The majority. of top ten ride rs in th e vl 25cc National class weigh at least 160 pounds. Jimmy W ein en ca me close to pull ing off two 125cc Na tion al wins, a nd Tony DiSt efano pla ced th ird ' ) overa ll a t a 125cc N a tiona l Qual ifier in SI. Joseph, Mo . , the first tim e T ony , has even sat on ~ 125cc bike in six ", yea rs. Lillie gu ys ha ve pro ven to be equ ally as fast 0 [1 Open class bik es. with Bob Hannah a n d Marty Smith ' bot h posting Trans-AMA wins before th eir 20th binhday. Another reason for incl ud ing th e 125cc class with th e 250cc a nd Open is th at a ll manufacturers now co m peting on th e Nation a l ci rc u it buil d a nd sell bik es for a ll three classes . Perhaps on ly the Japanese co m pa nies ha ve com pe titive bikes in a ll thr ee classes , but this wou ld certa in ly provide the Eu ro pea n bike m anufacturers with some incentive to bu ild mor e com - pennve bikes , especially in the , 12,5cc class, In the long run , both the manufacturers and th eir dealer s would benefit. .A manufacturer may still choose to compet e in the National Championsh ip on just one or two displacem ent size bik es, a llowing him the opportunity to advertise in di vidual race wins when th ey happen. But he probably cou ld n't put toge ther eno ug h point s t owa rds , winning th e Na tio na l Ch ampionship. In fa irness to all involved , riders ..nd m z nufacturer s, a nd what I feel is the best solu tio n , is to use ' a ll three displacements towards winnin g the Na tion al Championship. T he AMA could put tog ethe r .next yea r's Cha mpionship with five rac es on eac h size bik e, for a tot al of 15 ra ces during the yea r. There would be no mor e co n flic ting ra ce d a tes. a ll the top National riders wou ld be a t eac h race, a nd every rid er wou ld have a fai r sho t a t t he Champi on sh ip . T he on ly argument against t he idea might be th at a n independent ride r cou ld n't affo rd th e th ree bikes need ed to follow t he ent ire Na tiona l Cha m - pionship circuit. I hardly think this would prove a factor, because the same situation presents itself under the present system . If a rider has only one bik e and can afford to make only three or four races, he 'll race those Nation als his b ike size conforms to , anyway. O ther than th e additional co m pe titio n from the increased fac tory rid er s present. at each rac .. , nothing will ch a nge for the Privateer Hopefully, under th e proposed new system a ll 40 riders will get a share of the purse in th e Nariona . cla ss to make t hings eas ier for th e privateers . Presen tly, AMA purses at outdoorevents pay down no further th an 20th place overa ll, an d even then anything past 10th place isn 't en ough to pay expen ses. But the n, th at 's a not her one of m y soapbox talks. The new .Na tiona l Championship 'system for next year shou ld go a long , way in increasing the a p peal of outdoo r motocross. T here are a few addi tio na l cha nges that need to be made , . howe ver , to im p rove the present for m at of a nat ional race so it doesn't ta ke all day to ru n. Unde r the p resent system, practice gets underway at 9-10 a .rn . on Sunday morning, followed by qualifying and consolation motos .in both the Support and National class before the feature motos 'fina lly get underway at 3 p .m. in the afternoon. It 's not unusual for the final race to end anywhere from 7 to 8 p ,m. Sunday evening, Mos; of the spectators have already Ieft for home-after the first set of feature motos. It 's a sad sight to see only 1,000 spectators left to see the last National moto , an occurance that's happened more than once this year. What needs to be done , and is . presently under discussion by the Professional Motocross Board, is to hold the necessary qualifying motos on Saturday. This way , Sunday's National race - could get underway promptly at the advertised .time of 1 p.m. and be fin ish ed up by 4 p.m. Spectators would get to see the racing. they came for without having to sit through an all day ordeal. 'It would a lso be easier on th e riders and their tea ms wh o don't ha ve to qualify. For th e ind epe nden t riders, Saturday qualifying would be a better deal for them as well because they'd get the ·cha nce to race longer 20, 30 , or 40 m inute mot os. It would give them a chance to improve their riding skills which Sunday's short 10-minute qualifiers ha rdly afford. In fact , the qualifiers are th e only races most in • dependent riders get int o anyway. Of the 80-150 riders who enter a National , 30 of the 40 riders who finally qualify for the feature are the factory ' riders. It only seems fair that an independent rider who travels half way across the country to race a National gets to race more than the present 1O-minure qualifiers. The only barrier _ to running qualifying on Saturday seems to be the promoters , who feel they can't afford to hold two daysof racing and with it the the additional cost of track personnel , AMA offi cia ls, '- track preparation, etc. Hopefully, the in creased spectator attendance from the improvement in Sunday's National show will allow the promoter to hold Saturday qualifying. In addition , the AMA should allow the promoter a small portion of the riders/mechanics signup fees , all but a dollar of which goes to the AMA for insurance and administration. The other dollar from each signu p fee goes into the riders' point fund wh ich is distributed among the top ten riders at the .end of the year. This hardly seemsfair, since the factories 'p ay their own riders' signup fees while th e independent riders pay ou t of th eir own pockets , and it's the fa ctory riders who collect on the point fund at th e en d of the season . This dollar should n't be cha rged to the rid ers, but if it is, .it should go to the promoter who isn' t allowed to charge ad m ission to a nyo ne but a spectator at an .AMA professional event . This yea r the format was 'cha nged in the Supercross Series to make it easier .for spec ta to rs, press and everyone else to understand , At first there w ere, a few . complaints,' . but now everyone seems to agree that the new Supercross Series is the. best thing that ever happened to motocross in America . Now , outdoor motocross is in peril of dying off unless cha nges are made to make it appeal in g agai n. Hopefully, these proposed cha ng es for a new National Motocross Champ ionship next year will go through , and outdoor motocross will on ce again gain the prominence in America that it still en joy~ on its home tracks of Europe. • 21

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