Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Diane Cox Malcolm Smith Bob Hannah 30 Superstars to compete in M/C Olympics own mechanical work in an allotted time period. Absolu tely no outside help is allowed. Failure to complete changes and repairs in the designated time will resul t in pena lties of one point per minute. O nce the ' motorcycles have been tech insp ected and sealed on Saturday morning. a 10 minute adjustment period will be allowed after each event. At the close of Saturday's races. each rider will have exactly one hour to make all necessary changes for Sunday's events. Any parts may be changed except the suspension . frame and the engine. There will be time during this hour for tire and wheel changes. All motorcycles will then be locked in trucks and transported to Sunday's competition area . Each rider ' will be assigned a marshall who will stay with him throughout the entire two days of competition. Competing for the SIO.OOO first place prize will be : Dave Aldana (650 Yamaha) Winner of Talladega 200 Mile Road Race. Ascot TT National. AI Baker (440 Honda) Overall Baja 1000. Parker 400 winner. Mike Bast (500 Yama h a) T hree-time ' U.S . Speedway Champion . motorcycle stunt man , Mike Bell (500 Yamaha) Winner of 20 straight CMC races. fou r AMA National su pport classes . Cordis Brooks (370 Bu ltaco) Second 250cc at Mint 400 . seco nd iiI 125cc class at Baj a 500 . Dick Burleson (390 Husq varna) Four-time American National Enduro Champion. four-time ISDT Gold Medal winner. Chr is Carter (400 Yamaha) Gold Medal winner in ISDT. Bronze medalist in ISDT competition. Terry Clark (380 Kawasaki) Trailbike Number 1 in AMA District 37 Desert. Diane Cox (500 Yamaha) First woman to race an AMA National Main Event. first woman to become an AMA professional. Carl Cranke (350 Penton) Five-time Hopetown GP winner. five-time ISDT Gold Medal winner. winner of 31 Gold Medals in U.S. ISDT qualifying. Jimmy Ellis (250 Can-Am) Two-time Superbowl of MX winner. first overall in Supercross standings. Jim Fishback (500 ORANGE. CA. On September -!l.'1:' at Orange County International Raceway and Sunday. September 18 at Saddleback Park. 30 'of the world's top motorcycle riders will gather to compete in the first Monroe-SW International Motorcycle Olympiad. Riding one motorcycle throughout . racers will battle to see who 's best in six grueling events - the Kawasaki Drag Race. the Yamaha Road Race. the Penton Cross-country/Trials . the Yamaha Motocross. the Yamaha TT and the Goodvear Short Track. Twoday spectator iickets are $8 each. A new concept in motorcycle racing. the Olympiad. will not onl y test riding ability . strength and endurance, but each rider must do his ,• Czechin' . E 16 Arms , a manufacturer of firearms . There are also three students chasing degrees at universiti es in Georgia , Ohio and California . Yet to a man , they are each dedicated to the goal ' of returning from Czechoslovakia with a Gold Medal; the symbol of the . highest achievement possible in Six Days com petition . Some will reach ' their goal . others will not. The mystical attraction of Six Days competition is an enigma ; hard to un derstand . harder to expla in . There are no monetary rewards. only self satisfaction. In th e end th e com - Winner. into Czecho By Gary Van Voorhis arly on the morning-of Sep tember 5 in a town called Povazka Bystrica nestled in the foot hills of the T atra Mountains of Czechoslovakia. a 300plus rider contingent. including the 37 man American Team. will begin competition in the 52nd ISDT. ' Like the children's rhyme that men tions the butcher. the baker and th e candlestick maker. the 37 rider American contingent represenis a varied cross -section of America . Approximately one-third are married . T o a man . they all enjoy outdoor forms of recreation including 'snow and water skiing. bicycle riding. hunting. cam ping and scuba diving. The 12, states represented by the riders range from California to Rhode Island. from Idaho to Georgia . Roy Cook. at 18. is the youngest com petitor while Lars Larsson . at 36 . is the oldest. • Outside the 20% or so who make their living in some form of work con nected with motorcycling. the occupations engaged in by the riders are rather eye opening. There is a barten der . a gardener. a logger. a phy sical therapist . a stone mason. a roofing contractor and a building contractor. One entrant works for Springfield Yama ha) N umber I Distric t 37 250cc Cham pion . 1st overall Check Ch ase. first division speedway rider. Mike Griffitts (360 Montesa) Third overall in the AMA National Trials Championship . Bill Grossi (370 Suzuki) Winner of AMA 500cc MX National. Bob Hannah (400 Yamaha) 1977 Rider of the Year. 1978 Supercross Champion. Mike Hannon (Yamaha) National Enduro winner . five-time ISDT Gold Medal Winner. John Hateley (440 Special) Two time winner of Houston National TT. Rick Hocking (500 Yamaha) Winner Houston National TT. Ascot HalfMile National. Kent Howerton (390 Husqvarna) 500cc National MX Champion. member of US Trophee Des Nations and Motocross de N ations T ea m . Gary Jones (400 Ya m aha) T h r ee -t im e 250cc Nationa l MX C h am p io n . In te r -A MA C ham pion. Lars Larsson (400 Maico) Winner of six Gold Meda ls in ISD T . Jack Penton (350 Penton) Ten- time overall win ner in Na tional Endures . twelve tim e ISDT Qua lifier win ner. Tom Penton (35 0 Penton) Top American ISDT win ner. three-time N a tiona l En duro winner. 1976 ISDT Gold Meda l winner. Jim Rice ( Rice Specia l) Winner of six Grand National events in one year. San J ose Mile. Larry Roeseler (390 Husqvarna) Three- . time Baja 500 winner. four-time AMA Dese rt Number 1. Gary Sem ics (380 Kawasaki) First overall 500cc Supercross Series winner of three consecutive 500cc Nationals. Jeff Sm ith (250 Can -Am) Two-time 500 World Champion. five-time ISDT Gold Medal winner. nine-time British 500 Champion. Malcolm Smith (390 Husqvarna) Star of "On Any Sunday' . eight-time ISDT Gold Medal winner. four-time Baja 1000 winner. MartY Tripes (400 'Ha rley Davidson) Two time winner Superbowl of MX. Bilh D Uhl (400 Maico) Top American rider CJ ISDT. nine time ISDT Gold Medal petition boils down from country against country. team against team, man against man to the ultimate test of any rider: against himself. One name missing from the team selection list this year is a person 'synonym ous with ISDT; Malcolm Smith. Malcolm. after 10 years of competition and eight Go ld Medals . decided he needed a rest. The show will go on. but Malcolm will be, missed. Penton will host the' World Trophy Team again . after a on e year layoff. The Silver Vase Team will be Yamaha sponsored. Real istica lly our chances of winnings either the World Trophy or Silver. Vase competition are slim. The World Trophy Team will face tough' opposition in the defend ing West Germari team as well as the Czech and Italian ,entries. However. should one of the "giants" slip. we could be right up there in the top three. a The same big three will make the Silver Vase competition tough . Adding' to . the tough competition will be the fact that this year's ISDT will consist of almost 85% unimproved (woods) trails unlike past years where , high speed paved roads constituted a .,... large perc entage of th e layout. 1SDT team manager AI Eames is) ;-" optomistic about our chances. "T here o,J is no doubt. but that this year's ISDT, t will be one of the toughest in recent , years ," said Eames recently. "However ." continued Eames, "ou ~ '" trai l riding ability and stamina should constitute a big plus due to the almost': 85 % average of woods versus paved roads. I believe we're going to do it to them in the woods . This is where the ISI?T will .be won or lost and that w il ~ ... relieve a 'litt le of the pressure on the riders when com peting in the special tests. Rem ember. both th e Austrian and the Isle of Man events were decided by th e special test scores , I ~ don't believe that it will be the same this year, and that should be to our advantage ."

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