Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1977 10 19

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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If you like to traK ride In the Big Bear, CA _ , batter check the new draft environmental statement, which identifies 1,700 acres as "roadlesa and undeveloped:' CopIes are available on request from J.D. MacWilliams, 144 N. Mountain View Ave., San Bernardino, CA 92408. Comments have to be in to Mr. MacWilliams by Nov. 13 lest your favorite trail become a Sierra Club prize. Oregon trail riders a re advised to chec k th e ne w draft environ mental sta tement for th e Deschutes Na tion al Forest, available from local U.S. Dept . of Agriculture offices . Comments concerning the proposed action have to be in by November I I , 1977. California's Recreational Trails Committee will hold public hearings on dirt bike trails, among others. Trail riders are urged to attend at least one of the hearings from 2 to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 10 p.m, Dates and places are: Pasadena, Oct. 2&, 100 N. Garfield, Room 242; San Diego, Oct. 27, P&R Dept., Casa Del Prado, Balboa Park; Fresno, Nov. 2. 2281 Tulare, Room 301; Redding, Nov. 4, 2200 Eureka Way, Room 210; Concord, Nov. 10, 1331 Concord Ave. If you can't attend, send your wishes to Trails Planning, Box 2390, Sacramento, CA 96811. How about a trailbike route from Oregon to Mexico? Orange County, CA bikers are urged to contact their country supervisors and make sure they plan to adopt the resolution allowing motorcycles into county parks, same as automobiles. The October 6-7 AMA Congro.. attempted to increase Cia.. A (consumer) , members representation on the Board of Trustaes from the present three members to seven, half of the board. Said one congressman, "The industry is growing further and further away from the gress roots level. Not to slight the board members, they're a dedicated group of people, but business doesn't allow them time to get out there with us and kick up some dirt or cruise down the highway. With seven Class A members on the board, we'd have representation of the everyday motorcyclist." Also coming out of the Congress was the attempt to freeze dues for 1976 . Rum or has the '78 AMA budget based on a n increase of dues from the present rate of $12 to $15 . Fou r reps were elected to ad d ress th e Board of Trustees at thei r upcoming mee ting. Elected were George Smith (District 22), Bob Wood (D-28), Glen Jordan (n- u). and Lynn Wineland (D-37). First 250 starting position in this year's Baja 1000 goas to the KTM mounted Las Vegas team of Marc Knudsen and Max Switzer. Bill Tarling will be the first bike out. riding in the open class. This week's speedway national final will see Jawa entering their freshfrom-Europe four valver into the fray against numeroUs four -valve conversions on Jawa lower ends and other complete engines and bikes. like the Weslake and the Maely. Racing will definitely be hot and nastyl look for Greham Noyce to make his Tren..AMA appearence on a Honda. Unofficial word hea it that although Noyca hasn't signed a _ ntract with Honda yat. "the co chances are pretty good" that he will. However, Noyce will have to walt until after the last British national motocro.. (Oct. 16) before he can ride In the U.S. Four stroke fans will be happy to hear that Bengt Aberg will be contesting the Trans·AMA on the ' H allm an / Enq uist TT500 Yamaha . Aberg made his first appearance at Unadilla. Former 125cc World Champion Andre Malherbe made his first Trans·AMA ride a successful one by finishing third at Unadilla. Riding for Penton, Malherbe plans to ride at least three more races Michigan, St. Peters and Texas and possibly more. Yoshim ura R&D of Am e ri ca an nounce d last week th at Racecr afters will no longer handle Yoshimura pans and prod ucts. Montana and Wyoming trail riders, check out the draft environmental statement for the Beartooth Face area in Custer, Gallatin, and Shoshone National Foresta. Copies are available from USDA Forest Service, 2602 First Ave. North, Billings, Montana 59103. Comrnants must be received by November 30 to do any good. . We stand corrected. Mike Ba ldwin didn't win the AMA Superbike Cham pionship as reported in our recent Riverside road race coverage. Reg Pridmore is the new Superbike champ with 71 points, Cook Neilson is second with 68, and Baldwin third with 56 po ints. Congratulations Reg , and Racecrafters, his sponsor. Pfieffer Big Sur, a favorite California campground, is still ctosed owing to rain danger, and will stay cJoaed all this winter and next spring. However, lodge cottages in the park. which are on higher ground, will remain open. Motocross.star Jimmy Ellis has signed up with Spectre lu b rica n ts for the coming season. Jimmy will race all the major MXes and help develop new Spectro products. Gary Wells, following Evel Knievel's f1lghtpath, will attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace where Evel crashed, then the Houston Astrodome. The 20year-old Wells says his hobby is motocross. Idaho bikers used chainsaws purchased with ORV regist r ation money to clear trails to Bulltrout Lake. On December 11 the American Trials Assn. will host their 8th annual "EI Trial de Espana" at Saddleback Park. Proceeds are used to send the top trials riders from southern California to compete in Europe. On the competition side of business, the Congress established a "Double A" class for National Championship Enduros. The top 14 riders in the 'n point standings will ride a separate"AA" class. 2 Ted Boody led the Midwest Regional half mile at Oklahoma City, Oct. 2, until he went out with a sick mag. Denver's Chubby Armour went on to win the Expert main event. Sonoma, Cal., rider Jim Mertens won the Junior main and Oklahoma's Ronnie Jones topped the Novices after southern California's Wayne Rainey ratired while leading. Complete coverage next week. AMA dudes are sp reading th e word a lot la tely . Rob Rasor recently addressed a meeting of the National Assn . of State Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers in New Orleans. then Gary W inn spoke to the annua l meeting of the American Assn . of Automotive Medicine in Vancouver , and Rasor again attended the fourth National Trails Symposium in North Carolina. Passed was th e mandatory spec tator _ i ns u ra nce p ropos a l for amat eur events . Promoting clu bs ma y eit her purc hase the insurance from the AMA or supply proof of insurance prior to thei r event. AMA san ct ioned events drawing 40 or fewer rid ers and 100 or fewer spectators will rece ive a 1/3 refund on the policy cost. Desert sta rt Mitch Payton underwent succ essful surgery on Oct. 4 to relieve pressure on th e spi nal cord caused by bo ne chips. Mitc h now has feeling in bot h legs. Help keep his spirits up by writing to him at Long Beach Memorial Hospital . Room 407, 2801 Atlantic Ave. , Long Beach , Ca lif. 90815. Tommy Croft won his appeal of an AMA referee's decision to penalize him one lap for jumpinq the starting gate at the Metroli,na (Nort h Carolina) 500cc National MX on August 7. The decision should irnprove his pos ition in the Nationa l standings. Bultaco International honcho John Grace . in a phone conversation Thursday, advised Cycle ; News that " Bult a co is not leaving the U.S . market." Grace went on to say that "in te nse competition fr om the Japanese brands" was a key fsctor in Bulraco's severe belt tigr ten ing measures that left a majori t y of employees (Incl udi ng Mike Hannon here on th e West Coas t) ou t of work . "W e have to do whatever is nec essary to st ay (in the U.S. market) ," sai d Gr a ce . "a nd , unfo rtunatel y, t h at inv olves t he unpleasant chore of dismissing people so that we can have a profitable structure." Mr. Grace feels that Bultaco can still be a "viable force in the market place" although the continued existence will require tight management for the next one to two years. "We started Bultaco International in a barn," said Grace, "and now we have to return to that idea and build from there:' " O u r d ealer network is healthy because it has been our strategy to keep it healthy. Unfortunately this has been done at our (Bultaco International) expe nse and now we have to regroup and go back to a profitable status," continued Grace. "T he elimination of the sales force will cut the operating expenses by a quarter million dollars." Dealer sales and other services will be handled by a toll fr ee incoming W ATS line. Also coming under the movementto-profitable·status axe was the Bultaco racing program. Its elimination leaves Kenny Zehrt as the token Bultaco representative in the Trans-AMA. His National c.... ride is on a "raca to race buls." The 1978 racing effort, should there be one, will be controlled directly by Bultaco Spain. One way to get good publicity for the motorcycle sport is KK Motorcycle Supply's practice of awarding a new motorcycle to the member of local media who does the most to help give motorcycling a good name. Last year's winner of a Honda 400 was Johnny Walker of WKEF·TV in KK 's hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Winner of the recent coast·to-coast motorcycle economy run put on by WERRA's road riding division was a 1,ooocc Harley-Davidson Cafe Racer. The thing got over 60 miles per gallon, we hear. Runnerup was a new Honda Hawk. Promote rs of the upcom ing Ren o speedway races are negotiating to ha ve parimutuel betting like they do on horse races. The 3-d ay event will test rider and spe ct ator res ponse. Even mo ney on Mike Bast. Bakersfield district of the BLM is updating its mailing list. so if you're interested in getting up-to-date info on public land developments in that area, write to Bureau of Land Management, 800 Truxton Ave. Room 311, Bakersfield, CA 93301 and ask to be put on the list. Or you can call (805) 861-4191 from 7:30 a.m . to 4 p.m. A goof at the factory cost American Maico riders d early in t he recent I.S .D ,T. Som ebody loaded the wrong drivechains on the Mai co truck , and they couldn't hold up to the extrem e wet of day 5. Ba rry Higgin s fixed brok en chai ns six times, and finally retired . as did Lars Larsson a nd Nate Pillsbury. Onl y Billy Uhl nursed his through. Sachs w ill begin production of their new 250 and 390cc MXers in November. •

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