Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

INSIDE rights . For information on the panel near you , write or call Ray D . Banion, Backseat Dri ver , Public Pando Department of Motor Vehicles , Box 2411 , Sacramento. CA 95811 (916) 322·7068. Do it for M .O .R .E. Trans-AMA Motocross .. 6 Snow. hail, rain. and Hurricane 1978 Suzukis MARTIN MAEDING Auburn ,CA 8 Thump-thump, buzz buzz U.S. Speedway Championship Rude professional 10 Master Mike, fast Bast National Championship H&H 14 Ogilvie's flat, Roeseler's Nat , MR 175 Honda modifications • 16 Finishing what Honda started National Trials Finals ... 18 Now you can put your feet down Western hotline... , , 20 Central pipeline . . , . , 30 Northern dateline. . . . . . 34 Motocross Cat. ,. , " . .• 17 Dorothy takes it back , ON THE FRONT PAGE: What goes • down also goes up, quicker and better with simple modifications to the low-budg et _ Honda MR 175 enduro . Photo by Gary Van Voorhis. Pit riders kill motocross . I take back what I said in th e last letter . Thanks for this week's cover , it 's great. Thanks for caring and listening. Pit riding has become a serious problem at motocross races , most of which is done by riders go ing to and from th e track . All the tracks have rules against pit riding, bu t these rules are frequentl y either not enforced , or the p enalty is apparently not a d eterrent . After receiving com plain ts fr om specta tors and rid ers a like about too much p it riding, we ha ve put some me at into our pen alty. T his has ca used a -' ot of b oth co m p li ments a n d complaints. At our last race we disqualified eight rid ers for p it r idi ng. W e announced the penalt y for p it riding )it the riders' meetin g and also at intervals th ro ug ho ut the d ay. W e also had a man station ed a t th e track exit ga te to tell each rid er to kill his engine and walk his bik e. Most of th e riders com plied , and most of th e riders who wer e disqualified accep ted the penalty with only a minimum of.lip , . The number of liability cla im s and size of lawsuits in motocross are inc reasing and eventually the sp ort of motocross as we know it will di e . I would like to appeal to other clubs and promoters to tighten up on pit riders before ' insurance restrictions make motocross a stadium-only sport. , DOROTHY WELSH Balboa Park', CA More Moto Gorilla Charl es C. Cl ayton: President Bobi Scott . Asst. to tbe President Sha ron Clayton . Publi..her Edna Mew to n , Secretary to t he Publisher Advertising Deb b ie W ilkins. Sales Mgt'. Jim Ryan , Sales Mgr . Skip Jo hnso n , Sales Mgr. Chris Kel ber . Assistant. Editorial Cha rles C layton . Editor. Da le Brown , A 5II t an t a Edito r. Bdbi Scott . Assista nt Editor. S ri..n George . Assistant Editor. Graphics and Production Prod uc tio n: J udy Klinge r , Jan Gil l. Typogra phy : Manon H aeashita. Donna Caba rd . Laboratory Prod uction : Dennis G reen e. Circulation ~eba Smith , M.l:nage r . J uaniu, Blanton , . Cla.oe Felten , De bbie Drayden , Sandi McKa y. As:usta n ts. Accounting Mike KlinJ{ror. M a naK~r . Ken Lor in . Assistan t. j ean ne Ha mmo nd . Accrs. Recei vable , Pamela Dickerson. Assl. Acct s. Receivable, Rhon da Van Doren. Co ttec t lo n De-pt . T risha Bu rt o n . Credit Depr . ~ Services and Support J im Pisa rrtz. Na nrHr He nson , recepuoni sr. West 220 1 C he rry Ave. . Long Stach . CA P.O . Boll 498 . Long Br ac h. CA 9080 1 (213) U1·143 3; L.A . Li n. 636-6844. East P.O . Box 805 . T uc ker . GA 30084 . (404) 934· 1850 . Subscription One year , seco nd d ;.;s mail $ )5 : ~ yrars. seco nd class m ail. ~7 : ~ vears . se-c ond class mail . 537.50. . 4 Copyright © Cyck N ews, Inc . 1911 . Tradema rk Cyd~ News regis tered U.S. l'at~t Office. All righta reserved . Published week ly except tbe lin t a nd lu t week of tbe ca le nda r yrar by Cycle News , Inc.• P.O . Box 498 . Lon g Bea ch , Cal i. fom ia. Second class postage paid at Long Brach , CA 90801 . Cydr Nnw! welcom es unso licited editori al m aterial inclu ding stories . ca rtoons, photos, e tc . Suc h ma terial , if pu blished , beco mes th e exclus ive copy rig ht property of Cycle .~ rws. ~u ch a ccept~ ma terial is subject to rev eron as IS ~ary an the 50 1(' discrenon of Cycle News. Unsolicited ma teri al which is not used will be return ed if acco m pa nied by ;a se lf -ad d ressed sta m p ed envel ope . All unsolicited mat eria l will ' be handled wit h reaso na ble care. however Cycle News assum n no rnponsibility for the safety . loss or da mage to such material . Reprinting in wholr or part o nly b y pe rmission of the . p u bt isb ers , Ad ~" ising rat es a nd circ ulat ion infonna tio n wi ll be I('ot u po n ~ ursl. See S.R .D.S. My sons receive Cycle N ews and we always clip Motocross Cat out and send it to m y son- in -law , Charlie Getty. H e plays offens ive ta ckle for the Ka nsas City Chiefs. He ge ts a real cha rge , as we a ll do , over MX Ca t , so we sent hi m a copy of th e comic book. He really enjo yed it and passed it around the loc ker room . Howe ve r , he was ' disappointed that his favorite strip "Moto Gorilla" (football pla yer in off seaso n - MX Cat yelled fum ble - he ju m ped off and covered a rock) was omitted. This strip was on th e locker room wall for some time at K.C . How about some more of " Moto GOrilla ?" We'll be waiting to see them. FLORENCE LAWSON Sugar Grove . PA - Thank you from D-36 MX The District 36 MX Fund Committee would like to thank the following organizations, businesses and individuals for thei r contributions, which helped 10 D36 MX riders get to the Na tional Amateu r Champ ionships : PCP Yamaha , Motorsporr IS , Contra Costa Honda , Howard Ross , Dirt Diggers No rth M.C .. C .E _S . Promotions, Hi Point Competition Products, Honda Kawasaki of Sacramento, Polka Dots M.C . . Capitol Yamaha , Sierra Old T imers M .C . , Rancho Cordova Suzuki, Sacram~tito jammers M.C . , Cycle West -Petaluma . a nd Bob Beauchamp. BRAD TEEGARDEN D-36 Committeeman Citrus Heights. CA CHARLIE SEXTON Director of Competition Yuba Sutter Motorcycle Club Marysville, CA After being away from desert ra cing for several years , I vol unteered to man a check po int at the recent Double Crossers D-37 Enduro in Lucerne Va lley. I felt lowed a debt to all of the kind folks who stood around ho t and thirsty waitin g for desert riders to arrive a t th eir check point. It was a beautiful weekend and lots of old friends were around , so it was really enjoyable until you arrived at our check po int. You arrived several minutes late, and I ran to your bike to look far a _time card. I finally found it race-taped to your gas tank in su ch a manner that the area I was to mark couldn't be seen. I peeled back the race tape only to find all of your checks had been \ marked in the incorrect manner because of th e ra ce tapes . just as I was about to wri te in you r tim e next to the previous entry you elbowed me in the chest and sai d "Come on , It:I:% mark itl" Mr. Hannon , I realize professionals like yourself are under great pressure to win , and I re mem ber m y own anger with incom petence at check points; but d id you think the check point crews are being paid money to serve you? In ou r case , only one out of th e six people at th e ch eck point belonged to the host club . T he rest of us wer e there because we normally like to be around th e desert and desert riders. You may find th is hard to believe, but some riders actually thanked us before lea ving our check . Upon returning to the pits I related m y story to other competitors who , to a man , said "Yea, that's Hannon," Some r eputation you enjoy, Mr. Hannon. Well: I'll be back again helping at check po ints. But you can bet your route cards I'll sure as hell not mark your card when you pull in. Someone else can be bulli ed about and screamed at by a rude professional. CHUCK JOHNSTON Balboa, CA Backseat drivers An outstanding opportunity has come for us bikers who have been unhappy with the Department of Motor Vehicles in the past. The " Backsea t driver" program , sponsored by the DMV itself, is in need of panelists. As a panelist you have an inside cooperative track at changing the DMV as well as to generate new laws and regulations. Remember , if you don't get involved, that neighbor of yours that hates two -wheelers may just take you r place, and then your KR. stop crying Kenny Roberts says he would like to knock Harley -Davidson- off their pedestal, and I am sure KR could. If he had the right dirt tracker. But do the Yamaha people have to win it all (how about road raci ng)? I would like to see more of all bikes . in racing. .LEE SCHWARTZKOPF Scottsbluff, Nebr.

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