Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. NSIDE I Dirt Diggers' GP Escape from the ordinary Racing World 6 . Russ Cahill 10 Rappin' with the Cal. State Parks & Recr eation Director Desert Hotline _. _. . . . _. 12 Balentine blasts the CRC Desert IVOICBSI IOP T IIB [ B ST J W Tra ns -AMA Motocross . 14 Dirt cheap Smith , Reid make Honda sweep 1 have just recently moved fro m An telope Va lley to the San Luis O bispo area (Morris Bay) and it has come to my attention tha t the closest place to go rid ing is at Pism o Beach 50 miles away. This OHV fa cility has absolutely no p lace for us rnoto-xers to ride . The sand is so deep that you cannot possibly do anything more than go for a joy ride. T he only good place to ride the re is by the water, b ut there is a spe ed limit of .5 MPH. For the weekend ers this is the gr eatest p lace in the worl d to fool arou nd on .an O HVehicle. Bu t for us seri ous racers who need to ride several times a week ' this land is useless. Also , ri d ing a ll the time on t he sand dunes gets to be very ro ugh on my engines. My ma in co ncern is t he driving distance. Sixt y m iles several tim es a week beco mes very expensive. Wha t burns me up is that th ere are m iles a nd m iles of rolling hills ou t here , but b ikes a re not allow ed anywhere nea r th em. How do county officials expect us to ride legally when we h ave to tra vel so fa r to do so? My questio n is wh a t ste ps do we ha ve to take to get a couple of acres of land in the hills so we ca n ha ve a real place to practice withou t driving so far? We Mxe rs are willing to take wh at ever steps necessary to ge t a pl ace to pract ice . PAUL MARCONI Morro Bay, CA Editorials 17 What you see is what wesay Chuck Lai Sun 18 Husky's Sun-shine Western Ho t line . , , , . " 20 Bengt Aberg 's 500 , 24 Yamah a Four more rea sons to ride a Yamaha Northern Dateline 33 Central Pipeli ne , . . , , , , , 34 Motocross Cat 35 Results 37 Calendar .. ~ 40 Want Ads. , , . , , . . ~ , , 44 ON T HE FRONT PAGE: The maula cious mudhole at the Dirt Diggers GP. As bad as it looks, the alternate (a lake) was worse! Photo by Dale Brown. Ch a rles C . Clayton . Presiden t Bo bi Sco tt . Asst . to the Presiden t Sha ro n Clayto n . Pu b lisher Ed n a Mew tcn . Secre tary to rhe Pu b lisher Advertising Debbie W ilki ns. Sales MgT. Jim Ryan . Sa In Mgr . Skip johnson. Sales MgT. Ch ris Kolber . AssiSlant . Editorial Cha rles Cla yton . Edit or . Da le Brown . Assistant Edi to r. Bobi Scott , Assistant Edit or . Brian Oecrge . Assisram Ed ito r. Graphics and Production Product ion : Jud y Klingt'r , J an Gill. Typo grap hy : Marion -H aras bit a . Donna Ca ba rd . La bo ra to ry Product io n: Denn is Gree ne . You can contact yo ur city and county depar tment s of parks and recreation to learn what plans are currently un der way, and th en help hurry th em to completion by political act ion. Or, you could fo rm a non -profit land trust and buy, or seek dona tions of suit able land, an d th en get the state to ta ke it over. See "R appin unth. R uss Cahill " in th is issue. Edito r. Accounting Premature cancellation Mike Klinger, Ma nager . j ea nn e Hammond, Aer ts Receivable. Pamela Dicke rson . Asst, Acn s. Rece ivable. Juanita Bla nt o n. Co llect ion a nd C red it All was set for th e 18th Annual Mile High Enduro . This was to be a trial run for the Prairie Dawgs M.C . next year they wer e to h ave a National Championship round . An d in my opinion, it would be one of th e best beca use of its multitude of trail a nd terrain . Everyth ing was in readin ess, but th ere were a few problems. The woods were dry because it had been a month since the last rain and the fir e danger was one ste p be low max im um . Thu rsday night it finall y rained. When we a rrived Friday night the sky was clear, and th e fire danger back to "low." Circulation Rh eh a Smi th., M an age r. Oi..n e Felt on . Debbie Drayden . Kathy Ncfro ne y. Sandi Mc Ka y, Assista nt s. Services and Support J im Pisarere . Lind a Baca . recept ioni st . West 2201 Cherry Ave.. Long Bea ch . CA P.O . Box 498. Lon g Bea ch . CA 9080 1 (213)427 ·7433: L.A. Line 636 ·8K44. East P. O . Box N05. T ucker , C A 50084 . (4CH ) 934 7850 . Subscription 0 0(" yea r. seco nd class mai l, $l a : 2 years. seco nd class m ai l. $27 ; 5 )'Tars. seco nd class mail. S37.50 . 4 Copyri ght © Cydr Nt"WS. Inc . 1977. Tradema rk CyCft News registered U .S. Pat en t Office. All rights rese rved . Published W«kJy attpt t be fint and last week of the calend ar "rar by Cycle News . Inc . . P.O . Box 498 . Lo ng Beach , Cali. fornia . Second class posta~ pa id a t Lo ng Beach. CA 9080 I . Cycle News welcomes u nso lici ted editoria l ma terial inel udi ng stories. cartoons, p h otos . etc. Such m a teri al . if p ub lished , becomes tbe exclusive copyright propeny of Cyc le News. Suc h ... cepted mat erial is su bject c to revision as is nt"'CnSa')' in tbe 50Ie decrenon of Cyc le N('Wl. Unsolicited materia 1 which is not used will be ret urn ed if acc om pa nied by a se lf-add reese d st a rape d e n ve lo pe . All u reol icu ed m a terial will be h a nd led with reasona ble a re. h owever Cycle N('Wl as5umo no responsibil ity for the sa fety . loSs or d amage to suc h material. Rep rinting in whole or pan on ly by permission o f the pu bl ish e rs . Ad Ye'nising rates a nd circu lation Information will be K'TI t upon request. S« S.R .D.S. Saturday Len and I got up early so we could get our b ikes j etted and ride the bea utiful wooded trails. It was just perfect - th e sky was clear a nd the su n was warm . So we went for a 20mi le ride, wh ere we ran across a ra nger a nd his wife go ing the other way . We sto p ped to say "Hi ," and fou nd out th e event had been canceled by Mike Beren s and Fred Arbogast , the district rangers . T hey thought it might rain some m ore and t hat there was a possibi lity erosion migh t occ ur . I feel th a t their incompetence a nd appa re nt dislike for ou r recognized for m of recrea tion jeopardizes our sport. T hey h ad not stopped the logging , four-wheel drives , open trail riding . nor had they closed the horse stables. I also feel t hat a class-ac t ion suit shou ld be filed by the AMA (since th e event was sa nctioned). This would return th e expenses. of th e entrants and the club and set a precedent for the future . I urge you to write and express your feelings to : Jim Abbett , Forest Supervisor Federal Build in g 11th a nd New York Alamogordo, NM 88510 (505) 457 -6050 American Motorcycle Assn . (Att: Rob R asor ) P. O . Box 141 Westervi lle , O H 45 081 (6 14) 89 1-2425 DO N SANFORD Odd essa , TX Sue city A year ago October m y son raced in th e D .R.A . Cal City Gr and Prix and was injured. He had gott en off co urse and crashed . The rescu e truck went out . during the ra ce to pick him up a nd while th ey were the re another boy ra n into th e truck . T he parents _of thi s boy are suing D.R.A . and the dri ver of th e rescu e truck. My son and I have been subpoenaed to testify in th eir behalf. They are sayi ng the truck was on the co urs e . I would like to exp ress m y feelings on th is. I am very gratefu l th e rescue truck was th ere to p ick m y son up, otherwis e he could have been inju red worse . The othe r boy cou ld ha ve run into him instea d of th e truck . I am truly sorry that this boy was h u rt just as I am tha t m y son was hurt, bu t sometimes th ese thi ngs ha ppen when ra cin g . Everyon e who races wou ld be in a lot of trouble if it wer en 't for the good job th at all the rescu e cr ews do . In m y op in ion a nyo ne wh o sues a raci ng organiz a tion or the people who a re out th ere to help you is ridicul ou s. No one puts a gu n to you r head and makes you race. You are th ere of you r own accord and if you don't rea lize th e dangers that ca n be in volv ed you shou ld n' t be out there . If thi s kind of th ing contin ues no one will have to worry about sui ng th e d iffe rent r a cing organizations, because there will be no racing. MA RY MO RRISON Newh all, CA Great Ascot coverage, but . .• Your Ascot coverage was greatl T he stories were , as usual , to p notch , the p hotography (My admiration to Felix Adamo and Jack W right) fantastic. But , I feel you slighted District 56 and one of ou r top riders with no mention of Lowell Mou ra \. On Saturday night 's ha lf m ile , sem i one ha d the m ak in gs of a Na tional : One transfe r , go- for -it r acing a nd three of the best riders in the nation on the fro nt row. Everyone kn ows that Bood y won it with a fin e ride , but how a bout Moural (49 Y) on th e self-built , self-sponsored . T rium p h from Chico? He's th e one wh o put Kenny Rob erts in fourt h with some insp ira tion al rid in g . Viva la Priva tee r . Lowell , admittedly not a TT rider, got a hard -earned sixth in the Trophy Race on Fr id ay nig ht. He p ut a lit tle extra into a very exciting weekend. BOB TORNAI Re dwood City, CA Attent ion Hey DRA, CRC , SRA riders, and all motoc rossers and spo rts m a n riders , we have races set up jus t for you at th e Maywood M.C . T oys for Tots ra ce at Sadd leback Pa rk Dec. 5-4 . But you are not ente rin g . How come? Can't you ra ce if th er e a re no points you can ea rn? Can't you r ace for underprivileged kid s? Can't you race to help th e di rt rider image ? If that's not reaso n enough, we do have super trophies and continge n cies for you to win . Plus N BC will tape th e event for national tele cast. . Help us. R . KEITH BR OW N Presid ent • Maywood M.C . Brown also announced that th e entry deadline has been extended to N ov. 2.5 .. . Ed. Winning formula Give Ken ny Roberts back the frame s and engines he won th e Number One p lat e wit h and histo ry wou ld repe at itself on half-miles and TTs. Get rid of the multi cylin der engine in formula 750 and go with 750cc twin cylinders. Most manufacturers hav e a 750cc twin . T O MMY CO NN ER Austin , T X Super Sue H ere's wishing all m y luck to Sue Fish . I think it's great she is going to race in the so-ca lled m an's world and I also think she ca n and will do it. I gathered from her sto ry that Sue is kinda bummed -out because of th e pos ition she is in, but in m y opinion , I think it is grea t she's gone all this way and is still trucking for more. Like she said in her int erview, "you ha ve to set a goal for you rself," My goal is to be as ex perienced as Sue Fish . VENUS J ACOBSEN Escondido , CA (Continue d on page 31)

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