Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Mockett proved fruit less. Guess we'll just ha ve to wait and see which AMA se r ies Toyot a plans to support . Congrats to t he "czar", may be in order. - BY PAPA WEALEY Well folks, th is is it - Number 50 . What's a Number 50? It 's the last issue of Cycle News you'll be reading this yea r . Everyone at the CN offices. except the circulation department . heads out for the beaches. mountains . desert or whatever on vacation on December 14. And we won't be back until Dec. 28. Three of Peter Starr's -motorcycle movies swept the annual Oscar Cordon Rouge film festival competition in Paris on' Dec. 2 and 3. Rrst overall and best of show was " Race of the Year" featuring road racers Steve Baker and Barry Sheene at Mallory Park. Second in the motorcycle category was " Tw o Wheels A live," wh ich is being shown on TV in the U,S, by Pennzoil. Third place was Starr's "Bol D'Or" superbike road race documentary filmed at LeMans t his year. Moviemaker Peter Starr is presently putting together a feature film called "Take It to the Limit" with m usic by the Eagles . Will it be another "O n Any Sunday" we asked? " I hope it will be better than 'On Any Su nday' " Peter Starr replied. Scott USA. the goggles and plastic company, has purchased Preston Petty Products' injection molding equ ipment and product invent ory. Starting Jan. 3, Scott USA will manufacture, warehouse and ship the Preston Petty Product line of motorcycle accessories. Preston Petty Products will continue marketing a nd sales of the' 'p rod ucts. Petty has move d to Arizo~a whe re he will continue h is R&D wor k. The new PPP address is P.O . Box 4158 . Scotsdale, AZ 85258.602/ 991·5230. David Emde -and rid ing instructor Keith Code will hold road racing seminars every Saturday during January at Mr, A I's restaura nt in Anaheim. Discussions w ill start at 1:00 p.m . They'll run until 4:00 p.m .. and they'll cost ya $25. Inf 07 Call Keit h Code at 213/463-6594. The Oregon Motorcycle Riders . Association has a 24-hour phone answering service for info regarding their organization, current events in the area and up -to -dare legislative news. Oregoneans can give 'em a call at 503 /253-5097 . Former marketing executive with . American Motors , Corp. Robert Creger has joined Kawasaki Mo~or Corp . as vice-president in charge of sales and marketing. Creger will be advised by former vice-pres ident of sa les and market ing Alan Masek. 2 Why would Toyota Motor Sales . USA. Inc . send us an invitation to attend their 'p r ess luncheon in mid December? According to the letter. we can expect to hear "an announcement by Toyota Motor Sales . USA. Inc. and th e Ameri can Motorc ycl is t Association." Phone calls to th e AMA and to commissioner of rac ing Doug I Tea m Yamaha's Mike Bell who broke his wrist at Anahe im will be getting the plaster removed on Dec. 22. M ike has been do ing some running and will get back int o form some two weeks earlier than · antic ipated. Many apologies to Marshall Jennings concerning the 4-stroke Motocross Nationals at Carlsbad: Marshall took third in the Old T imers cla ss, not Klump . A .num ber mixup at the sign· in booth left us with Jennings not even on our list. Central folks please take note. TIred of not seeing coverage of your races in Cycle News? One way you can help - this is what's called the direct approach - is to send in stories. Former contributors, race fans and foxy pit tootsies with a flair for writing and/or taking photos shoulCl give it a try. Fringe benefits7 It'll make ya sem i -famous and moderately 'affluent. . Suzuki's' GSI000 street machines are expected to arrive, in SoCal in late January. and we'Il do our darndest to procure one for an instant up-to -date test. First to show up will be the standard C-mOdels with the fancy E· models probably rolling in around March. • Eve r wanted to name an off-road vehicle park7 Wen, the Sacramento County Dept. of Parks and Recreation needs you r help. They're hold ing a contest with ,prizes (t hey didn't say what the prizes are) for the winning namedroppar. The name should be of geographical, topographical or hist orical significance. The park cannot be named after a living person. And all entries must be in by January 10. ~ Send those ORV park name ideas ' to Floyd Lewis, Recrea tion supervisor at' th e Sacr ament o Cou nt y Dept. of Parks and Recreation . 3701 Bra nch Center Road , Room 116. Sacramento, ,CA 95827. American Motocross Enterprises lAME) is putting on a seven-race , $10,000 Sweepstake motocross series. The series will start Ja n. 15 at Racing World with a $1,200 purse for 100 and 125cc machinery. ($200 for 100s, $1,000 for 125s,) On Jan. 22 there w ill be $1,500 race f or 250s and 500s at Ind ian Dunes. The rest of the schedule: Jan. 29, 2505OOcc, $1,500, Sprockets Park; Feb. 5, 100-125cc, $1,200, Sprockets Park; Feb. 5, 25O·5OOcc, $1,500, Racing World; Feb. 12, 1DO-125cc, $1200, Ind ian Dunes and Feb. 18-19, $2,000, 125-25Occ, Sprockets Park. A 530.000 . six-race series is planned by AME for April and Ma y with two more races tentative. The Suzuki Golden State Ser ies, a seven-event CMC-sanctioned - pro MX program, w ill feature a sizable number of factorv-backed pros. California Moto-sport Club honcho' Stu Peters says that the three-man Kawas'aki team We inert, Stackable and Mosier - is signed up . Team Honda riders Pomeroy, Croft and Reid are also definite, · and t here's eve n a rum or that Jimmy Elli s w ill debu t on Hond a in t he series . -Laverda's 1,ooocc V-6 endurance racer was the hit of the M ilan (Italy) Show. The watercooled engine has four .valves per cylinder and double-overhead camshafts on each bank of cy linders. Ru mor has it that Team Suzuki will contest the Golden State Series alt hou gh .no one has signed up yet. Likewise, there's a good chance that Team Yamaha will make a showing. Also expected to ride is Team Husqvarna's Ch uck Sun. ' ordering Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen at least one frame from Mert Lawwill Racing Produc.ts, M ike Kidd, riding a Lawwill prepared and sponsored XR, made lif e hard for everyone including the Harley-Davidson teamsters in 77. According to Eckart Schorn of Maico Motorcycles, " M ai c o is preparing a hell of a race program for 1978 that will please the privateers, the pros and the AMA." Sounds ve r-r-ry int eresting. Yamaha has received a reported 60 orders from riders for the 40 unit allocation of the TZ750E road racer. The deadline for ordering was Decem ber 1. This year the orders had to include a resume of the acc orn plishments of the rider designated to receive the machine. No date on the release of the machinery was available. Suzuki's National motocross team is sh aping up for 1978 , according to reli able sources. Mark Barnett, Kent Howert on and Da nny LaP ort e have already signed. Tony DiStefano was due in Los Angeles for talks as Cycle News went to press. It look s lik e Tony D. and Howerton will ride _t he 250cc Nationals, Barnett the 125s, with laPorte in the 5OOs. At last report. Suzuki was still looking for riders to support LaPorte and Barnett in their respective classes. Gerri t Wolsink put his name on the dotted line for another year with Suzu ki in the 500cc World Championship Grand Prix. Roger DeCoster is due in Japan this week (Dec . 12·16) for testing and contract negotiations. Montesa has signed trials ace Ulf Karlsson again, but Malcolm ~thmell remains unsigned for 78. Also not signed is Yrjo Vesterinen, the defending World Trials Champion. Vesterinen discussed next year's plans with Bultaco reps in Italy last week, but did not sign after two days of talks. Don 't be surprised if you see the AMA 's only professional licensed lad y road racer. Carter Alsop. competing in the Superbike class at AMA Nationals in 1978 . Alsop sta yed in California after the AMA Awards Ba nq uet to work on a deal to ride a Yoshimura Racin g prepared Suzuki. Loyal George "Crash" Tru esdal e. in ternational goodwill ambasador and motorcyclist extraord ina ire , (ac cording to his business card) is ar rangi ng th e sponsorship. If you can 't beat 'em, join 'em department. Hartev-Davldson is Corky Keener has given up residence in Flint. ,.Michigan to move to Golden, Colorado. What's in Golden, you ask7 Well, Keener says he can see the Coors Brewery from his condominium. Mr. Dirt was awarded a lifetime membership in the Michigan Mafia by bud 'dy and Harley-Davidson teammate Jay Springsteen before he left. Mr. PiBB ~ilI continue its involvement in Supercross. Mr. PiBB has signed an agreement in principal to again sponsor both the Atlanta and Ho uston ro unds of the series plus one other as yet unnamed event on the soon to be ; released schedule. I Dan Mahon ylWizard Racing Photos deserves the photo credit on last week's coverage of the .AMA Professional Awards Banquet. Somewhere in the shuf.fl e, Dan 's byline got left off. Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway will not run a National road race in 1978. The Sp eedway notified the AMA that they were withdrawing their sanction application "d ue to the nature of our ongoing track construction." The Speedway felt that rather than schedule the event a nd then have to:> ' cancel, that it was better not to run at all. The track , in a·letter to the AMA . asked that their application be applied to an Apri l 1979 date . The sidecar portion of the Laguna Seca F750 race, held Sept. 11, will be broadcast on ABC on Saturday, Dec. 31. Check your local li st ing for t im e and channel. (Continued on page 15)

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