Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126293
Recreational Trails Committee. Address i t to Russell Cahill, Director. Parks & Recreation Dept.. Box 2390. Sacramento, CA 95811. Just say. "Please appoint Russ Sanford to the member-atlarge vacancy on the Calif. Rec. Trails Committee." If you don't know who Russ Sanford is, trust Papa. If all goes well, Southern California din riders should have some 14,000 acres of the Hungry Valley O RV recreation area in escr ow, thanks to the Green Stickie registration fund . Formal dedication of the H u ngry Valley facility sho uld take place in spring, 1979. Meanwhile the Gorm a n site remains open for riding. San Diego, CA's Parent-Teacher Association plans to sponsor a mandatory helmet law in California. They hope to enlist all PTA chapters in the state. National MX riders. fans and su p port crews are mourning the death of Team Yamaha mechanic Larry Carpenter who suffered a heart attac k on J an . 5. Larry. who tuned Rick Bu rge tt 's machinery. will long be remembered as one of the outstanding personalities on the AMA circuit. Maico USA's 1978 rider support program will invest $55(),OOO in aiding motocross and enduro riders with free parts, bikes and rebates as well as fu ll sponsorships. The f irm 's aim, according to general manager Eckart Schorn, is to discover fresh talent capable - eventually - of challenging Bob Hannah and Dick Burleson and give him Iher71 the support necessary to .get the job done. Contingency awards a mo unti ng to 522.295 have been posted by seven companies for the C MC / S u zuk i Golden State Series of Motocross. Maico Motors has pitched in 58 ,775 ; Du n lo p Tires. $4.410 ; Electro Helmets , 53.325 ; Husqvarna Motorcycles . $3 .150 ; Scott USA . $1.050 ; Hi -Point Boots , $885 and Disco Jet Products. $700 . Their invo lvement boosts the potential to tal mon ey for the seven -race series to S46.595 . New for '78 i s t h e AMA 's Professional Regional Motocross Championship Series . T he schedule, although not ye t firm. calls for six to eight races in each region. Only Novice Pros w ill be ab le to earn po ints toward t he regio nal championship t itles i n 125cc. 250cc and Open classes. Experts ma y ride but not for po ints. Purses for the AMA Professional Regional Motocross events will tot al $3000. according to AMA MX Manager Mike DiPrete, with S100? for eac h displacement class. Money will be pa id per moto to the top 12 ~ide rs on ly with no overall payoff. RIders ma y ra ce in any two classes at each event, howev er , a rider may win a championship title in onl y one of th e classes - th e one in which he's acc u mula ted th e most points. Half po in ts a r e awa rd ed to rid ers competi ng outside their own regio ns. 2 T he FI M f orm ati o n has of appro v ed t h e a mo to r c yc le competition Safety and Accident Research Group after considering a proposal developed jointly by AMA representative Ed Youngblood . and FIM Deputy President Bogden Matuszak of Poland . The p lan has been implemented i m m e d iat el y i n response to pressure from FIM member nations and motorcycle press people critical of the accident record in international competition, primarily on the GP road racing circuit. Among the rul e changes AMA Professional Motocross Manager Mike DiPrete announced for 1978 concerns payoff. There will no lon ger be a payoff for overall positions; the purse money will be split equally between both motos. The m oto winner will get 15% of the purse split. The remaining 85 % will be divided by the total nu mb er of po ints (22 for second down to one for 20th) and the riders will get the share multip lied by the number of points they scored. More changes on page 4. Radical Ron Turner is in search of a new ride to replace his Flying Machine Factory support. Ron qualified fourth in the Golden State Series 250cc race at Saddleback behind Weinert, Staten and Moates and qualified first for the 125cc division. Team Husqvarna's Chuck Sun leaves for Europe next week for a three .we~k racing season prep program. Sun W Ill spend the first week a t a Swedi sh training facility with coach Roland Arrehn and Dr. Bjorn Gustafsson doing physical training. We ek two w~1I be spent at the Husky factory In Huskvarna , and a riding school in Belgium will fill his third week . The ed itor of one of the motomonth l y m a gazi nes rode th e Honda CBX six-cy linder over to Kawasaki Motors Corp . o n December 2. After he saw the new bike. the head market ing man at Kawasaki reported ly to ld the editor that Kawasaki will in troduce a 1200cc V-6 later this year. The Bureau of Land Management IBLM) is proposing the closure of 2,300 acres of public land to offroad vehicles IORVs) near the old mining town of Knoxville. CA, m idway between Lake Berryessa and Clear Lake in Lake County. It's been a popular ORV area for several years, and the BLM proposal. effective March 31 , seems to be due to hillsides " d e n ud ed" by motorcycle hillclimbing. There's a meeting on January 16 in Napa City Council Chambers, Second & School St.. Napa, CA at 7:30 p.m . Daytona In tern a tiona l Speed wa y has announced that the 1978 Daytona 200 will not be part of the FIM F750 road racing series . They'lI also return to the 200 consecutive miles of rac ing format instead of running two lOO -mile heats . The 37th Daytona 200 will be part of the AGV Helmets World Cup points compet ition in conjunction with France's Paul R ica rd circuit and Italy's Imola. Giacomo Agostini, winner of 15 World Championships in road racing, announced his ret irem ent shortly before Christmas, according to Britain's Motol' Cyc/., "I have nothing more to achieve in motorcycle racing." said the 35-year-old Italian. who int ends to switch to car racing, possibly on a Formula Two March-BMW. Reg Pr id m ore . defending Nationa l Superbike Cham pion . will tackle .the Sidecar series as well as the Superbikes in ' 78 , according to Motor Cycl e. Pridmore will ca m pa ig n a sidecar outfit built by Rob North and powered by a Don Vesco -prepared 750cc Yamaha engine. Graham Noyce ret ur ned to England shortly before t he end of December after spend ing t w o weeks i n Belgium rece iving treatm ent f o r t he shou lder he dis located in the Nov. 20, 19n. Sears Point Trans-AMA. While in Eng land, he won a m ot ocr oss near Sou thhampton on Dec. 27, going 21 on a borrowed Er ic C heney Honda. Noyce plans t o return to Be lg ium, possibly facing an operat ion to strengthen the jo int. Noyce was quoted in Motol' Cyc/., saying " I can't lift it [hi s arm] any higher than my face ." Darrell Sh u lt z, a hot Northern California 'crosser is sa id to be receiving bikes and parts from th e Maico facto ry to ride th e Gold en Stat e series as a pri vateer with the hel p of his local wren ch Ja n Houterm an . Do dirt bik ers have their own "Anita Bryant?" Singer Helen Reddy Wald cast th e onl y vote against the Holl ister Hills ORV management plan a t a December meeting of the state Parks & Recreation Commission . Sa id sh e was against th e en vironmental "da m age " ca used by off-road veh icles. Take 15 m in utes and 13 cents and w rite a letter rec ommending that Russ Sanford be ap pointed to se rve on the Cal i f o r n ia T he C MCISuzuk i Go lden Sta te Series opened at Saddleba ck Par k on Jan. 8 lsee p. 10) with only t oken partic ipation by t he fa ctory teams. Team Kawasaki arrived in full regalia with new members Steve Stackable and Gaylon Mosier joining "Jammin' Jimmy" Weinert on team green. Suzu ki. the m ain sponsor for the Golden Sta te Series, did not field a factory effort at Saddleback. New te am m em ber Mark Ba rnett may contest one or two of the Florida Wi nter-AMA Series events , as may reigning 250cc National Champion T ony DeStefa no. DiStefano, by the way Is not yet under contraet with Suzuki. Revisad versions of the .DiStefanolSuzuki agreement have gona through several stages and changes. As we understand it. Tony has signed the present version. and Suzuki has only to review it and either agree or send it back for yet another revision, There's a rumor that the Hond a CBX co nfigu ration - with t he ignition mounted be hind th e cylinde rs instead of on the cra nkshaft end - may be applied to a fo u r -cylinder 750 cc m ach ine . Carroll Chandler" formar AMA starter at the National MX races, will become a fulltlme AMA employee as assistant to Pro MX Manager M ike DiPrete. T he USG P will be br oadcast Sunday, J a n. 15, on A BC W id e Wo rld of Spo rts . According to one who saw the ed ited 40 ·minute final product, it's excelle nt. Suzuki· is furnishing two GS1000 street bikes and an extra motor to Yoshimura Racing for Superbike competition. True Love on the Circuit Dep t : Ron Turner and Kim King will be m a rri ed on Feb . 4. Team Kawasaki wrench Rick Jones and Kim Johnson are engaged , but haven't set the big d at e, yet. Lose m ore good ri ders and wrenches th a t way. Roy " T u n er " Turner. who's twisted wrenches for Team Honda for several years, has now joined Team Kawasaki. Turner will replace Steve 'J o hnson keeping J immy Weinert's machinery running clean. mean and green as Johnson moves up to a racing team coordinating position. According to th e Santa Cla ra County Motorcycle O wners Riders Enthusiasts (M.O .R. E.) Ch apter' s newsletter , it's now clearly illegal for anyone but the property owner or residents to ride on privat e p roperty without a permit in that countv. Arti cle seven was added to the Sant;' Clara O rd inance Code by t he Board of Supervisors at a Dec. 19 meeting to regu lat e mot orcycle riding. The filin g fee fo r such a permit is $25 , and the pr ocedure requ ires, among ot he r th ings, a public hea ring. The ru ling was passed on a n "Urgency" basis . Wonder why? Motocrosser Gary Semics, formerly w i t h Kawasaki , has signed the dotted line w ith CanAm for the 78 season. Semics will ride the new 366cc MX-4 bikes in the AMA Open National MX class and the 250cc version in the AMA's stadium series. Gary joins Rich Eierstedt on Tea m C-A. World Champion in the 125cc class Gaston Rahier is reponed not to have signed a ' 78 contract but is presently train ing is Switze rland in preparation for the GP season. •