Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

were to receive copies of BLM maps on which to supply detailed markings of areas impo rtant to the fut ure of offroa d riding. "Motorcyclists are in danger of being planned right out of existence in the California desert. If we don't conduct our own inventory and develop our own documentatio? as part of the BLM Plan, no one IS going to do it for us," said Rob Rasor ofthe AMA. Papa suggests that persons wishing to get involved with the AMA's inventory of the Southern California desert contact the American Motorcyclist Association Governmental Relations Department, P.O. Box '1 41, Westerville, OH 43081 , 614/891 ·2425. Rasor said he is looking for specific competition and recreation areas that people use. ISDT star and all-around good guy Carl Cranke will be rid ing a mod ified YZ400E Yamaha in the '78 ISDT Qualifier Two-Day Reliability T rials. But he's not alone in the Yamaha effort , Inquiries have been sen t to selected riders in an at tempt to round up a semi-supported 18 man team . Cranke, Chris Carter, Jeff Hammond, Stan Rubottom, Jim Simmons and Dennis Reese have been chosen to ride 400cc Yamahas in the ISDT Qualfiers. Mike Deyo, Mark Deyo, David Ashley and Ken Maahs will be mounted on 250cc machines. Dwight Rudder and Ken Harvey have agreed to pilot the 175cc models. The Yam aha ISDT deal in cludes bikes, some pa rts and - for those who qua lify for the '78 lOST - a ticket to Swede n. No support crew has been organized . It 's a ri de r assistance program simil ar to Yamah a's MX assista nce plan. according to Ruben Po rtillo , Yamaha's MX Suppor t Coo rd inator, who 's putting it all together. By the way, don't bother sending in resumes if you think you may belong on Ruben's team. He's already chosen his men and is just waiting for their confirma tion before releasing more names . TV coverage of the Anaheim Stadium Coca·Cola Motocross Finals will be shown on NBC Sportsworld on Sunday, Feb. 26. Riders compe ting in AMA/ Toyota Supercross Series will have a chance for prize money even if they don 't make the main or consolation events. The Toyota Tower jump program will award $250 to the rider who travels the fart hest off the Toyota Tower jump in qualifying heats during all Toyo ta Supercross events. In addition , the three lon~est jumpers at each event will receive po in ts toward a new customized Toyota SR/ 5 pickup truck to be given at the end of the season. Stanford Research Institute (SRII will undertake a statewide study of recreation needs for the State Parks and Recreation Dept. The $738,230 SRI project will conduct 9,400 interviews, includiQg 3,200 detailed household interviews and 4,000 shorter interviews, as well as special population, in ne r city and visitor interviews, Papa hopes that off-road vehicle recreationists will be fair ly represented. 2 The cred it for last week's cover photo should go to Peggy Hickman, who snapped it at t he AMA D-H Prospectors Gold Rush Endu ro. Kelly Moran, possibly Speedway's most improved rider in 19n, will be joining Ivan Mauger on the Gu lf British League Hull Vikings team in 1978. The 17·year-old Moran was seen last year by English promoter Ian Thomas, who urged him to ride for the Hull team. Moran and friend Peter ROV8zzini will leave March 18 for England. More news from the British Speedwa y scene : With Ivan Mauger joining th e Hull Vikings, American Scott Au t~ey will ca ptain the Exeter Falcons. MIke Curoso left the Hull tea m and recently came to terms with the Poole Pira tes. The fourth American competing in . England , Steve Gresham , will return to the Bristol Bulldogs. John Schultz was the top polntgetter in the combined SRAIURJ' enduro point standings, winning Smuggler trailer, There will be no more points kept by the URA and SRA because of fewer events, so Papa guesses that John will be the defending champion for some time. a Speedwa y 117 will start its fifth high school motocross championship series on March 8. All school teams will be allowed a maximum of 12 designated riders per meet , with no more than two CMC Pros. For three year high schools, two ninth-graders from the same district will be allowed on the team . While the high school riders will compete with regul ar ~ontest~nts f?r Ill prize mon ey and trophies, points W be kept accordi ng to how they do among fellow HSMXers . Labor Day weekend will be the date for the second Northwest Challenge of Motocross. The fourrace series will start at Washougal, WA on Sept. 3, w ith races at Mulkey ORV Park Sept, 4, PIR/Deita Park Sept. 7 and Fox Hollow Sept. 9, Two major sponsors are reportedly interested, including last year's sponsor, Colt 45 Malt Liquor. The purse right now is $15,000. but that figure could possibly go higher. Accord ing to an AMA pr ess release, the Government Relati on s Department of th e AMA has b~ n ,,;n invent ory of the Southern Californ ia desert in response to the Californ ia Desert Conservation Area Manage ment Plan scheduled for compl et ion by th e Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1980. AMA clubs in the area Rickey Racer has purchased an d rec eived a $30, 000 shi pment of motorcycle p arts d irectly from the Italian La verda factory. The direct purchase was a "reward" for the shop because it h ad ser ved as in terim distrib utor for two years unt il Yankee Corp. beca me the U.S. distributor. While Rickey Racer says it doesn 't see itself com peting with Yankee, interested Laverda owners can contact them at 714 /622-0533 for details about the parts shipment. The AMA has joined several other motor veh icle safety groups in blasting a report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety lIIHS) which attributed approximately 2,000 fatal crashes per year to the existence of driver education programs. Even the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis tra tio n (NHTSAl, a driving force behind mandatory helmet laws, found no factual basis for the report's conclusion that vehicle operator education causes fatalities. But the AMA came back to oppose a move by the NHTSA to gain subpoena powers. An interim ru le reporte d in the Dec. 27 Federal Register proposes that th e NHTSA be given the power to obtain re co rd s and pr ivate inform ati on without du e proc ess of law. "Since practically every entity in America can somehow be construed to be involved with tr ansportation an d traffic safety," said th e AMA's Ed Youngb lood , "extension of subpoe na powers to the NHST A could put a dangerous and potentially oppressive tool in the hands of a federal agency that does not req u ire it a nd has demonstrated no ability to responsibly use it ." Claude Maynard of Blythe, CA, wonders why 700,000 rockhounds can gather in the desert for a Pow Wow, and 3,000 motorcyclists can't gather in the desert. for say, a Barstow to Vegas. Only 19 days left until Daytona . Though there will pr obably be some "We don 't care how the hell they do it in Californ ia" T -shirts and stickers in the pits , Papa flatly predicts th at Californ ian Kenn y Rob erts will win the 200-miler . Bultaco riders Yrjo Vesterinen and Martin Lampkin finished one-two in the opening round of the World Championship Observed Trials series held in Ireland. Honda's Rob Shepard was third . Mick Andrews (Yam ) fourth. SWM rider Charles Coutard fifth , Ulf Karlsson (Ma n) sixth a nd America 's Be rn ie Schreibe r (Bull ninth . Marlan d Whaley was not there and will reported ly miss the first five rounds due to problems with his new 380cc Honda trialer. Mark Eggar rode the Irish and British World trials rounds using American Trials Association (ATA) funds from the Dec. 11 EI Trial de Espana . Egga r decided to ride the first t~o World rounds rather tha n compete 10 the Scott ish Six-Days Trial, where Marland Whaley plans to use his share of the ATA mon ey. Trans-Atlantic ca bles were buzzing at presstirne to find ou t how Egga r placed . Stay tuned till next week. The Cal Poly Penguins HighMountain enduro has been postponed to April 16 due to the rains, whic h le ft the campsite underwate r. Entries are still available. Contact the club at P.O. Box 111, Cal Poly. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, 805/543-2338. After you fi nish viewing - and enjoying - the NBC coverage of the Coca-Cola World MX Finals, why not spend 10-15 m inu tes to tell them about it? Shoot that note or postcard off to NBC Sports, 30 Rockefeller Plaza , New York, NY 10020. Might induce a little more motorcycle coverage. A t ip of the Cycle News editor's visor goes to JT Racing 's John Gregory who has started a mechanics' contingency program for this year's AMA Pro MX circuit. Wrenches clad in JT overalls, scribbling on .rr signboards and putting JT air filters in their bikes are eligible. Rememb er when we told you ab out Debbie Evans being confirmed to ride the Scott ish Six-Days Trials? Well , she will if she can get there. So far she's minus the necessary cash to make th e trip. Instead of maki ng jokes abou t a long cold swim to Scotla nd , we're simply going to ask that you help sponsor Debbie's Six-Oars effort . by sending her a cash donation. We J.ust did . You ca n send your donation directly to Debb ie at 11738 Massinger , Lakewood , CA 90715 or c/ o Cycle News, P.O . Box 498 , Long Beach , CA 9080 I. If you' ll give her a call she will be glad to fill you in on the de tails. Any do na tions will be mighty well received . John Bettencourt of Yoshimura East and Dennis Smith of Del Amo Suzuki will ride Yoshimura R&D of America-prepared Superbikes at Daytona. That brings the total number of Yoshimura entries to five. Could it be that Pops wants to win? All WERRA ca rd holders ca n buy Dodge vans and pickup tru cks at 3% over d ealer cos t, acco rd ing to a WERRA news bulletin. T he norm al ma rkup is said to be 10-14% . Such a dea l could make bu ying a WERRA license worth it even in Ca liforn ia , whe re there a re n't any WERRA events. Write to P.O . Box 513 , Wayne, PA 19087 for details. HosPITal STOP: Mike Johnson of Johnson Enterprises, distributors of motorcycle lubricants suffered a broken back and facial lacerations in ill trailriding accident. Mike is recuperating at Ridgecrest Hospital, P.O . Box 1329. Ridgecrest, CA 93555. He 's in room 114-B, and the phone number is 714/446-3551 . Mike 's father assures JE customers that service w ill (Continued to page 2 7)

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