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/126304
ABC-TV's Wide World of Sports. Papa thinks we should thank ABC for the coverage, what there was of it. And he thinks we should let 'e m know that it wasn't enoughl A non-tip of the Cycle News hat goes to Sports Illustrated, too. They saw fit to run nothing on Daytona even though they had men on the scene shooting pho tos and putting together a story . On Apr. 2. CBS-TV will air the Jay Springsteen/Diane Cox short track shootout on their Ch."e..,e of the Sexes program . Consult lo c al listing s for ti m e . The Challeng e of the Sexes short track was run at J.C . Agajanian's Ascot Park . Agajanian re ports that he has recently invested $10 0 ,000 in improving Ascot for the '78 racing seas on. Kenny Roberts (Yaml won the 250cc GP during the season opening round of the road race World Championships Mar. 19 in San Carlos, Venezuela. Barry Sheene (S uz), Pat Hennen (Suz) and Steve Baker (Suz) took the top spots in the SOOcc event. Sketchy info rm ation out of South America indicates that Roberts and Cecotto both dropped out of the 500cc race with engine fa ilure. Takazum i Katayama (Ya m) was the 350cc vietor. Dick Burleson (Hus) emerged as the overall victor in the Indian Creek 100· mile AMA National Championship Enduro held Mar. 19 in Clinton, SC. Jack Penton (KTM) was the "AA " class victor with Mike Rosso (Suz) taking the " B" class win . Honda unveiled their answer to Yamaha's TT500 on Mar. 19 at the AMA National Championship Enduro in South Carolina. The prototype overhead cam, fourvalve, twin exhaust port, fourstroke thumper was ridden in the event by Don Sanford, who finished out of the top overall placings. Honda is remaining quite hush-mouthed about t he bike and will only say " it 's in the middle of its R&D : ' The British press reports that multi-time British MX champ John Banks will contest GPs and British Championship MX events with one of the engines in a special Merlyn Racing-prepared frame . Sanford's enduro b ike sported a 23-inch front wheel. The ninth annual Britain versus American roa d race clash , the John Player Transatlantic Trophy Match Race Series, kicks off Mar. 24 at Brands Hatch Racing Circuit south of London. The six-race outing (two per track) then moves to Mallory Park on Mar. 25 and finishes up at Oulton Park on Easter Monday. The American team will be defending the rotating trophy they won last year. 6 Kenny Roberts will captain the nine rider American team. Invitations were issued to Pat Hennen, Skip Aksland, David Aldana, Gene Romero, Dale Singleton and Mike Baldwin to be team members although a final decision on who would race was to be made at Daytona. Gary Nixon was to be a team member, but re lin q u is h e d his spot after experiencing re o c c u rrin g eng ine p roblems at Da ytona. Randy Mamola and Rich Schlachter have also been mentioned as possible team riders. It appears we won't know the final line-up u nt il the racing begins. The British squad will be led by current 500cc World Champion Barry Sheene. Gary Nixon told us via phone, " Erv (Ka ne m o t o l hasn't figure out what caused all our seizures at Daytona. There's no sense in going over t here and s uffering that type of thing a ll over again. Barry (S he e ne) is trying t o get me a ride f o r either Imola or Paul Ricard (Formula 750 rounds), but I'm not really counting on it. .. HosPITal STOP: Marty Smith and Jimmy Ellis were injured at the Mar. 18-19 Houston Supercross event . Smith suffered a dislocated hipandwas told by the Houston doctor that he'd be on crutches for two months. ("But I don't think they know MX racers too well . . ." Honda Team Manager Terry Mulliga n added, suggesting that Smith could be back in action sooner than thar .) Ellis' chances of riding at the Apr. 9 AMA Na tional MX Series opener at Hangtown were judged as being ab ou t "50-50" according to Mulligan. J im my suffered a partial separation of. the sho ulder. Mail to both Team Honda riders may be sent to the Moto rcycle Sports Department , American Ho nda , 100 W. Alondra, Gardena , CA 90247 . On a lighter note, Team Honda d id fairly well in Europe on Mar, 19. Brad Lackey's mechanic Bill Buchka phoned to report that in spite of Brad's bad luck in the fi rst moto of the 500cc International meet in Genk, Belgium, Lackey still managed a 22 second placing behind the Rying Finn, Heikki M ikkola of Team Yamaha. Lackey was leading the f irst race with fo ur minutes remaining when a rock d is lodged his chain. Honda teammate Graham Noyce recorded a 3-3 third. Between th e two 40· minute 500cc Interna tiona l motos in Genk, a single 40·minute 250cc International ra ce was held. Mikkola declin ed t he . opportu ni ty to ri d e , placing hi s attention toward winning the 500cc event. Lackey topped the 250cc race with Noyce second and young Belgian Andre Vromans third . Eig ht minutes - that's about how much ti m e the Daytona 200 got on Apparently there's o nly one thing that AMA Commissioner of Racing Doug Mockett and Supercross promoter Mike Goodwin ag ree upon: Cycle News advertising works. Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus has announced that an inventory of potential wilderness areas on public lands will be administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Public comments are invited to develop guidelines for the task. A copy of the proposed policy and review procedures is available at your state office of the BLM or Director (370 ), Bureau of Land Management, Washington , DC 20240 . The BL M administers 16 million acres of public land in California, including 12~ million in the California Desert Conservation Area , which will be rev iewed for wilderness potential. The Environmental Protection Agency has released their final proposals to regu late no ise emissions f rom motorcycles. Under the proposed standards, motorcycles made for sale after Jan. 1, 1980 will be required to meet 83 dBA limits; after Jan. 1, 1982,80 dBA; and after Jan. 1, 1985 the requirement is 78 dBA. T he new proposals also regu late offroa d mo tor cycle noise for motorcycles in two classes; 170cc and under. and over 170cc. The 170cc and under class is identical with the street motorcycle limits while the over 170cc class is 86 d BA after Jan. I, 1980 and drops to 82 dBA in 1983. EPA does not propose to regulate competition machines. However, they will require race bikes to be permanently labeled as such. E PA predicts the standards to significantly increase the retail cost of motorcycles and further predicts that some small manufacturers will be driven fro m the U.S. market. HosPITal Stop: Joe Walker, former owner of Santa Ana HarleyDavidson, was removed from intensive care and is on the road to recovery following a heart attack. Wishes for a speedy recovery can be sent to Joe at Tustin Community Hospital, 1010 Tustin Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92705. Mexicali 250 win ner Larry Roeseler has been doing stu ntwo rk for a movie called "The Great Ride ," d ue to be released this fall. Joe Wernex, ORV Supervisor for the State of Washington Department of Natural Resources, called to tell Papa about a new ORV proposal he's got cooking. A campground and trailbike trail . system is in the works for the area just north of Sultan, WA, and there's a public hearing scheduled to discuss any support or opposition . Concerned Washington motorcyclists should plan to be present on Apr. 11 at 7:30 p .m. in the Sultan Grade School gymnasium. Sultan is about 40 miles northeast of Seattle on U.S . 2. How about the Coors $50, 000 T ra nsAME Motocross Championship Series? American Motocross Enterprises' Joe Vieira also listed Electro Helm ets, Spec tra Oil, Bosch Spark Plugs and Bill Rob inson Honda as co·sponsors of the eight-race California MX series. Bill Robinson Honda will furnish a Honda XR-75 to be given away in a drawing at the opening TransAME round at Saddleback Park on Apr. 2. All entrants qualify to win the m inibike. The T ra ns·AME series will offer, po ssibl y for the fi rst time , contingencies to 100cc Pros as well as to the 125/250 / 500cc Pro classes . Electro Hel mets and Spectre Oil are putting up the bucks. T hey're offering product awards for Sportsman classes, too . Woodland W inter Track in Woodland, WA will offer a $500 purse on April Fool's Day. No joke. On Apr. 2. Woodland will host a Bill Cook MX school. No foolin' there, either. Californ ia's famed Big Bear Run , the forerunner of many of today's cross country motorcycle racing events, will be the featured topic of discussio n in the bench racing department when veteran motorcyclists gather for the annual Trailblazers Ban q u et on Satu rday, Apr. 29 . T he gala gettoget her will be held at Pasad en a's Brookside Club House at 1133 North Rosemon t. Pre -banquet ben ch racing kicks offfrom 5 to 7 p .m ., with din ner being served at 7 p .m. H ighligh t of th e evening's festivities will be the showing of a motion picture on on e of the famed Big Bear Ru ns. MotorcyCling enthusiasts from that era, or earlier, are invited to attend . Pr ice is $10' ~r pe rson , whi ch also covers tax and gratuities. Reserva tions mus t be mad e by Monday, Apr. 24. Make checks payable to Trai lblazers, a nd send th em to program chairman Max Bubeck, c/o Tiger Distributing Ca. , 653 W . Broad wa y, Glendale, CA 91204. You can call Max at 213/2467132 . ' Wedding bells rang early this year for F750 World Champion Steve Baker. Baker and h is constant companion Bonnie were marrie d January 14. Let's get to the bottom of this, Papa said that Motorcyclist rode a Honda CBS to an 11.46 second qu arter mjJe time. Cycle World wro te a letter saying they had done 11.4 6. e bottom line : They both did. Cycle World 's Len Vucci did it first, then Motorcyclist rider Terry Vance did it later. Congrats to both books and wat ch out when Papa secures a CBX fo r fame d CN t es t ri der Bill y Barkfeather . The Pioneer A rena in Northern California has switched the remainder of its rough scrambles races to Class "C" traction short tracks.