Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Yama ha's Johnny Cecotto in the 750cc class. the Spring Motocross races later throughout California. Team Suzuki's Drew Smith won the May 7 Burr Oak AMA National Enduro near Sterling, IL. Run in a torrential downpour, the Mid·West National Enduro Riders' event saw KTM rider Jeff Fredette put in a second best ride followed by John Burch on a Yamaha, Kevin Snapp on a Can-Am and Herluf Johnson of Team Suzuki. Ascot called Papa to announce that Rick Hocking , Steve Morehead, Skip Aksland, Ted Boody. Ra nd y Goss, Dave Aldana , Gary Scott and Corky Keener will be warming up for Ascot's AMA Camel Pro half mile Saturday. May 13 by riding a standard AMA Pro half mile at Ascot the night before. The leading rookie going into the San Jose Mile , northern Californian Don Bailey , didn't have a good day at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Bailey was riding with a sore left leg following a tangle at Tulare when he went down with 'a not her rider and was cut across the back of the leg by a number plate. Bailey was still running well in his semi until he went high through a turn and lost several places. Sa n Jose put Al abama's Lance Jones into the lead amongst the rookies after Californ ian Edd ie Lawson dropped ou t of his heat wit h a bu sted coil. Dear AMA Member: With the assistance of Cycle News West, we are bringing to your attention a matter of great concern to desert motorcyclists. The future of motorcycling on public lands is being challengedl The Bureau of Land Management. controlling over 450 .000.000 acres of that land, has begun their wilderneSs review process that could close much of that land to recreational motorcycle use. Your riding future depends on your actions now! Last week's Cycle News contains an article by Rob Rasor, our Associate Directo r of Government Relations, that explained what is happening and what you can do about it . Cycle News is helping us by reprinting the article and sending it to our California members. We will be working to keep Cycle News up-to-date on the plan so they can keep Californ ia riders up-to-date. Please read the article and act now! We appreciate you r support of the AMA and we a ppreciate your help with this very critical problem . ED YOUNGBLOOD Director Government Relations P.S. Even if you are a road rider. we think this involves you. Today it's the BLM, but tom orrow it may be the Department of Transportation. We're all in this together and we've got to help each other out. (See p. 20) On the list of BL M Wilderness Review meetings on page 21, remember that the first meeting in each city is a formal presentation of procedures from 7 p,m. to 10 p .m. The second day meeting is a workshop with BLM staff lasting from 1 p .m . to 10 p.m. Be there both days and let them know how you feel , but don't shout and scream. Offer positive suggestions. Yamaha rider Debbie Evans has completed t he May 1-6 Scottish Six Days Trial, placing 109th .among 220 riders. She scored second in the 175cc class , according t o inf ormation received in a phone conversation with her sister Donna, and earned a first Class award for finishing in the t op 50%. Bultaco's Martin Lampkin won the Scottish Six Days leading a British sweep. Rob Edwards , a Montesa rider. finished second. Ossa 's John Reynolds took third and he was followed by Mick Andrews (Yam), Ulf Karlsson (Mon) and Rob Shepard (Hon). 2 In Grand Prix motocross, Team Yamaha's Heikki Mikkola 'topped the May 7 Danish round of the 500cc World Championship MX Ser ies with a double moto victory. Brad Lackey put hi s Bill Buchka· tuned RC450 Honda int o second overall w ith a 2-3 afternoon. Third was Suzuki's Gerrit Wolsink with a 4-2. Roger DeCoster, also Suzuki, scored a 3-4 fourth. M ikkola leads t he series standings w ith 102 po ints over Lackey's 92 and DeCoster's 61. Gaston Rahier led a Team Suzuki 1·2 punch at the May 7 125cc World Championship MX Series round in France. Ra hier won both motos, and his teammate Akira Watanabe followed in with a 2-2. Yamaha's Gerard Rond finished third. Rahier's 121 point total leads the series; Watanabe is second with 113. Rond holds down third with 106. In 2SOcc World Champio nship MX Series action, Guennady Moisseev, I. Sc hneider and Vladimir Kavinov - all on KTM - swept t he May 7 Italian round. Kenny Rober ts had a good weekend on the GP road racing circu it. "King Kenny" rode his Ya maha to victory by an l l -second m argin over Team Suzuki's Pat Hennen in the May 7 500cc race in France. Ba rry Shee ne scored thi rd . Rober ts' win gives him a one-point series lead over Sheene, Kawasaki's Gregg Hansford topped both the 250 a nd 350cc races; Rober ts took second in the 250cc event. Kenny leads the 250cc series ; he's 15 points behind Garth Brow's San Jose w in marked the first victory for a nonCalifornian in 1978 Camel Pro competition. In the three other AMA Professional series, the Toyota Supercross and the 125 and 2SOcc Mr. PiBB National Motocross, the . on ly nonCalifornians to notch victories have been Jimmy Ellis and Mark Barnett. Californians Steve Eklund, Marty Tripes, Bob Hannah and Broc Glover lead the four series' point standings. And to think that some people don't care how t he hell t hey do it in .. . Ted Boody and ' mechanic Stan Storz are working on a Harley XR750 with a new frame and Ceriani leading-axle forks. So far Boody has only ridden the bike once in practice. A racing fan named George walked int o Champion Motorcycles two days after the AFM Six-hour and presented Whitney Blakeslee w ith two mercury-tube carburetor balancing tools. One was inscribed "To Champion Motorcycles, Best AFM Six-hour Effort." while the other had the same inscript ion below Whitney's name. " I never did find out his whole name," said Blakeslee later, " but it certain ly was gratifying." Superbike Production AMA Champion Reg Pridmore will ride a Honda ar -Bol d'Or on September 1617. According to Pridmore, he still has to pick his riding partner for the 24hour Coup d 'Endurance event. His bike will use a factory engine in an accessory frame. Team American Motocross Enterprises (A M E) went down to the Spring Motocross in Mexico and walked off w ith four of the top five placings in the 125 and 250cc International classes. Tim Worth led the charge along with Pat " Hot do g " Hubbs in the 125cc battles, while DG's W ild Willy Simons fought off Dave Haugh and Suzuki West's Gary Denton for the 250cc honors. T op Mexican finis her in the Mexico Sp ri ng Mo tocross was Ja vie r Hernandez, on a 125cc Yamaha, who scored a fourth and a fifth for fift h overall. T op 250cc Mexican was Jose Marin, scoring fifth overall. Channel 34, a Mexican UHF station on your boob tube, w ill televise About t he only non-Harley keeping up w ith t he hot V-twins at San Jose was Ron Wood's Norton, piloted by Alex Jorgensen. Jorgy was leading hi s heat race until t he engine busted -en the last lap . Mescalero Sands South Du ne Area A has been designated as closed to vehicle use . The area is located approximately 33 m iles east of Roswell, NM , and it's closed to protect the "unique scenic , cultu ral, bio logical and geological values of the a rea" acc ording to the Apr. 27 Federal R egister. . r Don't forget the AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro , Series half m ile at Ascot Saturday nightI That's thl. Saturday, May 13. Papa'lI see ya there. Want a $3 discount ticket for the Su pe rbowl of MX? Over 263,000 were mailed out to southern Ca liforn ia m otorcyclists to be used toward the best $15 seats. 1£ you di dn't ge t one, don't feel left out - just write in and they'll see that you get one of your own . Contact Superbowl of MX, P.O . Box 1523, Laguna Beach, CA 92652. Or phone 714 /494-6568. Uke to ride two-day ISDT-style trials? Uke to drive long distances? Boy, has the Canadian Motorcycle Association got a deal for you! They've scheduled a Canadian Qualifier for July 8-9 in Barrie, Ontario. More info is ava ilable from Mrs. I. Matthews, Barrie Motorcycling Association, Inc.. RR #1 , Stroud, Ontario, lOl 2MO 705/436-1620. Ca rter Alsop , who recently found an apartment and moved to sou thern Californi a , was a first -ti me mile spec tator at San Jose. A nother famous celebrity spectating at his first mile race was announcer Larry H uffman. "T hose guys are serious!" said Huffman. Saddleback Park and Scholastic Association of Motosports (SA M) have brought the High School Motocross races for the month of May to the big front track inst ead of t he back high school track. Entries were raised t o $10 for the special month's rac ing. All beer sales records at San J ose were broken. Warm day. The Society of Automotive Engineers has just published a book entitled " M ot orc y cle Dynamics and Rider Control." Resulting from a special session held in March 1978 during SAE's annual meeting, the book inlcludes 10 papers and a bibliography which provides an indicat io n of the state-of-the-art of motorcycling ana lysis and testing. Because papers are included by engineers as well as experienced riders, preblems., which face. the rider are linked to the tools and solutions available to the engineering analyst. Send $13.95 (for non-SAE-members) to Society of Automotive Engineers, Dept. 729 , 400 Commonwealth o-, (Continued to page 1')

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