Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

and friends and counter claimed. He lost the draw. An appeal by Harley is now pending ' based on the claims of Boody and Springsteen of their bikes that were held, but never processed, for the 3O-minute claim period after the National. The AMA's Bill Boyce impounded the engine pending the outcome. "I just want to get some horsepower," said Carthel of his motive for the claim. It was ant icipat ed that Bill Kenned y's American motorcycle would debut at DuQuoin . Kenned y and his cre w were at work in his Elyria . Ohio shop machining engine cases. The initial 25 cases from an outside contractor "were too porous and leaked oil betw een the ' feed and return to the engine ." said Kennedy when contacted at his shop , "So now we are building our own ." Neither of the , SOOcc World Championship Road Race Series leaders, Kenny Roberts or Barry Sheene, added a point to their series standings at the July 30 Finnish GP at Imatra. Roberts reportedly suffered ignition problems; Sheene also DNF with mechanicals. Suzu.ki's Wil Hartog won the 500cc race ahead of Yamaha's Takazumi Katayama and Johnny Cecotto. Rounding out the top five were Suzuki riders Teppi LalSivouri and SteVe Parrish. Steve Baker took sixth. Point standings are as follows: Roberts (851, Sheene 1821, Hartog 1651, Hennen (541, Cecotto 1501 and Katayama 1451. In the 250cc class, Kawasaki teamsters Kork Ballington and Gregg Hansford continued to dominated with Mario Lega on a Morbidelli taking third. Ballington's win keeps him on top of the standings with 84 points over Hansford's 79 and Kenny Roberts' 56. Ballington also won the 350cc race; he's already clinched the title there. Angel Nieto, riding a Bultaco, won the 125cc event. Team Honda's Brad Lackey won a 250cc International " MX race in Koningshooekt , Belgium over th e July 30 weekend, finishing 2-1 ahead of Suzuki -mounted Roger DeCoster's 1-4 and Honda teammate Graham Noyce's 4-2. Reigning 500cc World Champ, Heikki Mikkola put his Yamaha in fou rth with a 3-3 score. Roger DeCoster, according to sources at U.S. Suzuki, will ride in this year's Trans·AMA MX Series. There had been some doubt however, Suzuki confirms that RD and teammate Akira Watanabe are definitely planning to ride; Gerrit Wolsink and Gaston Rahier are still question marks for a Trans-AMA showing. DeCoster discussed his 79 Suzuki contract and also negoiated TV commercial deals during his brief business trip to the U.S. Suzuki released no further information regarding the outcome of either. 2 Brad Lackey's mechanic Bill Buchka descr ibed Brad's victory as a "tune-up" for the T rophee des Nations ," where Lackey will join forces with Bob Hannah , Jimmy Ellis and Rick Burgett ' to cont est th e two team races in early ' September. Buchka added tha t Lackey has become a nea r superstar in Europe, with posters, pins and enthusiastic fans making the scene at every race . His nicknam e? The "Flying Cowboy." Bill Boyce, AMA's Professional Competition Manager, revealed at DuQuoin that he had handed in a resignation ' three months ago, effective Aug. 1. At that time, commissioner Doug Mockett talked Boyce into taking back the resignation. " I saw the budget printouts every month and knew what shape we were in and the problems that we were going to be facing. I had no power in correcting them, .so I decided to - resign," said Boyce. "There is nothing in our budget right now that would allow us to rahire Mel Parkhurst." ' he continued, "However, I would not rule out the possibility in the event we can get the budget problems worked out." Jay Springsteen's miler at DuQuoin was a little out of th e ordinary. Tuner Bill Werner debuted his double backup system for dealing with ignition problems. Werner has been running a double electrical' system - magneto with battery back up - since last year . He improved on that by adding a second set of sparkplugs to the right side of the heads. A flick of the switch on th e handlebar of Jay's bike , and it goes from one complete ignition system to another. "I doubt that I'll be racing anymore road races this year:' said Camel Pro Series points leader Steve Eklund at DuQuoin. "Road racing isn 't profitable even if you do score National points. The only way to make money is to win. The accident that I had at Sears Point ' -bent the frame and damaged the bike heavily. I won't rule out riding at Loudon, but right now that's not in my plans." In a move that took Harley-Davidson and a lot of others at DuQuoin by surprise, Texas rid er Randy Carthel cla imed the engine in Ted Bood y's Harley-Davidson facto ry mount. What's special about that , you ask? Carthel won the d raw for one thing and apparently caught Harley with the ir pants down . Carthel - after reading the rul e book carefully made his claim 25 minutes aft er th e final event results had been posted . Fine . However , since th e rain had floppedthe program that meant the Trophy Race was the final event and the H ·D crew - the keep ers of th e counter-claim checks were alread y gon e. Boody, in the extra 30 minutes alloted a rider whose machinery has been claimed, begged and borrowed $4,000 cash from riders "We wanted to be in DuQuoin," said Kennedy. "But things just didn't work out. The AMA was here to look at the engines and both Doug Mockett and Ray Brown gave their approval to go racing while we continued work. However, Bill Boyce said we would have to stick to the book so we can't race until we have 25 engine units complete and bolted together. If all goes right. we'll be racing the August 26-27 Indianapolis Mile Nationals. Engine ma estro Nick Deliganis has joined the Kennedy crew . Deliganis had earlier been working with Mike Kidd on his Camel Pro Series equipment , but Kidd's sponsorship package has yet to come through and there was no money to pa y for Nick 's services. Kidd's forthcoming sponsorship, or purchase of advertising space as Kidd refers to it. by a branch of Uncle Sam's military is now due to be made public at Santa Fe according to Kidd. "I'm having a meeting Wednesday IAugust 21 at the headquarters office in Chicago:' said Kidd at DuQuoin. "I've been told that all the problems concerning the matter have been cleared up. Of course, they've told' me that before. Believe me, I'd like to get the deal out in the open." Honda's Jim Pomeroy was a no -show at the Unadilla 250cc Grand prix. Bimbo was practice rid ing with Jimmy Ellis near Ellis' home a few days before Unadilla , when he highsided his Honda off a bank at speed and shattered his right collarbone. The ,doctor gave him a plaster shoulder cast and he will be out of action until the Trans-AMA Series at least. The American team going to the Motocross and Trophees des Nations in September will be our strongest team ever, with Brad Lackey joining this season's fastest American riders: Bob Hannah, Jimmy Ellis and Rick Burgett. The first organizational meeting of the Professional Motocross Riders Association will be held on Saturday afternoon after signup at the Aug . 6 . Rhode Island 125/500cc Na tional. , . T he meeting is open to all AMA Pro riders ' as well as int erested AMA officials. The first order of business will be to elect riders' represen tatives and discuss possible goa ls of the organization. Team Yamaha 's Superbowl of Motocross winner Mike Bell had the cast holding the tom ligaments in his left knee removed last Thursday and began a long therlIpy session. Bell told Papa, after a ~. mile bike ride with Jeff Browning. that the knee "feels better, but It is still sore because the ligaments haven't stretched, yet. I won't return to racing until the leg is back 100%:' added Mike, who returns to his therapeutic specialist. mechanic Dave Osterman's fathe~ next Thursday in hopes of receiving his riding papers. Three motorcycle racing films by Peter Starr will be aired in the Los Angeles area du ring August . On the 20th, KABC , Channel 7 will show Starr's Bol D'or road ra cing film at 4 p .m . Then . on Aug . 26, two ha lf-hou r films - one on SoCal speed way an d another on ', the Mallory Park (Engla nd) Race of the Year - will be aired on KHJ, Channel 9 beginning at 7 p .m. Starr is still in the process of shooting what ma y be his final motorcycling film . "Take it to the Lim it," It seems that after ha ving don e nin e TV speci als in th e past four years ' with out having received much support fro m the motorcycle industry, Sta rr is conside ring makin g the move into a more lucrat ive market. It 's' a shame . We'l! miss him . Joan Claybrook of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was in Japan last month meeting with Soichiro Honda and other motorcycle makers. Ms. C returned to Washington with promises that the Big 4 would slow down their superbikes and soft pedal the power pitch ... or else. San Mateo Yamaha will sponsor a 13week series of motorcycling films on San Francisco Bay area station KTSF, Channel 26. They'll run e,very Wednesday night at 10 p.m. and -will feature .Pennzoil and Castrol films including Motorcycle Olympiad and Baja events. Olympian Bruce Jenner and Camel Pro Series point leader Steve Eklund have both signed to ride this year's Motorcycle Olympiad slated for Sunday, Sept. 17 at Saddleback Park. Winner in the 19n event. Kent Howerton, is also listed to compete as are 125cc National MX Champ Broc Glover, Superbowl of Motocross winner Mike Bell lif his injuries allowl, . desert riders Larry Roeseler and Bruce Ogilvie, Dave -Aldana and woodsriding master Dick Burleson. Wes Cooley and Mike Baldwin teamed up to contest an eight-hou r endurance race July 30 on Honda's Suzuka test circuit in Japan and wound up winning on their Yoshimura R&D 0 America Suzuki GSI000. Second plac went to Da vid Emde and Isy Sugimoto, riding a detuned TZ750 Yamaha converted to endurance bik requirements by sponsor Izum i Sugimoto (no relation to the rider). Honda's hopes of winning the Suzuka race, an event planned to introduce the CBX six-cylinde Superbike Production machine piloted by Reg Pridmore and Ron Pierce, went down the drain when Pridmore crashed, suffering 8 broken collarbone and ribs. Ge well cards may be sent to Reg a RPM (Reg Pridmore Motorcyclesl 5718 "F" Hollister Ave., Goleta, C 93017. Lyn Abrams, owner of Racecra ft called to tell Pa pa that their superb (Continued to pag e

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