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/126330
rI'; narrowly edged Vesterinen for the win with Schreibar third. III • ~ t 00 1:' I . 0) I""""C c<") I""""C M q; ..c e ..... q; 0.. q; trJ Rain plagues ISDT; Trophy Team 4th; Gallo top American SMALAND, SWEDEN, SEPT. 4 Frank Gallo Iuds the 37 rider Amerlcen contingent in the 53rd ISDT. However, the KTM-mounted US Trophy Team lies foUrth in the standings with the pouIbie dlaqueflfic:atlon of teamst8r Rod Buah. Bush, along with other riders, encountered a railroad c:ronlng with the gate down on Day One. He got off his bike, looked both waya and, seeing the track de., proceeded to walk the bike ac:roa. He we. ticketed by a policeman .. observing the inc:ident. Receiving a traffic citation is grounds for disquallfic:ation and Buah rode Day Two under protest. A jury meeting on September 4 will decide the matter. The Day Two standings find the U.S. - until the protest is resolved following Italy and Czechoslovakia with East Germany and Rnland rounding out the top five. Our Sliver Vase hopes ceme to an abrupt end on Day One with the 10.. of teamster Greg Davis. A broken collarbone sustained in a cresh eHmlnated Davis (Husl from the competition. The U.S. is 16th. Italy currently leads the standings with West Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Sweden making up the top five. . Individual performances Include Frank Gallo as top Americen after Day Two. Gallo is fourth in the 500cc cia... Trophy Teamstar Jeff Hill (KTMI ranks 10th. Jim Rshback (Yaml is 14th while Vase teamster Larry Roeseler (Husl ranks 19th. Kevin laVoie IKTMlieads the Americen riders in 350cc competition with a sixth in class. In the 250cc clasS, Trophy Teamsters Ted Lalmbach (KTMI and Jack Pentoll (KTMI are seventh arid eighth, respectively. Silver Vase rider Dick BurleSon (Husl is 10th. Drew Smith (Suz) is ranked 14th in the 175c:cclass. Retirements include Davis, Dane Laimbach (Yam) who received a suspected compressed vertebrae in an accident and Carl Cranke (Yam) who jammed his transmission in gear after hitting a rock or stump at high speed. Russia topped Sunday'S Motocross des Nations held in West Germany, but Heikki Mikkola .took both moto victories. In the first heat, Chuck Sun trailed the Flying Finn, with Neil Hudson in tow . America 's Bob Hurricane Hannah picked up fifth in that round , but returned the second time to take second behind Mikkola after a crash. West Germany garnered second country ahead of Belgium, USA and England. .Despite Rick Burgett breaking a collarbone in the opening moto of the 500cc Motocross des Nations in GaUdorf, West Germany September 3, the U.S. team finished fourth. Bob Hannah (Yam) finished the day with a 6-2 tally while Chuck Sun (Husl scored 2~ moto finishes. Tommy Croft (Honl did not score any points. Heikki Mikkola (Yam) won both motos. Burgett will be replaced by Rex Staten (Yam). 2 Sketch y reports from th e Sept. 3 Formul a 750 event in Assen , Holland, indic a te that American Kenny Roberts fa iled to finish either leg of th e ra ce. Gianfranco Bonera (Yam) won over Taka zumi Katayama a nd Johnny Cecotto. both also Yamaha -mounted . Cecotto moves into a 26 ·point lead over Roberts with two rounds left . Cecotto only needs five po ints to secure the championship, while King Kenny must win both remaining rounds Laguna Seca and Mospon - to even stay close. Ole Olson of Sweden won the 1918 World Speedway Championship at the Sept. 2 event in England's Wembly Stadium. Amerlcen Scott Autrey finished third. T eam Yamaha's Mike Bell went in for knee surgery August 18 and has been out of the racing scen e for aw hile , and at the moment, it is up in th e air as to whether he will com pete in th e Subaru International Motorcycle Olympiad at Saddleback Park September 17. " It doesn't look like I'm going ' to ride" stated Bell in a phone conversa tion , "It all depends on wha t th e doctors say." He has set a goa l to re tu rn to , th e September 24 opening rou nd of the Trans-AMA in Ohio. Word comes to us that in the Swedish round of the World Observed Trials, Ulf Karlson (Monl Bula raco -mounted Yrjo Vest erinen won the Aug. 27 round of the World Obs erved T rials Championship . The win ca m e in Ves t erin en 's nat ive Finland , and he bea t Swed e Ulf Karlsson (Mon) , Finn T imo Ryysy, and Briton Ma rt in La mpkin (Bul) . No word on Bernie Schreiber . Vesterinen now leads th e points over Lampkin and Schreiber. . Effective Sept. 1, William G. Davidson has been named Vice President. Styling, of HarleyDavidson. Willie G. was one of the 11 AMF employees honored in February with AMF Achievement awards. On Aug. 28 , Don Vesco took his turbocharged, d ou b leven g i n e d Kawasaki to a new Motorcycle Land Speed Record of 318 .598 mph . Breaking a 314 .355 mph mark he'd set three days earlier, Vesco 's first run on Monday, north to south, featured an entry speed of 314 .286 mph and a quarter mile exit average of 322.696 for a one mile average of 318.330 . The second run, south to north, averaged out to be 318 .866. No entry and exit speeds were available for the second run. Congrats to Vesco. The factory backed Yoshimura Suzuki team will contest the Bol d'Or 24 hour endurance road race in France next month. Heading the team will ba co·winner of the recent &-hour race at Honda's Suzuka circuit in Japan, Wes Cooley. Reg Pridmore will replace Mike Baldwin, who co-rode with Cooley in Japan and who reportedly is contracted to compete in the Canadian F750 World Championship race on the same weekend as the Bol d'Or. Steve Bak er , who admits to not having a "good yea r" in European road race com pe tition, will contest the Laguna Seca and Mosport F750 rounds, take a few weeks off, and then return to Europe for a race at Imola in Italy on October 9. " I don't reall y know what I will do next year. Probably I'll just go to Europe for a few select races ," sa id Baker. The AMA's Bill Boyce dropped the word during the Indy miles that the AMA is contemplating banning the use of the Goodyear DT II . the "gumbell" tire as it Is refered to by many - on half mile Nationals for 1979. "It is just one of many items under consideration," said Boyce, "to put 'reclng' beck Into the half miles." Speaking of Vesco, It Is reported that he will replace the TZ7&O Yamaha engine in Reg PrIdmore's sidecar rig with a 1000cc: Kawasaki engine that he will build. Restrictors will abo be in use next year on 750cc din track machinery. A one year study during 1979 of restrictors on Junior c1aa machinery will be the basis for possible restriction of Expen machines. Latest entries in the Sept. 10 Coors $10,000 Pro race at the Din Diggers Pioneer Town GP include Danny "Magoo" Chandler, Rick Hocking, Kenny Zahrt, Scott Gillman a nd Gary Semics. The race will be held at the Racing World facility in Trabuco Canyon, CA, on Sept. 10-11, with the Pro race running Sunday. For all CMC Night Motoeroa fans who have anxioualy _alted the reopening of Orange County International Raceway'. new night motoe:roas course, this friday wli be the magic date. New for this year I. a totally different track and lighting, grandstands and other fadlltles. Call CMC at 7141567-3323 for more info. Hey all you vintage racing motorcycle ownersl Wanna get that Gold Star or Norton Manx out on the track and do some racing 1 The Classic Sports Racing Group will be holding a vintage racing motorcycle race in their Oct. 15 meet at Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma, CA. The entry fee will be $10, and more information may ba obtained by ceiling 4151392-7528. Ellie Taylor reports that he sold out his 70,000 pounds of Veloceue and early Moto-Guzzi parts to Bob Strode, partner in Redmond Honda, 15742 Redmond Way N .E. , Redmond, WA · 98052. Bob is a Velocette enthusiast and a fine machinist, having built many of the fastest track bikes in the Nonhwest. He is look ing forward to hearing from Velocette owners in the U.S. and Canada and supplying their bits and pieces, plus overhaul work . In the contusion brought on by the heavy rain during the Brltiah GP severel weeks ago, It went unnoticed that Kenny Robarts smashed the lap record for Sliver· stone With the first lap by a motorcycle at over 115 mph, The new record time of 1:31.8, 115.31 mph was set before the rain that ceused havoc and ceme · when Roberts was battling with Wil Hartog. In the two Labor Day Weekend U.S. National Trials rounds -one in Texas, the other in Alabama - Bernie Schreiber edged Lane Leavitt by one po int for the U.S . National title. Both men rode Bultacos. Coverage next week . A horribly-prepared Carlsbad Raceway was the site of the final round of the Bridgestone/Yamaha AMA ProAm Summer Series of motocross . Busted wheels were more abundant than moto finishers , as first : 250cc Expert moro winner Steve Bauer and first 500cc Expert moto winner Rocket Rex Staten suffered collapsed spokes in their second motos, which gave the overall victories to LOP's Marty Moates in the 250cc action, who came off of a crash out of the second moto gate, and Murphy's Scott Gillman. Top 125cc rider was northern California's Donnie Cantaloupi, who took both motos on his Moto-X Fox Yamaha.. Rex Staten topped the Corona Raceway Labor Day GP the following day, also grabbing the Open cesh. Steve Bauer made shambles of the 2IiOcc race, and bllddled with Rex In the team race and the duo ran away with that win on Staten'. Yamaha 400 E. Oh yea, and In the process. they broke another wheel. While you're at the Din Diggers Pioneer Town GP at Racing World Sept. 10-11 , don't miss the " Race of Pioneers," Watch Dick " Bugsy" Mann defend his title against Preston Petty, Rolf Tibblin, John Rice and others. Kawasaki's Steve Stackeble pulled no punches when he recently said, "This yaar'. serles i. the bast chance so far for Amerlcens to win. Roger DeCoster cen't win it and Mikkola knows we're faster, so he won't even come." • ~