Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The Florida Winter-AMA MX Series pops up very suddenly after the holidays, and you can avoid the h888le (long lines, confusion ...1 of handling it at the opening race by taking care of it through the mail. Papa highly recommends you put it at the head of your list of things to do today. Crossroads Suzuki. in Sa ugus, CA, was broken into over th e weekend and an RM250 C2 Suzuki . all tricked out with Moto-X Fox equipment was stolen. Crossroads is offering a $ I 00 rewa rd for information leading to the recovery of the bike. Call 805 /255 -5!15!1 if you can help. AMA District !l7 has assumed a " m ili ta n t posture " in their BLM dealings follow ing a spirited D-!I7 meeting that featured gu est speakers like the Phantom Duck of the Desert and head duckbacker Rick Sieman . D!ITs J im Wells told Papa that th ey ha ve filed for even ts on the 197!1 Chico to Parker Check Chase course and the 1974 Barstow to Vegas course. Afte r waiting 20 days, until Dec. !II , W ells says the district will "sue them , or whatever it ta kes," to get the BLM to allo w th e ru ns . Wel ls bases th e new pol icy on Judge Warren 1- Ferguson's advice (Fe rgu so n presid ed a t t he Duck's hearing) that th e way to pr ot est is through th e cou rts . "We're goi ng to represent our riders a nd -get mo re pla ces to ride com e ,hell .or high wat er," Wells concl uded . The Phantom Duck of the Desert Legal Attack Fund is gaining nationwide support according to Rick "Super Hunky" Sieman, the outspoken Dirt Slife Ma,ulne editor. A small donation from each motorcyclist who realizes the importance of winning this case in California could make the ·difference. Papa's gonna send the price of a six-pack to the F, S, G&D Client Trust Fund, clo Rick Sieman, 17619 Los Alimos St.. Granada Hills, CA 91344. Could help save the dez. not to mention one less hangover .. . championsh ip sidecar class es , one traditional. on e fu turistic. Team Kawasaki's '79 MX effort was finalized last week when Brad Lackey signed a two-year contract to ride the 500cc World Championship MX Series and the Trans-AMA MX Series. Gaylon Mosier and Tommy Croft will contest the AMA SOOcc National MX Series; Jimmy We inert and Mickey Boone, the 250cc class ; Jeff Ward and Chappy Blose have signed to ride the 12Sec Nationals. Team Manager Tim Smith has been -trensfel red to a new post,. Assistant to the Director of R&D, where he'll work with R&D Director L. Yuriku88. Dennis David has been appointed Team Manager with Steve Johnson serving as MX Team Supervisor. Mike Baldwin and Reg Pridmore will receive help from Kawasaki in their '79 road racing ventures, Baldwin w ith " everything" and Pridmore w ith Superbikes only. They've also applied for " ov er $350,000 " for contingency money for 79. That. of course, is subject to budget . approval and is not yet definite. Jim Pomero y, no t re peating wit h Honda th is year. is ru mored to be in Austria nego tia ting with KT M for a ride, p robably on a 250cc m achine in the AM A N ationals. not the Europea n GP circuit. It seems tha t Bulta co had the rug pulled out from under them when Harry Everts , who had been expected to sign for another year with Bultaco , signed a last minute dea l to contest the 125cc World Motocross Championsh ip ci r cuit wit h Su zuki , as Akira Watan abe 's team m ate . Bu lt a co reportedly had a new bike ready to go for Eve rt s in t he 250 cc rounds, complete with reed valve and p rimary drive. Roger DeCoster and other top motoerouers had planned an Apr. 1 raee to benefit German Willi Bauer, who suffered spinal damage in the British 250cc GP and is now paralyzed below the waist. The race was to be held in Germany, but there's a conflicting International race In Belgium, and the Belgian federation won't release DeCoster and others to ride in the benefit. The British ACU moved a similar event so that their ri d er s . could compete in the benefit. - 2 T he FIM reconsidered its ba n on sideca rs like Rolf Biland 's two-whee l dri ve Beo. Now there will be two Pat Owens from LA. Trade Tech called Papa to announce that three of his graduates are wrenching works MXers this year . Bill West. tuner of Rick Burgett's Number Ona 500cc plate holder, and Tom Volin, who will dial-in Rex Staten's bike in 79, are working for Team Yamaha. And Marty Smith's Honda mechanic Dave Arnold will continue to make Smith 's red machine fire-engine fast. Mr. PiBB , spons o r of the AMA Na tional MX Series, has left. The Coca -Cola soft d rink product will not put up point fund money or assist in race promotion as th ey have for the past two years . An d a t this late point in time, no re plac eme nt is expected . It appears the p ro mot ocross series will have no major sponsor for ' 79. W inston , for the Grand N ational Championship Series, a nd T oyota . for th e Su pe rc ross Series, will be putt ing megabucks int o AMA raci ng. Speaking of AMA pro racing, MX or otherwise, riders should get their '79 license applications into the Westerville office immediately. SCORE's new motorcycle class, which we, told you about last week, has been named Class 30. All riders over 30 are eligible, though there's still Class 38 for riders over 38. Uke Class 38, there are no machine displacement limitations for Class 30. The drawing for start positions for the new class will be at the SCORE show Jan. 26 at the Anaheim Convention Center, and the late entry fee has been waived for it. Call 213/999-2250 if you need addi tional info. T he Desert Knigh ts Motorcycle Club and Dalan Engineering ha ve donated $1000 to E Ba r C Ra nch in Lucerne Valley , Cal ifornia . C huck Puet t recent ly described the efforts p ut forth at E Ba r C Ra nch . which cares for a nd reha bili ta tes children who h ave suffered p hysica l and ment al injuries, at the November D . ~ 7 meeting. The Deser t Knig h ts/Da la n contri bution was made in an effort to hel p fu rt her the p rogra ms undertaken at th e E Ba r C. A Moto rcycle T reas ure Hunt will ta ke place on January 6-7, 1979 with all proceeds goi1'1g to benefi t t he Special Ol ympics and E Ba r C Ra nch . Be sure to check out the calend ar sectio n of this issue for all the details on this special family event . Papa, with his lovable-dirty-oldman image, cornered Carter Alsop the other day and discovered that the lady road racer has been busy. To Carter's credit is one WERA Championship title, in the Junior Formula One 10pen GPI class and one third place in the Junior Open Superblke class . In 16 Western! Eastern Roadracing Association events, she finished first in eight. sacond in one, third in two and fourth in five. Alsop also cleared up the question about her Yoshimuratuned Suzul(i in the 78 season, stating that she was ItOt sponsored and that she had paid for the few Yosh-mods she could afford. Sha expressed personal thanks to Fujio Yoshimura for all his help with her career and to har other 78 sponsors: Dunlop Tires, KRW Helmets, Castol Oil, U.S. Suzuki, Toyota and Morris Industries. Hey, how abo ut that neat old desert photo used at th e lead of Suzie Mann's A look bacle throug h th e dust article that appeared in ou r dez special issue! Want one? It's th e start of th e 1958 Big Bea r . a nd you ca n ge t a 16 X !l2" poste r , by sen di ng $!I pos tpaid to Bagnall Publishing Co . . 81 Van Ripper Lane. Orinda . CA 9456!1. Vetter Corporation has reportedly changed hands. Papa called 'em to find out what was happening and discovered that even they don't quite know. Seems they're making so many personnel changes that nobody knows where anybody is or even who they are : But some friendly guy named Terry promised to send us a press release. Next week... HosPI T a l STO P: Ph a nt om Duck of the Desert urges all his friends an d supporters to write and send ca rds to his 14-yea r-old friend Todd Huegel , who's laid up in the hospi tal with a leg b roken in two places after an accident on the Bvto-V trail. Send the cards a nd letters to Todd Huegel , Ward E, R oom 10. Ka ise r Fou n da tion Hosp ita l, 9961 Sierra Ave., Fontana : CA 92!1!15. The American Motorcyclist Association has announced several major rule changes for motorcycle road racing. The changes are effective Jan. 1, 1979, and include elimination of the homologation requirements and the claiming rule for Formula 750, 250cc Expert Lightweight and 250cc Novice classas. Previous rules required that 25 machines of an approved model be made available for sale. Elimination of the homologation and claiming requirements will open the F750 class to 500cc Grand Prix machines. In addition, one-ofa·kind prototypes will be eligible to compete in the 750cc and both of the 250cc cl888es. Southern Cal ifornia is In the midst of considering an air quality management plant that would virt ually elim inate two -stroke motorcy cles. An Air Q ua lity Ma nage ment Plan (AQMP) which recommends more than 100 anti -pollution proposal s for the California south coast air basin has been prepa red - in response to fut ure federal and state air quality stand ards. Included in this plan is a me asu re to a p ply very stringent exhaust emission controls to off- road motorcycles begin ning in I98!1(I gram hydrocarbo n a nd 12 grams ca rbon monoxide per kilometer). If adopted , the proposal would virtually eliminate a ll twostroke off-road motorcycles and some models, even entire b rands , may not be available in Ca lifornia . The proposed AQMP plan would also increase the cost and reduce the efficiency of four-strcke metercycles. There is barely time to let the bureaucrats know how you feel, so you must act now. Your attendance is urgently requested at any of the public hearings you see listed. If unable to attend, your written or verbal comments should be addressed, by December 16, 1978, to Mr. David ' DiJ ulio, Program Manager.- AQMP, 600 South Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 1000, Los Angeles, CA 90005, 1 2131 572-62n, or 12131 385-1000. Dick Bu rleson . Jeff Fredette. and Mike Hannon are the Eastern . Central and Western AMA Regiona l End uro Cham pions, respectively . T he result s were based on their five best scores. Bridgestone Tire Co. of America has signed Pierre Karsmakers to usa and 'test Bridgestone tires in 79, as well as m~ke personal appearances for the company. Papa ca me across with a n incredibly neat gift idea the other day: tickets to the June 10 , '1979 Bel -Ray U.S.G. P. of Mot ocross at Carlsbad. The ticke ts are, $9 each a nd ca n be obt a ined by send ing a mon ey order to U.S. Grand Pr ix. In c. . P.O . Box 2820 . Mission Viejo , CA 92690, What · makes the idea so neat is that it's so practical a nd doesn 't require 20 yards of wrapping paper. Any rider winning a Pro class championship in California Racing

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