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/126349
THE LATEST Yamaha's ' 79 motocross team is virtually unchanged from '78 , with Ricky Burgett and Mike Bell doing 500cc duty, Bob Hannah and Rex Staten tackling the 250cc .class. and Brae Glover going it alone in the I25cc wars. Commenting on not having two riders in the 125cc class , Kenny Clark said, "W hen you 've got first place, why worry about second place?" o l'""""l V-A·C-A ·T·I·O·N. Boy, it sure feels good typing out those eight letters. And that's where the entire editorial staff, advertising staff, production staff and in fact everyone except the circulation and bookkeeping staff will be from now through Jan . 2 , 1979. The circulation ladies will be here to handle your subscriptions, personal as well as those Xmas gifts , and the bookkeeping ladies (Manager Mike gets the two ' weeks off) will keep on . totalling up all those figures . We 're not stopping, ya see, just backing off for the year-end 180 degree turn . And don't feel too -sorry for those who are working through the holidays. They get their vacations during better beach - weather, ski weather or whatever weather they prefer while the rest of us are back here putting out another 50 issues a year doing our best to keep you informed. So, here's the best of everything to all of you ---; a New Year's toast to the wonderful people who make up the word of motorcycling - have a happy and successful 19791 The 1978 Cyde Newstwest Rider of the Year Contest is over. Flip to p. 36 for our .officialannouncement and congrats to the winner. Starting with this issue , we're seralizing the book "Championship Enduro" by Steve Booth and Brian Palormo. Papa , feels it's the most comprehensive book 'of its type ever produced , and we're sure you'll enjoy it. (Wouldn't run it otherwise, right ?) Look on p. 52 for chapter one. W i ll Ke nn y Robe rts ri d e at Houston? Roxy Rockwood, in hi s National Papers co lumn on p. 37, says he m ight. and Yamaha Team Manager Kenny Clark told Papa t hat it was a possib ility but added that it would be a " Kenny Roberts presents Kenny Roberts' : deal w ith' Roberts sponsoring himself in the undertaking. As of this writing. "King Kenny" Roberts has still not inked a '79 contract With Yamaha. "We're sti ll ta lking," said Yama ha Racing Team Ma nager Kenn y Cla rk , adding , "I don't expect him to go anywhere else . After all, he's been with Yamaha for what, eig ht years now?" Earlier in the week. Roberts was in Ita ly, making a personal appearance to receive an award. 6 served a couple years as a Telephone Sales Director for Beck-Arnley, six years as Sales Manager at Long Beach Yamaha, done duty as Parts Manager in such garden spots as Long Beach and Hawaii, and even operated his own distributing . company. Papa just says it's about t ime we hired somebody who knows what he's do ing. While Clark feels that Roberts w ill be a member of Team Yamaha next year, King Kenny isn 't taking any chances and has several alternative plans to 'f ollow if Yamaha doesn't come up w ith the money he's seeking. " They seem to t hink they are the only factory, The offer they have made me simply is not enough and I have broken off negotiations for the time being." he told Swiss correspondent Gunther Wiesinger while in Europe to accept two awards. "If they will come up with $300,000, I bel ieve I can get t he rest from other sponsors," said Roberts. Roberts po inted out that it had cost around $400,000 to race in Europe and win t he 500cc World Championship - and all he got back from the race promoters in starting money and prize money was $20,000. O ne of Ro bert s' alternate plans has him accep ting a tempting offer from former Grand National Champion Mert L awwill to race Merr 's Harley' Davidsons in dirt track events and Yamahas in road races , teaming with his friend , Skip Aksland . "Mert's Ha rleys are t he fastest , and Skip and I get a long well. Wi nning the Number One pla te back would be no problem," sai d Robert s. If Ken ny stays in the U .S. he thinks that Ba rry Sheene stands the best chance of taking the 500cc road racing . crown . "Sheene is t he best. Hartog is only good on the road type circuits. He 's not so impres sive on the track circu its like jarama in Spain." Roberts jetted to Europe t o accept two golden trophies at a Dec. 9 motorsport show in Bo logna, Italy. One was a golden helmet presen ted by the Italian weekly Motosprlnt in recognition of his topping their rider of the year po ll. The second was a golden belt awarded by the Swiss paper Powersllde f or w inning their similar po ll. While Roberts was collecting trophies. Suzuki's Wil Hartog and Virginio Ferrari were in Japan testing the '79 works 500cc GP Suzukis. Both broke Barry Sheene's Hamamatsu track record wit h Ferrari the quickest , 1.2 seconds inside Sheene's best time . Hartog, although a second slower than Ferrari , was also under Sheene's form er record time . Effective . im m edi at ely even while Papa takes his vacatio n Cycle News ' new Dealer Sales Manager Paul Long will be on call to keep CN paper dea lers among the best treated retail merchants on earth. It shouldn't be difficult for a guy with Paul's motorcycle aftermarket experience. He 's Folks int erest ed in getting on the ma iling li st for entries to the Los Ancianos M .C. Tecate 500 enduro should drop a li ne to the Los Ancianos M .C., Tecate SOO, P,O. Box 808, Santee, CA 92071. Entries for the enduro, a two-day, SOO·mile event in Baja on Apr, 7-8, will be ma iled out the first week of January. • National Highway Safety Advisory C om m itt ee 's Task Force on Motorcycles/ Mopeds will meet on Jan. II at 2·5 p .m. in Room 4254 , DO T Headquarters Bu ild ing , 400 Seventh St. SW, Washington , DC . It's a public meeting. ' The Task Force will hear a review of the status of the Motorcycle Accident Factors St udy being carried out by the University of Southern California for the U .S. Dep art men t of Transportation. Professor H ugh H . H urt will present his preliminary findings . We are invited to participate in a question and answer session. With the approval of the chairperson , we may present oral statements, and we m ay present a written statement to the com mittee a t any time. Mo re info availa ble fro m N HS TA Executive Secret a ry Wi lliam Marsh, Room 5215, 400 Seven th St. SW , W ashington, DC 20 590, 202 /426·2872 , Speaking of motorcycle satetv.. Papa thinks a tip of the hat should go to U.S. Suzuki for their ad series (in the moto-monthlie~1 called DeCoster Discusses. The one we saw was a conversation w ith the five-time 500cc MX World Champ respond ing to questions concerning safe riding practices. ' The RD has some good things to say, and it's excellent policy on U.S. Suzuki's part to direct at least one part of the ser ies toward safety. Important hint to all you potential S&W Super Contest winners: Answers can be found in the 1977 AMA Motorcycle Racing Annual! And keep in mind that the deadline is Jan. 2; hurry. hurry, hurry . Mike Bast. Bruce Penhall and Scott Autrey will be among the riders competing i n the Dec. 29 International Class A Speedway World Qualifying round at Santa Ana Bowl. Races start at 8 p.m.; adu lt tickets go for $6, kids 6-11 for $3 and kids under six free. The CRC endu ro sched uled for Ja n . 14 will not be held at Ca l City as announced but at Red Mou n tai n ins tead . Dial Jerry McNeal at 71 4 / 689 -6 1 14 if yo u have any questions. Bruce " Big 0 " Ogilvie will be Yamaha-mounted in '79, according to the folks at Dale's Modern Cycle in San Bernardino, Dale's will back Ogilvie and Chuck Miller in S.C.O.R.E. events in the Open class and will furnish Ogilvie with both 250cc and Open class Yamahas for the AMA 0 -37 races. Assisting in the sponsorship will be Bel-Ray Oil and K&N Filters. Rick Binet, a banker and fin ancier from Rantoul . IL , is the new owner of Vetter Corporation in San Luis Obispo , CA . Craig Vetter will continue to be heavily involved with the design and development of the company's products. Wayne Moulton remains President of Vetter Corporation, and Bill Bryan continues to head the Rantoul plant. Don't forget some of the new AMA pro motocross ru les that go int o effect on Jan. 1, like the color of .your number p lates, fo r example. Plates in the 125cc class must be black w ith white numbers: 250cc class must' be green w ith white numbers: 500cc class must be yellow with black numbers. Helmets must be Snell 75 approved; they'll be checked at tech inspection, and if yours doesn't pass, you don't ride. Stadium events will have an extra qua lifying moto. If there lire noshows or cancellations from the pre-entered riders, this qualifying moto will determine who'll fi ll the program. Starting with the opening Toyota Supercross event at Oakland, team colors or whites m ust be worn in the pits. Check the 1978 rule book, p. 8, item 2 for the ruling. Billy "Sugar Bear" Grossi is looking for a sponsor who'll furnish bikes. parts and whatever or the '7 9 National MX season. Anyone wh o'd like to hire the former factory-sponsored rider can talk to him about it at 408 /426·3237, Dusters M .C. of Colorado Springs, CO will host the 1979 Pikes Peak Snow Run. It star.ts at 12 noon on New Year's Day at the toll gate, Sign-up at the gate from 8 a.m . through noon, entry fee $5. Call Bill Brokaw at 303/47,.3·3277 for more info. "There is a limit to wha t government ought to do to protect people fro m their own stupidity ," said Governor Dixy Lee Ray of Washington . She was referring to helmet la ws. expressing her d isapproval of them , according to an editoria l in Bellevue, Washington's DailyJournafAmerican newspaper. The American Motorcyclist Association 's Government Relations Department (GRDI recently completed d istr ibution ' of 12,000 posters promoting voluntary helmet use. Demand for the poster, supplied by the National Safety Council , has been high among repeal states, .with some requesting 500 and 1,000 at a time. AMA has req uest ed 10,000 additio nal posters and may go into production of its own poster in an effort to meet demand. Newly elected Ca lifornia Assemblyman Bob Hayes urges everyo ne a nd anyone who .has been hass led by the BLM to wri te to him concerning their com pla ints and instances of inconveniences caused directly '.>y the BLM . Assemblyman Hayes feels that witH enough public input regarding these instances he will have sufficient information to lau nch a congressional' investigation into the practices and methods of restraint used by toe Bureau of Land Management regard!