Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Clear Creek Recreation Area may close, asbestos dust danger Acc:ord i!'g to study conducted by a rese arch team from Unive rsity of Califorma/Berkeley, Clear Creek Recreation Area should be c losed to off-road recreation due to unhealthy .le vels of asbestos dust. The Bureau of Land Management. responsible for overseeing the area, w ill not make a fina l decision on the matter before a second study is completed sometime during 1979. Until the final resu lts become available, users are advised to avoid the area during t he dusty summer season, wear a re s pira t o r specifically designed to prevent the inha la t io n of asbestos fibers and to notify their physicians of their exposure to the asbestos dust. Asbestos inhalation can cause breathing difficulties and can contribute to causing cancer. Clear Creek is a 60,000 acre recreation area located in San Benito County approximately 125 miles southeast of San Francisco, between King City and Coalinga. The April 8 AMA 1251250cc National Championship MX Series event at Lake Whitney near Houston, TX has been cancelled . Instead , Canyon Raceway near Phoanix. AZ will host the 1251250cc National on that date. A new restrictor rule for AMA Junior. ranked dirt trackers goes into effect on Feb. 5, Among othe r details, the rule specifies a .125" (%") thick plate with a 28m m hole be inserted into the intake tract . The edges of the hole may not be ra diused or chamfered, and it must be concentric with the carburetor bore. Furthermore, there must be a minimum 52mm straight bore for at least one inch on either side of the plate; no tapered lead-in will be allowed. AMA will issue the specific details of the new rule; these , as printed here , are not qu oted directly, The change came about, according to AMA Commissioner of Professional Ra cing Mike DiPrete , becau se tuners had discovered that by sleeving a 56mm carb do wn to suit the 28mm carb rule , they could actually "flow" the un it to produce within five percent of what a 58mm carb cou ld prod uce! The end result was a highly expensive method of ach ieving the same power as the larger carbs. At Houston , riders will be allowed to co nfonn to either last year's rule or the ot her (28mm carb) restrictor rule which beca me effective in January , The Big 0 makes it two weeks in a rowl Bruca Ogilvie , mounted on a Dale's Modern Cycle YZ400, won overall at the Prairie Dogs M.C . AMA 0 -37 hare scrambles. Second overall, second Open went to Cory Timms (Yam). Third · overall, first 250cc was Max Eddy (Hus). Complete coverage next week. Moapa to Vegas, the Jan . 21 155-mi le, one·way h are and hound season opener for MRAN hosted by the Groundshakers M.C ., was won overall by Leroy Kyger , aboard a brand new, box stock (not even a skid platel) Yamaha YZ400. Kyger broke an eig htyear Husky winning streak . First 250 was Lenard Sikorski, on a YZ250 and first Novice was Rich Cappri on an IT250 , all riding ou t of Va lley Yamaha in Las Vegas . Full covera ge next week. Rid ing his first race on a 260cc mach ine , Kenny Upp (Yaml fin ished with a four-minute lead to win the California Racing Club Renegade Hare Scrambles at Red Mountain. The 250cc bikes swept the top three, with Doug Beisner . . Amateur Jeff Hylton (Husl taking third. David Ernde ha s signed with Yoshimura, joining Pops' super potent Superbike Prod uction sq uad which also includes Ron Pierce and Wes Cooley. Kenny Roberts, riding under h is new one-year contract w ith Yamaha, once again will be backed by crew chief Kel Carruthers and tuners Nobby Clark and Trevor Tilbury in his bid for another 500cc World Championship Road Racing t it le. Americans w ill see King Kenny at Daytona o n March 10. Roberts ' other spo nsors are Goodyear Tire a nd Rubber Co., Bell He lmets, Lectron Carburetors and Champion Spark Plug Co. Papa got a copy of the AMA's final 1979 IS DT Q u al if ie rs / T wo -Da y Reliability T rial s schedule and figured you could use the dates and info ASAP toplan your season . The first even t on the list will be the Mar , 17-18 Knoxville, T N event put on by the Volunteer Riders. 6720 Kingston Pike , Knoxville, TN 57919 615 /5 88-0879. Ask for Ca rl Redma n . Next is the Ap ri l 21-2 2 Ca lifornia City run. Cont act the Sunland Shamrocks, P.O . Box 515, Sunlan d , CA 91040. O r dial 2B /555-4490 and talk to Dick Chase. T he Perry Mountai n M.C. will host the May 12-15 Maplesville, AL event. an d they can be contacted at P.O . Box I , Maplesville, AL 56750 . Or call Tom Seales at 205/566 -2682. A wee k later, May 19 -20, the Ben twheels M.C. will put on their R ose City two - day . Write 7624 Emerson, Washington, MI 48094, or phone Larry Lindenberg at 515/781 5652. The T rask Mountain M.C. classic will run on Ju ne 9-10 this year at McMinnville, OR. The address there is P.O . Box 652, McMinnville, OR 97128 and D. Bershaw's phone numb er is 505/472-5828, The final event in the six- race series in . Bellingham , WA will be presented by the Mt, Bake r M. C. , P. O. Box 152, Bellingham , WA 98225. Phone F. Boettner at 206 /755-1694 for info . Letter-of-intent riders - those who hope to ride in the 1979 ISDT should also contact Ka thy Wa nta at t he American Mo to rcyclist Associ at ion , . P ,O . Box 14 1, Westerville . OH 45081. The Phantom Duck of the Desert is a corporation, That's right. the .m ig hty mallard has been turned into a corporation to prevent taxation of donations made to the al Attack Fund (and 1II11.lIIt••• Diijuicik'iis. portions of those taxes would go to you·know-whereland to protect the members of the corporation from losing their homes and other personal assets. So now donations to the Attack Fund may be made out to the Phantom Duck of the Desert as well as to t he F, S, G&G Client Trust Fund. The address is on p. 4. Louis McKey (the original Duck), AI Fols and Rick S ieman make up the corporation, w ith McKey as president and head Duck. While testing Bill Kennedy's America n d irt track machine, Ted Bood y lowered the boom, or more precisely. the track record at Volusia County Speedway, Ba rbervill e. FL. Boody unofficially set a new track reco rd of 20 .54 , compared to the previous track record held by Hank Scott of 20.44. The testing was in preparation for the Mar . 5-6 AMA Regional ha lf mi les at the facility . Jim Turner, whose interview appears on p. 10 of this issue, will ride in some SOOcc International events while in Europe contesting the 250cc World Championship MX Saries. He'll pilot a CR250R Honda with a 360cc Mugen kit that's been stroked to a full 400cc by h is sponsor Moto-X Fox. Ca rlos Serrano, a top-rated CMC Mxer from Tucson, AZ, will contest the AMA 250cc Nationa l Cham pion ship MX Series aboard a Moto-X Fox/ Maico . The four-race Kawasaki Winternationals m in icycle motocross series beg ins Feb. 4 at Indian Dunes, then moves on to Saddleback Park 's Olympiad course on Feb. 11, to Sunrise Valley in Adelanto for a Feb. 18 round and finally w inds up back at Saddleback on the International . course for a Feb. 25 finale, For more info, contact the National Minicycle Association, P.O. Box 46 , Norwalk. CA 90650 2131868-9112. Mike Hannon will compete in the AMA' National Championship Enduro Series a board a Kawasak i KDX400 under fac tory sponsorship. The California Desert Conservation Area Advisory Committee will meet 'o n Feb. 1-2 at the San Bernardino Convention Center, 303 North ESt. in San Bernardino. Friday, Feb. 2. beginning at 8 a .m. they'll host public forums on potential major land exchanges and on the study pahse of the BlM 's wilderness review of the California Desert Conservation Area. Starting Feb. I , Sacramento County's Prairie City Off -Highway Vehicle Park will be open Th ursday through Monday of every week. They presently close on Mondays; the sched ule change allows us to enjoy those rarebut-wonderful three-day weekends at PCO ·HVP. Promoter Bette Lasker reports that her organization, American Moto· cross Club, is up for sale for $750 or best offer. That, she says, in c lu d e s a '79 contract with Carlsbad Raceway for first and third Sundays and a probable contract w ith Orange County International Raceway for Wednes· day n ights. You can reach Bette at 714/973-1806 after 9 p.m. Ru mors . you may have heard about Racing World in Trabuco Canyon, CA closing down are decided ly premature . T rue, it m ay ha ppen event u ally, and tr ue , the site may beco me another SoCal housing tract when Ridgewood Developm ent tak es over. But even when escrow closes on that deal, probably nex t October, the park will not necessarily close . Ridgewood is not expected 10 develop the area until Alicia Pa rkw ay is extended a nd that's not expected before sometime in 1981. The April 1 AMA 125/250cc National MX, slated for Racing World, is slated to move to Saddleback Park, however , according to Ron Henricksen of Tri-C ross Promotions, Bill Buchka, who tuned for Brad Lackey on the 500cc GP circuit las year, will handle the wrenching duties for Honda's Graham Noyce this year. Do n't miss N BC Sports World' Widowmaker Hillclim b coverage. It' slated for their Jan . 28 show; chec local listings for the time . Viewers of the television progra Battlestar Galactlca should chec out the footwear of the figh pilots. It seems they share striking resemblance to motocro boots. Are there berms in space Papa has n't seen it yet, bu t he hear there's a rea lly bad article in the lares New West magazine concerning off road vehicle damage to public la nd Papa's gonna get a copy. read it an write a letter to the editor. Mayb you'd like to put in your two-cen worth , too . . .

• Cover