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/126396
tools were gone. The CR250R production·based race bike is frllme 12105931 and engine 12106026. The RC250 works bike is #RC250MF-D479. Marty and the other people at Honda would appreciate it if we'd watch for the missing gear to show up. Lois Asra is t he new manager of Ra cing World sinc e Ron Henricksen moved on to other interests . She's t he onl y woman rid ing park manager Papa knows , come to th ink of it. An yway. she's sched uled a J immy Weinert Kawasaki MX Seri es for Feb . 11 and 25. and the class winn ers will get a free ha lf-da y motocross schoo l with the world fam ous J immy "j am rner' ' Weinert . Lois has also opened Trabuco Ranch , an area where firms can hold 'com pa ny picnics, and she's already booked up 12 weekends next sum mer. Papa's hard·working cohorts got some dandy lettera-to-the-edltor recently, but they can't run any of 'em because the folks didn't include their name and address. So please put your nllme and address Ir.ell" on anything you wish to see get into the papar. Upon request of the writer, we will withhold the name and address. Remember David Sheridan, the guy who was paid $6 ,500 of ou r tax dollars to write a report on ORVs on desert lands? Or that his report was reje cted by the Departments of Int erior and Agriculture as being fa r too biased ? Well , after writi ng a piece of antiORV ga r bage for Sm ithsonian , he resu rfa ced in th e J an . 29, 1979 issue of N ew West , more ra bid t han ever. Maybe the editors at New West would like to know how you , their po tentia l rea ders feel abou t gra nting severa l pages to psychopathic ra nti ng . The ad dress is 9665 Wilshire Blvd. , Beverly Hills. CA 90212 . Editors from most motorcycling publications joined U.S. Suzuki's fifth annual Editors' Mini·MX, Suzuki's introduction bash for their new RM125N model. Motorcycll.t magazine's Rich Cox demonstrates. Photo by Suzie Mann. " Mo torcycling has alwa ys been a dangerous way to travel," said Joan Claybrook administ rator of the National Highway T raffic Safe ty Administration , in a Jan . 11 pr ess co~fe r~n ce promoting helm e t legislation . A full report on the issue will appear in next week's Cycle N ews/ West. An American Motorcyclist Association comment on the NHTSAI Claybrook conference, also next week in CNIW, includes a few facts left out by the NHTSA. For NHTSA's own example, the publication FARS shows that nine of the worst 10 fatality rates were in helmet states, and the lowest fatality rate in 1977 was II helmet· repeal lltate. AMA also offers a sensible interpretation of the NHTSA's studies and stati.tics. Needless to uy, it differs greatly from "St. JOlin's." 2 Kenny Roberts, Brad Lackey; Steve Eklund and track builder Harold Murrell received awards Jan . 20 at the Northern California Motorsport Press Association annual banquet at San Francisco's Presidio Officers' Club. Rob erts 'a nd Eklund received the first d ual awa rd ever presented for Motorcycle Ra cer of the Year; Lackey took Motocross Rac er of the Year for the second con secutive time ; Mu rrell receive d a special award of merit for his contribut ions to th e spo rt . ABC Wide World of Sports aired the 1978 Bel·Ray USGP of Moto· cross recently, and according to co-promoter Gavin Trippe, the show received "above average ratings." Trippe figured the viewer count worked out to "somewhere around 30 million people." Why don't all 30 million of us get our collective act together and send a quick postcard to Wide World of Sports, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019 to let them know we appreciated itl There is one - on ly one - official entry blank for the Mar , 24-25 1hh annual Hangtown MX Classic. It 's on p. 13 of this paper. Remember , Papa warned ya. The trailer containing a Hondll RC250 works MXer, a CR250R bike and tools was stolen from Dave Arnold's driveway last Tuesday. Dave, in case you don't recognize · the name, is the man who tunes Mllrty Smith's machines. A call to American Honda's raca shop Thursday revealed that the trailer had been found, but the bikes and At the SCORE Awards Banquet held Jan. 27, Husqvarna was named Motorcycle Manufacturer of the Year. Team Husky's Brent Wallingsford, high'point rider in Class 22, accepted the award for the Swedish marque. Dick Vick was named as Offroadsman Rider of the Year, and his partner throughout '78, John Watkins, was named as SIA High Point Overall Motorcycle winner. Class winners were: George Erf l125cc Class 20), Jeff Kaplan 1250cc Class 211, Brent Wallingsford 10pen Class 22J and Watkins (Class 38 for riders over 38 years of age). Pennzoil was awarded Company of the Year honors. Congratulations folks. Santa Ana speedway facil it ies will be ava ilable for practice on Feb . 10 and 17 from 6:30 to 10:30. No license will be required. There will be a $5 charge for riders, $2 for wrenches and $1 for spectators. Promoter Louis Kossuth has completed a contract with the city of Santa Ana to use the facilities for the next three months . Sellrs Point's P.R. guy Dave Hederich called Papa to announce thllt the AMA has chllnged the date of the Sears Point Trans·AMA event from Nov. 4 to Oct. 21. Papa Ays that's just fine with him; it WIIS too chilly IIround there in November, anyway. California Racing Club 's Feb . 4 $1,000 MX race at Indian Dunes will be held on an all -new International Track . Bulldozers will attack the ex isting course, creating a totall y different track with at least three or four jumps, according to CRC. The jury is still out regarding who won the Jlln. 28 Cactus Cats AMA 0·37 hare scrambles in Lucerne Valley, CA. CN dez correspondent Joyce May reports that Husky's Larry Roeseler beat Bob Balentine (KTM) by about five Aconds. But the cold weather caused numbers to fall off number plates, and Roeseler wound up with a bare plate. On the second loop, checkers at one check thought Roeseler was a play rider and waved him through while stopping Balentine. The club is expected to make a decision on the manner shortly after Cycle News goes to press Monday afternoon. Bruce Ogilvie took third on his IT400. The final word (hopefully) will appear next week. Shell Racing Specialties Yamahas will be ridden by Rookie Wayne Ra iney and second-year man Eddie Lawson at the Houston doubleheader. After that , Rainey will continue with Shell (About the Yamaha, Rainey said, "It's as fast as a Harley , the problem is trying to make it hook up like Harley.") while Lawson will ride Sal Acosta prepared Harleys in la ter Winston Pro Series events. Though , Bette Lasker is trying to sell her American Motocross Club organization, she is still running races on the first and third Sundays of each month at Carlsbad (next event is Feb. 4). Call 7141973-1806 lifter 9 p.m. for details. Steve McLaughlin, Da ytona Superbike Production race winner last year, is looking for a rid e in the Da ytona 200 . McL aughl in's all sq uared away for Da ytona 's 100 -m ile Superbike event on his Ra cecrafters' Kawasak i. Super·special ticket prices are available to Cycle News readers for the July 14 Coca·Cola Superbowl of Motocross. For details on your discount rates, wri~"6tediumMotorsports, Box 1523, Laguna Beach, CA 92652. Attention to detail dept: Marty Tripes, seco nd to Super cross Champ Bob Hannah in th e '78 series, practi ced but d id not rid e the Oakland Coliseum '79 series ope ne r. Marty d idn 't hav e jerseys with his name and new number 48 printed on th e back, according to AMA rul es, no jersey, no rid ee. Can·Am's newest members, threetime AMA 250cc National MX Champion Tony DiStefano didn't ride either. " Th e 0" crashed in a SoCal race on the Sunday prior to Oakland, and when he went out to practice on Sunday at Oakland, the pain become unbearable. He went to an Oakland hospital for X·rays, suspecting broken ribs, but the test showed no fractures. Unable to breathe, Tony was forced to sit out the AMA Toyota Supercross Series opener. "I'U go see my.ood doctor this week." DiStefano concluded. "T hey've gotta figure out if that tire's legal ," Bevo "T he Czar of Motocross" Forte said in response to questioning about Weinert's "padd le-wheel" sand tire. Bevo added that riders complained of the sand thrown back by the high -rpm shovel, Riders' eyesight is an im portant aspect of the situation which much be considered by the AMA rule makers. "That tire didn't make the difference," Kent Howerton offered. "Weinert was JUSt ready to win!" " I think it was working really well ," said Darrell Shultz', who followed Weine rt 's rotary sand -slinger for awhile. (Continued to page 11)