Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

save our desert rid ing areas. Before I joined the Army . I used to race in the D·37 Trailbik e class , Quite fran kly, I've been worried that by th e time I get home again , there would be no more desert racing as I kn ow it. What I'm trying to sa y is that a lot of fine people a re doing a great job to save our rid ing areas . Although I can't be there pers onally 10 add support . I'm with you people all th e wa y. ' Thank you gentl emen . for your effo rts . It gives me something to look forward to goin home to . . WIST GLENN HA TZEN BUH LER APO New York A merica 's No.1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper Sharon Clayton, Pu bli sher Tom Gulp. Ma rketing Dire ct or Caroline Gendry. Sec. to the Pu blisher Mar gie Southern , Sec . to th e Mtkg. Oil". Would you rather switch or fight? Advertising Jim Ryan . Sal es Manager. Lar ry Little . Sal es Manager. Sk ip J ohnson, Sal es Manager . Chris Kolber . Assistant . Editorial Charles Mor ey. Managing Ed itor. Dale Brown . Ed itor. Bobi Sco tt . Edi tor. Graphics and Production Dav Pauli , Production Manager. Judy Klinger . Production Assistant. Mari on Harashit a , Kar en Farhat , T ypogr aphy. Dennis G reen e . Laboratory. Accounting Mike Klinge r , Manager. J eanne Hammond, Accts . Receiva b le. Donna Bryan . Asst. Accts, Receivable , "Rick Goet tsch . Cr edit . Ellie COlter. Assistant . Circulation Rheba Sm ith, Manager . Sherry Kau fm a n . Christy Bdl , Tammy Taylor , Ba rbara T aylo r. Assistants. Reader/Dealer Services C in Harper, Want Ad Sales . Services and Support Pat Cardenas , Re cep ricnis t , Bruce Pett it, 5&5 . West 2201 Ch er ry Ave .. Lon g Bea ch . CA P.O . Box 498. Long Bea ch . CA 90801 (2 13) 427· 7433: L.A . LIn e636 ·8844 . East 4 190 First Ave.. Tu cker, GA . P.O . Box 805 . T uc ke r. GA 30084. (404) 934·78 50 . Subscription O ne y~ar . seco nd class mail . $1 5: two yea rs, second class mai l. $27 ; three yea rs. seco nd class mail . $57. 50 . Co pyright '" Cycle News. In c. 1979 . T ra de mark Cycle News regi stered U.S . Pat en t Office . All righ ts reserved . Cycle Ne wsz w est (USPS 141·340 ) is pu b lished weekl y t"XCf'pt t he first a nd last week of the cale nd a r y('a r by Cycle News. In c. P .O . Box 498 . Long Bea ch . California . Seco nd class postage pai d at Lon g Beach . C A 9080 1. Cycle News welcomes u nsoli cited editorial m a teri al inclu d ing sto ries . ca rtoo ns , p hotos , et c . Such mat er ial. if pu bl ished . beco mes the excl usive co pyrig ht pro~"Y of Cycle News. Such accepted ma teri al is subject (Q revision as is necessa ry in the sole discretion o f Cycle News. Unsol icited ma ter ial wh ich is not used will.. be retu rned if accom pani ed by a selfaddressed stamped enve lope . All unso licited m a teria l will be hand led with reasona ble ca re , howeve-r, Cvcte News assum es no respo nsib ility for the safe ty. loss or da m age to suc h m a teria l. R(" p rimi ng in whol e o r part o nly by pe rmi ssian of the pu b lishers . Advertising rat es and circu lat ion in fo rm a tio n will be sent upon req uest . See S.R .D .S. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 t o Cyc le News. P.O. Box 498. Long Beach . CA 90801. VOICES Not even mini-trophies Would you ride with a club that promot es a ra ce kn owing that they will only trophy th e Expert class? Such was ou r experience . at a SRA Riverside Team Race. After paying $12 each for two mini bike riders along with four gat e fees of $4 ea ch for a total of $40 . we were surp rised when t he only class trophied in th e va rious mini team ca tegories was the Expert class . To our disgust . we learned this is standard policy (not by officia l adrnission but by comparing not es with riders that ride regu larly in SRA events.) . We wou ld like to apologi ze for acc using .a fa th er of enco uraging his son to chea t whe n he to ld him to mov e u p from t he No vice start lin e to the Expert line after his number was taken down by officia ls. The father claimed that it would be a ra ce aga inst th e Expert Mini team as thi s was th e on ly class SRA would trophy. Naturall y, we th ought this was B.S . When th e longawaited results came ou t. B.S. turned int o th e truth ; th e only m ini team to trophy was th e one and only Exp ert team . Why weren 't all mini teams pla ced on th e same start lin e? I called SRA aft er th e -results ca me out , and they couldn 't see any inj ustic e in their pol icy nor figure ou t why I was so ira te . Forty dollars didn't seem like an y big deal to them nor d id th e fa ct that ever kid entering a mini team race . in essence . is handicapped by being kicked up to Expert classifica tion . It is not only self-defea ti ng for th e kids ; it is self-d efeating for SRA when th ere are ot her racing or ganization s with more to offer and fair er standards! HAPSTUEBNER Monrovia , CA Another Phantom Duck donation ON THE FRONT PAGE: Houston 's in the w ings, and after that 's a whole new season of R.J . Reyn o l d s- s p on s or ed (Winston Pro ) raci ng. W ho'll co m e out on top? Check p. B. 4 Please forward th is sm a ll co ntrib ution to th e Ph ant om Du ck of th e Desert' s legal fund . As a former member of an AMA Distri ct 38 m ot orcycle cl ub th at defied the Bu reau of Land Management wa y back in 197 3. I reall y was enco ur aged by the Duck 's cont rib ut ion to off- road ridi ng and to the co nt inued use of our dese rts and p ub lic land . I want you to know that your publ ication is truly a fountain of inforrna tion to dirt riders. BOB HALSTED San Diego . CA Th e Duck t hanks ya, Bob . And-so do we fo r th e complim ent , People who want to add to th e Duck's g rowing legal def ense/atta ck fund should not send th eir contributions to Cycle News, however, but to th e f ollowing address: Phantom Duck of th e Desert , c/ o R ick.. Sieman, 17§ lfL Los Alimos St. Granada Hills, CA 91344 .. , Editor Digit!0nics' trail tough to follow . In th e Jan . 31 issue of Cycl e News , in th e article "C ham pionsh ip Enduro - Time keepin g to win" the re was a photog ra ph of a Digitronics ChronoComputer. \ I purchased one in J ul y, 1978 that ca me with a six -month guarantee. In Decem ber , 1978, when I took my com puter to be re p a ired . I was surprised to find tha t the company had moved a nd left no forwardi ng address . (Even a letter I mailed was returned by the post office unopened.) O n behalf of all the motorcycle enthusiasts that purchased a Digi tron ics Enduro Com pu ter I would appreciate any information regarding the present address of the company. EARL MILLS Huntington Park , CA We've tried to con tact th e Digitronics people with no luck at all, Earl . We chec ked our ad files (Digitronics ran in Cycle News Want Ads last year); we tried calling contrib utor L arry Langley who wrote our "L CD En duro Clocks " shootout articl e tha t appeared in our Nov. 15 issue; and of cou rse, we t ried g9ing t hrough the ' p hon e company to get '!ew nu m bers of the company and /o r. its ow ner. All attempts drew blanks. Perhaps one of ou r readers can help . . . Editor. Co ming home ... I a m sta tio ned in Germ an y doing m v time for Uncle Sa m . bu t I have a subscri ption to your newspaper wh ich keeps me up to da te on th e efforts to In regards to Ji m Turner's letter and your coverage of the Indian Du n es ro und of th e Golden Sta te Series in Cycle Ne ws, Issue 3, J an uary 31, 1979 : I agree with Mr. T u rner's ideas about slower, safer moto cross, but 1 do n't agree with the statement you printed a bout the Sha dow Glen course be ing one of the nea test track seen in years. I think the track had one of the most d angerous starting areas I've ever seen. I saw several riders go down in front of the first turn and one of them was m y friend Chris Heisser. Chris was ne a r the front of the pack whe n he fell a nd he was run over by riders who were going full out in sixth ge ar. Ch ris went home after his 20 second race with a broken leg . It will probably cost over $1000 for Chris to have raced that day . Chris will be out of co m mission for a whi le which means no money will be spent by him on practice sessions or racing . O t her riders were hurt in the exa ct place on the track as Ch ris. O ne of them was Tony DiStefa no . I saw more than four pileups at the first tum: O ne race even had to be res ta rted. T he promoters and track owners are hurting themselves as we ll as th e spor t. . What we need are shorter , safe r starting areas. Both tracks at the Du nes a re too fas t an d dangerous a n d this will have to ch ange befor e you 'll see me back on those tra cks aga in . I've been to Sprockets Park in Ba kersfield , CA where they h ad a third ge ar starting area. I d on 't know if they still do or not , but it worked . T he tum still thinned out the pack eno ugh with the riders goi ng slower. I Many changes need to be made. The tra ck owners complain of the cost of these changes. Which is more important, making the changes and having riders come out to the tracks, or not making the changes and losing gate and en !ry fees? ' GLENN K. SCOTT Thousand O aks, CA We're sorry to hear your friend didn 't make it past that f irst tum and we hope Chris won't be out of action too long . Van'ous {rack conditions and exactly who should shoulder the responsibility of rider's safety has recently become a touchy subject . On t he other hand, no rider is forced to participate in a race he f eels may be dan g erous to his health. T he ride r m ust be responsible, in part, fo r his own decision t o ente r any race .. J im T urner's sugg estion to "stand up at your next rid er 's m eeting and voice your opinion befo re it 's too lat e" is a good one . R em ember th e old saying, "the re 's safety in numbers?" Th e more riders you can g et to agree about unsafe track conditions at any giv en location will help serve as a lever to motivate track own ers and pro moters to do something about it . . . Editor.

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