Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

American Motorcyclist Association has submitted 166 pages of officia l comment on . more than 200 pot ent ial wilderness areas identified in an in ven to ry of the California Desert Conserva tion Area . ' The Association's comments were developed as a resu lt of exte nsive coo pe ra tio n by th e AMA District 37 organization . th e District 37 Legal Defen se Task For ce and ind ivid u al AMA cl ubs a nd membe rs who too k the time to ga ther "on site " inform a tion on many of the areas in th e d esert. This in formation was the n co llated and put into written form by AMA Washin gt on co u nsel , Gene Wirwahn . The m ammoth. t ask was necessa ry to insu re tha t dese rt mot or cycl ists' interests wer e p roperl y repre · sen red in the wild erness d ecisions that will follow th e inventory. The deadline for pu blic co m m ent was january 31. The com m ents will now be rev iewed by the Desert Planning Staff prior to actually identifying Wilderness Stu d y Areas ea rly in March 1979 . 'TH ELATEST The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has cancelled two scheduled hearings on proposed rules to regulate motor vehicle racing noise, The cancellation was prompted by expressions of concern within the racing community about the advisability of the proposed regulations. Provisions in the proposed regulations limited practice sessions t o one week and imposed unnecessary noise testing procedures that would be expensive and de tract from tha race program. The cost of equipment required by clubs to im plem ent the test procedures could eliminate recreetional recing at the ameteur and club level. The DEQ has indiC8ted that the next step w ill include informal meetings w ith concerned groups to discuss problems with the proposals. King Kenny hospitalized by practice crash, Aksland to represent Yamaha at Daytona IWATACITY,jAPAN. FEB . 19 Yamaha's 500cc Road R8Ce World Champion Kenny Robe rts w as Injured In a Feb. 12 practice accident while testing his new 500cc works roed racer et the Yameha Test Course, fi ve m iles northwest of lweta City near the center of Japan's meln island. Roberts reportedly W88 exiting a fest right-hander, slightly .off line, et approximately 125mph when the front end, lightened under the 8Cceleration, washed out. The motorcycle slid across the pavement and Into a steel guard rell. "The Jepef1888 engineers couldn't belleVB their stopwetches, he W88 turning such fast lep times:' Yamaha Teem Maneger Ken Clark told Cycle Ne. . In a Feb. 19 phone convef88tion. ''There were no mechanical fa ilures, no tire failures:' Clerk added. Roberts, under the cere of doctors flown In immedletely by Yameha, W88 put In a body C88t. It W88 determined that he had a compression between the 11th and 12th vertebree and th8t the 12th wes fractured, Surgery wes Jeter scheduled for Frldey morning, Feb. 16, when Roberts reported stomech pain. A one-hour operetion W88 necessery to repair a ruptured spleen. Surgeons took four stitches In the orgen and 1nst8l1addreIn tubes to relieve Internet bleeding. Roberts' condition is reported " good" following the operetion: he's expected to remain h08pltelized In Japan for three weeks. KIng KennY 'will not rIIC8 et Daytona, nor will he be able to contest the first round of the 79 World Championship Road Raca Series on the following weekend in Venezuel8. Yernaha spokesmen indicate hopes th8t he'll be reedy for the April 29 Austri8n round. "We're In exactly the 88me position we were In lest yeer:' Clark St8t8d, referring to Roberts' DNF due to piston failure In the 78 Venezuelan event. " But we went on to win the Worid Championship then, and I see no ree80n why we can't do it again," he added optlmlstlcelly, • Questioned about a Daytona entry, Clerk replied, "Skip Akslend will ride Kenny's bike, and he 'll have full factory support from Kel Carruthers, Nobby Clerk and Trevor TIlbury. We need to have a yellow and b1eck motorcycle out thereI" . Cards, letters and other well w ishes may be sent to Roberts, c/o Yamaha Motor CorporetIon, USA, P.O, Box 8620, Buena Perk, CA 2 ~. . American Motorcyclist Associa tion department of government rela tions is assisting .the Arkansas Motorcycle Dea lers Association in an effort to repeal a state law requiring crash bars on motorcycles . Motorcycli ng interests a re working toward repeal of the Ark ansas la w - one of only ,two suc h stat utes in th e nat ion. - beca use it ca uses ex treme inc onvenience for dealers and riders and, according to new information , p rovides no safety benefit. AMDA Presi dent Leroy Wi nters says many new m otorcycle designs m ake it al most impossible to install crash bars and t his tec hnically puts the Arkansas dealer in the position of selling illegal vehicles: The Arkansas Motorcycle Dea lers Association is a lso contesting that state's mandatory motorcycle helmet law . A monoshock TT500 Yamaha? Could be. A person very high up in the Yameha recing department was seen rIc:Iing one out at Saddleback recently, but he ren away before our man could reach for a camera. T om Rockwood , former N ational Number 88 on the AM A G ra nd N ational Championsh ip Series ," d ied Saturday night , Feb. 17 of a "selfinfli cted gunshot wound" ac cording to his bro the r T im Rockwood. "He had a lot of personal problems," Tim cont inued. "H e'd brok en his back three times, and he was unable to race or do manual work . It fin a lly p ro ved to be too much for him to live wit h ." Co ndolences m ay be sent to Ro xy Rock wood at 56 10 W . 190th St. , Apt . 2. Torra nce, CA a nd to Do n na Rockwood Doody, 1770 1 Avalon St .. Space 270 . Ca rso n , CA 90746. Goespeed, Tom. • ... .. Lynn Winelend, AMA Class A member representative for the southwest reg ion, has just spent a week in Westerville, OH getting a . grasp on his new responsiblities as our man in the AMA and observing the home office in action. Sounds like he 's off to an ambitious start. In a sort-of " Daytona warm -up" race for California road racers. th e Feb . 18 American Federation of Motorcyclists event at Ontario Motor Speedway, T eam Yoshimura 's Wes Coolev a nd Dave Em de d id a 1-2 tri ck in t he' O pen Super Street class on the ir Supe rb ike Pr oduction class Suzukis followed by Steve McLaugh lin on the Racecrafters Kawasaki . Emde returned in t he O pen GP co mpetition with a Floyd Em de TZ750 Yam aha to win a fter both Cool ey a nd McL aughl in ret ired with mechanicals. Ret iring from the AFM road rac ing scene are Billy-the-Bullet Addington and Alan Gingerelli. according to ND Spark Plugs' Carol Carpenter who filled-in Papa on the latest AFM doin's. Complete coverage on Ontario next week from eN contributor Patrick Behar. Sixteen models of SI DI motorcycle boots are now available through St ra da Int erna tion a l. Inc . exclusive distributor for the Italian -made motorcycling footwear in th e U .S . Four-time National Pro Stock Champio n Terry Vance and Byron Hines w ill be contesting the Mar. 910 NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL on their co-sponsored U.S. Suzuki/R.C. Eng ineering GS1000. They hold the all -time record for a stock bodied motorcycle in the quarter m ile of 9.00 seconds at 147mph. Listen in on radio station W MFJ whi le you' re in Dayton a for the Mar. 5-11 Webco r adio show hosted by Roxy Rock woo d . The show begins at 10:30 every night , runs for I - n,~ hou rs. a nd spo tl ights top riders co mpeting. in the Daytona Cycle Week events. Kawasaki road racers Kork Ba llington , Gregg Hansford and Mike Ba ldw in will be featured on Friday night whil e AMA I . Winston Pro Champion j ay Springsteen a nd sixth -ranked Ga ry Scott will kee p things moving on Satu rd ay night . W ith no official victo ry b a nquet scheduled after the Daytona 200 , the Webco show will host the winners on Sund ay night. Castrol lubrica nts will be availeble at Daytona to racers who went to qualify for a piece of the $4,000 contingency money put up by Burmah-Castrol, Inc. for the 79 AMA road race series. You can contact Walter K. von Schonfeld at the Inn et Indigo, 2620 Volusia Ave., in Daytona, or dlel 90412586333, after March 2. Scott USA. as you're prob ably a lr eady awa re , ha s been m anufacturing Pr eston Pett y Products sin ce taki ng over Pett y's injection mold ing business last year, Now. Sco tt USA has a lso assumed all market ing fu n ct ions inclu ding sa les and promotion for th e Petty line of motorcycle fenders , number plates . grips and other ac cessories. The Sliddlebetk Hillclimbers' Association and Coors Distributing . company will present a motorcycle hillclimb on April 8 et Saddleback Park. Neariy 100 riders from far away as Arizona and Texas are expected to enter the event. a part of Cyclerema '79. Mail entries must be postmarked by March ·10,-and as

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