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/126402
;: 11II • ~ t Attendees at the Thursday night edition of the Roxy Rockwoodanchored Webco Radio Show at the Hawaiian Inn were treated I7l to an act not often seen live and on stage. Fast qualifier and eventual winner of the Daytona 200 Dale Singleton and his mascot Elmer took the stage and proceeded to bring the house down, Dale w ith his " Dalt onism s" and Elmer with an unscheduled, rather explicit performance: Papa can repeat no more in our " family" nawspapar. TH 0') t- O') ...-4 ...-4 CN La st year's Superbike Product ion winn er and Papa's cover person last week Steve McLaughlin hit the pits, bad luck -wise. Steve broke a few expensive' motors during practice , "stopped for a beer" during the race when he overshot turn one and eventually had to quit when the Racecrafters Kawasak i de veloped a flat rear tire j ust as Mc Laughlin hit the chica ne. Steve had lots of luck , all bad. ..c:: U l-o C'\S ~ Ted Boody, while runn ing well inside the top 10 at the Daytona 200, his first 750 road race, had the throttle stick wide open. The time spent in the pits fixing it dropped him to 26th, Dale " Pig Farmer" Singleton was the second privateer to win the Daytona 200. Who was the first ? Don Emd c, in 1972. And how about Pops Yoshimura, the first man to sponsor all of the top three finishers in the up-andcom ing Superbike class7 Pops ' bikes and riders swept the Bell Superbike 100, another f irst Be ll's - at backing Superbike racing . Here's t he secret for winning Daytona. Wouldn't ya know, it arrived in a Yamaha crate I The name's Elmer. Daytona coverage begins on p. 6. Bell Helmets has posted $34,600 in conti nge ncies for '79 AMA cornpetitio n. Broken do wn by series , the amo unt inclu des $15 ,800 for the AMA Grand National Cham pionship/ Winston Pro Series and $18, 800 for the AMA National Motoc ross Series and the AMA/ T oyota Supercross Series. In all event s, first -p lace finishers who wear Bell helmets will receive $250. Riders who wear Bell to second and third place finishes will receive $100 and $50 respectively.' Bell paid out $24 ,550 in conti ngencies in 1978 , with Bob Hanna h taking the la rges t single amount , $6,300. Though Daytona may be more well-known for the road racing, there was a lot of flat track action in and around the area in the week· end preceeding Cycle Week. At the Ocala short track Friday night. Mar. 2, M ike Kidd picked up his first win for Team Army over Randy Goss and Scott Pearson. The following day featured a half mile at Tampa and the win went to Garth Brow, who defeated Terry Poovey and Pearson, A highlight of the event was the Novice win by northern California's Jim Filice. On Sunday at the Daytona Busch half mile, Randy Goss took the Expert honors over Hank Scott and Poovey. Lotta Left-hand turns for one weekend. Hey all you clu bsl Bett er hurry if you want yo ur club or organization listed in Cycle News ' upcoming, gigantic club guide. See the form elsewhere in . this issue and fill it out right now . Rememb er that the deadline is March 15. Don't miss out on this treme ndo us opportunity. Marty Smith's Honda at Daytona was sporting' a "banana" configuration swingarm - during practice, at least. Honda honochos vetoed running the bike in the Daytona Supercross, and Marty rode his older bike. The la test word on the cancelled Pittsburgh Su percross event is that Pa ce Management ha s scheduled another Supercross on the same date , th is time in Da llas' Texas Stadium, home of the Cott on Bowl. Papa blew it last week when he told you Ron Pierce would be riding a Bob Work·tuned TZ250 In the International Lightweight event at Daytona. Make that a TZ750 instead. Hey, what's 500cc, anyway? Papa's source was sentenced to two rainy days in Daytona as punishment for the misinformation, Arlo Engl und showed up with one of the strangest gadgets yet on a motocrosser at the Daytona Supercross, It consisted of a cable attached to his front forks th at kep t them compressed while Arlo blasted off the sta rting line , wheelie -free . T ha t's a better'deal th an Wheelie King Doug Domokos front wheel moto r invention tha t makes wheelies easier! "A full-blown " hearing has been tenta tively sche duled for May 22 in the case of the Phant om Duck of th e Desert versus the BLM. The Duck and others charged with him made an appearance in District Cou rt Mar. 12, where the cha rges were read and the hearing set. "The BLM is using the law to crush the Phantom Duck of the Desert," said Rick Sieman in a ph one ca ll from the courthouse to Cycle Ne ws, adding that he was con fident that the accusati ons would not hold up . Sieman also said tha t t he BL M's attorney, James Arn old of the U.S. Attorney's office , ad mitted in cou rt that the BLM had a spy at the Barstow start area , dressed as a biker. Multi-time World Speedway Champion Barry Briggs will be teaching a two·day speedway school at Racing World, Mar. 17-18. If you're interested, the number to call is 7141776-2017. In a letter to Husqvarna de alers, H usky Vice- President / General Manager Gu staf Roo th confirmed that "negotiations have been carried on between a group of Swed ish investors and Electrolu x rega rd ing an acquisition of Husqvarna's motorcycle operation ." Ho wever, Roath said that Husq varna will remain with its new owner, E1ectrolu x, adding "negotia lions have been concluded and E1ectrolux has decided to make the motorcycle division a part of the Electrolux expansion program . I think that one should rea lize that in today's bus iness world there will always be outsiders interested in exploring acquisition of attractive bus inesses and I am pleased that we are cons idered one of th em ." Wayne Mooradian, former mechanic for Jeff Jennings and the builder of many fine Maico race machines including Cordis Brooks' and Darrell Shultz's, has left Wheelsmith Engineering. Wayne says he's "gotten a couple offers" for other positions but is still looking over the possibilities before making his declaion, The U.S . Forest Service, Californi a Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Park Service and the U.S . Fish and Wi ldlife Service are involved in a planning process to determine how best to protect the Little Kern golden trout. a "threatened species ." (Papa's suggestion: Keep 'em awa y from bureaucrats. ) A draft Environm ental Assessment is ava ilable for review, with various management alternatives. To get a copy , check out area ranger sta tions in Porterville, Fresno and Bake rsfiel d . Send you r comments (mo torcyclists love the little critters . and wouldn 't allow them to hybridize with rainbow trout while in our presence) to Robe rt N . Werner , District Ra nger , Sequoia Nationa l Forest , T ule River Ranger Distric t , 32588 High way 190, Porterville, CA 93257. Deadl ine for comments is Apr. 1. . California Racing Club wants to remind area MXers not to miss their DG $5,000 motocross that happens as part of Cyclerama 79 at Saddleback Park on Apr, 8. There will be a $2,100 Pro purse and $3,000 worth of gift certificates for Sportsmen. IPapa 's addition must be a little fuzzy; he comes up with $5,100 total.lln this issue som ew here is an entry blank for the race. Lester Wheel Co., hit hard by a Jan. 4 fire , has announced that their sales office and warehouse operations are back in swing again . The production facilities were more heavily da maged. however , and it is anticipated that it will be three more months before Lester can resume production . The Bureau of Land Management will be holding an open house to gain public input regarding the proposed w ithdrawal of 2,762 acres of BLM land from the California State Recreation Area at Red Rock Canyon north of Mojave, CA, The open house will be held at the Ridgecrest Resource Area Office, 1415 North Norma St., Ridgecrest. CA on Apr. 30 from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Or if you cannot make it. feel free to write with your comments and ideas. The BLM press relaase did not deal with how the proposed withdrawal would affect DRV use in the area; the Ridgecrest office is currently writing an Environmental Asaessment Record on the matter, Check it out or, maybe, lose itl T he Californ ia Depart ment of Pa rks and Recreation is begin n ing an "intensive" search for another site in southern Cal ifornia suitable for use as a Stat e Vehicular Recreation Area . Sites in Los Angeles , Ora nge or San Diego counties that meet the following criteri a will be considered: preferably over 3,000 acres , adequate access via public highways, far-enough removed from residential areas, an area not environmenta lly sensiti ve, within a two-hour drive of a major population center, soils tha t are res istant to erosion and variable terrain. The OffHighway Vehicle Fund will provide for the acqu isition, planning, development and operation of the site. Anyone who has comments or suggestions about the poss ible loca tio n, or ca n suggest suitable SVRA sites is urged to contact the Dep artment of Pa rks and Recreation . P.O . Box 2390 . Sacramento , CA 95811 . Atten tion : Dave Cox , OHV Coordinator. Location ma ps are need ed. Information may be supplied by phone to 916 /322-9619. • .