Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

WIST ~ - ~ ........ .1-0 0.. -e America's No.1 Weekly' Motorcycle Newspaper Sharon Clayton. Pu b lishe r Tom Cu lp . Ma rkr t ing Dir ecto r Caroli ne Cendrv. S(" . 10 the Pu bl ishe r C' Mugi(' Sout hrr~, 5("('. to rhe Mt kJl: . Di r . Advertising j im Ryan. Salo Mana~r. Larry Little. Salo Ma~r. Sltipjohmon. Salo Mana · F . Chris KoIbct . Advertising Coordinator . Editorial ' Cha rfes Marry. Managing Ed itor. Dale Brown . Editor. Bob i SCOll . Edi tor . Graphics and Production On Pauli , Prod uct ion Managr r. Judy Klin gr T. Productio n Assistan t. Ma rion Ha rashi ra . Ka ren Farh at . Typography. De n nis G ree ne . Labo ra tory . Accounting M ik t' Klingrr . Ma nager . J r 3 00 (' H amm on d , Acels. Rece iva b le . Donna Brya n. Aut . Accrs. Rece-i va ble . R ick Cor-llsc'h . Cn-d ir . Ellit' Coner . AssiSlant . Circulation Rheba Smit h . Mana ~er . Barba r a T aylor. Tammy Taylor. Shir ley Sho rt , Assistant5. ' Reader/Dealer Services Gin H arJ)('T. W a nt Ad Sal~ . Services and Support P a t Cardenas , Pe-rrir. 5&5 . Re ce p t ic rrist , Br u e r West 2201 Chrrry Ave".. Long Br ac h . CA P.O . Box 498 . l. ung Brac h . C A 90801 (%") 4%7· 70~ ; LA . LIne 6~6 ·8844 . East 4190 First Au ' .. Tuc ke r . GA . P.O . Box 805 . T ucker . GA ~ 0084 . (404 ) 9 ~4 ·7 8 50 . Cycle New>/Wot (USPS 141 .~40) is published weekly except the fint and Iast week. o( the calendar year (or S15 per year by Cycle News. Inc .. %%01 Cherry Avenue . Long Beach . CA 90801. Second class posta~ pa id a' Long Beach. CA . POSTMASTER: Send form 3li7I to Cycle N_. P.O. Box 498. Long Beeeh.CA ...... Subacription Dtes:' One yea r , second class mail. S15: two yean . second class mail , S27: three yean , JC'COnd class ma il. $37 .50 . Cycle News welcomes unsolici ted ed iteeial materia l i ncl u di n g st ories . cartoo ns. photos. et c, Such material; i( pub tished . becomes t h e e xclusive propeny of Cycle New>. Such accepted material 'is su bject to rev ision as is nccaury in th e sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material wh ich is not wed will be ret urned if accompanied by a self·addressed stamped envelope. All unsolicited material will be handled with ~.JOnabl(' ca re. however, Cycle News assumn no responsibility for the aafety. lo u or damage t o su c h material. Reprinting in whole or part only by permission of the publishen . Advertising ratn and circulation in forma tion will be scot upon request . Sec S .R.D .S, CopyrIght · Cyde News. Inc. 1171. T..d.....rk Cyde N _ regi8t8recl U.S . Petent Office. 'AII rights rnerved. . ON THE FRONT PAGE: Riders lIttllck the Greet Beer GP mudhole lit Riverside. end King Kenny Roberts hustles to get beck in sNIPe for Austrie. Photos by ·Oe" Brown end Dennis Kenegee/Vemehe Motor Corp. Build pillars of steel Carlsbad is bad Congratulations to t hose mini racers and crews sman en ough to skip Round 3 of the AME/Kawasaki Sp ring Series sch eduled to be ru n a t Carlsbad Raceway on Mar. .1 8. i979. We attended . only to find a track (the small on e) vinually d estroyed by r a in washouts . d eep ru ts and mudholes. No equipment was avail able to smooth out t hi ngs so th e men of AME tried to fill hol es with shovels and reroute the track som ehow to make it useable. After attempting to run th e 125's in the first two heats to try and work in the track, the numerous crashes by the bigger bikes indicated to the official that it would be far too dangerous to allow the minis to even try to run . So th e race was cancelled and rescheduled for another day. . Many of the racers had driven long distances to attend this race and found not only the lousy track conditions. but only one resrroom .uwhich was at the . big track roughly a mile away) . only one ambulance to cover both tracks, and no concessions . Add to that the $5 per head gate fee and you come up with a lot of . disappointments. Enough , in fact , to prompt many members to block the gate to all incoming and ou tgoing tra ffic long . enough to persuade a very rel ucta nt Carlsbad offi cial to issue ra in checks with a guarantee in writing (witnessed and signed by an AME man . the Carlsbad man and a Carlsbad City Police officer) that our money would be returned to us upon presentation of our rain checks at Indian Dunes on Mar. 25 , 1979. I. for one. d idn't want or need rain checks to Carlsbad raceway since I will never return there again! A word of advice to any club who .auempts to hold race at Carlsbad be sure you go down and look at the facility, track conditions and arrange ' for rest rooms , ambulance and any equipment. Also get any agreements if! writing, because those Carlsbad raceway dudes are only interested in one thing; "Getting those gate entry bucks. " so check it out. a H.JAMES Reseda, CA I, too , wrote to th e Hol y Head quaners of the W esterville Vip ers and got a Rasor-tongued reply, which I will not repeat in its ent irety because. although amusing. it would b e unconstru cti ve. There are three wa ys to effect cha nge: coopera tion . subversion and revolu tion. Cooperation . exemplified by th e AMA and individuals who take surveys. publish studies and write lett ers . mak es c h a n ges slo wly. Cooperation congeals the system a nd builds pillars of jell y. Subversion , exem pli fie d by communists, labor un ion s and the person who suggested motorcyclists join the Sierra Club and take it over , also works slowly . Subversion undermines the system and bu ilds pillars of excrement. Re volution , exemplified b y th e Phantom Duck and the handful of colonials who set us free from Britain , gets the fastest results. Revolution purifies the system and builds pillars of steel. Join the AMA and the Sierra Club if you like . but don't forget to send a buck to the Du ck . WINSTON BEAUMONT W rightwood . CA The agony of stupidity In my m ind Hangtown '79 will be remembered for the most beautiful weather we've had this yea r and a challenging track prepared by the Dirt Diggers North . The relocation of the event was well-executed and organized beyond expectation . The rac ing in the . 125s was the most exciting I' ve seen and in the 250s . a com plete Hannah domination which is starting to get a little boring (hurry and get better Shultz). The only downfall of the event was a certain percentage of the spectators who, after a few beers. started using the riders as targets for their empty beer cans and rocks . I can't believe how people standing around could let this go onl And to get to the point, the people crossing the track during the race resulted in a terrible accident . ' These incredible idiots; who were running back and forth across the tJ'aa while' the .race was going. were making a game out of it. The flagmen tried their best to stop them but it en ded up getting out of hand and th ey cou ld not keep up with them . I eve n saw some of these mach o punks take a swing at one of the flagmen and kno ck him to t he gro u nd. Th is sit u a tion per sisted all day long wit h m a ny close ca lls. b ut we knew somet hing was goi ng to happen a nd fina lly it did. La rry Wosick was comi ng around the co mer by the Cycl e N ews Crane . just whe n this specta tor a tt empted to cross the track a nd there wasn't any way Wosick co u ld avoi d hi m. Both rider a nd spectator flew th ro ugh the air and bo th cra shed to the grou nd . . se n di ng t re mors to m y feet. T he spe ctator d idn't move and was ca rted off b y t he helicopter . and after 30 m inutes or so ; Wosi ck finally was able to sta n d . It was a te rri b le shame because W osick was in fourth pa lce and rid ing excep tiona lly well . My point is this - how can we let this go on and on ? The people who , seemed bent on causing havoc at the track should be kicked out have their butts kicked . They ruin the image of our professional sport and just add to the bad publicity seekers criteri a. The racers and their families should unite and discou rage track crossing by stopping these idiots as they attempt to cross, like my dad and I did. It sometimes involves some pushing and shoving but maybe these people will finall y und erstand that they're jeopardizing the riders and th emselves by crossing du ring th e ra ce . This inciden t I' ve rela ted also isn't go ing to help the ' cost of liability insurance either, and sometimes we don't need is risin g insurance costs . Le t's get together fro m now on a nd stop these people who a re so booz ed up they forget to look from crossing the track and keep them on one side or another. If m or e people would say som ething or get a little more invol ved to stop th is dangerous situ a tion. we could e n d some of t hese terribl e incid ents that see~. to plague o u r national and local races . GEORGE STEPHENSON II Placerville, CA Hangtown thanks I'd like to thank all the great guys in the DirtDiggers North M.C . • the National Motorcycle Patrol , and specifically, Bob Putney. I broke my foot in the 250cc' Expert race after coming all the way from Burbank. CA by myself. Bob helped me by keeping an eye on my va n and my bike and by seeing to it that I had a place to stay. My hat's off to these guys and the great job they do. We need more people like them in our sport. Thanks again. VIC CURTI Burbank. CA Hangtown thanks/no thanks To the Dirt Diggers Nonh M.C.: Your '79 Hangtown races were great. I really enjoyed watching Bob Hannah ride. But the three hours it took to get from our parking place to the .m ain road was the p its . ( I thought the reason the ra ce was moved to Prairie City OHV Park was to provide better traffic flow than Plymouth d id .) I'll read about your race next year in .Cycle News. BILL BARRETT San Jose, CA BLM j oins the spy gam e After reading an article on the Riverside, CA Press-Enterprise (Mar. 18. '79) entitled . "BLM uses undercover agent · in Barstow-Las Vegas race." any responsible desert . User who -has had contact with the ' Bu~au in the past will certainly have

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