Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

present after Dale Singl et on , W es Coole y and Skip Aksland could not come to terms on start money with t he promoters . Baldwin (Kaw) crashed heavily in practice, b ut was unhurt . In the first leg , Ba ld win's engine seized , and he called it a day. Gregg Hansford practiced on the new Kawasai 750 /4. but reverted to his three-cylinder for the race, lOP's Dave Taylor has been given a clean bill of health after a hard get off- at the Saddleback 125 National last weekend. Dave will 'be competing in this weekend's activities at Phoenix, AZ. - It seems that Marty Moates' LOP Yamaha took a spill on the highway heading for Chicago's O'H a re Airport to eventually meet with Marty in Spa in fo r this weekend's 250 GP action , Unfortunately, a trailer hitch broke sending the bike on a different course than the cars resulting luckily in only minor dama ge . H owever, the bike missed its pla ne and is now sitt ing in Paris wait ing for a ride to Spain . W ill the suspension of t he AMA Nationa l MX claiming rule be permanent? And if so, will Suzuki b ring in their 125cc watercooled GP ma chine? W ill Yamaha pu t on e of th eirs in Brae Glover's hands? W ill Kaw asa ki re- in troduce t heirs? W ill Honda come up with something even better? Sta y tu ned . ; . Danny laPorte's in Europe. He was talking with his friend Roger DeCoster on the phone last week. and since Danny's not racing yet the AMA 500cc series hasn't started - RD invited laPorte over to ride a few 500cc Internationals. ' Danny rode DeCoster's number two bike at a March 31 event in Holland and an April 1 race in Belgium. On press day, Monday, April 2. U.S. Suzuki had results of the events, but knew ,only that Danny raced both and didn't place in the top 10 in either. That's better than DeCos:ter's showing, however. Roger fell in the first moto of the Saturday race and was unable to contest any of the others. J Peter Herlings and Ha rry Everts each won motos in the Ma r. 31 500cc Internation a l MX in Valkensw ard, Ho lland , Herl ing the first, Ever ts the second. Herlings backed up his first mo to win wit h a second pl acing in th e second round . Everts had pl ace d only sixt h in th e first. Su zuk i's Ge rri t Wolsink put in a good aftern oon in his home country with a 2-5 score. At the April 1 500cc International MX in Vorselaar, Belgium, Harry Everts scored with a pair of second placings behind mota winners Jaak Van Velthoven ·and Ivan Van Den Broeck. Andre Malherbe put in a 3-3 day while Wolsink and Schmitz rode 5-4 He rbert respectively. Ascot Raceway's first AMA Pro ha lf mile of '79 had to be cancelled after rain inundated the Los Angeles area earlier inthe week. So now half mile racing begins Ap r. 6 and runs on consec utive Friday nig hts up to the May 12 AMA IWinston Pro Series event. According to the folks at Ascot, the Apr. 6 event will feat ure Hank Scott, riding the Ron W oods Norton in place of the inju red Alex Jorgensen , and Ted Boody, astride Bill Kennedy's Am erican . T he Bood y appea ran ce will mark the W es t C oast d e b u t o f Ken ned y's 750cc vertical twin . 6 California Racing Club whispered in P.apa's ear the other day and said that the Apr. 7 CRC Coors GP, a part of Cyclerama '79, will use just about all of Saddleback -Park 'a back section. The total length of the course is about seven miles and CRC sez it's pretty fast. pretty neat. Another rest rictor ru le change for AMA d irt track J uniors? Maybe. Pa pa was sippin' an' listenin' the other day to some people discussing the AMA restrictor rule, and it's sounding like they really have n't got it all worked out yet. For one thing, the present rule is hard to measure on some machines, and it's not been as effective as originally anticipated. What may happen is this: They'll come out with a sketch1 blueprint of exactly what your restrictor plate must look like, and they'll also specify where it must be located in the intake tract. According to the March 26 Advertlsln, A,e, the California Service Station Association may convert their pumps to read in liters instead of gallons. Part, of metric conversion and no big dea l. you say? Well, one reason they're doing it is to ease higher gasoline prices in . One gallon of gas, taken from a pump innocently calibrated to deliver at 25.5¢ per liter, will cost you one dollarl Sneaky, huh? Cra ig Freem an , winner of the Desert Sq uirr els' 250cc Novice class event, finished on a broken leg . Craig endoed on " downhill five miles from the finish, breaking the fibula bone in his lower leg , remounted to finish , still in first place. Drew Smith lSuzl dropped 14 points on his way to the overall w in in the April 1 Curly Fern 125-mile AMA National Championsh ip Enduro edging' Billy Geier (KTMI and Jack Penton l KT M I for the honor. Geier, the AA class winner, and Penton dropped 15 and 16 points, respectively, in the South Jersey Enduro Riders sponsored event he ld near Pitman, NJ. Frank Vansman lHusl topped the A class. Defending National Champion Dick Burleson had a bad day and was caught very early at a hidden check. He did not place in the top 14, T he opening round of the F750 road racing World Ch ampionships Ap ril 1 at Mungello , Italy saw Virginio Ferrari (Yam) take the overall win in the two leg event with Johnny Cecotto (Yam) , Christian Sarron (Yam), Patrick Pons (Yam) and Gianfranco Bonera (Yam) rounding out the top five , Mike Baldwin was the only American ABC Wide World of Sports will film the May 6 San Jose Mile. Adva nce sale tickets for the firs t 1979 AMA Grand Nation al Championship1 W inston Pro Series m ile, a t Cal Exp o Fai rgrou n ds in Sa cr a men to , on Satu rd ay n igh t , April 14, will be handled by the Howe Ave. Box Office, 925 H owe Ave., Sacra mento, C A 95825 . Box seats will be $15; reserved covered grandst a n d $ 12 ; general admission tickets on sa le race day only are $8 . We remind you to write down the date April 21 on your "must dol see" list. On thet date CBS will air the Daytona 200 on their Sports SpecfKular show. There will be a Vintage Race at the AFM Six Hour. It'll be a five-tapper on Sunday, April 29 before the feat ure event , so bring out those Bu ltaco Metrallas, Du ca ti Dianas, HarleyDavidson KRs, Velocettes or any other "o ut-mo de d roa d race bike." Ent ry is free, a nd you can contact Allan Gird ler at Cycle World m agazine , . 1499 Monrovia Ave. , Newport Bea ch . CA 92663 , 714 / 646 ,4451. Tell him Pa pa sent,ya. win , Wes Cool ey, John Long, Randy Mamola , form e r Grand National Champion and Da yto na winner Gene Ro m e ro , and Ri ch ard Sch lachter. Skip Aksland will miss the Match Ra ces due to his decision to contest the entire Winston Pro Series. International Racing Association liRA) is billing their Sept. 28-29-30 "Thirty Hours of Rockingham" as the world's longest and toughest road race. Besides the road race , IRA is offering liv e entertainment, sky divers, van and bike shows, free camping, atc. For more info on the autumn event contact IRA. Suite 460, 1130 E. Third se, Charlotte, NC 28204 . The Washington State Depa rtm ent of Natura l Resources is proposing an ordinance that would req uire permits for organized (50 people or more) events held in the Capitol Forest. Under the proposed ordinance, which pertains only to the Capitol Forest, ' groups woul d ha ve to a pply for a pe rmit 30 da ys' before th e schedu led event, and th e Department of Natu ral Resources wou ld have to repl y to the appl ica tion with in 10 d ays. T here are no fees. A hearing on this ordina nce is set fo r Apr. 11, at 7:30 p. m. in the Gene r a l Administration Bu ildi n g Conference Room , Capitol Cam pu s, 11th a nd Colum bia , Ol ympia , W A. More information can be obt ained fr om J oe Wernex, State " OR V Coord ina to r , at 2061753-2400. Undercover agent used to spy on desert riders? Apparently so, according to Riverside's PressEnterprise newspaper. An article by staff writer A lan lecker reports that Ass istant U.S. Attorney James Arno ld conf irmed that Robert l. Schroeder, f ro m the BlM's Ukiah dis trict, attended a Nov. 25 Barstow to Vegas ride to gather evidence " against louis McKey, the Phantom Duck of the Desert. Schroeder said he was no t in uniform. that he wore levis, . boots and a ski jacket. He rode a motorcycle owned by the BlM. It appea rs th a t by the tim e you read th is. the BLM m ay be ousted from the ' state of Nevada . T he "Sageb rush Revolut ion" is on, and the Nevada legisla tu re has enough co-a uthors to pu t a through a bill [hat wou ld den y the BLM juris dic tion of sta te land. They vote on Wed nesd ay, April 4, a nd the bill is expected to pass . A similar bill has been presented to the California legislature by Assemblyman Bob Hayes. The two bills differ in content , but the final outcome would be the same: No more BLM jurisdiction. Also investigating the possibility of such legislature are Utah , Alaska. Arizona and New Mexic o legislatures. A pair of road races at England's Donnington Park over the March 24-25 weekend saw Britishers place well ahead of American riders. On Saturday, Barry Sheene lSuzl led M ick Grant (Suzl, John 'New bo ld (Yam l, Tom Herron (Suzl and Skip Aksland (Yaml across the finish line. Daytona 200 winner Dale Singleton finished 13th and Californian Wes Cooley (Yaml came in 19th. The Americans had Bob Hayes has also introduced a problems getting their bikes through British customs and as a _ bill to settle, once and for all, the definition of " road." He 's using the result had precious little practice old or ig inal BlM definition where a time. Mike Baldwin (Kawl was a road is any surface maintained by DNF after a gearbox breather pipe any method, including vehic le broke, spewing oil over his bike's travel. that's at least two feet wide rear tire. and shows evidence of use. The The nine-m a n American team has bureaucratic definition is much more inv olv ed and precise, but you been named for th e April 13, 15 , & 16 Trans-Atlantic T rophy Interna tional get the picture.. . . Mat ch Ra ce Series. T he '79 events m a rk the ni nth m eeting between the The AMA has announced that it will best Am erican and English riders on take lega l action against the City of St. the home road cou rses of the Bri tish . Louis in response to a recent Board of Americans won in 1975 and 1977, Aldermen's decisio n to ban motorReplacing the injured Kenny Roberts cycles from a ll city parks. That legislaas ca p tain of the America n effort will tion. entitled Board Bill 119, was be Da vid Aldana , who has been a passed by ' the Alderm en without member of the Am erica n te am every public hearings and over the objections year since the inception of the series. of the Chief of Police. th e Commissioner Joining Ald ana will be Daytona 200 of Parks. and th e Mayor. Mayor Jim winner Da le Singleton , former F750 Conway vetoed the ordinance. but the Aldermen overrode his veto by a vote Wo rld Ch a m pion Steve Baker , U.S. • R oa a Racing' Champion MiKe' Bal d ' 6f 25 to 3. •

• Cover