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/126406
pull at Kawasaki since he is not a top class rider. The bike wes very, very fast." noted Myers. Brad La ckey, according to Myers, is now in J apa n with Ka wa saki's technicians looki ng for more power. Lackey returned to the U .S. after racing his O pen class Ka wasa ki Uni Trak at an international 500cc MX in Holland and then departed for Japan. "T he situation appears to be serious," said Myers, "because Lackey is trying to withdraw his entry from an April 15 international MX in England which is considered a very big event for warming up for the April 22 opening round of the 500cc MX World Championships in Austria . ~ 00 .... l""""I M c, < BlM announces Wilderness Study Areas in California WESTERVILLE, OH, APR IL 9 The Bureau of Land Management cu lminated nearly 120 days of wilderness invent ory procedures for the California Desert Conservation Area on March 30 when they announced that 5.5 million acres of public land in the COCA would be designated as formal Wilderness Study Areas. Since the beginning of the wilderness inv ent ory process required by the pessage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, off-road recreationists have bee n closely watching the procedure fearing ex cessive closures as a re sult of the process. Those f ears were rea lized w hen California State Dir ector, Ed Hastey, announced t hat 138 roadless areas, comprising over 44% of the public land in the COCA, w ill become WSA's and undergo intensive study to determine their suitability or nonsuitability for nom inatio n to the National Wilderness Preservation Sys tem . Only Congress can actually create a W ilderness Area. The WSA's varied in size from 102 acres (an area adjoin ing a Forest Service W ilderness Areal to 454,000 acres in the Saline Valley and Inyo area. Future study of this and other areas will be placed in the hands of the Desert Plan Staff to be int egrat ed int o the complete management plan being developed for the California Desert due for completion in September of 1980. The Wilderness Study Area designations w ill become final on Apri l 30 following a 3O-day protest period. The American Motorcyclist Association will be analyzing the designations to evaluate how the designations reflect the 166-page comment submitted by the Association. Associate Director of Government Relations, Rob Rasor, said, "We will be working closely with District 37 and 38 clubs, the District '37 Legal Defense Task Force, and other user groups to determine precisely which of the 138 areas we will be protesting. Given the large amount of land involved, I am sure there will be a number of disagreements." Protests on specific areas must be filed within the 3O-day period in writing to the State Director, Bureau of Land Management. 2800 Cottage Way, Secramento, CA 95825. All protests must incl ude the numbered areas to which the protest is directed, a clear and concise statement of reasons for the protest. and furnish supporting data. The State Director will render a written decision on all protests. The AMA is urging all clubs, riders, and interested groups to obtain copies of the Final Wilderness Inventory Map and review the designated areas. Copies of the map are available throUgh the BLM State Director's Office or any other BLM office in California. inc ludi ng the BLM Desert Plan Staff, 3610 Central Avenue; Suite 402. Riverside, CA 92506, or call 7141787-1315. • Team Suzuki's Harry Everts rode his watercooled 125cc works MXer to a 1-1 victory in the April 8 'ope ning round of the Federation Internationale Motocycliste World Championship MX Series at Launsdorf, Austria . Everts was followed by teammate and re igning 125cc World Champion Akira Watanabe, also on a watercooled machine, with a 3-2 score. KTM rider Franz Lerner took third with a 5-3. Gaston Rahier, now on Yamaha, finished second in the first moto but fell at the start of round two and DNF. 6 Hakan Carlqvist (H us) won the April 8 open ing round of t he FIM 250cc World C hampionship MX Series held in Sa badel, Spain with a 2-1 score. J ar05la v Falta (CZ) a nd Neil Hu dso n (Mai) rounded ou t the top three, 1-5 a nd 5-3 res pectively. Jim Pomeroy (Bul) re tired in th e .opening rnoto when his rear wheel collapsed while Ma rty Moates (Yam) finished 13t h and J im T urner (Hon) was 15th . Pomeroy finished nim h in the fina l rnoto after a crash in wh ich he ri p ped off a fingernail. Turn er moved to 14th in moto two while Moates was not in the top 20. West German Rolf Diffenbach rode Kawasaki's Uni·Trak in the 250cc Spanish GP and placed f ifth overall. Diffenbach, according to European correspondent Chris Myers, "must know someone w ith While a pair of car drivers stole the headlines by winning the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining _ Sea Memorial Trophy Dash via their 32 hours and 51 minutes cross-country dash from Connecticut to California in a Jaguar, a pair of motorcycles entered and completed the run. Finishing first. and in 30th overall position, was a Suzuki GS850 ridden by a quintet of riders George Egloff, Wendy Epstein, Ken Ward. Steve Ward, and Dirk James. James rode the last leg of the run from Phoenix to Redondo Beach - and despite being delayed while two different speeding tickets were be ing written up, James averaged 90 mph. Finishing dead last in the run was a BMW that had Loyal George Truesda le and Keith Patchett riding two-up all the way. A snow storm forced the pair to hole up in Holbrook, Arizona. Time for Truesdale and Patchett was 72 hours and 54 minutes. The Suzuki crew turned in a time of 43 hours and 32 minutes. Check out the full story in next week's paper. Tickets for the April 14 AMA Grand Nationa l Championship /Winston Pro Series Sacramento Mile at Cal-Expo State Fairgrounds are available at Ticketron O utlets a nd at the Howe Avenue Box O ffice . Top of the line tickets (Turf Clu b) will go for $20; Box seats a re $15; Reserved gr a nds tand seats cost $12 . Eight d olla r ge neral ad mission tickets will be on sale at the box office on th e night of the race only. It's aJ.C. Agajania n promotion. Speaking of Aggie, don't m iss the half mile races at Ascot Park every Fridey night through May 11. Hank Scott won last Friday's event on a Ron Woods Norton. Jeff Haney topped the Juniors on an XR500 Honda. Coverage on p. 18. Ken Maely and Mike Bast will combi ne talents to produce a nother two-day speedway school on Ap ril 2122. Dial 714/735-0540 . and tal k with Ken or J udy Maely a bout your reservation. Skip Aksland (YamI placed fourth in the April 8 IIoto JOfII'NI 200 F750 International road race and opaning round of the AGV Team Cup at France's Circuit Paul Ricard, Virginio Ferrari (Suzl took the win followed by Christian Sarron (Yaml and Patrick Pons (Yaml. David Aldana (Yaml finished 10th with John Long (Yaml 13th and Wes ' Cooley (Yaml16th, Dale Singleton (Yaml and Mike Baldwin (Yaml went down on the second lap; neither rider was injured. Complex scoring procedures for the AGV Team Cup and the naming of riders for the teams j ust prior to the start left the results unofficial at press time with France, Italy and the U.S. taking the top three spots. Johnny C8cotto !Yaml retlrec:l with clutch problems early in the race while Barry Sheene (Suzl was running third when he pitted for good with ges tank quick fill problems after his first stop, According to a Goodyear press release , Ke n n y Robe rts has been given a doctor's go -ahead to begin defense of his 500cc World Championship road racing crown in the Ap ril 29 G P of Austria. Robe rts said he'll leave for Austria on April 17. Tim Miller, a Goodyear racing engineer based in Akron . O hio, has been assigned to travel with Robe r ts to ensure the best possible bikeltireltrack match-up for each race. The World Cha mpion will again have Kel Carruthers, a former 250cc World Ch am pion , as his crew chief, with Nobby Clark and Trevor Tillbury as his mechanics. Two top contenders for the World Championship 500cc MX crown hit trouble on April 1 - just two weeks after a crash put title holder Heikki M ikkola out of the opening rounds of the series which gets underway with the Austrian GP on April 22. Roger DeCoster, five times World Champion, crashed in practice at Vorselaar, Belgium. He dislocated a collarbone and suffered muscle and ligament damage that is likely to take five weeks to heal. Californian Brad Lackey had a disastrous day at Valkenswaard, Holland, where his Kawasaki 420cc Uni-Trak showed that it needs further sorting out. Lackey could only manage an 11th place finish and reportedly left the track a very unhappy man. Mike Baldwin has been " released to ride whatever he wants in Europe ," according to Kawasaki Racing Team Manager Dennis David. Baldwin found another motorcycle to ride in the April 8 Moto J ourna l 200 when Ka wasa ki's Engine Develop m e nt Engineer Ra nd y Hall was called back to the U.S. from Italy where he was wrenching Ba ld win's road ra ce r . Baldw in , ra ther th an maint ain his own bike, deci ded to co nsider other offers. He had ridden th ree races with Hall 's assistance, two in Engla nd and one in It aly, on Kawasakis. The first race Don ingto n Pa rk - a two-day program - saw Baldwin arri ve too la te to qualify. start at the ba ck' of the grid a nd work his way forw a rd to fifth before an engine oil line ca me loose, wet his rear tire and sent him off the track. On the following day, rain that began just before the race started forced a hurried tire cha nge th a t left the Ka wasa ki with a rain tire on fro nt and a slick on the rear. Baldwin still finished fourt h. La ter in Mugello , 1taly , following "a lot of trouble in pra ctice ," as Hall put it , Baldwin's machine blew a head gasket and he DNF. The release to ride other ma chinery in Europe does not affect Bald win's contract with Ka wasa ki for American races. He will con tinu e to ride green m ach ines in the 750cc , 250cc and Su pe rb ike events, Dav id said . Ron Brennan is trying to form a new Junior Speedway Association. Interested riders, sponsors and parents may contact him at 7141970-1202. Torco O il is helping organize an al lfemale ISDT / T wo -Da y Qual ifier team . Trudi Beck, Rhe Helms and Diane Ho leman are slated to ride. A.C . Bakken also has linked his name with Torco's - he's their rep for a n area from San Diego to Las Vegas to the Colorado River. •