Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

WIST America 's No.1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper Sharon Cla yt on . Pu b lishe r Tum Cu lp . Markt"'ting Direc tor Caroline Gend ry . Sec . to rbe Pu b lishe r Ma rg ie So u thern . Sec. 10 rbe M tl.:.1(. D iT. Advertising Jim Rya n , Sales Manager . Larry Liu k-, Sa les Manager . Skip Johnso n . Sales Man a · g l"f. C hr is Kol ber . A d vertisin g Co ord in at or . Editoria l C h arles MOT t"y. Ma n agi n g Edit o r . D a1C" Brown . Edi tor . Bob i SCUll, Edi tor. Graphics and Production Da v Pau li, P rodu cti on Ma nage r . J ud y K l i n ~ t" r . Product io n Ass istant. Ma rio n H ar ashita . T ypog ra phy . Den nis Gr ee ne . Labora tory. Accou nting M i ke K li nge-r . xt a na g e r . j e-an ne Ha m mo nd . ACClS. Recei va ble , Du n na Brva n . Aset , Accrs . Receiva b le . Rick G~Hsch . C re di t . Ell ie C OliN. A).,ist.am . Circu lation R he b a S mith . Ma n ager . B a r b a ra Taylor . Tammy Taylor , Sh irley Shon . Asslstams . T erry Man age r, Pra t t , De a le r Sa les Reader/Dea ler Service Gin H U J>('f . W a nt Ad Sal es . Se rvices and Support C hri s A lt c beson . Re ce p ri o n sr , R ick A le xa nd er . S&S. West 220 l Cherry Ave . . Lo ng Bea c h . C A P.O . Bo x 498. Lo ng Bea ch . C A 908 0 1 (%13) 4%7· 74 3 3; L.A. Lin e 636 ·8844 . East 4 190 First Ave . . Tucker . GA . P.O . Bo x 80 ~ , T ucke r . GA 30084 . (404) 9 H · 7 8~ 0 . Cyc le New svw es , (USPS 14 1· 340 ) is p ublished week ly excep t t he first a nd last week o f th e ca le nd a r year for 115 pror %01 Chor ry yoa r by Cyc le N ows, Inc .. % Avenu e'. Long Beac h . CA 90801. Second class posta g(' pai d at Long Bea ch . C A. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to Cycl e News, P.O. Box _498. Lo ng Beach, CA 90801. Su bscri ptio n ra tes : One yea r , second cl ass ma il. 1 15 : I WO yean . second c lass m a il. $27 : t h ree yr-ars. S("CO nd cl ass m .. il, U7 . ~ 0 . C yc le Ne ws we lco m e'S un sol ic i t ed e di to ri a l mat er ial incl u d ing stor ie s. ca r toons , p ho tos. e tc . Su ch m at eria l, if p ubh ahed , be c ome s the excl u sive p ro J>(' rty o f C ycle News. Su c h a ccepted m at er ial is s u bj ec t to re vision as is nec essary in t he wit" d isc retion of Cycle News . Unsoli ci ted ma teri a l which is not used will be n-ru med if accom pa ni ed b y a self -addressed sta mped en velope. All unsolicited mat e-ria! will be h andl ed with reasonab le ca rt". ho weve r , Cycle N ews assumes no responsibili ty for the sa fet y. loss or da mage 10 suc h m al r r ia l. Rl:'p rincing in whol e or pa rt on ly by perm ission of th e p u b lishers. Advertis ing rain and ci rc u la t io n in for mation will be w n t u p o n T('qUt"S1. See S. R . D.S . Copyr ight 00 Cycle News, Inc. 1979, Trademark Cyc le News registered U ,S. Ps t e nt Office. All rights reserve d . ON THE FRONT PAGE; Suzuki's stylish shaftie wraps itself around this week's issue in the company of Bob Cannon's 1941 Stearman biplane. Plane courtesy of Sky Ad. Photo by Charles Morey. 4 Bush league coverage? As a na tiona l moto rcycle weekly, your coverage of the AMA Nation al Motoc ross Seri es is strict ly b u sh league. Your re port on t he Omaha ra ce shows continuing lack of professiona lism . File photos of a National race are unexcusable while motocross is the number one mote -sport in th e count ry, Advertising revenue from the Japanese factories must pa y a large pa rt of your bills ; at least show them some respect. It is evident that you co uld care less a bo ut you r subscribers, As to reporting , answers to these and other questions go un answ ered : Why wasn' t Mark Barnett a t Phoenix? What happened to W arren Reid in the second moto at Ph oenix? Did Danny Chandler race at Omaha, a nd if so, what happened to him ? What has become of the cla im ing rule? And what about Eu ropean cov er a ge? (N onexistent.j just be cause you a re the only weekly doesn't mean you ca n get lazy. One look at the English Motor Cycle Weekly , and it is ob vious th at we a re rece iving second -rate coverage. Why? W h at we should get is more pictu res, be tt er quality and current pictures, more in -depth reporting and at least a little insight into and analysis of the r aces . What do you take us for? I trust your coverage of Om a ha is the bott om of the scale so that it ca n only get better. MICHAEL T. BARKER Los Angeles, CA Race reports are done to m eet our deadline at a pace that precludes ' perfection. And you may rest assured that we're not any happier about that than you are, especially sinc e it 's our own work that must be compromised . Stories and film must be in th e office before 9:JO a.m, Monday morning, and it doesn 't matter whe the r the race was at Sa ddleback o r Sout hwick . When you consider that th e average MX wraps up at around 6:00 p . m . , that they 're usually held in areas that are one or two hours from the nearest airport, and th at in the case of Omaha Jar example. the reporter had to write his story before putt ing it on flig hts to Los Angeles (JOT Cycle News /West) and to Atlanta (for Cycle News / East) , you'll realize that there's a lot of f ast- pa ced work an d not mu ch sleep packed into th e average Su nday nig ht . Th e resu lt is that th e race reports becom e news ite ms of what happened wit h the most import ant p oin ts receiving pr ecedenc e, like who won , how he did it and a f ew words ab out ot her top pla cers. Details about who wasn 't th ere or who didn 't do well of t en must be om itt ed . Your claiming rule qu estion may have been answered in last week 's pap er where we interoiewed Mike DiPret e. When t hey J in alize t heir decision, you 'll hear about it from us firs t. Euro pean coverage, oddly enougb done by the same people you m ention who also work fo r M otor Cycle Wee kly, is slow in arriving here. T wo events are in t his week 's paper, and we're working on im p roving that sit uation . File photos ar e us ed only wh en t here is no alt erna tive, as was the case wit h the Omaha rep ort, A n airline lost it for us, then found it again shortly before ou r print deadline of 4:JO p.m. Mo nday , unfortunately too lat e. In short, some of yo ur points are valid; we are less than perf ect . But your analysis of our attitude is way off base. We care - a lot - or we sure as hell wouldn 't be here trying this har d to produce a good newspaper, You mention that we 're the only weekly! There's a reason for that. There are no "bush league " weeklies, only those that make it and those that don 't . . . Editor. Ferowowed I was just sitting around thinking of how sore m y arms and shoulders were from the very tough and good ISDT qualifier th e Shamrocks put on and I was reminded that there were some women who had also fini sh ed th is qualifier. All I can say is wow! I' personall y want to congra tu la te them for th e fine and respectable rides that they turn ed in . J O H N FERO ·76 & '78 ISDT Go ld Med alist O ra nge , CA Godfather IV offer for "Teeny Meanie" A quo te from pa ge 8 of your April 18th issue , "Hannah/Glover" ; "W ith two la ps to go , the hea rt -breaker of the day happened , a t least for Team Kawasa ki. Ward 's cha in came off and 'som ebod y d ragged the b ike off th e .cou rse a nd held it while I put the chain back' , said Wa rd . ' I had second pl ace easy . I co u ld ha ve cruised . . .' he added: ' Now Godfather IV, Hea d Chain Angel from San Jose (the tight -chain capitol of the world), would like to make Jeff Ward an offer, via Voices, he sho uldn't refuse. Ward will never again be unchained if he will ta ke his favo ri te Kawasaki to Phil Cancilla 's shop at 663 No. King Road in San Jose. T he re , Phil will install f ree a 'Ca ncilla Calipe r Chain Tensioner . Phil will th en perso nally guarantee Mr. Ward th a t he will never drop out of another race be cause of a throw n chain . Phil's Tens ioner will insu re a ny b iker : more pos it ive shi fts; b etter traction because c hai n flo p stops; smoo ther com ing out off a comer; less vib ratio n; longer chain /sprocke t / gear life , a nd chain adj ust ment s are not necess a ry for fro m 3,000 to 5,000 miles , Those a re facts . Not exa ggeratio ns or a con pitch , It will cost Mr. W ard no more than three ho u rs of his tim e to prove them. And he never again need 'be a chain "d rop-out : ' P .S . This is a bo na fide , one-ti me offer to Jeff Ward onl y. All others must pa y $I , N. A. DUBOI S 663 No. King Rd . San j ose , CA 95133 Oregon BLM cooperative On April 20 , 1979 , Paul Arrasmith , Manger of th e Prineville BLM , and his associate , Zeke Ziegl er , met in my office for lunch with Billy Toman , Ed Hughes , Oregon O MRA ; Motorcycles Dealers Association; Jim West , Oregon Four -W h ee l D ri ve Association; J oe McCarthy. Attorney; Steve Doa ne , Gres ha m Su zuki; and La r ry Ulrich , Casca de Motorcycle Club , to listen as to why the BL M . wanted to close pa rt of our ridi ng area in the Millican Valley , Fo r most of us, th is was the first tim e we, as rid ers and users , really heard th e sid e of th e BLM in a very open and friend ly exc h a nge of views and objectives. It is probably the first time that th ey rea lly began to understand . our needs without feeling that it was a confrontation . As a r esu lt of the openess a n d , willingn ess of Mr. Arrasmith a nd Mr. Ziegler to listen to and unde rs tand our position , they h ave agreed to postpone th e closu re pending a restudy of the facts . W ha t this mea ns is th at we will ha ve an opport u nity to ride over the area with representatives of the BL M and learn a bout their co ncerns a nd why they fee l some closure is necessary. At the same time, the re presentatives of the BLM will have a n opportu nity to learn of ou r needs a nd feeli ngs in th e matter. As a re sult , we have an excellent opportuni ty to p articipate and have input that will be conside red and used as to how we all a re to use these publ ic lands. From this mu tu al study, the final de cision will be made regarding th e Millican Valley and its usage, by th e BLM . This is an excellent opportunity to get in on the ground floor now a nd in the future with mutua l coo peration a nd support. A vote of th a nks sho u ld be given to Pau l Ar rasmith and Zeke Ziegler for their cooperation. GUY W. GI FFI N Po rtland , O R Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send letters to Vo ices. Box 498. Long ~ Be8~h. CA 9080.1. •

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