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/126411
; ; THE LATEST t "Fast Chartle, the moonbeam rider," a Universal film starring David Carradine and Brenda Vaccaro, is a story about a smail-time con man ICharllelCamKline) and a 1919 cross country motorcycle rece. Bud Ekins furnished about 20 classic machines; Herb and Jerry Ottaway supplied others. Dave Ekins doubled for Carredine in the action scenes. King Kenny won againl Yamaha's Kenny Roberts chalked up his second 500cc World Championship Road Race Series victory this r.ear at the May 13 Italian Grand Prix. Roberts left second-placer Virginio Ferrari 11 seconds behind at the finish line, and in doing so he established a new lap record of I :56. Following Suzukimounted Ferrari was Tom Herron, also on ' Suzuki. Barry Sheene took fourth ahead of Mike Baldwin; both are Suzuki-mounted. Roberts' win puts him onl y four points behind series leader Ferrari, 46 ·42 , in the series point standings. Kawasaki riders rolled in winners in the smaller displacement classes in Italy. Gregg Hansford aced the 350cc World Champion· ship round, with Sadio Asami putting a Yamaha in second. Reigning World Champion Kork Ballington rode his works Kawasaki to victory in the 250cc race with Yamaha·mounted Cali· fornian Randy Mamola in second place. Ballington leads the 250cc World Championship Road Race Series point standings with 42. but Mamola is only two points behind at40! In th e 500cc World Championship MX Series, Suzuki-riding Dutchman Gerrit Wolsink edged reigning World Champ, Yam aha's He ikki Mikkola. 4· I to 3·2 in the Ma y 13 Husqvarna , Sweden ro u nd . Kawasaki's Brad Lackey won the first race, but DNF the second; no information regarding that non-finish was available at press · time . Lackey leads the series, 61·57 . over Honda's Graham oyce. Noyce scored a second placing in the first moto, but could onl y manage a sixth inthe second. Roger DeCoster wasn't listed in the top 10 in moto one. but placed th ird in round two. Wolsink follows Lackey and Noyce in the point standings with 50 points and behind him are Mikkola (40) . Bruno (35), Rond (31) . Van den Broek/Malherbe (tied at 28). DeCoster (24) and Vromans (17) . 2 World Championship MX, 125cc· style, went to Team S~zukl !Is Harry Everts finished 1·2 and Aklra Watanabe scored 2-2 In the May 13 race in Holland. Everts leads the series with 90 points over Watanabe's 70 and M. Autio's 29. .T he Team Suzukls are watercooled, but that's not unusual in this year's GP circus; also pumping water to keep cool are the KTMa, CZs and Pucha. Our only chance to view theM worka spacials will be at the Mid-Ohio 125cc United States Grand Prix on July 22. International Six Days Trial star Frank Gallo put his KTM through the paces to edge Team Husqvarna's Larry Roeseler by 25 seconds in the May 12·13 Alabama ISDT Qualifier. The Maplesville. AL event all came down to the final special test on day two where Gallo held a slim foursecond/point lead over Roeseler and only nine seconds over Ted Leimbach. Gallo fell rwice in the test, bu t the other two fared worse. Roeseler fell and stalled the motor , restarting slowly. Leimbach's plug wire shorted out three-quarters of the way through the test section. He repaired it but lost too much time. Overall, th e top five were Gallo. Roeseler, Kevin La voie (KT M), J im Fishback (Yam) and Rod Bush (KT M). Class winners were Greg Davis (125cc Hus) , Rod Bush (175cc KTM), Mike Melton (250cc Hu s) and Gallo (400cc KTM) . Jack Penton, now Husqvarna-mounred, finished second in the 250cc class. The Doug Sehl/Corky Keener monoshock Harley-Davidson XR750 project has been shelved for the meantime. "We just couldn't get the suspension dialed in," explained Keener. Other factors in the decision included lack of time to develop the bike and also put on a competitive racing program. Keener rode the Sehl-tuned Harley with two shocks to a fifth-place finish at the Ascot National half mile. Skip Aksland skipped the Ascot half mile to give his shoulder - still taped up - a chance to heal. " It's healing really good now , getting better. getting stronger." said Skip in a phone conversation. He'll race the Topeka, KS, half mile on May 19. The folks at J.C. Agajanian's Ascot Raceway would llke to congretulate spactators attending the May 12 National half mile for beIng so energy consarvant. There were more motorcycles - taking advantage of the free parkIng than at last year's standlng-roomonly fall National. In fact. there were more motorcycles than cars this time. Ascot will continua to offer free motorcycle parking at all avents. An error slipped by our normally ultra-keen eyeballs and resulted in Rocket Rex Staten being aboard a 470cc worb Yamaha at a race at Corona two weeks ago. Actually, the Rocket was aboard a 425cc works machine. By the way, if you want to tum your YZ400 into a 425cc trench digger, Yamaha has a kit available to do just that. Statham. .Dave Stirling, and Norman S. Waters. Help Assemblyman Hayes help us. Do it nowl Motorcycles are exempted from California's odd~ven gas retionlng plan. Are you tuff 'e nuff to try the Tuff 'e Nuff National Enduro? Although that event won't take placa until June 24, the drawing for starting positions will be held June 5, at Mishima's Restaurant. 18515 Western, Torrence, CA at 7:30 p.rn. We've heard gas is available for the event in and around the lake Isabella area. For entry and sign up info call 2131865-6412. Crown Nine Cycle Park, formerly known as Knob Hill Ranch, will hold its first hare scrambles in a long while on Sunday, May 27. The park will officially open its gates on Memorial Day weekend, and will be open every weekend thereafter for racing and play riding. There's a $5 gate fee for bikes and a $3 fee for minis. Despite a long battle with county officials, it's one of the only parks left in the San Francisco Bay area that's open for play riding and competition. For info on Crown Nine contact Don Ivan 415 /574 ·4320 or Larry Kleist 415 /355 ·4760. Don't forget to get those Miss Bel· Ray USGP contest entries in the mail todayl Send 'em here to Papa. Write, briefly, why you want to be Miss Bel-Ray USGP and be sure to include a photo. Deadline. May 23, is almost upon ya. Assemblyman Bob Ha yes needs our help and he needs it right now! His bill . ABIOl , which. would allow purchasers of customized license plates to earmark the money for the state's ORV fund , comes uP . for reconsideration by the Assembiy Ways and Means Committee this week. It needs 11 votes to get out of committee, and at last report. Hayes needed three more votes. So write letters and send telegrams . concentrating on Committee Chairman Daniel E. Boatwright and the following members of the committee who either voted against or didn't vote the first time the hill . went before the committee: Howard L. Berman. Peter R . Chacon, Leona H. Egeland, Terry Goggin, Gary K. Hart, John T. Knox, Mel Levine, S. Floyd Mori, Mike Roos, Marilyn Ryan:John Vasconcellos and Bruce E. .You ng . Letters of encouragement to these committee members who voted in favor of the bill wouldn't hurt: Gordon Duffy. Jim . Ellis. RichardD . Hayden. Charles R. Imbrecht, William R. Leonard. Stan California Desert Conservation Area Advisory Committee to the Bureau of Land Mangernent, U.S. Department of the Interior, will meet May 17·18 in Palm Springs, CA. The meeting Thursday evening, May 17 will be a business meeting devoted to reports of subcommittees and the report of the State Director of the Bureau of Land Management. The meeting Friday, May 18, will include a report on the committee's April workshop on methods to be used in developing the California Desert Plan, the handling of alternatives in the plan and environmental statement ; and the substance of a first generation balanced plan, as well as the form the advisory committee's advice shall take. The afternoon session will be devoted to obtaining public input into the planning process . v The meeting will be held at the Convention Center of the International Resort, 1800 East Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p .m.. Thursday, May 17, and from 8 a.m . to 5 p.m.. Friday, Ma y 18, 1979. The meeting is. open to the public and interested persons ma y attend and file statement with the advisory committee. Further information. including t he meeting agenda . ma y be obtained from the Chairman, California Desert Conservation, c/o Desert Plan Staff, Bureau of Land Management. 3610 Central Avenue. Suite 402 . Riverside. CA 92506. The Bureau of land Managament in Nevada has scheduled two series of opan houses to present and discuss its initial wilderness inventory findings on public lands in Nevada. The first series will be held during the month of May at district offices and other locations throughout the state. Dates, times, and locations of thosa meetings are listad below. The second series will provide the public .an overall look at the statewide findings at four strategic locations. The dates, times, and locations of these sessions, tentatively scheduled for mid-June, will be announced. The district open houses are es follows: May 1B-Ely, White Pine County Ubrary, 5 to 8 p.m. (PacIfic Daylfght TIme) (Contmu.d to page 31)