Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

having "smoked the special tests . " Larry Roeseler (H us) finished sec ond in the Open class behind Gall o . Bob Pierce (Kaw) , Rod Bu sh (KT M) , a nd Ed Lojak (H us) topped the 125 , 200 , and 250 cc class es, respectively. Pat Kellog (Su z) took " B" ho no rs . Bob Hannah fractured his little finger in three places in Sunday's Southwick , Massachusetts, . National. In Georgia to do pre-race publicity for the May 27 National, Hannah announced he'll cut the cast off prior to the Buschsponsored Atlanta round. Scott Pearson , who ' carries National - Number 95 , and wife Margaret are the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy. Scott Michael Pearson II made his debut on Ma y 7 (d ay after the San Jose m ile) and passed tech and weigh-in at 5·lbs., 9 oz. Lynn Griffis, Ms. Winston Pro Series, returns to the NBC daytime drama Isoap opera) Days of Our Live. on Friday, May 25. Check local listings. There's still plenty of time to p ick up you July 14 Coca -Cola Bottlers Superbow l of Mot oc ross tickets a nd m ake a co ntri b ut ion to the Phantom Du ck of the Desert defense/ attack fund , a ll in one handy move . J ust write a 1 12 chec k (for you r $15 sea t in the L.A . Co liseum ) made ou t to Stad ium Motors po rts a nd a three-d ollar check made out to the Ph antom Du ck of the Dese rt and send them to St ad ium Motorsports, 920 Glenneyre ; Sui te X , Laguna Bch . . CA 9265 1. Do yourse lf a favor twice; see the or iginal Supercross even t and help keep ou r pu blic riding la nds open . Dave Stone, former Kawasaki District Manager in the central area, has been appointed V.P. of Marketing of Dal-Ray, lnc., the Bel Ray distributor in Dallas, TX. J im Gibson a nd Bob Elliott d id a ll the win ning a t the May 20 CMC IRC T ires 13,000 motocross. Gibson's Honda s top pe d both the 125 and 250cc P ro cla sses ; Elliott 's Suzuki won the 500c c Pro event . Full coverage nex t week . In their third try at running a grand prix, it appears that the Desert Vipers M.C. finally will make it . First they got shot down when trying to host one at Pioneertown in Yucca Valley; next it was a loser at Barstow. Now, with a date set for Oct. 6-7, it's looking good, according to D-37's Bob Tartter. Elsinore Raceway will have an 11mile loop prepared for the race; and there's not much chance of this one being cancelled. Stay tuned. You ca n win the USG P! Saddleb ack Sa tu rday Motocross , a t thei r J u ne 2 race, will be aw arding tic kets to the J une 10 Bel -R ay USG P of Motocross to a ll non - P ro cl as s wi n ne rs . Second placers will ge t $ 10 W heels mith gift ce rtifica tes. Don't forget to ride your bike to Cycle News' Motorcycle Riders ' Night at Speedway, May 25 at Orange County Fairgrounds. Costa Mesa promoter Harry Oxley has a guarded, lighted parking area for bikes, and when your show your class four license, admission is half price! "W ha t we a re asking is. who is the gov e rn ment 10 se lf'-r ig h te ou sly sla p a nother tax on a gu y who buys a ch eap dirt bike and takes it occ asio nally to a re m o te pl a ce ' to r id e . ' wh en the gove r n ment with im m u ni ty r uns ta nks , ex p lodes b ombs a nd sends 28 ,OOO·man a rmies across th e sa me desert ?" So ended the Ou r O p in ion col':lm n in the Ma y 8 V ic/ or Valley Dally Press. They were referring to the fed era l Coun cil on Envir on m e nt a l Q uality's report that 10 million ORV enthusiasts shoul d be tax ed to repair the land "des troyed" by ORV usage. Guest Edi' :orial Let's be logical Thanks to the ABATE of North Dakota newsletter, Papa became aware of a letter from A. Ranald Mackenzie, President of the Motorcycling Doctors Association, to the New York nmes, "The importance of 4,000 motorcycle fatalities in 1977 as a public health concern must be evaluated against a background of 350,000 deaths caused annually by smoking cigarettes and 200,000 alcoholrelated deaths," Dr. Mackenzie writes in response to NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook's release of 1977 helmet-repeal state fatality - statistics. "What Miss Claybrook carefully conceals (and of which she has been duly informed)," Mackenzie continues, "is the sharp increase also in automobile fatalities in 1977. Furthermore, some of the largest _ increases in motorcycle fatalities have occurred in states like New York where the increase is 41%, New Jersey (67%), Massachusetts 140%), Ohio (35% ). West Virginia 173%. Georgia (71%), and Wyoming (202%1. In none of those states has the helmet law been repleased." Mackenzie's letter was written in Januay 1979. Wonder what the Motorcycling Doctors Association has to say about " St . Joan's" latest attack? Robert Wakefield , 38 , form erl y of India napolis , IN , was kill ed wh en the rear wheel of his road racer apparently locked as he approached tum one a t the May 20 AR RA Ontario even t. Wakefield was taken to San Antonio Hosp it a l bu t d ied soo n a fter th e cra sh . He was co m pe ti ng in the O pen G P class on a 750cc Ya m a ha -po wered b ike of hi s own d esig n . No d etails on fu ne ra l arra ngements were ava ilab le a t presstime . U.S. Suzuki will be holding three six-week Public Service Seminars taught by Suzuki 's technical training staff. Students will be exposed to the same level of t ra ining that Suzuki dealer mechanics encounter in their training courses. Only 12 students will be accepted for each seminar. The three classes will be held in Los Ange les, Chicago and Pennsauken, and the price for the five-day-a -week, eight-hours-a-day course i s $500. Contact Jim Kirkland at U.S. Suzuki, 13767 Freeway Drive, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670, 2131921-4461 . Want to drop Pa t Hennen a line and say hi? Cards and letters may be sen t to Pat a t 139 La kesh ore Dr . , Sa n Mateo , CA 94402 . Did you notice the name A.E. Howerton from San Antonio, TX in the list of winners for the Cycle News Riverboat Cruise Contest? Turns out that's Kent Howerton's dadl Hey, it's on ly two buc ks! Seems an ad ran in t he paper ( this paper) t hat tol d rea ders an incorrect post·entry fee for the J une 2-3 Viewfi nders G P a t Indian Dunes. T he ad sai d it wou ld cost. ya $16 . Wron g . Make that S18 . Now Papa's gotta bail out th ose ad Oakes agai n and a po logize. Sorry. • <- No doubt about it , the AMA's claiming rule is a ho t item . Many people have strong feelings on .the subject. There also appears to have bee n some emotiona lism a nd p oli t ical pressu re inv olved in t he recent d ec ision to "te m p orarily " rem ove the cla im ing rule from p rofessional m otocross. I'd like to suggest ste pping ba ck a pace and looking at the whole situation logi cally. Is the claiming rule good for th e sport of professional motorcycle racing? Why? Why not? What was th e intent of the cla im in g rule ? Does it work? And the bottom lin e qu estion : Does it mak e th e sho w bett er? It's a lways difficult to view , logi cally a nd dis passion a tely , a n issue wh ich affects you personally. Many of the " reasons " for a nd against th e cla im ing ru le that 1 hav e heard in the past few weeks d on 't reall y mak e mu ch sense to m e . At the sa m e t im e , 1 c a n sym p a th ize or rela te to the feeli ngs behind the " reasons ." I can u nderstand the bitterness of a f~ ctory tu.ner who has put so much of hIS lime , energy and self into a machine, (albeit he is pa id to do so) only to see it disappear into th e hands of a stranger . H e feel s ro bbed; it is not the b ike th a t someone took it was his time. energy and ideas . Not on ly tha t , bu t he had no choice in the m a tt er so it is easy to view the ac t as st eal in g . ' On the othe r hand , build ing good, in nova tive machinery is what he is paid to d o; it is his jo b . He too k th at job knowing all th e ru les a nd that one of those rul es ' sa id t ha t a n vone com pe ti ng in the sa me ra ce as his rider ' had the right to a tt empt to take it for him self. It is no t as if the entire sit u a tio n was a co m ple te su rprise . 1 can · a lso un d ers tand and sym p a t hize with th e feelin gs of the u p co m ing , unsp o nsored , p riva tee r wh o feels: " If on ly I had that type of eq ui pment , I woul d be better able to place higher or win ." He feels bi tt er . H e d oesn 't ha ve the facili ties or the mon ey no r , very oft en , the kn owled ge a nd experience needed to b uild that machine ; bu t he knows it would make him go fas ter. Somet imes he is correct in his assumptions and sometimes not. Then there' s the p ri va teer who can't even bu y the speci a l pieces, whether or not he has the money. T hey just a ren 't for sale . T ha t fac t upsets him . Is that fa ir ? Why should someone who is a lrea dy a bit more talented tha n he be allowed to compete on even better eq ui pment? However , like the tu ner , these riders became involved in the sport of p ro· fessional mo torcycle racing knowing t he ru les a nd because they wanted to race. T o compete is their ch oice. In mot ocross one of the basic ru les a llows anyon e to compete on wha t is basic a lly a on e-off ma ch in e. So why. when a factory rider races a one-off . spe cia l ma chine , do t hey feel so pu t upon ? Of cours e . it is ge nera lly m udi easier to believe tha t it was the trick bike t ha t bea t' you rather tha n the su pe ri or skills, ta lent , determ in a tion or abi lity of th e rider himself, Usua lly the la tt er is th e tru th . Given the cu rrent set of ru les in AMA Professional R acing . J do n't feel the cla iming ru le co ntribu tes anything to the show except a lot of ha rd feeli ngs and a pro paga tion of som e my ths about wh a t the rule itself is supposed to d o. J t hink the claimi ng ru le only makes sense wh en there is a broad homologation base governed by rather strict rul es. It th en p lays the sm all , bu t ra ther im po rt a nt, part of a last d itch , catch-all , rule for those who find inventive and usu ally expe nsive ways a rou nd the-stric t rules governing what they can and can't d o to the m achinery they a re racing . It is sort of a fin a l equalizer for what is meant to be equal _m a c h inery r acing. The cla iming rule serves the purpose of an enforcer for the rest of the ru les, sinc e the officia ls of th e sa nctioni ng organiza tion can't alw ays be on e ste p ahead of all th e pa rt ici pants. Give n t hose circu msta nces , t he claim ing rul e is good for th e sport, and it works. Ideally, the racing , the show itself, is close r a nd m ore exci ting , and the gap between the fa cto ries a nd the priva teer pa rti ci pants is na rrower. Those circu mstances a lso determine , to a degree , how m uch money is needed to su ccessfu lly compete in tha t type of ra cing; lots , even more , or outrageous! The AM A cu rrently does no t require a large number of machines for homologation in a ny form of profession al racing . Whl'n th e cla im in g ru le was first incorporated into the , rul e book, in the la te '40s or early '50s there were 200 iden tica l m achines capable of bei ng licensed required for ho mologation . The rul es governing an y changes were q u it e st rict compared to ioday 's ru les. The claiming ru les m ad e sense . N ow, for Class C d irt track a nd roa d raci ng . just one co mplete machine and 24 e ngi nes are r e qu ir ed. For motoc ross . one-off bikes a re a llowed . Given those paramet ers, the claiming ru le is ridi cu lous. It sim p ly ca n't work. 11 fos te rs th e illu sion that the machinery used is b asica lly eq ual{or else wh y would they have a claiming ru le) while in fact th e basic rules of th e sport do not sta te t h~t such eq ua lity must exist. If the AMA is going to kee p the cu rr en t " o n e- o ff " an d very lo w number re quired for homologa tion , the clai m ing rule shou ld be removed fro m th e Profession a l R acing Ru le Books. If they want to make racing "closer a nd as equa l as possi ble to make the show even better than we cu rre ntly have ," th en they should consider increasing th e homolog a tion number and stiffen ing up the rul es. No one ca n rea sona bly expect the claim ing rule to eq u alize th ings all by itse lf. Some people ma y feel that th e claiming rule should be re m oved fro m mo tocross but no t from Class C . If it is sup posed to be act ing as a n eq u a lizer (a lazy way out inst ead of cha ngi ng some basic rul es), the opposite wou ld be true . Sixteen of the 22 d irt tra ck nationa ls were won by p rivat eer riders las t season , a nd only th ree national motocrosses were won by a p rivateer rider. No matter wh a t the ru les say . genera lly the best rider is go ing to win the race or the championship , th ou g h the resu lt ca n b i: affec ted by luc k. both good a nd b ad . T he rule s me rely de termi ne how close the, racing will be and by wh a t margin th e best ride r will win , on a good day . T hey also affect th e wa y upcom ing rid ers view their c ha nces of win n ing : realist ically . T he rul cma kers a lso should be rc a list ic , in t h is ca se abou t the clai mi ng rul e . ' .. . . • , • ' .' , - . . . . ,. 'S uzie Mann 3

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