Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

THE NA TIO NA L PA·PERS The millio n dollar circui t, the AMA Grand Natio nal Cham pionsh ip/Win ston Pro Series, returns to the west on July 7. The WIST. Amer ica's No.1 Week ly Moto rcycle News paper Sharon Claylon, Publishe r Tom Culp. Marketin g DirectOr Caroline Gendry, Sec. to the Publisher Margie Southern . Sec. La the Mrkg. Oi,. Adver tising jim Ryan. Sales Manager . S~ip johnson. Sales Manager . Chris Kolbet. Advertising Coordina tor.. Editor ial Charles Morey. Managin g Editor. Dal Brown. Editor. Bobi McGann, Editor. Graph ics and Produ ction Dav Pauli, Productio n Manager . Judy Klinger, Productio n Assistant . Marion Hatashita , Typogra phy. Hennis Greene. La bora lOry. Accou nting Mike Klinger. Manage r. Jeanne Hammon d. Accts. Receivab le. Donna Bryan, Asst. Accts. Receivab le. Rick Gocusch , Credit. Circul ation Rheba Smith, Manage r. Barbara Taylor. Tammy Taylor, Shirley Short, Assistant s. Terry Pratt, Dealer Sales Manager. Reade r/Deal er Servic e Gin Harper. Want Ad ~ales. Servic es and Suppo rt Chris Aitcheso n, Alexande r. S&S. Receptio ns!. Rick' West 2201 Cherry Ave" Long Beach. CA P.O. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 (21') 427·74" , L.A. Line 6'6·8844 . East 4190 First Ave.. Tucker. GA. P.O. Box 805. Tuc~er. GA '0084. (404) 934-7850 . Cycle News/W est (USPS 141·540) is published weekly exc~pt the first and last week of the calendar year for S15 per year by Cycle News. Inc.. 2201 Cherry Ayenue, long Beach, CA 90801. Second class postage paid at Long Beach, CA. POSTMA STER, Send form 3579 to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beech, CA 9OlIlI1. Subscrip tion rates: One year, ~cond class mail. S15; two years, second class mail. $27; three years, second class mail. $37.50. Cycle News welcome s unsolicit ed . editorial material includin g stories. cartoons, photos. etc. Such material. if publishe d . . becomes the exclusiv e property of Cycle News. Such accepted material is subject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretio n of Cycle News. Unsolic;ited material which is not uS«l will be re-tur"ned if accompa nied by a self· addressed stamped envelope , A,.JI unsolicite d material will be handled with reasonab le care, howev("r. Cycle News assumes no responsib ility for the safety, loss or damage to such material . Reprintin g in whole or part only by permissio n of the publistter s. Advertisi ng rates and circulatio n informat ion will be sent upon request. See S.R.D,S. Copyrig ht'" Cycle Ne_, Inc. 1979. Tredem erk Cycle News registere d U.S. Petent Office. All rights re~ed . ON THE FRONT PAGE: The fastes t dentis t in the dirt. Dutch man Gerrit .Wolsi nk, pulred off his fifth Carlsbad USGP victory in a torrid literall y - event. Photo by Charles Morey . 4 Too exper ienced for a wrist-s lappin g Regard ing your comme nts in respons e to David Janier's letter about crossin g race courses: Race courses are race courses , and "near the finish" might mean a mile or more away. So when the reader is slapped on the wrist for his comme nts, I object. Is your editor serious, or is he. going. to tell me I am not smart everytim e I go fast in an enduro . I am 44 years old and have ridden in compet itive events for nearly 30 years. ~ut this is the first time I have heard someon e say where the "course " ends and s)ow begins in . an enduro . TED LaROU CHE Temple City, CA Too "stupi d and crazy " for a wrist-s lappin g Your comme nt to David Janier's letter - that if you're late, you're late, and coming into the finish of an enduro at very high peeds doesn't seem to be an altoget her smart idea is right, of course~ In fact, the only thing more stupid than racing to the finish when you're late is racing to the finish when you're early. And how about a 48·year ·old man who pushes his 125cc tiddler up a loose, rocky hill - and pushes his pulse rate to 200 - in 100-deg ree weathe r? That's not only stupid, it's . crazy. I don't know why I do these things. I only know that after I've finished one crazy, stupid enduro , rcan hardly wait until the next one ... and the. opportu nity to be .s.tupid and crazy again. WINST ON BEAUM ONT Wright wood, CA Oftenti mes readers express though ts that (according to' theory) responsible editors cannot. T}w.nk you, Winston. Our official position must remain as originally stated. that.is, that we ag-ree with DavidJ anier - nobody should be and that we CTOSSin g the course , highly recomm end that compet itors n'de safely just in case some dummy does wander onto the course. Brings to mind a time·w om right·of -way poem: His way was right, and his will was' strong, but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong. As David Janier conclud ed his letter: "Let's all use our commo n sense both on the course and in the pits." We couldn 't agree more. ... Editor. CR Regis ter I'm trying to locate past or present owners of CRll 0-93- 12- 77 Hondas or any RC factory machin es. My hope is to establis h a world-w ide contact list, a CR Registe r, betwee n people who were or are now involve d with those fascina ting bikes. Perhap s we'll be able to piece togethe r a more comple te ~ory than current ly exists. >.Anyone interest ed, please contaCt me. DOUG LAS WHITB ECK 139 Locust Street Swanse a. MA 02777 A fond farew ell to a friend The tragic death of Bob Wakefi eld (Natl. 61) came as a terrible shock. My though ts of him are of a consiste ntly excelle nt rider who fmished in the top 14 points position s in all Nation al Champ ionship Road Races in 1978. He was also the only one to do so. He was one of the really nice guys and a good friend. We'U aU miss him. God " speed R.G. HENRY DeGOU W Natl. #79 Lakewo rth, FL Next please ! Could you please tell me where and when the Canadi an Grand Prix will be held this year? RAY SHANA FELT Portlan d, OR The 500cc World Champ ionship MX will be held June 17. 1979. at Mospor t, near Toront o, Ontan'o , Canada ... Ed. Publis hed letter s do not neces sarily reflec t the positi on of Cycle News . Inc. Send letter s to Voice s. Box 498. Long Beach . CA 90801. Castle Rock, WA, TT is the first of three stops before the series departs once a~ain for the east. Castle Rock is more notewo rthy than ever this year. Lesser known Mickey Fay gets a chance to be a full blown hero, not only to the· Pacific Northw est fans but to the people at Americ an Honda as well. Fay bagged the Housto n Nation al TT last Februa ry in Honda 's first factory outing in the dirt tracks. Fay is the same rider that led the Castle Rock Nation al last year until the final couple of laps. Then a sputter ing engine forced him back, at least for the record. The final laps saw Steve Eklund and Jay Springs teen right on Fay's rear wheel, a Triump h rear wheel. Castle Rock is always around mid· season time and time for Winsto n to pay $25,000 to the top 10, the top 10 at the mid-sea son point. Jay and Steve were both going for the top spot at the time (aren't they always? ) and the $8,000 top-spo t bonus. Some feel that Jay and Steve would have gotten around Mickey, balking engine or not. I'm not so sure, but that's racing, Then Fay came back to win the Housto n event aboard a Honda 500cc single. He rode a fine race with Eklund chasin g and Spring steen watchi ng from the sideline s after being hit from the backsid e by anothe r rider. Over the long haul at Castle Rock. which include s 14 or 15 past Nation al races (Witho ut a drop of rainl) no rider has ever won the race on anythin g smaller than a 650cc twin. The 500cc singles have won the Housto n event in the past, but never at Castle Rock. Now, the Castle Rock track is shorter than Housto n but much faster ~ sweepin g turns and no jumps. It has always been a bar· banger and highsid er type of event with countle ss falldow ns - mostly due to one rider running into anothe r.. Of all the races last year one would not have picked Springs teen to win, this was the one, but he did win. He zapped both Eklund and Fay on the last lap. Getting back to Honda 5005. Honda has commi tted to run all of the Nation al TI races this year. Five in . all. Fay is one of the newer kids on the block with lots of TT experie nce going in but short on oval track time and taking his lumps of late in those events. Teame d with Fay for all the TIs and Honda is veteran Rick Hockin g, who can run hot or cold on any given race day with no advanc e warnin g as to which it will be. Rick pulled a fourth at Housto n and then came back to grab a second in the April NW TI title race at Boise, ID. Fay was not so fortuna te. But Fay will have the avid northw est fans behind him 100% on the night of July 7. A vocal group if there ever was one, they appear to have only one goal . each year and that is to see one of their boys (Washi ngton or Oregon ) kick hell out of the stars on the Nation al circuit. Three ride~ have done it in the past: Sonny Burres, Chuck Joyner and

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