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/126477
TEN ' YEARS AGO BSA devotees at San Jose had some thing 10 cheer about as AMA Grand Na tion al Championsh ip Series point leader Jim Rice took the victory in th e July half mil e , beating Jimmy Odom (T ri) by a str aightaway's length. Chuck Palmgren placed th ird on a 650cc Yarn a b.. , the best performance 10 date by that brand in Nationalcompetition; Terry Dorsch (T ri) won th e Amateur main event. T he three BSA riders in the series occupied th e top three slots in the point standings, with Rice (320) leading , followed by Dick Mann (292) and Dave Aldana (264). Triumph's Gene Romero was fourth with 260 . Pete Colman, head of the BSA·Tri· umph racing effort , announced that factory-framed 750 cc triples wer e being readied for upcoming mil e dirt tr ack events. Husky's Heikki Mikkola dominated the first two days of racing in the Edison Dye-promoted Viking Series, The first da y of racing was held at Saddleback Park, and Mikkola led a European sweep of th e first five places, with CZ· mounted John DeSoto finishing as top American in th e 250 cc International class , The following day's event was at White Rock Motorcycle Park in Sacra mento , and th ere Europeans were onl y able to fill the first four slots on the leaderboard ahead of Bill Silverthorn (H us) . Could it hav e been? The results section of the paper listed th e resul ts of an observed trials held near Lake Isabella , CA and listed as the fourth place finisher in the Kids class was Bernice Schruiber. Was th ere a real Bernice , or could it have been the mis spelled name of a future World Cham pion? In news fr om overseas, Joel Robert stormed 10 two rnoto wins in the British ro und of th e 250cc World Ch ampion. ship MX Se ries. Roger DeCoster (CZ) was thir d ahead of Miroslav Halm (CZ), Torlief Hansen (H us) and Heik ki Mik kola (H us). (T he Bri tish GP was a week before the Viking Series sta rted. ) T he American Motoreycle Association announced th at it was appealing a Superior Court Judge's de cision allow ing 19'year·o ld Debbie Seldon of Tacoma , WA , 10 ride with a Professiona l license , AMA ru les at th e t ime allowed wom en in amateur events , but p ro hib ited th em fro m ra cing in p ro fessiona l races. Bart Markel a Yamaha factory rider? Yep. Ma rkel had been raci ng a 396 cc Yama ha sno wm obile in Mich iga n before being selec ted to ra ce in th e Lake Tahoe Nevada · Grand Pri x. Markel ca me from dead last in his he a t race to win . Gary Scott (Bul) led a ll 50 laps of Orange County Speedway'S featured TT race. In ad di tion , Scott won four other ma in events the previous evening . Triumph-mounted Butch Corder bested Harley-Da vidson 's Mark Brelsford in the short track m a in event a t Sa n Fra ncisco's Cow Pal a ce. 21