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/128390
Who Talks Like That? ile digging through our incredibly expansive collection of old photo files, I happened across a pristine press information kit featuring Yamaha's 1975 motocross racing team, complete with all the original press photos. Prepared by the PR firm of Botsford Ketchum, Inc., of Los Angeles, California, the kit features detailed bios on the three riders that made up the '75 team, including Jim Weinert, Tim Hart and Bruce McDougal. There is also a brief overall statement on the team. I'd be willing to bet that the information in this kit and the photos therein have rarely if ever been seen, so if not here and now, then when and where else? Submitted for your approval, here's just a taste of what Yamaha handed out to the media back in 1975: W Tim Hart, Yamaha, negotiates a curve. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CHAMPION WEINERT, HART, REIGNING McDOUGAL GIVE YAMAHA STRONG MOTOCROSS REPRESENTATION BUENA PARK, Calif.--As a testimonial to the evermushrooming popularity of motocross racing in the United States, Yamaha for 1975 fields what has the potential of becoming its most balanced and formidable team in history. Headed by defending American Motorcycle Association National Open champion Jim Weinert, it has specialists in all three classes who will double in brass to lend strength to the overall team effort. That was the deSign of Pete Schick, who heads up the Yamaha racing effort. Augmenting Weinert are Yamaha veteran Tim Hart, returning to camp for his third consecutive season, and the youthful Bruce McDougal, runner-up for the national title last year in the AM,t>;s newly instituted I25cc division. Weinert, who soared into national prominence as a member of the Yamaha operation in 1972, returns to concentrate on defending his National Open crown with the big machines, naturally, but also will compete in selected 250cc events. The versatile Hart and the blossoming McDougal both will divide their riding time between the 250 and 125cc classes. 86 AUGUST 10,2005 • CYCLE NEWS A grueling schedule of more than 40 races lay ahead for the talented trio, In addition to AMA Nationals, these included the three circuits that were to enlist the finest European riders against America's best--the summer Inter-AMA Series, the fall Trans-AMA and the burgeoning Yamaha Invitational Super Series of Motocross. The latter is a spectacular tour decided in three latewinter events on courses especially constructed amid comfortable spectator surroundings. Sites included Texas Stadium, near Dallas; Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., and the Houston (Tex.) Astrodome. This series is in keeping with the Yamaha goal of bringing the thrills of the popular form of motorcycle competition to more people in metropolitan areas. For the most part, however, Weinert. Hart and McDougal will operate in the usual haunts where man, machine and nature conspire in a fascinating blend of the sport as it is contested over natural terrain. Involved are all sorts of bumps, jumps, bogs and steep downhill runs, all taken at optimum speed. And these must be negotiated lap after lap twice each program for 30 or 40 minutes at a time in a field of 40 starters before an overall winner is determined. Endurance is the key to this form of exercise which, according to the AMA, a medical survey has ranked second only to soccer in sustained physical demands. Professional football, by contrast, was rated eighth in the study. Weinert, Hart and McDougal are up to it, thanks to a physical conditioning program which they follow with a fanatical dedication. There are no shortcuts, as American riders have learned in the few short years since the late I960s when a traveling European troupe first introduced the sport to this country. Pierre Karsmakers, the transplanted Dutchman, was one of the leading disciples of rugged physical preparation and introduced it grandly by winning the AMA National Open title aboard a Yamaha in 1973. InjUry is the chief bugaboo and none of the current team members have been without their frustrating share of it. Weinert first came to national attention as a frequent winner in flat track racing in the east, only to suffer a shoulder injury that kept him out of competition for several months and ultimately reqUired corrective surgery. Later, in 1972 just as he rounding into fine fettle in Trans-AMA competition for Yamaha, a knee injury sidelined him for the final weeks of the season. Hart, in both 1973 and '74 broke his right wrist on the National circuit and missed long periods of the schedule. McDougal suffered perhaps the most curious incident of all at age 17 in 1971. Already showing promise as a fine junior motocross racer in southern California competition, he entered an off-road race in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nev., drove into a chuckhole and suffered a neck injury that delayed his progress for a period of nine months. All three came back to register some of their brightest moments in 1974, however. Weinert put together a string of four straight victories in the middle of the National schedule to run up a point lead that proved insurmountable. Three of his victories were scored at stops in Ohio-Hammersville, Delta and Hillsboro--and the other came at Mexico, N.Y. Hart, recovering from his broken wrist, collected two big victories in the 125cc class, the World Championship Cup Race at Springville, N.Y., and the final 125 segment of the Inter-AMA at LeXington, Ohio. McDougal, though winless in the 125 division, registered a string of consistently high placings to finish second to Marty Smith for season honors. "I believe this is the most versatile motocross team we have ever put together here at Yamaha," Schick observes. "Because of this versatility and their individual experience in the various classes, we have depth for any category, something we lacked in the past." Weinert, Hart and McDougal will be riding motorcycles with the new mono-shock system, pioneered and developed by Yamaha technicians and riders last season. It allows greater control and a much smoother ride at maximum speeds. The dependable Yamaha machines accounted for 12 victories in major competition last season under Karsmakers, Hart and Mike Hartwig. #### eN