Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By Ro n Schneiders One "To ugh " Enduro . linked with ro ck y canyons an d speed A new e nd uro se aso n is a bou t to averages th at always see med t o be a-t be gin an d from th e com me n ts th at I' ve leas t. 10 m p h fas t~r than was h ,:,man ly heard th ere are pl e nty of rid ers aro u nd posslb ~e. A nd t hat s n o t to me ntion t he h er e w ho h op e it wo n't b e a ny th ing lik e 2 00-m lle Golde n ,Bear . a nd Haw th orn e the last o ne . T he co mme nts vary but Na tio nal Champ io nsh ip , ne it her of mos t vo ice a singular sentimen t : T he wh ich co uld be called easy. Yes it was a last few en d uros h as been t o o to ugh. tough f~l l. But was it to o tough? T hey have b een t o ugh ; no getting Wlth m t he sport there a re t hree around th at. In Sep t em ber we had t he factio ns. T~ere ar~ those who see San Bern ard in o ru n th at comb ined h eat endur os as t imekeep in g eve nts ru n over with mil es an d m iles o f roc k. A m a n rough gro un d, who spend at least as di ed in th at o ne. T he n th e Jackass m u ch tim e o n th eir in stru me ntatio n as which had the wo rst d ownhill in Dist rict th ey d o o n th eir bik es. T hey th riv e on 3 7 his t ory right n ear th e sta rt a nd go t tric k y checks and oddb~ll ~peed harde r fro m th ere o n o u t. A nd fin ally av~rages . T h os e guys h aven t enjoyed th e La st Chan ce whi ch m an y felt was thi s se ason very m uch . t he Last Straw . That o ne was an Then th ere a re th ose who see en d uros u nr em itting se ries o f st eep roc ky hills as juni or leagu e IS DT's , and who re gard the otest (Cant 'd. f ro m page 2) T ran s·A MA series) , we wou ld like to see the AMA establish some clea r-cut gu id eslines as to what constitutes an "Amerlcan" ri de r. Perh aps, for starters, that as so on as a fellow has resided on our shores for a period of exactly one year, he ca n be eligible to ride in an exclu sive Nationa l class. But no more inst a nt cit izenship. * * * * * * * * * * .T hose o f you wh o wan t t o drop SUPER J O E EIN HO RN a line can reach him in care o f ' J .K. Cycle Inn, 12545 San Pab lo Av e., R ic hmon d , CA 94 8 05 . S ideca r aces BO B BAKK ER and BOB BEN D lO R are p leased to announce t hat JAN HOUT EN of the Netherlands will be su pporting t hem this year. Houten , a hotel·owner a nd restauranteur, alread y sup po rt s t wo o t h er sidecar tea ms under th e banner " Dutch Sid eca r Racing T eam s." Bakk er ,a nd Bender will ride their own MGF 750 Co uga r and use a BMW 50 0 for international events . JIM District numb er with an * * * * * CO NNOLLY, wh o carried 3 7 's ' heav ywei gh t scram bles o ne p lat e in 1971 , h ad a run-in oa k t ree o n the S hadow G le n course. Jim, testin g b ikes fo r Dir t Bike Magazine a nd watching th e C-Z sch o ol, was o n a new Yamaha MX wh en he lo st th e fr o n t en d an d flew into th e tr ee. Th e im pact crushed t he tip o f h is hipb one and latest word is th at Jim will be co nfi n ed t o a wh eelch air for fo ur mo n ths . * * * * * After a few years on the motocross courses, JOHN F::::E-will return to Sc ra m b les action in a full -bo re attempt t o win t h e number-one plate . John R's bac k has been bothering him since t h e bad spill in Canada in the m iddle of the year, and the b ouncie-b o u ncle sport o n ly aggravates the cond ition . * * * * * New Dist rict 3 7 No. I He avyweight JE F F SEXTON has open ed a n ew Maic o d eal er ship in Chin o , Cali fo rni a. He ca lls it Track-N-Travel (T .N .T. En te rp rises ). Jeff se lls expa nsi on cham b ers a nd other h an db uilt good ies t o go alo ng with th e m oun t th at carrie d him to the No. I p late . * * * * * DANNY HOCKIE w ill not be in serious contention fo r the No . 1 lightweight plate this ye ar. He wil l be riding a lot of desert, getting read y for the Mint 400 . His plans also in clude the securing of a p ro fessio nal license and an assau lt o n Asc ot. * * * * * Pr omo ter DON BRYM ER wh o 'll b e ho stin g a Yamah a Cup race at Florid a's fam ed lIialeah in A p ril, w ent t o a hi gh -clas s Fren ch re st aura nt in Pal os Verdes , Califo rni a ' wi th so m e fri ends rec en tl y. T he Maitre d ' ask ed D on wh at kind o f wi n e he wish ed with h is m eal. "J ust bring me so m e th ing b ig a nd r ed !" replied th e rough -h ewn prom oter . Th e waiter r e tu rn ed with a b ottle of ketch up , so we are t o ld . * * * * * Be su re yo u got b atte rie s in yo ur transistor. The Bonnev ille Rad io Network ' s fi rst 19 72 m o t orcy cle venture will be t he natio n wid e broadcast of the Roa d Atlanta ra ces in April. Rad io will be am five mi nutes a day of Day tona Speed Week t o fan s across the nati on a nd o ther AMA b iggies as we ll. * * * * * Be sure to read publisher CHUCK CLAYTON'S co lu m n o n th e new "motor voter" . A ft er that, fin d one of those ub iquitous voter registration tables a n d sign up . Y ou 18-year -olds represent some earth-shaking p olitical power, so have fun and use it . While we 're on the subject, wh y don 't some of RvQQP y ou promo ters st ic k a regist ra tion b o o th in th e pits at th e b igger races ? Be tte r ye t, wh y not m ake it m an d at o ry for each m o to rc ycle cl ub to h ave its eligib le m embers r egistered t o vote a nd se n d th e figu res t o MIC, MORE , AMA, etc ., so th e in dustry ca n acc umu la te th e figures and let th e gen era l public and th e legi sl at ors kn ow abou t o ur "rn o tor voter" power. * * * * * * * * * * JIM HUNT ER is planning to c ow-trail Baja in the reverse direction sometime around A p ril. Plans incl ud e trucking the bikes to E nse nad a and a ir fre ighting them by Mex ican Airlines to La Paz. Am ong notables invited for t his expedition are BRU CE BROWN, the WIXON BROTHERS , JERRY BRANCH , A K MILLER and DON SP AR G U R. J im , who held the 0-37 He avyweight scrambles p late quite a few t imes , get s down to Baja as much as possible t o ride country as open as it use d to be here years ago . Superhero Eve l K nievel points o ut that amat eur racers are ex em p ted fro m buying CMC lic enses for h is b ig SNAKE CA NYO N MOT OCROSS May 6. Professi onals racing fo r the $ 25,0 0 0 S unday purse Ma y 7 will, o f co urse, need lice nses, b ut th e Saturda y h er o es w ill o n ly need the $ 7 CMC membersh ip. Li ke last y ear, Evel h as trop h ies for all ! In formatio n an d e ntries are from CMC , Bo x 14 02, Costa Mesa, Cal. 9 26 2 6 . * * * * * * * * * * Ja ck McCormac k and Ass ociates , who bro ught you the Honda, Suzuki , and American Eag le , have settled their suit with Wall St. victimi zers for $10.5 million and will be going ahead w it h mot orcy cle manufacturing a nd distribution plans here. Se en at th e Long Beac h m otor cycl e show : DON BROWN, lo o k in g ready t o ge t back into bikes after a p rofit ab le sti nt in h o usin g development. BILL GRAPEVIN E, with a new trials a nd a moto cross fram e to hou se se veral ty pes of en gine s. DAN BURN S , Buco 's ans wer to Don R ick les. BOB BR AV E RMAN, all scuffed up from a t est sp ill, a nd , of co urse . MIN I :\100RE. * * * * * The CARLSBAD GRAND PR IX of last September 19 w ill be telecast on th e ABC WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS t hi s coming Saturday , J anuary 15. If you can convince someone it 's a live program, here's how to make yo u r bets : Syl vain Geboers, 500 Int e rn ati o nal; Brad Lackey ; top American a nd fourt h overall; Tim Hart, 250 National . Longsh ot : Bet someone there is over 2 5 ,000 people there . Of course, no one wit h any in t ellige nce w ill believe you , but sure en ough, that's what they are still clai mi ng. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BOB GROSSI is back o nce again , cleanin g th e 5 0 0 class at th e MR A motocros s th is p ast Sunda y in Monterey . Our m an-en-th e-scen e Sam Mangalin rep orts Bob looked grea t although he is still a bit sore. Bob is now leavin g for Florida to ride th e Winter-AMA seri es. GARY BA ILE Y w ill c ond uct a motoc ross sc hool Sa t u rd ay , January 15 at Lag una Seca Cycle Ra nch . Chec k the Calenda r fo r details. Ga ry will hang a ro u nd Dirt Bike cycle sh o p in Sa n Jose d ur ing t he wee k if yo u want to ha rang ue him . SUPER JOE EINHORN was fin all y con ta cte d b y Evel Knievel , I t o cc u rred while Joe was in inten sive care af ter , his Cy cle Circus accident last December. Evel cal led th e h ospital but J oe was u nabl e t o take the call, a nd when h e arrived in a regular room, th ere was a wir e from Knievel expressin g symp ath y for having h ad a "fall that I h av e had." am bit th e timekeeping aspect as an unnecessary h an gover o r days past. For th is group nothing is too tough as long as the m oto rcy cle can be p ush ed , ha uled, shoved or dropped over, around, or drive n through th e obtacle. And of course the re are the moderat es w ho like a combinatio n to ugh an d easy going alo ng wi th sophisticated timekeeping. T here 's not mu ch new here . Th ese three grou ps h a ve been arguing the merits o f d ifferent ty pes o f en duros for yea rs. T he sport swings like a p endulum b e tween th em. T he sadis t 's finest m oment sign als h is d own fall as en tr ies in his destruc tio n de rby fa ll b el ow the level of economic viab ility. Th en th e cl o c kw atchers th row a few easy-to-ride even ts and en tries . start climb ing again . So o n someone like m y self wi ll co mp lain in print th at th e ru ns are getting d ull. an d b ack we go aga in . Yin an d Ya ng . Bu t in the gam es of the afi cionados, so meo ne is forgot t e n. T he b eginn er, th e newcomer t o th e sp ort cl im bs on t he b ras s b al l u nawa re th at it is a p e ndulum an d if the Gods a re smiling h e gets aboard wh en th e cloc kw atc h ers ar e in full sw in g an d h as a season o f easy rid in g. Bu t G od h elp h im if h is crossed-star des ti ny puts h im ab o ard on the night sid e sw ing . I t o o k so m e begin ne rs to a recent endu ro . T hey wo n' t go b ack agai n. Th ey think we're all nu ts. You migh t sa y, " Who needs th e b eginners? It 's ge tting t o the p oint where ther e are t o o m a ny entrants any way. " But t h is is short sighted . And besides, th ere 's a ne w gro up of en duro riders developing. An East ern jo urnalist, Bob Hicks, ca lls the m t h e Pe rma ne n t B riders. The y are beginne rs or n ear begin ners wh o regard th e en d u ro as an o rga n ize d t rail ride. T he y ride strictly fo r fu n b u t eve n th ese h ang-l o ose ty p es sta rt ge tti ng a b it uptight whe n t h ey ge t di squalified by th e seco nd chec k. Last year in Northern Califo rn ia there was a n end uro call ed th e Cowbell . In the co urs e o f th at ru n some 900 ride rs becam e m ired in a m u ddy h o le a nd m an y spent th e ni ght. All so rts o f rescue operations w er e n eed ed 'a nd th e b ad p ubl ici ty threatened the en tire sport in th a t p ar t of the state. As fa r as I ca n d et erm in e, wh at really h appened was th is: F or sever al years th e club h ad been th rowing easy scenic run s, eac h year att rac ting m o re an d m ore o f th e b eginner s and Perm a nen t B riders. Co ntesta n ts w er e showing up on ill-prepared mac h in es, with unsu it ab le gear (like st ree t shoes! ) wi th little o r n o rid ing sk ill b ecause frien ds to ld t hem th e Cowb ell was fun t o rid e an d easy. Th e the club d ecided t o th row a no rm al enduro an d, w it h a little bad luc k in th e form of bad w ea th er, th ey produced a d isast er of epic p rop ort io ns. As far as I know, n one of what might be ca!led th e real enduro riders spent the n ight or even though t it was a particu larly di ffi cul t run. It see ms painfully ob vio us to me th at th er e exists a spread of sk ill in th e en d uro ri d ing sport tha t is too great to be successfully broken d o wn in to just two classes . T h ree, m a yb e even four, wo uld be m ore lik e it . It also seems to th at all ri ders should n o t be rid ing th e same eve n ts . Dist ric t 37 hasn 't had a "Cowbe ll" yet. but we're d u e. An y o ne care to conjure a nigh tma re in living colo r? Ima gin e a nice heavy ra instorm such as w e get out in th e desert o nce in awh ile occu rring abou t 9 :30 of th e m o rnin g th ey ra n th e Las t Ch an ce... Begin ners sh o uld not h av e b een o n t hat ru n. Next y ear th e AMA is goi n g to ask every co n testa n t b y p o st card of every Na tio nal enduro fo r h is opini o n of th e a b ou t 10% p ar t ic ul ar ru n . With fin ishers , y o u wa nt t o guess wh at k in d of ratin g Th e Last Cha nce wo uld get? Or h ow 'bou t th e Jackass with 2 0 % fin ishers? Yet b o th o f those were good ru ns if y ou were a r easo na b ly exp erienced rid er. Wher e d o do we go from here? Will th ose cl ubs th ro w the same k ind of ru n next yea r and st o ically a ccep t t h e in evitab le b ad r ating and lose th eir Natio nal t h e fo llowing year? I d oubt it . T he runs will get so ft and th e ratin gs will so ar . Bu t in th at case when do we ever p ro d uce a rider wh o can go bac k an d sco re in th e J ackpine and th e Ber ksh ire th e way Eastern rider s ca n sc o re at will in Cali fornia ev ents? Even more to th e point, the en du ros are the natu ral train ing ground for th e ISD T - if they're tough. If th ey 'r e not, wh at ISDT riders California prod uces will contin ue to come fro m t he ran ks o f th e racers. We need classified endu res. With o n ly good riders rid ing ru ns lik e t he Las Chance and the Jackass, the p ercen tage of fi n ishers would go u p a nd th e ra ting wo uld be hi gh as well. Th e b ett er rid ers would ge th e kinds o f riding th ey need to become compe titi ve in eve nt s o utsi de of our o wn b ac ky ard . The cl ubs wo uldn't have to do wngrade the even ts t o get a good rating, Beginners a nd Perma n en t B riders need runs t o o , b ut th ey do n't belong in th e Natio nal Ch am p io nsh ip Enduros . Is District 37 going to st a nd id ly b y wh ile o th ers fill th e need a nd then d own grade th e Ch amp ionsh ip ru ns in a fu tile a tt em p t t o reclaim what they lo st b y d efault? It w o uld seem so . We n eed a b etter cla ssificatio n o f rid ers, obviously . An y B rider wh o finish ed th e La st Ch an ce enduro d oe s not belong in th e same class wit h rank begin ners. We also ne ed b etter class ificatio n of mach inery. Dist rict 37 wa n ts th e IS DT in 19 73 . It 's a w orthy goal. But t he fe w p eople in Sou th ern Cal ifo rnia who kn ow an ything abo ut th e IS DT aren ' t very inv olv ed with th e en d uro progr am; th at ' s b eing run b y des ert race rs. Silly as it seems, en d uro rid in g in Sou th ern California is still regarded as a mild fo rm o f de sert racing. With a dozen stro ng enduro club s in Distr ict 3 7 , we 'd h ave no p ro blem ge tting th e IS DT . With two end uro clubs a n d a b unch of racing clubs th at th row enduro s when th ey need the bread , o ur cha nces aren 't tha t gre at. The cr ea m of th e wo rld 's o ff-r oa d co mpetitio n talen t is n ot goi n g to flock t o sou thern Cali fornia t o ride o u r tire d wh o op d e d o os. A nd fac e it , there wasn't a n e nd u ro held last year in District 3 7 th at used a singl e m ile of trail that wasn' t d esert. The G reenhorn went th ro ugh th e Angeles fo rest, b ut all o n r o ads and that was th e clo sest we go to trees and wa ter and mud which is th e tradit io n al st uff of th e IS DT. If w e ca n ' t th row an enduro any place b u t in o u r sand b o x , h ow do w e convinc e th e world th at we can hand le a bitch en ISD n Distric t 37 , we need a real end u ro p rogram, n ot just a p oint st eward and a "Business as Usual" sign . (Cant 'd. f rom page 5) their network. C e rt a i n l y , some of th ese co m munication-ne twor ks overlap , as would be the case of a CMIC dealer who personally races in AMA sa nc tioned events and also b elongs to MOR E. He is tied in to three separa te commu nicatio n ne two rks, eac h sup plying h im with somewhat d iffere n t in fo rm a t io n t hat he must pos sess to pro vid e true custo me r sat isfac tio n. My posi tio n is somewha t enviab le, because my relationship with the MIC, th e CMIC, th e AMA , an d MO RE tends t o set o u r Ca p it o l Offic e up as a 'clearin g h ouse ' for in fo rmatio n . An d this co m b in ed inform a t io n is wh at o ur legislat ure and o ur members wan t to know. T h in k w hat a mess w e'd b e in if each o f t hese organizations quite shari ng in formati on a nd wen t their ow n , separate, ind ivid ual wa y s. Panicsvill e ! Let me assu re you th at o ur position as a lobby in g activity , w het he r it b e with th e legislat ur e o n the various l an d -u se a g e ncies , is greatl y st rength ene d b y o ur ex pande d scope of repr esen tati on . So , to answ er th e qu estion, I must say that, "Yes. As long as th er e ar e members willi n g t o help wi th th e fin ancial burden , o r, as long as I ca n figure o u t ways to ' feed my a n im als', _ th er e will always be a full -time , ac ti ve MORE wo rking in you r b ehalf." Hopefully , th ere will al wa ys b e an MIC, a CMI C , a n AM A , a nd all of the o ther organiza tio ns which are doing so much to protect your interests . . Please ad d res s aU in quiries and/or com me n ts t o MORE, P .O . Box 26062 , Sacramento , CA 958 2 6. .... N . en '" 0.. N .... Ol "i c '" -, ~ ~ w c3 >- U

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