Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.: .g u, lJ) ;: w Z W ...J U >- U aJI~1 I ••• " America's No . 1 weekly motorcycle new spa per. Yo u'll a lwa ys see it FIRST in Cy cle New s !" Pub lish er Charles Clayton Bus iness Manager Sharon Clayton General Manager To m Culp Managing Ed it o r John Bethea Assistant Ed it o r David Sw ift Circulation Manager Rheba Smith Circulation Ass't Mar la Tarbet Prod uct io n Manager Ed Drechsler Production Assist ant How ie Fo w le r Advertising Assistant .. Barbara Richard Bookkeeper Dorothea Lang Bookkeeper Ass't, . Eleanor Duke Lab Technician Larry Groves Circulation Pro mo t io n Mgr .. J im Brooks Cycle News East, Dix ie Cycle News , and National Advertising in fo rma ti o n: Tom Cu lp, National Advertising Director. Cycle News (West ), P.O . Bo x 498. Long Be a ch , Ca l iforn ia 90801. (2 13) 427 -7433 - L.A . 636-8844 . T EL EX NO. 673-474 Subscription : One year 2nd clas s ma il 2 years 2nd class mai l 3 years 2nd class mail Single copy price .59.00 . 5 15. 00 . 518.00 . . 5 .30 Pub lish ed weekly except the first and last week of the calendar yea r by Cycl e News, Inc., Post Office 80x 498. Long Beach , Cal ifornia , als o p ubl ishers of Cycl e News East , and Dix ie Cy cle News . Second Class Postage pa id a t Long Beach , Calif. Ed itorial sto ries, ca rtoo ns, photos, etc. a re welco me . Addressed, stamped enve lo pe assures retu rn of ed itorial matter . Reprinting in whole or in part on ly by permission of th e publ ishers . Adv ertising rat es and c irculation in fo rma tion w ill be sent upon request. See S .R .D .S . Copyright Cycle News, Inc . 1971 -72 a ll rights rese rved e [~~ )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ONLY IN IT FOR T HE FUNNY In refer en ce to Dick Hugh es ' lett er ab out the sports ma nshi p o f J. N. Roberts a nd Rich Th orwald son , let m e tell yo u what I saw last y ear whil e attend ing a Mile Nat io nal : In th e ea rly part of th e race Bugs Mann was leading, fo llo we d b y Mert Lawwill and Ge ne Romero , wh o were di cing for second pl ace. Jimmy Od om was running fo urt h , Dave Aladana fifth an d the res t of the p ack was stru ng o u t behind. Lat e in th e race Aldan a did his thi n g, a fu ll gainer with a nne -an d-a-half twist. As th e lea ders came arou nd and saw Dav e' s pl igh t, th ey all laid th eir b ikes d own, p ulle d him and his motor ou t o f th e weeds, and straightened h is motor so's h e co uld finish. Ho we ver , there wasn 't eno ugh ti me for Dave to fill in his A:\1A crash card, so Rom e ro rod e both b ikes. Com in g into th e checke red n ag it was ob vious that R om e ro would win, th us ge tting twice t he National p oin ts 'cause h e was riding tw o m ot ors . Kn o wing th at this was unfair to Bugs, he laid both b ikes d o wn , Bugs passed him fo r a first, and Burrito finishe d second an d third. Ma n , that shows class. These two a re really Nu mber One an d Number Two, not j us t in ra cing. HY CID ER No .98G San Ra fael . Calif. Gotcha, Hy. They didn't have to fill crash ow n bike laying and came to help me . It 's guys lik e this th at ma ke the sport wh at it is to day . So than ks to the .Ligh rweigh ts for th eir efficiency, an d th an ks J oe Williams fo r b ein g a true racer. J AMEY BLUNT 4x T orran ce, Calif. OUR LOSS T a-d a ! Big sco op! On J anuar y 8 and 9 at In di an Dunes th e Wor ld Mini-Bik e Gran d -Prix was h eld. Lotsa stars and ta len t: Willie Simmons, Davey Carlson , J eff Ward , Ran d y Mci ntyre, Gregg By ers, S teve McQueen. Bea utiful racing (p uts th e b ig b o ys to shame!) . But hark! What 's this? No coverage fro m Cy cle News? T sk, ts k! Yo u r loss! It was racing a t its fin est a nd the world at large will never know. Too b ad . Sh am e on you! EVEL YN MciNTY RE Cypress, Ca lif. me to ro un d up the f ello ws and th at h e would put o n th e school. With th e fine help of Bob Hersh ey , they put o n o ne o f th e b est m ot ocro ss schools I h ave ever seen. I d oubt th at th ey received an y money for their efforts, hut yo u can b e su re th ey are N um ber I in th e minds o f all the riders wh o almost went home early for lac'k of an instructor. T h an ks to Jim Wilson, Bob Hershey an d th eir sp o nso rs, Val eri ans T w o-Cy cle City and Mid Valley . L .E. D ERHAMM ER Mission Vi ej o . Cali f. FROM A FRIE ND Bob Arnold, age 4 1. o wner of Cycl e S top in Oaklan d , Cali f'., d ied J an . 8 of a heart attack. Bob will really be mis sed b y the racers an d m otorcy cle riders in th is area. If so me body ha d a story to te ll o r needed so me good adv ice , Bob was always avai lab le. He love d rac ing an d the peop le in it . I rode five Gra nds Pr ix las t year and if I was o nly allo we d to ru n o ne a year, th e Soboba Grand Prix (see Cal endar Feb. I3) is the one I'd choose. T he co u rse was all virgin (no o ne bei ng allo wed to ride on th e reserv a tion a t any tim e excep t fo r thi s o ne race) , a lot of pi t area, and a ll th e co ncessio ns are run by th e Indian s. No h o t do gs for sa le b u t b itc hen h om emad e ta males . tac os, etc ., topped off with an " India n Okie " rock gro up Sa turd ay n igh t. The w hole package was comp letely out of sigh t. T ry it ! You'll like it! BILL TREVINO Mon rovia . Calif. No t to mention the fact tha t all pro ceed s go to the Ind ian reserva tio n... Ed . AW, IT WA S NOT HING I would like to thank all th e people who too k the time a nd patien ce to writ e me wh ile I was in th e h osp ital. I am now at home and feelin g much b etter. Becau se o f your circulatio n I received letters fro m Massachu setts, Eng land . Australia, and Irel and. Thank yo u aga in , very much. BILL LADD,JR . C~IC No . 3 7B Ramona, Calif. W ? No letters from Zamboanga?..Ed . hat GOOD OL' JOE I'd like to take this op p ort u nity to thank the Lightweights as a club, and one Joe Williams as an ind ivid ual. At a Lightweights point run, on January 16, 1972, held at Perris, Joe Williams crash ed in front of me . Un av oid ably I ran o ver him and his bike. The ne xt thing I knew, I was hurt and he was the first o ne to b e helping me . H e left h is DEPT. OF CORRECTION Last wee k, w e printed a letter en tit led "D ES ERT ANARCHY CLUB " which had a very important portion lef t o u t b y m is take, comp letely changing the m eaning. Tom Widic k b rough t it to o ur attention. The last se ntence of paragraph tw o sh ould rea d (with th e left-out p ortion in serted w ith in t he paren th esis) : " We w o uld like enough members t o (enable particip at ion at every desert race, y et not enough members to) lose the closenes s of a group like t1ris can 'aclrieve, " Yes. The Aja y was the first bike ever to top Saddleback Park's original Matterhorn ...Ed. POEM OF T H E WEEK : I w on a prize fro m Cy cle News, I t h o ugh t they were O.K . So I subscribed to th eir pap er J ust th e o ther day . But it seems it will ta ke tw o weeks Or even three, But th an k yo u for your effort. I'll j ust sit h ere p atientl y. TE R RY HA NDELIN Weott, Cali f. NO PADS IN THE BAY Page 25 of your January 12th ed it io n h ad a half-page picture of a co mpetition rider with a lot of protective gea r. I have tried to locate the shoulder pad s and th e elbow pads to no avail. T he d ealers in t he Bay Area are of no h elp so I am as king if you w ould p lease sup ply m e with the name of a dealer wh ere I can purch ase the equipme n t. JI.\I BRYS ON Danville , Calif. We got all that stuff from the distributor, Jim Davis. Write him at Box 1002, Burbank, CA Q1304. car ds last season. Beside s, Aldana would ha ve used a ru bber sta m p... Ed. HAS NO R ESERVATIO NS wh o said an AJS 250 had also made it o ver; he had r ead t his in an other magazine. C ou ld t his have b een th e old Matterh orn th e magazine was talking ab o u t? BILL HALL Fort Brass , Calif. MED ICAL MUFF VOICES OF THE WEST PIPE DOWN I r od e th e Pasad en a M.C . Har e Scrambles on January 17. It was a grea t race e xcep t I lost my chrome CZ up p ipe abou t two and a half mil es fro m the finis h. I f anyone has it o r knows wh ere I ca n find it , pl eas e contac t me . DA VID ENG LIS H 736 Cla ym o n t Dr. L os Angeles, CA 90049 (2 I3) 472-7762 PEGGING J.N. Your J.X . R ob erts interview was very in terest ing. H ow ever , I had a little chuckle wh en th e q uestion, "Wonder h o w ma ny other rac ers would have finished that last q uarter of the race on o ne peg? " w as posed. Las t week a t th e Vik ings race a t Lucerne I p itted fo r Bob Ward , who was making h is very first a ttemp t at de sert racing. He lost b oth fo o t p egs before h e reach ed the first check, comp leted th e first loop in abou t o ne hour and 25 minutes, and went o n to finis h th e sec ond lo op n ot o n ly w ith out p egs, but so me w here along th e lin e th e rear shocks w ent n at and lock ed up. Look o u t, J .N . We'r e af te r y o u with or with out pegs. WALT BLACK Agu a Dulce, Calif. BA D BR A D On J anuary 6 , 1972 , Am erican Jawa put o n a motocross sch ool at Indian Dunes for a select gr oup o f CZ ride rs. T he ins tructor was to b e Brad Lackey with Jim Wilson help ing ou t. A ft er a sh ort to ur through American J awa in th e m o rni ng, th e riders were se nt ou t to th e Dunes t o re ceive th eir motoc ro ss sch ooling. By I :3 0 in the afternoon, the riders got in a lot of ridi ng b ut n o instructio ns . Th e reason wa s the Lackey , w ho was at American J awa that m orning, did no t bo th er to come o ut to the track. A fter a short ta lk with Jim Wilson, we bo th : felt th at it would be unfair to send t he riders h om e wi thout so me type of sch oolin g since some o f them came fro m as far as San Dieg o and Fresn o . S o what did Jim Wilso n do? He asked H e was a sp onsor to m an y, from sports ma n riders to pro fessi onals. He didn't need to h ave o ne of h is racers rid in g to attend ; h e loved b ein g there. Bob w ill be missed by many. A frie nd . LESMORGAN KUDOS I wis h to congratula te you o n a fine first ed it io n for 1972, especiall y th e article o n Mik u ni car buretors. I am convinced it shone th e ligh t on ma ny read ers. I also app reciate you r series w ith E. C. Birt. Gr eat rep ortin g. Ke ep it up and I'll keep b uying . TOM ROS E O xnard, Cal if. MOR E FOR MORE People, let's ge t o u t our d ollar and send it t o MOR E, Box 26 062, Sacramento, CA 95 826 . We o nly hav e 12,000 m embers o ut of a p ossibl e seven mill ion. What a poor per centage. They d o more for a d ollar than six o ther m otorcy cl e o rgan izati ons. How abo ut an ex tra d oll ar from a ra ce fee, a n ex tra dollar from a road tour fee, et c? My whole family, my wife, d au ghter, son , daughter-in-law, even my 5-mon th-old grand-daugh ter , " are a ll members of MORE . Let's make 19 72 the biggest MO RE year yel. BOB SHAW Van Nuys, Calif. LOOKIN G FOR SOUNDS I am trying to lo cat e t h e soundtrack to th e "On Any Sund ay" and am hoping th at y ou could provid e informa t io n a s to th e n am e of th e o rchestra and the recording company. GARY SAMSON Bois e, Id ah o Go to your local reco rd st o re, t hu mp t he desk im pati e ntly and demand th at they st oc k " On An y Sunday" b y Dominic Frontiere. It costs $4 .98 and is on Bell Record s, ca ta logue J number Bell·1206 . Bell Record. is at 646-1 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood , CA 90028oo.Ed. KI NG OF THE MOUNTAIN You stated that a n Ossa Stiletto 250 was the first t o make it o ver the "New" Matterh orn hillclimb . I have a friend T he weekend o f J an . 2, a buddy anc my self d ecided to en ter th e S RA Hare an d Ho und race fro m Luce rne to Ad elanto . We wer e b eginn ers, a nd had nev er ridden in a race , no r in the d esert. You can imagi ne o u r exciteme n t - firs t race.i .first tim e in th e d esert. We decided to ta ke along my tw o yo ung ne p he ws . T hey w ere b oth crazy about bikes , an d were bubblin g over with enthu siasm abo ut going alo ng. The race b egan , and su rp risin gly I fo und m yself doin g quite well. Wh o kno ws, I m ay ha ve even tr oph ied if I had m ain tai ned my position t he second hal f of th e race. Yo u can ima gin e our shock an d a nger up on arriving at the gas p it stop to learn tha t my two young n eph ews, both a good 15 fee t b ack off th e track, had been run down by a big bore b ike goi ng nat o ut in th e pit. The o ldes t b o y received severe injuries. He was st ruck while looking th e other way by the full impact of th e b ik e, and su ff ered a disloca ted shoulder, the loss of ch un ks of skin. and n umerous severe bruises. We had at first th o ugh t h is should er was bro ken. What really scares me is that the yo un ger b o y , weighing a mer e 55 lb s.• was pinned b en ea th th e b ik e and dr agged 10 o r 15 fee t. If th e boy hadn't be en pinned betw een th e fr ont wh eel an d th e engine m ount tubes he would have been serio usly injured. Furtherm or e, we were dismayed to learn th at there Were no firs t aid facilities o f any kind provided. Why? With all the injuries to riders we saw alo ng th e way it would se em necess ary that the SRA would provide so me sort o f first aid station a t the gas pit. Upon checking with the S R A man a t the chec kp oin t, we were simp ly adv ised to go in to Bar st ow , and th en di smissed. T he d ish earten ing thing about it all is the fact tha t th ese two problems can be co rr ected . It see ms to m e th at by delega tin g a few mem bers to control the speed of b ikes in the pi t area, an d b y arranging fo r a couple m o re m embers t o have first ai d supplies and treat ment availab le a t th e pit wo uld h ave avoi ded the ruina tion of a great day for us. I also beli eve that a mo b ile first aid unit or two, like a du ne buggy , e tc., wo uld b e an excellen t idea for tr ansp ortin g seve rely injured riders. Becaus e o f these shortcom ings, my buddy and I will never aga in en ter suc h {Ptease tum to peg 5)

• Cover