Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'" e "n Movie Book LIVING WITH THE § .n MADNESS WITHIN ~ LEARN TRAILRIDING THE EASY C-N WAY By Da vid Swi ft league as Hemin gwa y or Fitzgerald, h ave ESCAPE : HOW TO RID E A TRA IL a lo ose, readable style that p romotes a BIKE read er 's confidence. This is evident even Bv Wiltz Wagner and Bill Brokaw. 38 pp. w h en b rowsing through the book. (I $2.95. keep wanting to refer to it as a booklet; S o ·m y b o ss gives me th is book, see, it is rather smallish). and says, "Tell u s what you th ink of it ." The bik e does not teach yo u how to So I go home a n d re ad it in an eve ni n g sh if t , what a brake is for , or that the an d d ecide it is an excellent b o ok abou t p osit ion of the twistgrip h as a direct the logistics of trail rid in g and that rel atio nshi p w it h the speed of the eve ryone wh o is half-w a y in t erest ed in m achin e. The authors ass ume you o ff-raoding o ugh t t o ke ep it handy for already know t h a t. Wh at they teach you is the correct way to motor your b ik e a n occasional consultat ion, eve n tho u gh t h e p ri ce d o es seem to be a b it st eep. gracio us ly: C omple te Controllability Under All Conditions. F or exam ple, Then h e tells m e th at Cy cle News is lesson one is, sim p ly, " R id e S t andin g go ing t o sell th e b o ok t h ro ugh th e mail Up". You a re adv ised h o w to d o it , wh y a nd that a revi ew wo u ld be n ice. Sounds y o u sho u ld d o it , a n d h ow stupid yo u lik e h yp e, d o esn 't it? I mean , are you are fo r n ot d oing it. Th ey also explai n reall y goi ng to b elieve it when a guy that go ing fast ain ' t where it 's at u n t il who wo rks fo r Cycle News ups a n d t ells you learn to go slo w. I to o k th at d itty you that a b o ok sold b y Cycle News w ill to h eart ; I'm just right n ow at th e p o in t improve yo u rid in g techniqu e, give yo u wh ere I contin uall y ge t over m y h ead . a cl os er shave, an d rid you garden of It's a mi racl e I h aven 't c racked it. th ose pes ky slugs? The r est of th e lessons pretty we ll It 's a good book. H onest. If it wasn't ex plain th e b asic conten ts of t he book: I w oul d formu lat e so me excuse for not " Ma king Li ttle Ci rcl es", " Bail ing Out", writi n g th is revie w by telling the boss "Off-cam b er Turns", ' 'Th e Wheelie and that us tree-worship pi ng Dru ids do not Jum ps" , and the importan t-sounding write lit erar y c ri ticisms o n a lea p year, " Putti ng It A ll Together" and a d o zen les t we suffe r te rminal abrasion s at th e m o re in between. h ands of Groat, God of Bark. Th e last five pages are d evo t ed to Bill Br o kaw has been in the apex of S outh ern Cal ifo rnia an d Co lora d o basic st uff lik e cl othing, p repa ra t io n , m otorc y cling activity fo r many y ears . and a fin ger-sh a king lec t u re o n c hoosi ng riding p al s. Geograph y stud ents know th at D on't b e taken aback by the fact the Col orado go es 'way up in the R ockies, an d d ow n again; h ence, th ere are lo ts o f b o o k h as 38 p ages an d costs $3 . It 's easily worth twic e th at. It h as saved mountains a n d lots o f tra ils t o take you sorn e . of m y b ones and pride sim p ly to th e t op. Be t that Wagner a n d Brokaw because I h ave a b it h eal th ier knowledge h ave spen t m ost o f th eir lives con q u eri ng tr ails like these. In fact, of m otorcy cles. their limita ti ons, a n d th eir p oten tial. T his $3 b o ok is w orth Brokaw rec ently to o k se cond in th e Colo rado S tate Champ ionship Trials. in fini t ely mo re th an a ny $3 dinner o r $3 b o ttle o f sc otch . Of course, th ere a re plenty of p eople w h o can rid e a bike up a tree a nd pl enty I suppose in o rd er t o m a k e this mo re wh o can tum a typewriter in t o a review a bit m ore c red ib le , I'm go ing to h ave to criticize it. T h e pi ctures a re dull . T V screen o f personal thoughts, but So there. Let's see if I d o n ' t los e my p recious few wh o can do both . Wilt z an d Brokaw , alth o u gh n o t in the sa m e job . '" 0.. u. By David Tw o weeks ago we ran Charles Clay t on's review of "On Th e Lin e", y el-l o-b e-r el ea s e d drama ti c do cum entary ab out three d esert racers. A ssistant Editor Swift was at th e same scre ening. He saw many th in gs as Clayton did but there was a f ew h e didn't: • At about the same t ime Bruce Brown's "On A ny Sunday" opened up last summe r, Lee S ta n le y and Tom Hayden w er e o ut in the hot , h ot SoCal desert f ilming a no ther d o cum en ta ry o n b ikes. T h e end product ca nnot be compared t o " S unday " - oranges and app les, as they say - because " O N T HE LI NE " takes up wh er e Brown left off. Spec ifically, "On T he L in e" d ea ls wi th t hree desert rac er s who se lives a re covered in cinema veri te fas hion: J.N . Roberts, stu nt man a nd unb eatabl e d esert star; Me ntor Williams, a sensitive you ng cou ntry -rock m u sic ian wh o is trying to "find a way of livin g with the madness wi thin himsel f"; Lee S ta n ley, a h ap p ily -m arri ed film maker who is compelled to give the desert another t ry a fter h is recovery from a nearly -d isastrous crash. J.N. Robert s is played by J .N. Rob erts and h is story is told just the way it is: We see hi m d o in g st unts on th e se t, teaching h is so n t o ride h o rsi es, and generally bein g th e real, live, unbeatableJ.N . Mento r Willi ams is p layed by a fe llow named Ment o r Will iams, who also wro te all the sensi tive country-rock for "On Th e Li ne". In h is sp ar e time , h e rides m otorcy cles in th e d ese rt. Lee S tanley is pl ay ed by yo u -k now-w ho. Stanley is a long-tim e b ik e e n th usiast an d a lso w ro te the screenplay fo r " On The Lin e" . G et th e p oint? It is a film abou t d esert racers an d IS com p le t ely con t rolle d by d esert racers . It is an im m e nsely pers onal w ork an d one o f - t~e atest [Con t 'd, f rom pag e 2) he's goi ng to h ire Russ March. • • • FORD MOTOR COMPANY seems to have risen to th is newspaper's plea for a new American Motorcycle manufacturer. They are now surveying the motorcycle market with tentative plans of producing a machine in the I 75·350cc range. This t ime they may be serious. Look to your laurels, Japan. • • • CYCL E Ma ga zine is m o vin g editorial o ffices to the West C o as t. its • • • PAT MANN ING the tailor who is cooperating with Cycle News to outfit the 1972 National Champion with a $750 wardrobe , reports he has been getting requests to st itch up leathers since h is press release appeared here . The talented Englishman doesn't make leathers. Only fine·ta ilored su its , of British wool. . . . H av e yo u eve r tr ied to find the Astrodome fo r t he first ti me ? Well, we were wi th a earfu l of d ip so m an iacs who h ad been th ere fo r the last four Nationals and eve n the y co u ld n ' t fin d the Astro dome . T he fre eway sys te m (i s dis a sys t em?) in H ouston is a n ab omi n ation of go od sense. It keeps th e locals h appy , t ho ugh, because it provid es them w ith ho urs of enjoyment of t rying to fin d one ano th er. Good th in g a ll th at o il is in Texas. They n eed it . • • • The Nationals at the Astrodome were fun. The service and accomodations were hilarious. Since all the hotels and restaurants nearby thrived on conventions year 'round , prices bore a markedly inverse relationship to the quality of food and service. If you didn't wear a string tie and drawl, prices went up 200 percent. .. .. .. We still h av e tw o free t ickets left ) - By Papa Wealey o ver from S a t urd ay n ight 's Sh ort T ra ck Natio nal. If y o u wo uld h a ve had th em J anuary 29 , y o u wou ld have been able to sit in Ai sle 244, R ow 14, Seats 12 a nd 13 . We will b e h appy to ma il them to t he first person w h o ca n send us a b ad pun co nc ernin g a Nat ional star. • • • I n case you were wondering what happened to the column last week, we are afraid we aren't at liberty to say, other than the fact that the situation involves thousands of dollars worth of photograph ic equ ipment, a stolen "Bell " jac k et , and severa l unescorted gir ls in the lo b b y of the Astroworld Hotel . .. .. . The Northern California Motor Sports Press Association held a recent banq uet to h onor a few of o u r o wn . Hi ghlighting t he event was th e namin g of DUD PERKINS as th e 19 7 1 Motor Sportsman o f the Y ear. If yo u rea d the MARK BRELSFORD thi n g we ra n last week, y o u can a p p recia t e the h o n or. O thers h o n o red : DICK MANN , Mo to rc ycle Racer o f t he Ye a r; K EN N Y ROBERTS , R oad Racer o f th e Y ea r ; an d JO E LEO NA RD , Motor R acer o f the Year. • • • A few weeks back we mentioned the photograph tha t proved nine people we re aboard a H od a ka with only t he p ilot having h is feet down . Would th e fellows that brought the photo in and quickly van ished please have the heart to bring it by our offices once more? Tiger Distributing wants to have a loo k at it . .. . . Stup id DAVE SWIFT f orgo t to m enti o n that Cy cl e News paid $5 0 each to MIKE O'B RIEN, J O E BR OWN, KE N N Y RO BERTS and JOHN HATELEY , the fou r w innin g riders a t the Houston Na tionals. "B etter not h appen again," sa ys CoN G eneral Mana ger TOM CULP, who is always loo kin g fo r a p lu g. • • • Forget what you read last week regarding the money that STEVE HERNANDEZ won in the Eastern Indoors. In three different races he accumulated $9000 making him the highest pa id Novice in the h istory o f the AMA . Included in th is is the $6500 he got f ro m Yamaha. That included $SOO from True Magazine, $2000 in la p money and $4000 for the w in. * * . * More money b o o -b oos: Th e p rice yo u r ead on th e Yamah a AT -2 t est w as also in correct. It re all y lis ts for so mew h e re a ro un d $5 6 0 . S t ill a su per b argain. • • • Minibike ace JEFF WARD became the fi rst 1 00 cc over Saddleback's Matterhorn . Watch for h im at the next h illc limb Feb . 28. . .. .. PET E SZILAGYI , staf fe r for a lo cal ups t art rag p rinted in th e b asin o f th e Santa Clarite Wash , w as seen a t In dian Dunes t esting a hot K awasaki b ox-stoc k m o to cro sser. He was last se en in fu ll b ore slides in th e parkin g lot , cran kin g o u t ave ra ge lap t im es of so me 3 5 mph less than MIK E HARTWIG, th e bikes usual rider . But , Pete evide n tly impressed t h e ri ght p eop le, beca us e h e wi ll be m ovin g t o Dir t Bik e Maga zin e fo r edi torial ch ores . L et 's m a k e th e water t um black , Pet e. . .. . The nin e-on-a-Hodaka th ing has generated a bit of outside response . Here's a portion of a letter we received : " O ut at our loca l motocross track we once balanced seven people on a Bultaco Sherpa 12S w ith nobody's foot down or cycle stand of any ki nd. Just ba lanced as Sammy Mille r would do . How's that? "Unfortunately, once we got everyone on the bike we had no one to take a p icture for proof." (signed) Ron Clark, Dennis Bergay, Jon E iche , Brad Clayton , Bob Kvam, Gary Cerag ioli and Roger Heath . Swift the m ost unique documentaries to come along in recen t years. It is a lso the best film about man and his sport since "Downhill Racer " . The film st arts with the Sunday-morning sunrise on the desert. Color IS perfect. Nice shots of the flowers and other living o rga nis ms . The sound of wind. Peace. T here is a drama an d you know t he peacefulness will d ie a violent death w hen the sc ree n exp lodes wi th a thousand motorcycles. Uh- uh . Stanley a nd Hayden do n't succumb to such obvious clic hes in this or an y other part of t he film; they are filmmakers of the highest order an d they prove it when they ca p ture th e n e x t few sce nes . As the desert slo w ly comes t o life so do o ur h undred s o f desert racers . They wa k e u p , stretch a n d yawn, fo ld up sleep ing b ags. O thers fo rm a state ly processio n as th ey drive In fr om the hi gh w ay . Last m in u te tuning, confusion of sign up, rid er s meetings, everything t hat goes wit h desert racing is portrayed with revealing com p assio n . Personal aspects o f each man 's life ar e also revealed. We watch Diane Roberts watch J.N. practice while a voice-ove r tells us her innermost though ts. No dialogue was written for her; she just told a tape recorder what she felt and it was incorporated into the so und track. Stanley's actor-friend Richard Deacon was asked t o playa ro le in th e film. All h e h ad to do was tell L ee w ha t h e th ough t of m o t o rcycles. S o he says, in comple te h o n esty , to Lee, "Y ou're n o t ass u m ing resp on sibili t y b y ri d in g m otorcy cles " . and p unct u at es his op inio n b y te lling abo ut the go ry crashes he h as seen. Deacon sums, " Y ou're going to ge t k illed. Y ou're a damn fool." End of scene. Mentor is sh own p rac ticing in the desert w h en h e su d de n ly unl oads b rutally. Y o u su d d en ly become aware th at th e c ras h wa sn't a st u n t when the camera truck that w as filming h im fr om an adjacent road comes b o u nci ng t o a halt. "Yeah , it t o o k Mentor ab ou t an hour to shake o ff th at o ne," prod ucer Ha yd en m entio ned after th e screening. "I w as d rivi ng the truc k a n d sa w h im go an d t ho ugh t , 'Oh , m y G od, w e' ve lo st o u r st ar r ". It is a jolt in g scen e. Mos t o f th e 90-min ute film co n sists of vign e ttes that lead up t o t he Big Race , wh ich IS n othing m ore than a typ ical Sunday o u ting. To desert racers, every S u nda y is th e Big Ra ce. The desert race footage is t o o go od. Re al c rash es. Rea l blood. Close-up d ocumentati on o f the m yriad e mo tio ns th at go a lo ng with racing. All three of o ur heroes finish th e race, o ne wa y o r ano th er. Pers onal victory is e tc h ed in face a fter face afte r face. Hundreds of fac es a n d ev er y face is th e face y o u se e every Sunday , O u t Th ere. " O n T h e Line" migh t be t o o good fo r its own good. The camera work is st rictly o f the hi gh est q ua lity. It is slo w-paced. It d o esn ' t reach o u t to grab you; you must become involved with it . lt p osses ses intel ligence. se n sit ivity. a nd, above all, love fo r th e sp ort an d the p eople who b eli eve in it. A t th e end of th e film, th e m an sittin g n ext to m e was on th e verg e o f tears alt ho ugh I was fa r from it. Then agai n , h e used t o race in t he d esert a n d I n ever h ave. ~ w Z ~ ~ U NATIONAL POINTS SYSTEM , FOR 1972 E c D Po A e 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 150 12 0 100 80 60 50 40 30 20 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 5 13 2 11 0 88 66 55 44 33 22 16 11 10 9 8 7 6 4 3 2 1 A-SO - S14 ,9 99 a- S 15 ,OOO - 24 ,999 C· S25,OOO - 3 9,999 D- S4 0,OOO- 5 9 ,999 E~ $60.009 - a bove 19 5 156 13 0 1 04 78 65 52 39 26 20 13 12 10 9 8 7 5 4 3 1 180 144 120 96 72 60 48 36 Z4 17 12 11 to 8 7 6 5 4 2 1 210 16 8 140 11 2 84 70 56 42 28 21 14 13 11 10 8 7 6 4 3 1 I Base up on 1 Ca sh pu rse ON L V I FO R Exp ert I I N ational.

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