Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

"n e " '" Q. aJI~1 N "ן m N N .g U. I ••• ~ w 2 w -' U >U Am erica's Nu mber 1 weekly motorcycle new spaper. You 'll al ways see it firs t in Cycle News MOTOR~!(,r::teEf I NDUST R Y [M¥i ) l,;iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiC;;;;O;;;U;;;N;;ii 'L C;;;io, ~ I'm a woman rider and would like to ride in a desert Hare and Hound. I'd like to know wh at ex actly is involved in one o f these races for I'm no t familiar with them other than what I read. I'd like to k now more ab o u t th e rules and th e size of the ma ch inery . I'm not interested in winning, just the satisfaction o f making it to the fin ish lin e (in one p iece, too!) . An y informa tion will be appreciat ed, not only by me but by other riders . KA RLEEN ALLEN San Fernando, Calif. Write Larry Haley , a Distr ict 37 steward , Box EI Monte , CA 91734. National Advertising Director (Cycle News West. Cycle News East. Cycle News Dix ie) : Tom Culp . Cycle News West. P.O . Bo x 498, Long Beach, California 9 0801 . (213) 427 -7433 ; L.A. 636·8844. TELEX NO. 673 4 74 Su bscription : One year , seco nd class ma il 2 years second class mai l 3 years, second class ma il Sinql e copy p rice ,', $9.00 $ 15. 0 0 $18.00 $ .30 Also, the Sportsman 's Racing Association puts on desert races for beginners and no vices only . Box 3882, Torra nce, CA 905 01".Ed. double and then add $4 .50 to them," as quoted fro m a rel iable source concerning one of our large local dealerships. Parts seemed quite high t o me prior to the markup. In my 11 y ear s .o f motorcyclin g I have owned a number of m achines and I hav e learned much with each one. But, it has been m y three years with dirt co m p et it io n b ikes that 1 have learned the most (1 crash and burn a lot). I am a long way from being an expert on industrial economics, bu t it is not hard to sec th e injustice being done to t he people who ride two -wh ee lers , I c urren tl y own one of the most expensive mass-produced motocross machines o n the market. It is a great bike except for its financial end. Shortly , I plan on selling it and getting a races in Northern California . All I witnessed were some very d usty Ro ugh Scrambles. The w hole time all I heard from the riders were th at t hey loved it. Aren't most European tracks very long o n natural t errain ? They usually are built with natural obstacles, not man-made jumps. It also seemed that everywh ere I went, the least little mud or water and yo u never heard su ch whimpering. The m ost graphic motocross picture I've ever seen w o uld have to be Torsten Hallman chasing J oel R ob ert in Holland. The agony is wr itten all over their faces as they are covered with a very icy m ud . MICHAEL MILOS, AT-3 Lemoore, Calif. WHEELS WANTED I live very far from mo st of the better moto cro ss tracks of Sou thern Califo rn ia. It is very hard for me to ge t to and from the races since I am o nly fift een and cannot drive yet. JE RRY SMITH Box 934 Ridgecrest, CA 93555 o Published weekly except th e fir st a nd last week of the calendar yea r b y Cycle News. Inc ., Pos t Office Bo x 498, Long Beach, Ca liforn ia. Also publishers of Cycl e News East, and Dixie Cycl e News. Second Class Postage pa id at Lon g Beach, Calif. Ed itorial stories. ca rto ons, photos. et c . are w elcome . Ad d ressed , st am ped en velope ass ures return of ed itorial matter. Reprintin g in w ho le o r in p art only by perm iss ion of the pub lishers. Advertising ra tes and circulation info rma t io n will be sent up on req uest . Se e S .R .D .S. Copyright@ Cycl e News, Inc. 1972 a ll rights reserved ... '_iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~ THE FIR ST STEP 813 , Charles Clayton , Publisher Sharon Clayton Business Manager Tom Culp General Manager John Bethea Managing Editor David Swift Assistant Editor Rheb a Smith Circul ation Manager Mar la Ta rbet Circula t ion Assistant Jim Broo ks .Circu latio n Promotion Mgr. Ed Drechsler Adverti sing Manager Paul Boudreau Production Man ager How ie Fowler Production Assistant Barbara Richard . . Advertis ing Assistant Larry Groves Lab Technician Marion Hatashita Typographer Doro thea Lang Bookkeeper Eleanor Duke Bookkeeper Assistant Beverly Townsend Reception ist Bob i Culp Cyc le News Products Great Motorcycl ing F'raternity: Can you help t his lad ?.. Ed. CRASH COURSE What is Walt waumg fo r? A pe rmanently dis abling accid ent , or a fat al one? In d ian Dunes' dangerous Shadow Glen co urse may be a delight for th e spectators bu t it 's pure treachery for th e riders . What is A.C.E. saving a ll the avai lab le surrounding space fo r when a littl e wid ening of th is co urse co uld p ossibl y sav e so me of th e numer ou s and wors ening accide nts? And th e me tal stakes, option , and chain lin k fences are downright st u pi d. How many people have to comp lain, how many h ave to write in BEFORE SOMETHI N G IS DONE? The risks h ere are foo lish and very unnecessary. A .C.L just about has a mo no p o ly out h er e in the Va lley - could n't they try to promote good, competitive moto cro ss, instead of a suicide sport? V .B . NELSON Sylmar, Cal if. WRIT E, NOW The riders and the people of San Die go ne ed a motorcycle recreational park to k eep riders fro m go ing on privat e lan d . We, th e Blazed Oak Rec reational Park, have received support from the Sheriff's Department and O.R .V .1. to get t h e park st arted. T he only han g-up is the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and t he only way to beat t he hang-up is to show support for the park by wr iting Blazed Oak Recreational Park so we can take the letters to an open hearing to acquire a u se permit on the land we are tryi ng to p urchase for the park . BRAD BROWN Blazed Oak R ecreational Park San Diego , Calif. DOLLAR HOLLER Afte r being asso ciat ed with motory cles for a while, a p erso n gets to know when he is b eing taken fo r a ride, in resp ect to pric es. Does the mo torcy cle industry really th in k that we all are b lind t o th e real value of what we are having t o pay fo r? It is quit e n orm al for a man ufac turer t o get as mu ch fo r his product as h e ca n. But, when the ho rse start s t o bi te the han d that feed s it, it may not get fed any more. A mot o rcycle manufacturer may ad d a 3 0% pro fit to t he base cost of h is p roduct (depe nd ing, naturall y , o n many variables) . Then, th e d istributor s mu st ge t t heir "fair" sh ar e. T he dea ler ships may mark up th eir st reet bikes ab o ut ano th er 3 0% and their dirt bikes about 15-20%. Now com es th e real ripper . "Mark up all major parts VOICES OF THE WEST more economical one (with no loss of performance). Short of withdrawing fro m r id in g altogeth er, th ere is little else o ne ca n do to fight unreasonabl e price s. Ho wever , if th e co st o f riding is no t curbed, I will wit hdraw totally and I am sure man y oth ers fee l the same way. Maybe all the ex -motorcyclis ts sh ould join the Sierra Club. DAVE TAY LOR Lemon Grove, Ca . Dist. 38 No . 76 HOW TO RIDE THE SNAKE I am hoping to ride Evel Knievel's Snake River Can y on Mo tocross May 6 an d 7. I wish to ride the Pro fessional class but I am not sure wh at lice nse I need. J ACOBI BORL Brno, Kansas CMe head Stu Peters reports he has received many letters similar to th is one. All riders. Junior . Intermediate, and Expert need noth ing more than a regular CMC license. It costs $7 a year. Se nd your bread to Box 1402, Costa Mesa, CA 92626".Ed. MORE BRASS, MORE CLASS The re cent Pasadena M.C . Hare Scrambles was a fine race except the club was a little un fa ir in awa rding trophies. In t he Amateu r T rai l class th ey didn't trophy the first p lace rider but th ey d id the second one. In the Novice Lightweigh t Divisio n I, t hey trophied fo r one but th at's al1 . With over 10 0 finis h ers in the class th ey co uld hav e trophied one or two mo re and it would have been better. May be it was a mi stake and I hope th ey can straigh t en th is out. With 83 9 paid en tries th ey can af fo rd to b uy a few more troph ies for t he Novices, wh o are th e backbo ne of all races. J O E MOUSS EAU . No. 452 x Torrance, Calif. LOVE TH AT MU D I'm a tra nsplanted Oh io end uro rid er . Wh en I first arrived here I had visions o f t as ti ng your fin e rid in g. I became quickly disillusioned. The few enduros I went to ch ec k o ut were nothing but Hare an d Hound races. Few , if an y we re properly run. I then thought of ch an gin g to . motocross racing . I began to check the WHAT IS THE ANSWER? Dist rict 35 finally established an official Powder Puff class. The girls got o ne race in under th e new system. At Sp illwa y Par k t hey were info rme d t ha t t he AMA cannot d iscrimi nate o n the b asis o f sex, th us no Po wder Puff class will be ru n in th e futu re. T his makes me wonder if wo me n's golf to urnaments, w om en's tennis to urnamen ts , or even women's contests in t he Olympics are legal. Because AMA amateur racing is for fun , and I'm sure that it is mo re fun for everyo ne if the girls race in th eir o wn class . A few yea rs ag o , we could h ave h ad a long h air class , b ut n ow h alf of th e me n would be eligib le. A few years ago, we could h ave had a bras-only clas s, but now h alf of th e women w o uld no t be eligible. S eriously , the girls' m orale in Distric t 35 is at an all time low. What is th e answer? TOM DAVIS San Luis Obsipo, Calif. S im ple. Fire Russ March and hire Kerry Kleid . Seriously . girls ' who really and truly want the ir wa y, can ge t it. Tha t's a fact.. .Ed . GIVE TO THE CAUSE Some people are prett y lazy . By this . I mean th ey won't give up a dollar to j o in M.O .R .E . R uss San ford is working as hard as he ca n t o keep mo t o rcycle riding in the d irt. T here are so ma n y bill s trying to be p assed t o stop dirt rid ing you can't even count th em. And M.O.R.E . also is b ac kin g b ills th at are o n o ur side, to o. T here is a est imated 12 ,000 members now. But th at is not enou gh compared to th e 130,000 against us. So put your d oll ar in an en vel ope an d send it in t o h elp Mr . Sanford help us. DAVID CLARK Visalia , Calif. PUT UP YO UR DUKES We, the Lincoln, California Sid eh ack Assn., have just returned from a Dirt Diggers North Motorcy cle Club m eetin g an d h ave ju st learned that the club d oes not h ave any pl ans fo r a Sidehack class this year at lIangtown beca use of the no response from the Southern California Sidehack Ass n. at their last year 's Hangtown event. .We are a fairly new orga nization and we wo uld like to have a place to race our fun hacks . We wo uld like to take this o pp ort u nit y to issu e this challenge to th e Southern California Sidehack ' Assn: Please contact the Dirt Diggers North club as soon as p oss ible and make arrang eme nts to bring some sidehacks to Hangtown this year, which will be their biggest yet. We sidehack riders will also have a day in t he sun ra cing alo ng with the two-wheelers. Their address is DDNMC, 1301 Sheffield Way, Roseville, Calif. 956 78 . LCSA FAR·OUT PEOPLE I attended the j an uary 3 0 Hare and Hound at Adelanto sponsored by the San Bernardino Valley M.C. I was abo ut a mile from the pits ripping through this san d was h w hen I failed to see a bad dip in t he lin e I wa s ridi ng. I hit the dip at speed and we nt over my bars . I t he n landed o n m y back and tum b led around a bit. I was lucky fo r one t h ing , right b y wh ere I crashed the Pro sp ect o rs M.C. h ad mad e their p its . I was laying there whe n a co uple of guys came running over and did what they co uld fo r me and my bike. I was alrigh t with the exception of having the wind kn o cked o ut of me and a rather sore b ack for a few days. The most farout peop le in th e.world are invo lved in motorcycle riding and racing. It's very unfor tunate that more people do not know that. So, t hanks again to th e guys who help ed me . LARRY GEORGE 89p Pom ona, Calif. HACK WRITER Aft er yo ur write up o n th e Lightw eigh ts M.C . Scrambles at Perri s o n j anuary 16, I am a bit perplexed. The re su lt s o f th e S id eh ac k races were obviously incorrect. You showed 500cc an d 650cc, it sho uld be under 500cc and 5 00cc and above. T he win ners shown were also in correct. Although I d on ' t k now any of the peop le invol ved, I ke p t lap charts and times o n all th e h ac k races. A . Wall (sic)/B. Hudspith o n a T riu mph won th e 500 and ab o ve and tw o rid ers wearing R ed Dots M.C . j um pers (Burn s and Burns, I believe) No . 24 won the under 500cc on a Bu lt aco, As b oth of th ese out fit s looked like general purpose sidehacks (as opposed to the slee k , low sp ecialized rigs th at the y b eat o n a very fast co urse) it seems a shame for them not to get t h e cred it th ey d eserve . GREGORY RU SH Emery Park, Calif. .r WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG Wo uld you b elieve 42 .6 m iles? TER R Y B. RA YE, Se cy. Four Aces M.C. (Ed . no te: See Calendar, February 20) SUPER JO E NOTE Now th at I have rec overed fro m m y mishap a t th e Cow Pala ce a nd I'm sure I will be ab le t o jump agai n, I wou ld lik e to thank a ll th ose fin e p eop le wh o called and wro te me in th e hospital. The hundred s of cards I received will serve as an .inspiratio n for me in the fu ture , knowing th at peop le are conce rned. Both my Triu mph motorcycles are nearly repaired and I am p lanning so me more j umps presently, hopefully incl u d ing so me in Eu rope. Once again , th anks t o all those who to o k th e t im e -to .w ish me a speedy reco very . I am sure it helped. SU PER JOE SMITH FAMIL Y We wish to ex press o u r thanks and (Please tu rn to page 5) r

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