Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. :;; :;: ~ w Z W ..J <.J > <.J aJI~1 I ••• America 's Number 1 weekl y mo torcycle new spap er. You 'll always see it first in Cycle News MORE SOUND . LESS SRA T here will b e no more SRA races fo r me. A fte r trying th eir Hare Scrambles h eld on March 5 [ can't take an y more o f th eir poorl y-ru n races. T o start it off, th ey don't even re q uire silencers, or re q uest t hat t h ey be used. How is that goi ng to help motorcyclists that ar e try ing fo r " less sound, more ground?" It was the most poorly marked race I ever saw. Hardly any ribbon h ad b een used and yo u mo stl y w ent b y lim e th at dis appeared a ft er the first ru n of b ikes. While running th rough the first loop I no ticed t ha t a lot o f th e course ra n parallel with service roads. T he course was rarely marked w ith danger marks in the right p laces. This brought m e an d three others to p erm anent stops in the same place. From there [ walke d 20 feet to a service road where a SRA official was rap idly taking down the numb ers of the offenders to d isq ualify them. Re member , this road was less then 20 feet from the course. I j ust h ope th at fro m now on the S RA officials will try to pu t some extra ti me and care into th eir races. Or at leas t require silencers . DEAN J ON ES, J R. Hu ntington Beach , Calif. . Charles Clayton . Publisher Sharon Clayt on .Business Manager Tom Culp . · General Manager John Bethea · Managing Editor David Swift · . . . . . Editor Art Friedman · Assista nt Ed it or Ed Drechsler · Ad vert ising Manager .Advertising Assistant Barbara Richard Rheba Smith · Circulation Manager Marla Tarbet · Circulat io n Assistant AI Duke . . . · Circulation Assistant Paul Boudreau · Prod uction Manager Howie Fow ler . · Production Assistant Larry Groves .Lab Techn ician Marion Hatashita · Typog rapher Dorothea Lang · Bookkeeper Eleanor Duke . . . Bookkeeping Assistant Beverly Townsend · . . . . Reception ist Bobi Culp . . . .. . .Cycle News Products As for Gene Romero and th e race, who kno ws, with a better car and a little ·tim e h e cou ld b e in a bigger glo ry circl e and more green. Better luck to G ene in fu ture starts! DA VIS M. PALMER Victorville, Calif. YAY. SRA; BOO. T.K. After reading a letter printed in March 5 issue from T.K. McG eachin I j ust had to wr ite you. T h is fellow was upset b ecause h e had to get out of first gear now and then, and b ecaus e th e course was , in h is w o rds , "just great fo r experienced rid ers ." I can 't help but wo nd er w hat h e wo ul d d o or wh at kind of le tter h e wo uld wri te af ter riding o nly t he first day of something like the Gr eenho rn Enduro . National Advertisin g Directo r (Cycle News West , Cy cle News East , Cycle News Dixie) : T om Cu lp . Cy cle New s West, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach , California 90801. (213) 427-7433 ; L.A. 6 36-8844. TELEX NO. 673474 '- Subscription : One year , second class ma il 2 years second class ma il 3 years , second class mail . : Single copy pri ce , $9.00 $1 5.00 $18 .00 $ .30 TH ANKS We wish to thank everyone who helped Bob Orm and Tom Turner after t he ir ac cid en t at the Saddleb ack hillclimb, February 27 . Tom is out of the hospital now wi th a b adly broken leg. Bob was not as fortunate and will be confined at least six to eight weeks. Cards and let ters ma y be sent to Room 24B , Chapman General Hospital, Orange, Calif. RUTH AND TOM TURNER HE NEEDS HELP ING OUT I need helping out. On page seven of the February 29 issue there is a snap of Jim' Coates and Debbie Jackline riding the 125 Expert final at Santa Rosa. Here is my problem : I have a Yamaha like Jim's and desperately need a rear fender lik e the one pictured. Could a CoN private eye find o ut where he got his? It would really help me out. LA R RY MANN 1864 262nd St. Lomita, CA 9071 7 Moybe Mr. Coates will dro p you 0 line...Ed. HAIL. EVE L After witnessing today's attempted j ump of 2 I cars at the "Big 0 Miller 500" by two young up-starts, I still believe Evil's (sic) 19 cars is the record. They may have set a distance record at 138 plus feet. However, it seems funny th at a gu y should claim one-half the record for 2 1 cars when he pa sses four of th em b efore leavin g th e tak e-off ramp. T he Honda rid er , I co ns ide r, as h aving crash ed into the 18 th car, since h e would have landed o n the ramp directly over its roof, had th e last fou r cars b een u nder the ra mp instead of alongside it. What they do deserve is rec ogn itio n fo r pure guts, particularly the ri ng-ding rider. [ believe many people will agree with me that th ese guys are a fa rce, until . they begin to use the same exact set-up as Eve! (u nder the ram p) , and use real mo torcy cles (40-or-more inches) for j umping. Hail Evel! Co p yright €) Cycle News, Inc . 1972 all rights reserved Last year Russ had to dig deep into his own pockets ($4 ,000 ) t o continue our fight against unfair legisl at ion fro m all levels . One way that th e organized clubs could assist Russ is to help financially suppo rt M .O.R.E . This ca n be accomplished by co nducting M.O.R.E. benefit events - motocro sses , endures , .scrambles, field meets, ro ad tours, whatever. If the above suggestions are not feas ible to some clubs, than at least the clubs co uld send to him a minimum of 10% o f the gate of an y other even t that th ey hold. Without me n lik e Russ Sanford, our mo torcycling days are numbered. L. A RT RAY NOR Van Nuys, Cal. PULLING A GOOD ON E. Will th e p erson who b orrowed and did n't re t u rn my flywheel pull er at the Santa Maria motocro ss Sunday, Marc h 5 , p leas e return it t o me now? J EFF CREAGER 99 26 Cab anas T uju nga, CA 91042 HOW T O RA CE NOT 1. BUT 2! Just fin ish ed read ing-y our article o n the 100's M.C. race o f F eb ruary 27. I no ticed not o ne but two err o rs in yo ur reporting of the overall finish ing results. Fir st o f all my name was comp let ely omitted as finishing eighth ove rall. Then you listed a Lightweight Am ateur as finishing seventh overall. HOYT STATHAM No .94 Cactus Cats M.C. Pub lish ed we ek ly ex ce pt the first an d last week o f the ca len dar year by Cycl e News, lnc ., Post Office Bo x 498, Long Beach, California . Also p ub lishers of Cycle New s East, and Dixie Cycle News. Sec o nd Class Postage paid at Lo ng Beach, Ca lif . Editorial stories, ca rtoons, photos, etc. are welcome . Addressed , stamped envelope assures return of edito rial matter . Reprin ting in whole or in part on ly by permission of the publishers. Advertising rates and circulation info rmat io n will be sent upon request. See S.R .D.S . VOICES OF THE WEST Anyo ne who rode th e SRA Calico run can tell you that there were plenty of sandwashes, smooth spots , and a rather large dry lake bed to make up time on. Maybe he wo uld be h ap pier peddling his Mo-Ped around a Sears parking lot with only a light pole or a shopping cart now and then fo r obstacles and frequent half-hour breaks at Jack-in-the-Box. I didn't see him thank th e SRA for . the free goo dies at the first check. I think that the SRA did a gr eat job o f offering a var iety of terrain and a great da y of riding fun for all . TOM STEWART Yorba Linda , Cal if. HALLO,UPTHERE . A re cent issu e contained a letter from the Lincoln, California Sidehack Association, but it didn't give their mailing address, I would like to get it or h ear from anyone in Northern California interested in sidehack racing. JACK SINGLETON .. c/o Freedom Motorcycles 1703 Freedom Blvd . Freedom, CA 95019 TOUT LE MONDEPlease s end me any available in format io n regarding motocross racing and parks. Thank you. V.L. MINERVINI Dallas, Texas UN ITED WE RIDE, DIVIDED WE WA LK. During the 1970 Cali fornia legislative sessio n there were 8 I p roposed bills wh ich effected th e motorcyclist . Durin g the 19 7 1 Cal ifo rn ia legislat ive sessio n, there we re 2 10 proposed bills wh ich also effected th e mo torcy clist. - Now in 1972, w e already have b een flooded wit h proposed anti-moto rcycle type laws; i.e., headlamps to be lit at all . times, no-fault insurance, t he Pres ident's Proclamation, etc. For the past two years, the major source of protection against un fair legislation has come fro m Russ San fo rd , of M.O. R.E., P .O . Box 26062 , Sacrame nto, California 9 5826. THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER TO A L L THE " HOT SHOES" IN DISTRICT 36 AND 37 OR WHATEVER YOU ARE ! T he Lompoc Slo-Pokes M.C. are hosting an American Moto-Cross Team Benefit mo tocross Ap ril 9 at Spillway Park in Santa Maria. This is an AMA sanctioned event with double district 35 points. If an y of you fast (or half-fast) cats would like to try and beat the District 35 FARMERS now is th e time to try, but the ground is rough and plowing tough ! One of the District 35 farmers : Doug Grant, intends to lay down the first furrow on his AJS, Gary Chaplin, another 35 farmer should be on hand to help change the landscape. A few of the other farmers expected to help till the soil are': Ro n Bass, John Dallaire, Billy Woods, Joe Cushaway, John Grossini, Larry Greer and Gary Smalley. So if any of you city slickers would like to try plowing these farmers under, load up your tractors an d heavy equipment. In addition to the usual harvest of corn at the end of the day there will be some subsidy. So plan on visiting the old plantation April 9 and have a good ti me cherry p icking and help out M.O .R.E . and the AMXT as they receive all p roceeds. Harness time 7 :30, hitch-up 8·8 :45 and the plowing starts at 9 . We even ho nor all foreign p assp o rt s. ERNIE EARNEST Sec.-Tr es. Lo mpoc Slo-Pokes M.C. P.O. Box 883, Lompoc, Ca. 93436 BOO ELSI NORE! I hope th at every AMA motorc ycl e race r c o n t e mp lati ng en te ring th e Elsinore Grand Prix will ta ke a close lo o k at the o ffici al entry b lan k. They r e a ll y t ie y o u d own wi th th e no n-responsibility clause. Why? Becau se it isn't AMA sanctioned , and now h ere 'd oes it me n tio n any district po ints of any kind. The Chamb er o f Comme rce ju st fo u nd a way to ma ke mo ney o ff of a Dis trict 37 trad it ion t hat th e Grip sters wo rked so hard to keep going. If th e racers have any resp ect fo r the AMA, District 37 , or th e Grips ters, I thin k th at th ey should let the Elsinore . I'm new to moto cross a nd was wondering h ow o ne goes ab o ut entering the sport. What organizations ?o0es.one have to j o in . What are the designations of class and th e qualifications for these classes? JOHN B. GIBSON Anaheim , Calif. Spe nd your nights readi ng everything you can get \ yo ur han ds on regardi ng mo tocross. Newspap ers, books, magazi nes, every thing . Learn everyth ing yo u ca n; what to wear , what to ride where to ride, how to rid e. In the day ti m; , go out an d ride. Ride , ride , ride. You live near Banzai Park and Sad d leback, so ride 'til your brains fall ou t. Learn from th c guys who go fast er than you. Try to find out what happened ev.ry tim. you crash. (You are going 'to crash, aren't you?) Go to the ' races and stu dy the better riders ' tech niques. Th en go out an d practice some more . If you still f ee 1 up to TOeing, join the CMC, ACA, AMA , or ACE and giveit all you've got. Don't took back. Now you 're into motocross. But rem ember the words of Dick Mann: .. Any guy who wants to race is racing . If he says he wants to race and he's not racing , he doesn't want to race"...Ed . WHAT IS REAL IT Y? I have read a few of your newspapers and I think they are real interesting. Th ere are a few things I don't understand. What is motocross? What is the track lik e. ' What is 'IT? What kind of race is it? . What is the track like ? What is the difference between MX and motocross? What is done to a motorcycle to clas sify it as an MX? In yo ur o p inion, which is the best mo torcy cle in street and racing, lik e motocross? BART STARR Lakewood, Colo. Both mo tocross and TT courses have bot h right and left hand turns, a ju mp or t wo , and nec essitate several gear changes. A TT is on a well-pre pared course while a mo toc ross utili zes as much natural terrai n as possible. (That's the woy it' s supposed to be, anywoy.) The machines used are radically different from one an other, particularl y in regard s to frame geomet ry , tire s, and type of engine used. A mo torcycle doe sn 't have to be any th ing special in order for some manufacturers to classify it as an " MX" mode l. But to be a good one, it has to be light, agile, have a wide powerband , superi or handling under all cond itions, and be reliable at least unt il th e race is over. Accord ing to John Rank s, the perfect motocrosser will dec o mpose a minute af ter the fina l mo to . If you want the best all-around bike for bo th st reet and morocross , we 're afraid you 're going to have to bu ild it yourself because no o n e else will ever kn ow what you r requ iremen ts are ••.Ed.

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