Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141015
- , to " '" " 0.. N .... e? cO ;;; ::; N ~ W Z W ..J U > U S DO EVA N By Art Friedman Photos by Dave Schoonmaker and Art Friedman CARLSBAD, CAL., March 19, 1972 The swallows came back go San Juan Capistrano, and the road racers came back to the drag strip with an incredibly bumpy return road that is Carlsbad road racing course. I had bro ught along my Kawasaki 500 an d afte r watching an excellent dice in the J unior Lightw eigh t I wheeled it o ut to the lin e. My first race was the 500 J unior GP which was run with the 350 and Op en classes . [ was fishing for first gear when th e flag fell and got into th e first comer w ell back in th e pack. I' ve crash ed hard every time I've been here, and I had d ecid ed to be very cautio us in th e t urns, but even so the Kaw asaki wo uld whip and boun ce an d genera lly do as little to promo te tire ad hesi o n an d directio nal co ntro l as possib le. A lot of power ou t of t urns does no good when both wheel s are four feet in the air, so my time on the back portion of the course was spent in trying to fend off better handling, better stopping 350's. When the straight came around, however, 1 was in business. I could open up a big lead in the three-quarter mile downhill run. The end of the straight is the starting line for the drag strip , and is therefore paved with rubber, giving some very strange adhesion characteristics. Instead of going deep and being neat, I was prudent and sh ut off early . The exit from the first t um is th e begin ning of the bumps. The Mach III would d evelo p a very light front wheel which would th en b egin to wh ip as the fra me flexed over th e b umps. Abo ut the ti me it came o nto p ow er in third was w hen I had to shut off for the horses hoe. Exiting turn tw o th e co urse rises back up the back piece of the p its. Turns three and fo ur are p robabl y t he worst two of any race tr ack in so uth ern Cal ifo rn ia. T hree is b lind wi th a lip th at w ill leave you I airborne if your line is wrong or if you are going too fast. Don't get me wrong, being airborne is alrigh t, but not while heeled over at 60. Tum four is a little faster and very bumpy. Rough enough that if approached wrong it will leave you in a terminal speed wobble. I toured around like that for 15 laps. The gaggle of 350's following me would close in the turns, but I could be sure of getting my lead back on the long straight. The leaders. were out of sight. Power definitely counts at Carlsbad, but it isn 't enough by itself as I found in t he pro d uct io n race. T he LeMans stan found me second away behind Mike Devlin on his 350. Dogging me was w in ner of my p reviou s race, J o hn Crossman, o n his Suzuki. He got by in a co rner, but when the st raig ht came aro und the Kawa saki 's extra horsepower made itself felt. We di d the same th ing o n th e next lap until we came to the hairpin. I came up a litt le short o n brakes , and Cro ssm an disappeared wh ile I was o ut mowin g th e lawn . Havin g given u p on t he 500 class (I was no w firml y in second and last place) I went back to p laying w it h t he 35 0's. Th ings went a long pretty uneventfully unt il one lap when I was exiting the hairpin and found a terrified rider on a 350 Yamaha going 50 miles per hour in the opposite direction. A Iter some thrills both I and the horde of 350's following me made it through . A lillie later I was ripping along the ATES straight trying to keep my various appendages from being detached by the wind when Mike Devlin on a stock (?) 350 Yamah a lapped me. Makes one wonder. After a b it, the checkers came out, and I went back and parked my bike. Now came the good part. The Senior classes were very small since tuning for Daytona is no lo nger necessary, but they offered so me excellen t racing. They also offered Pat Evans a chance to fill another shelf of his trophy rack. In the 25 0 class Eva ns demonstra t ed that you have to finis h to w in, and yo u have to stay upright to finis h . The field was n arrowed so me as two riders came off. His win in t he 350-0pen even t took a bit more work. Bob Endico tt p ut on th e most spectacul ar rid e o f the day as he led fro m the flag. His Honda 750 lo o ked lik e it was n egotiating a m o to cro ss co urse as it came th rough turns three and four. It wo uld d o a little dance (first on one foot and th en the o ther) and b ring exclamatio ns o f incredulity from o nlooking rid ers. Evans was ca tc hi ng him th o ugh, and th at · long straigh t wa s making its elf felt . Endicott had a better powe rband and so could exit turns fas ter, but Evans had h an dl in g, b raking. and top end. Inevitab ly, Evans got by and p ulle d out an eleven-second lead for his third win of the day. (Results on page 36) S e r,dc e Sans.Grease AI Slocum was 2nd 125 Senior on his Yamah a. M ..avER I TOYOU _. *More l o w en d torque * More top en d R PM *more m i lea ge per ga l. *M ore relia b le * Minim u m mai ntena nce *Works In any Pos i ti on Yamaha & Triumph of Fontana POSA - Carburetor $49.95 Cus t o m bright p oli sh finish, add $ 10 . Id li ng screw. add $ 5 .00. From yo ur local dea ler o r Posa E nterpr is es, 7530 E. J ac k son Paramount . Ca. 90723 (213) 634 ·3412 A SUPER OIL FOR SCOOTERS O ur staff of trained experts eagerly await etc., etc., et c. For A ll 2 and 4 Stroke Bikes• Therrno -Vac Form ulated Motor Oil DU-OMEGA 2 Cy cle Air Coo led En gine Oil Sc ientifically Compou nded to Control 1. Carbon bui ld -up 2 . Deflector combust ion deposits 3 . Exhaust port cloggin g 4 . Pist oo burning and scuffing 5. Pist oo skirt cleanlin ess 6 . Ring sti cki ng 7. Ring wear 8 . Spark plug fai lure - AER-OMEGA 4 Cycle A ir Cooled Eng in e Oil Scientifically Compounded \ to Contro l 2 . Gall ing 3. Foam iog -' . '. _"" .. 4. Met a llic -~ - - ,;t, ~ r/ ASK FOR OMEGA OI L PRODU CTS AT YOUR LOCA L CYCL E SHOP or contact OMEGA OIL COMPANY, 3615 No. Big Dalton A ve. Baldwin Park , Ca. 91706-Phone (213) 337 -2408 By Ray Allis "The day of the greasy mo to rcycl e shop is past. It is ti me th e dealers realize that they aren't do ing the customer a favor by serving him. T he customer is not the mo st important pan of the business; the customer is the business. ' . These words sum up the sales philosophy of Dick HiUman, ma nager of Newport Beach's Suzuki dealers hip. James, Ltd. A fter years of doing business with shops that were so greasy that yo u felt you had to wipe yo ur boots when yo u left, it is refreshing to see the cha nges taking place. "'Ve are trying a new app roach:' Dick says. "We wa nt a rider to be able to send his wife or l Ovyear-old son in with a list of parts and know t hat th ey w ill be given the same courteous service we give the lo cal hot-shoe, And we want the store to be clean and attractive so a woman ca n feel comfortable coming in here." That attitude is borne out by Rich L'Hornrnedieu, parts manager. When Rich says, "May I help you?" he really means it. Rich keeps a run ni ng invert tory 0 f parts and usually knows what he has in stock. If he doesn't have your pan he will order it and have it for you in a few days - and get t his - no deposit! If you get the part somewhere else in the meantime, Rich will just put the part in stock. R ich is also good at guessing wh at your wife is talk in g about and h e se em s to kn ow what you wa nt eve n if sh e d oesn't. It is rumored that Rich can read minds. R .C. Brown , the new bike sales manager . is a ra re breed. He doesn't wa nt anybody to have a S uzu ki they won 't be happy with. He wo n't let yo u buy a 125 for Junior if his fee t won 't eve n reach th e pegs a nd h e would n 't sell you that shiny new water-cooled t hree-cylinder job if yo u were mostl y interested in racing desert or motocross. James , Ltd. is a com plete Suzuki supermarket. T hey sel l every thi ng from the new S uzuki to riding gear t o th e trailer to carry it on. And th e se rvice de part men t do cs it all fro m new bike set-up to over-bore and port ing. Wat ching sales inc rease at James, Ltd . might give some dealers an id ea of wha t is hap pen ing wit h mo to rcycle rid ers today. We aren't a bunch of greasy, swaggering, cussin ' and spitrin ' mo ro ns any more. Most of us are pretty decent fo lks and we are beginning to expect the same marketing techniques from the motorcycle shops that we expect from t he grocery sto re and depart me nt st ore. Dealers who are watching sales drop should stop by and have a look at James Limited and talk to Dick Hillman, o ne of the leaders of the clean and qu iet revolution. And those of you who are as ti red as I am a f being had by mo to rcycle shops should faU by and sec what real "service wit h a sm ile" is all ab out.