Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

We got a press release recently on the new Penton 17 5 's . The machine is dubbed th e "J ackpiner" and is availab le in b oth end uro and motocross versions . It has go t Motoplat lighting th e fire, has a six speed gea rbo x, and if it 's an ything like th e 125 , it soun ds like a sewing machin e (q uiet) an d goes like w ell-oil ed ligh tn ing. • • • It seems that the Comm erce Committee of the US. Senate intends to force no-fault insurance on motorcyclists. If passed th is w ill mean a co nsid erab le rise in insu ran ce rates for b ikies ($1200 per year in New York City has been estimated). Sin ce a majority of auto-car accidents are the fault of autoists we stand to lose big . Write Se nat o r Warren G. Magnuson, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Co mm ittee , and your own Senators and Congressmen . * * * People in the Wan to n Ad d ep art ment of th is paper have b een b ugging us to tell you to send in very legib le co Py fo r your want ads 'cause th ey can tread them, an d t hey screw up alo t, Bu t tha t's their problem an d w e aren 't going to tell you. They snivel too mu ch , anyway . • • * We just learned f rom a so urce t h at w ishes to re main an o nymous t hat the motocross win g of t he ACA is b rea king aw ay t o becom e it's own orga n ization. The new org a nizatio n w ill be ca lled America n Motorcro ss En te rprises and w ill sanct io n eve nts at all t he dates and locations previou sly slated fo r ACA moto cross . There ar e going to be some very surp rised peo p le rea d ing this, rig ht, Wes? . * * • * * Bob Steffen , a me mber o f the Sh amroc ks M.C., was presen ted an aw ard by his cl ub fo r win ning the District 37 nu mber o ne plate in e ndu ro competit io n : a Ron Schneide rs da rt board and six darts. " O h, b oy! Ju st what I a lway s wa nted!" Bob wa s reported to ha ve e xc laimed. * * * There has been a bit o f co ntrove rsy surrounding Gary Scott. It seems as if a number of p eople, including a newspaper published occ asio nally near here, h ave printed th at Scott h as b een .."c ontracted" to ride Nortons during 1972. In order to squelch the rumor, Pentons Wail... By Ron Schneiders POTOSI, MO., April 16 , 1972 Torrential rains nearly drowned out this qualifyin g round for the 1973 International Six Days Trials scheduled for Ft. Hood, Tex. Swollen creek s and high riv er crossing s eliminated more than half o f th e co ntestan ts in less th an 100 mil es, an d all but 17 rid ers had been eliminat ed a t the end of th e tw o-d ay eve n t. Of th ose, th ere were three golds and all wer e won b y members o f th e Pen ton clan wi th b est sco re going to J ack Pen ton. A lso secu ring go ld s w er e J ack 's brother, J eff, and D oug Wilford. A ll rode t he I25's. Penton entered two trade te ams an d acco unted for firs t and second pl ace s in th e trad e team co mpetitio n. Ho wever. no trade team a nd no club te am finis hed intact, th at is, with all th ree rid ers fin ish ing. T he b est, bo th in trade and club com pe t ition , was tw o o ut of t hree finish ing. . T he club team competition was wo n b y the St. Louis Ho nda Club with Dave Mu ngen ast (Ho n) and Ed Schmid t (H us) both win ning silvers. Mungenast rode a 250cc Honda, the first suc h m achine to co mp ete in ISDT-type events. Full story, results and photos in next week 's issue. ...And SO does Weinert. By Kevin !lill O LYM PIA , WASH ., April 16 , 1972 J im my Weinert (Yam) had an easy ti me in win ning th e 250 Pro class in today's fourth round to the Pacific-AMA Motocross series . Such was n ot the case in the 500 class however, as Bill Co ok (Mai) turned in consistent rides to win overall a fter the favorites experien ced me chanical problems . A fter winning th e first o n a technicality Uo h n DeS oto won but was bumped b ack o ne postiion for jumping the start), he co llec te d a second and third. DeSoto, with seconds in the ini tial two mo tos, was leading the fin al when the eng ine blew and he had to push acro ss in seven th, good fo r th ird o verall. Gary Jones (Yam) had firs t rno to problem s but co rr ec t ed th em in the final rounds and won both, ta k ing second o verall. N t e otest Gary himsel f sa t d o wn and wrote us a letter saying he will not rid e anyth ing but T riump hs t his year. We read t he letter to a swag at Norton V illiers and he choked . "That 's very interesting," he said a nd hung up to make another p hone call. Evidently, somewhere alo ng th e line so meo ne mis understood so me th ing about wh o was riding what, so mehow. All w e ca n say is t hat Gary is about th e b est am bassador fo r any bike. * * * . Alth ough Pace Management called us to remind us t hat Gary Wells was not "paralyzed for life" or even injured , we st ill have not heard from Gary himself. We recei ved an intri guing communique fro m an Arizona journalist who has be en ho t on Wells' tail fo r some time and k eeps o n h itt ing d ead ends. "If Gary is pe rfect ly all right, w hy doesn't he give someone a ph one call , make an appearanc e , so me th ing?" the fell ow cried. May be Wells ju st wants a rest. Ho w about a phone call anyway, Gary? J ust t o ma ke Evel happy . * * HELPING THE RUMOR ALONG DEPARTMENT: AJS, it seems, may b e building a 500 five spe ed , and if it handles lik e an Ajay, look out. Of course it wouldn't seem to make the brand new 410 so me th ing wi th a bright future . * ~ no Q. • • The paste-up p eople forgot to mention last week that the neat pix from Ascot Half-Mil e were taken b y Dennis Gre ene. We also suspect they forgot to mention that th e Asc ot pix from this w eeke nd were taken by Dan Mah oney ...fo r shame. * * * • • • An average of 400 ne w mo t o rcyc les are off- loaded each tim e a Navy air craft ca rrier co mes in port stateside. To t ea ch saf et y t o the sa ilors , t h e Navy is fl yi ng a Cal ifo rn ia Highway Patrol off icer out t o each homebo u nd ca rrier . Lessons ar e cond ucted on th e flight de ck "watch t ha t f irst jump; it 's a th riller!" Ha -ha , remember that little joke o n page 3 1 of our April Fo ol issue ? (Rem em ber , our April Fo ol issu e?) Whe re we ribbingly reported that the Hell 's Angels had announced a "new Im age?" Well , we were just kidding aro und, fell as. Honest. The Hell's Angels ar e reall y just as me an and nasty a bunch as yo u'd ever want to meet, and we promise nev er again to take Sonny Barger's name in vain . Now will you please tak e yo u r boo t o ff my neck ? * * • Irwi ndale Rac eway where you usu ally see peop le goin g lik e be jeesus for a q ua rte r mile , now ha s a b ike park. It is open on Su ndays nine t o five. It will cost y o u $ 2 t o get y our b ike in. Yo u have to have a h elmet , glo ves, and bo o ts . They d id n't tell us anything ab out silencers. If you don't require th em now, fellas, you'd best shape up. ..... m '" N By Papa Wealey 0. to. One of Don's friends came along to watch and happened to be standing with Stu Peters and the Jones' attorney when they were discussing the matter. Ha ving no real business in the matter, h e chimed in, "Well, I don't think you' re dealing with th e J oneses any lo nge r. You're dealing with Yamaha." The guy had no business being there and the co mment was of litt le im portance, except that Stu had no idea w ho t he dude was and became very up set over it. Don also felt he owed an apology to t he other CMC organizations suc h as CMC No rth, w ho put o n t he Eve! motocro ss, CMC Utah , an d othe rs . " I had no id ea there wer e othe r CMC's and I d id n 't mean " to say so m et h ing bad about th em . " As we men t ioned ear lier , Randy Riggs ' art icle in "Cycle World" h as d one a d isservi ce, but w e d idn 't h elp much b y mis construing the even ts at Lio ns t ha t nigh t. Sigh . events ought to take care of th ings lik e that. If you're hurt , you're stuck . And you 're in trouble." Take heed . • • • As expected, the item about the JonesfCMC controversy was me t with less than enthusiastic response. Doug Ward placed an im mediate call . "No, Yamaha is not involved. I can say that definitely ," said Ward . "This matter is purely between Jones and CMC." Doug explained that the reaso n for wh at appeared to be a show of force on the part of Yamaha executives was because wo rd got around that thei r new shoe J im Weinert was going to race , and if th e Gary and DeWayn e J ones we re allowed to e nter it would b e even better. We then ca lled Steve Evan s, wh o said that th e p ar t abou t Yamaha threat ening to pull adv ertis ing revenue fro m Lio ns was a far ce, since th ey have no acc o unt with the drag stri p t o b egin wit h . Evans d id state quit e em p ha tically tha t the o ther state me n t ("They aren ' t d ealing with th e J ones any m ore, th ey're dealing with u s") was ind eed mad e b y a man in a fancy sui t with a fancy c ar who cla imed to b e fro m Yamaha. Well, alm ost. * * • Norton Villiers Corp. has announced a Bon us Awar d of $12,000 which will b e pa id t o any rider winnin g t he A MA National No .1 plate during 1972 . Th is Bo nus is payab le subject t o the foll o wing conditions: . 1. Th at as fr om May 1, 1972 , t he rider will have ridden a Norton powered ma chine in ' all AMA TT , Half Mile and Mile events co u nt ing towards the National Championship. 2 . Riders will be free durin g 1972 t o ride any mak e of machine in Sh o rt Track and Road Races count ing t oward s th e National Cha m pio nsh ip . 3. Rid ers will agr ee t o all ow th eir name to b e used in any Norton Villiers Co rp. pUblicit y pr ogram as a resu lt of winning National No. 1 o r any events counting t owards this Cham pion shi p . We talked to Don J o nes at Eve!'s motocro ss tw o w ee ks ago . He lo oked weary wh en the w hole matt er was first mentioned and ret ired to th e q uiet of h is mo tor h ome to d iscu ss it further. He ex pl ain ed that his attorney, who ar riv ed irr a Lincoln Contin en ta l, tap e recorded th e whole incident, so th er e ca n b e no doubt abou t who said what , if p ro o f "is necessary . Accordi ng to h im, everyth ing was under co ntro l and he sta yed in th e background ju st as h is atto rney told him We are saddened t o hear t hat George Johnson's magnif ient Rawh ide Park will be closed down at th e end of 30 day s. How sad. Rawh ide Park has one of the best motocross cou rses in the state . l n cfact , Rawh ide Park is the finest place to go ridi ng in South ern Calif ornia. It is odd ho w a place such as Rawh ide can go under due to lack of support wh en it features a real live stream and m iles of t rails tha t have only been t raveled a handful of times. It is very green and very cool and very quiet. We do n't kn ow if a sudden rall y of support will save the park, but at least it will all eviate some of th e staggering co sts George has incurrred wh ile struggling to remain op en th ese past fe w month s. Go o ut there befor e it closes down and enjoy one of our tr uly fin e ridi ng areas. Th e admission is very low . T ak e Hi ghw ay 71 . into El sin ore to H ighw ay 74 east . Go a mil e or tw o on 74 'til you get to th e sign. We 'l! see you th ere. • • • Dayligh t savings time roll s around th is w eekend, so d on 't forget to get u p an ho ur earlier an d p ull on them d irt y 0 1' boots an' d rive out to t he race. Ya wn! Maybe if you go to b ed an hour earlier you w ill ca tc h up. O f co urse , th en you lose an hour of bi k e p rep aratio n time. So q u it reading th is, and go work o n So th at o ld turkey. " m eb od y is b ound to fo rge t and you will have an hour's head s ta r t o n 'em. * * • Minn esot a became th e fi rst state t o inc lude mo to rcycle training and a requirem ent in its h igh sch ool driver ed ucat io n co urses . As of Ap ril 15, 19 72, new rid ers ove r 18 years old w ill hav e t o ta ke a wr itten ex am t o get t h eir bik e operator's lic en se . Those under 18 w ill have to ta ke t h e h igh school cou rse . ~8JIl • • • Watch fo r the Japanese motorcycle companies to announce a very big, expensive program o f motorcycle rider training and safety education. The program will cover both on and o ff-road techniques. * * * We had a fell o w ca ll us wit h an u npleasant . sto ry th at bears occasion al mention. He was riding at o ne of t he loca l non -A MA desert even ts . He has been r id ing fo r seven o r eight yea rs and ha s had his sh are of get-offs . Well, this time La d y Lu ck elbowed h im goo d, and now he is la id up wit h back injuries and a closed sh o p. Bills pile u p a nd there 's no in com e . "I never th ou ght about insuran ce for t he seve n o r eight years I' ve been riding," said th e man with deep re morse , "B ut I t h ink about it now. T hese peop le wh o ride un insured 2} illitES • 14 I~~,~ .2.1l HELMETS 1 SHOES IIIIE IORI mm SIlr-ms GIl JrUFflfIS •.BEGUIlIED , ..--- 1II'r-, s.aTUIlllAYS_SlIMlATS _ ..........._:::::: IlLiClllllUaUllAYS _ YAUTlIlII TE llOUlS ,I ,IJO.llll.la5,ll1l'J ';::~=- _...... ..-..--- (Postscri pt: We wer e going to run a pictu~f some guy on a motorcycle goi ng throug one of the neat Rawhide wat ercrossings unti l Buzz Baty walk ed in w it h th is-here f ot o. Surely we ha ve other pictu res of guys on motorcycles elsewhere in th is iss ue.) « ~ w Z W ...J U ~ U

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