Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Guess who d ropped b y o u r offices last Tuesd ay . Billy Bark feather! Most o f us h ad never m e t th e fe llow face to fa ce befor e. Desp ite be in g one o f th e t op in tem at ional stars we fo u n d h im to be de lightfu lly u naffe cted b y h is new found fame an d fo rtu ne. He was quite shy, we discovered, and defe rred m o st of th e questions thai we asked to his m an ager. li e say s tha t once he h as finished his match with J oh n DeS o t o , he may get au t of motocross an d try some th ing else with a challe n ge, dese rt . pe rhaps. We w ill co n tin ue to keep you in form ed o f th is amazing young ri de r's p ro gress. Cl " 0> " Co. N ,... Cl ~ w Z w c o n te n t io n for the wo rld champ ionsh ips. T he possibility that the TT m ay be stoppe d al t o gether has not been ruled out either. • • • • • • We were a little hasty in predictinqth e dem ise of those Vespas that were entered in the Baj a 500 last week . It seems that after ou r reporters left one of the little devils fina lly made it int o the fi ft h ch ec k . As reported, o ne o f them only got past the first check . * * Triu m p h·BS A m ay be gett ing bac k into racing a littl e mo re st rongly . Things hav e im prov ed enough for t hem that th ey can do so with sacrificing the qu al it y o f their for-sa le it e m s. * * Cookie. J ohn McGowan 's d o g and riding partner . broke h is leg pit racing. Well, so rt of. Seem s so m e o ne step ped on h im. We hope th at yo u are we ll an d back in ac tio n soon. Co ok ie. • • • Speak ing of breaking things, Eve l Kn ieve l broke h is back and knuckles o n both hands at a "Half-time" show at a Mile race p romoted by Publisher Clayton in Atlanta, Jorja. Evel wanted to put on a good show and was practicing intently when he got onto a take-off ramp a bit too hot. The resu lting touch down (without a ramp) left Evel with a broken back. The next day he was out o f bed , doing wheelies and tutoring Bob Ward on some of the tric ks of the trade in order to give t he crowd what they paid for . Whatever you may think of stunt jumpers you have to admire a man who can do that. ' * * * The peop le wh o should h ave re cei ved tr ophies fro m th e Elsino re GP b u t haven ' t go tten them can pi ck the m u p at the E lsino re C of C at 13 2 W. Grah am in E lsinore . T hev won 't mail th em to you . These tw o ' d ynamite Cycle News tr ophies are still th ere, t o o. You can ca ll th em (th e Ch amber o f Commerce, n ot th e troph ies) a t ( 7 14) 6 74 -21 77 . • • • Here's the hot scoop a nd latest poop on what the Japanese man ufacturers a re doing. Su zuki is going to d iscs on the front o f their 380 and 550 three cy linder machines . This probably means that their 750 will get them also. The 750 may even get twin discs just to be neat. Yamaha is building a 1 25cc road racer which sells in Japan for 320,000 yen (about $1700) . The Yamaha 650 four stro ke w ill become a 750. The Kawasa k i 250 enduro mach ine will sell for about the same price as the Yamaha DT -2 and we ighs a cla imed 244 pounds. It puts out 23 .5 bhp at 6000 R's a nd 20 .33 ft-Ibs of t orq ue at f ive and a half grand . The Yamaha 250 and 350 t wins will have d isc brakes on their front e nds and Honda will probab ly do likew ise as they have un veiled a 90cc st reet mach ine w ith a d isc. Discs a re defin itely here . * * * It seems th er e is a gang of well-organ ized m o to rcycle th ieves operating arou nd the Palm Springs area. Three o r four bikes have al ready di sappeared in well -p lanned 'rip-o ffs b y thi s sc u m . T he best way to foil th e cu lp ri ts is t o keep yo ur bike locked up , sp rea d th e word to m ake people a ware of it, an d ca ll the sheri ff . T hey used t o hang h orse thieves. • • • Not o nly d id Ft. Hood lose the 1973 ISDT; as a result they lost their candidacy for site of the test trial to be conducted later this year. It looks now as though the test trial will be co nducted as an invit at io na l event somewhere in the Berkshires on August 6, 7 , and 8 of this year. FIM delegate Juan eso ler Bulto (whom the clever among you w ill im m ed iat ely know makes a living build ing Bultacos) has been assigned to attend th e test trial fo r fin al app roval o f the site . * LAT EST * * ~I EDICAL REPORT S ~ llTH : T he ba d leg O J\" was th e ,one th a t was b roken du ring the Baj a 5 00 . Argh . He has a spiral break abou t th ree inch es above th e knee. The bone pi eces a re ' cu rr e n tly hel d to geth er b y a p in tha t w as inst alled as a re su lt of his previ o us b reak . T he body me ch an ics are, fo r so me reas o n , un able to put a cas t on the leg an d there is c u rren tly ab ou t a 3/8·inc h separa tio n b e tw een the p ieces of b one. II ' s expected to take about tw o w ee ks fo r th e pain to subside t tit " allitu, , 1al 01.,. n ~IALCO LM * * JOEL RO BERT. o u r trusted ' ind us trial has signed with spies tell us , Steyr-Daimier-Pu ch of Austri a to ra ce an d develop their new Pu ch 250 th is co ming season. J o el will be under orde rs n ot to seek a w orld ch amp io nshi p wi th th e Puch , bu t de ve lop it fo r a wide range o f racing an d endures. • • • Ho t D og! T his is the K awasaki 250 enduro machine. For all the details hu nt arou nd thi s page. functio n n orm ally and m aybe th ree m onths before the leg will ta ke any weight. The m eth od for getting in th is bad p o sition is to h ave a ch ronic leaky gas tan k (Malcolm h ad several in th e Baja). reach down to check it au t and zowie , yo u 're o ff th e co u rse an d rolling d own th e em bank me n t right into some native Mexican b oulders. Catch your leg betwee n th e lea king tan k a nd th e han d leb ar s and th e leg co m es apart. Sounds like a lot of p ain . Malcolm seems in p retty good sp irits and p la ns to e n te r th e Mex ican 10 00 in a fo u r-wheel m achine. "This su re ru in s a lo t of good su m mer rid ing," he said. A ny body h ave any do ubts about 1\1 r. Smith being an Iro n Ma n ? Any words of en co urage ment can be d irected to Malco lm a t 'the shop: 16 8 9 W. La Cad en a, Riv e rsid e , 92501. They 're sure to be appreciated . • • • Ray G ilbert called from Or lando, Fla. t o say that he is out to set a new Florida t o Californ ia cross-country record . His mount is a stock CL450 (volume se lle r of the Honda biggies). He p lans to leave on July 2, arriving at Newport Beach, Cal . on the Fourth of July'. " I' ve never been to New p o rt Beach ," he bu zzed ove r the long distance w ires. Neit h er have a lot of people in Yuca ipa , Ray. * * * While on the subjec t o f strange and wo nde rfu l b ike h appen ings. we got to chuckling about the third bi ke acro ss the lin e at th e Bah-J ah 500. Cl\' rep o rt ed that it w as Niles Ussery o n the V ick -Usse ry lI u sk y . Ac tually , it w as a Ho nd a 250 wi th a very su rprised ride r aboard . The crowd surged around hi m, strobes flash ed . j\"ORRA officials screamed for h is n um b er. It tu rns o u t th at the poor d ud e w as th e sup port rider for tpe Canna dy-Switzer Yam. He fo llowed Max in o n the last leg an d fin ish ed just a few m inu te s b eh ind hi m . Wh o w as tha t man . any how? staff. howe ver, has id eas . • • • Remember our Kawasak i 750 t est? I f so , you probably remember th at we sa id that it wasn 't a mach ine for the novice and that staffers for severa l bike pub lication s had th row n them awa y . Well, wo rd has reached us that a nother bike writer d id h imself in on one . Seems that he overcooked it a b it getting onto a f reewa y on-ramp , He reported ly had a comely lass on the back who escaped ser ious inju ry . The rider-writer , made a one po int landing on his rear end . The resu lt was that he was stand ing around gathering the pieces w ith that portio n o f h is anatomy in the all -toqether , We also he a r that the fellow has been un able to sit dow n ever since. If o n ly h'e had read Cycle News. * * * T he Isle o f Man ' TT was run last wee k an d is o ver - m ay be fo reve r. The Fo rmula 750 race was wo n by Ray Pick rell aboard a T riu mp h . T h e 25 0 even t was won b y Ph il Read o n hi s privat e Yam ah a '1'0·3 over th e Yamah a factory specials. I t must be very sa tisfy ing fo r him to ke ep be at ing th e team th at fire d him. Gi acom o Ago stini won b oth th e 350 an d 50 0 even ts an d w as one of the many voices raised against the TT. His close friend, G ilbe rta Pa rlo rt i, w as k illed wh en h e cras hed in the rain at 10 0 mph . T h e little rider's crash o n his Mo rbidelli ( th a t is an ironic name ) was th e 99 th fa ta lity in G rand Pri x racing on the Isle. Several things m a y hap p en to the TT . Least seve re is the possibili ty of a shorter ci rcu it w hich would b e eas ier to learn and remember. With th e p rese n t lay -au t , it is possible to confuse tu rn s and fin d yourse lf go ing m u ch too fast. T he o ther possibility is th at t he TT m ay b e st ripped of worl d ch am p io n sh ip status w hi ch would m ean that th e top riders wo uld n' t h ave to rid e it to stay in Desp ite a b ro ken back and bro ken hands suffered wh ile test -j urnplnq his new alloy Harley-Dav idso n X R in Atlanta, EVEL KNIEVEL fitted a back b rac e , flew h is new Beechcra ft Duke to O klahoma City a nd performed a seven-car ju mp there fo r 12,000 fans. Upon landing from th e ju m p Evel d iscovered someth ing the doctors had overloo ked - broken ribs. * * * T RIV IA T HAT LIGHTS T ilE NIG HT. Ed Fish er , fa the r o f Gary Fisher. won Laconi a 19 y ears ago o n a Triump h. Gary wo n it last week on a Yamaha. 'Ib is co u ld be th e year o f the fam ily th ings. Don Em d e foll owed hi s father an d w on Daytona; an d two b rothers , th e Brelsfords, wo n the Louisville Natio nal. • • • WHO SAYS MOTORCYCLES ARE DA NGEROUS : Ma ry Brooks, mother of Cordis and Tom , Desert Daisy , and fo rmer Baja competito r, didn't ride Baja this year . However, as sh e left a hotel in Ensenada she slipped on some steps and chipped a vertebrae . She has been ha n ging out in th e hosp ital eve r since . Hope she gets out soon an d back onto a nice safe motorcycle . - * * * H OT F L AS HES AN D INTERNA'n O NA L ' E VENTS DEPT . Sy lvain _Ge boers an d J oel Robert are goi ng to ride at the L. A . Co liseum fo r the Le isuret ech mo to cross next week . It will be thei r on ly ap pearan ce in Am er ica d uri ng th e In te r-AM A serie s. For those of you wh o have spent the las t five years on Mars, be advised th at these two ar e Nu m bers One an d T wo in th e world (Earth) o n 250cc motocrossers and lo ok like rep eats this year. The y should ad d to the class of th e Co liseum even r, Leisu re tech officials say it's fo r su re an d in writing. I t will be the only opportunity most Californians will get to see T he Bel gian Wrecking Crew and th eir inscru table Suzukis un til the U.S . GP in De ce mber. and th at 's a lo ng way off. • • • • • • THIS OUGHT TO SEIZE YOUR MIND: Three riders signed up for the Lickety-Split Enduro together. T h e official took thirty dollars from them, ten dollars apiece. After they had left and gone back to their truck , he real ized that he was only supposed to charge a three-rna n team $25. So he gave the starting official five dollars to give back to them. The starter was a crook and when they came to the starting line he gave each of them one dollar back and pocketed two dollars. This meant t hat each rid er had pa id n ine dollars o r $ 2 7 t otal. Th e starter had two dollars for a tota l ' of $29. What happ ened to t he other d ollar? Sorry , we do n't k no w either . May be so me Barkfea th er o f t he Math ema t ica l World can co m e u p with so m e so rt o f a nswer b efo re t he edito r loses h is m in d. * * * Her e is the wee kly Cy cle . 'ews West staff change rep o rt . T h is wee k we h ave a new face in ad ve rti sing : Kate Th orpe. She co m es 10 us fro m the California T ho ro ugh b red Breed e rs A sso ciati o n wh o p ubli sh " Tho rough b red of Cali fornia " whi ch probably h as so m e thin g to do with horses . Sh e IIlfc .. m t\ ~\ ft , ,re . ~ T his is Ray Pickrell on th e Tri umph that he used in the Formula 750 race at the Isle of Man and set a new lap record . H e also won the 750 Production event on anot her 750 T riumph and set anoth er passr e of record s for that even t. He had a good week . II I t t ' .1 • • .. • • " oJ U >- U

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