Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ w Z W ..J U >- U B'I~I I ••• Am eric a's N u m b er wee kly m otor cycle ne wspape r. You'll always see it first in Cycl e Ne ws. (MiiC ) MOTOR~~~te~ IN DUST RY ~iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~ ~U N C~L C;O ~~ ' ~ STRA IGHTEN KARL OUT Contary to y our report in the June 6th issue. Hodak a 10 0 engines a re being produced righ t now and we do not pl an to cease production in the n ca r future they are available from au thorized Hodaka deale rs. Wh ere did yo u get the in fo rm at io n abo ut the ' 883cc Hod a ka ? Please ide n tif y the sec u ri ty leak . MARVI N FOSTER Promo tio n Di rec to r Pacific Basin T rad ing Co mpany Karl Weale y says he o ver h ea rd it wh ile at th e Kaw a sak i R&0 ea vesdro p p ing headquarters . It wa s sai d short ly after someo ne inside said 49 0 ccs and everyone broke o ut lau ghing. Th at 's all we kn o w...Ed . Dear Mr. Robinson: Last Memorial Day weekend was a motorcycle ou ting for my family and friends. \\ 'e were in th e Anz a Borrego area with a group of approximately 25 persons, 10 of whom had moto rcy cles. All of th e motorcycles were licensed, properly mufflered, their o pe rato rs ca rried n o wire c u tlers and as far as I can dete rmi ne no ne were of th e parent age yo u described in yo ur letter to 1'.1r. San ford . On th at three d ay wee kend we drove over ma n y trails and observed many oth er m o to rcy clists , n o n e of whom d isregarded private property signs. cu t fenc es, fr igh tened live sto c k or en dange red autos or res idents. I rese nt the infer en ce th at m y self o r any of my frie nds bear any resemb lan ce to the people that you wr ot e abou t in yo ur letter to ~ I ... Sanfo rd . I fur ther rese nt y o u r p o sit ion and tha t o f your associa tio n in requ esting- st ricter law s that will be more co nfin ing to th e motorcycle rid er. Th er e are presently ad equ ate laws in the Californ ia Pen al Code and th e various County Ordinan ces. In my opinio n and in the ap pare n t opi n ion o f our lawmakers these law s are m ore than adequate to deal with the incid ents of tre sp ass that you describe. You are apparen tly co n fu sing the need for legislation with that of inadequate law enforcemen t. I suggest yo u con ta ct your lo cal sh eriff, highway pa trol or other law enforcement agen cy and dis cuss your problem. If y our law enforcement agen cy does not h ave sufficient personnel to enforce the laws, I suggest you support a special tax assessment of all the property o wners to increase th e nu mber of enforcement people in your area. 1'.1r. Robinson, th e laws are there, all you need are th e personnel to enforce them. I am sure that if you and y our neighbors were burglarized during th e Mem orial Day weekend by mal e Caucasians between the ages of ~5 an d 3D, the so lu tio n to your p roblem would not be to restrict and confine all male Cau casians between the ages of 25 an d 30 to a concentration camp: you wo uld co n tac t your lo cal police and ask for additional protection. R IC HARD M. BROWN S yl m ar. Ca lif. · MORE ROB INSON REBUT TA L Yo u w ould pen alize m an y good and co nsc ien tious off-road rid ers fo r the ac tions of a few . Perh ap s we should p en ali ze th e ro ad riders fo r the actions o f the Hell's Ange ls. Yo u do not meet th e n ice st pe ople o n a Honda. CHUCK MILLER Downey, Cali f. ONE DAY GREE NHOR NE R As a "Sunday on ly " finisher in the Greenhorn Enduro co ncu r with the feelings of the Two Day Finisher's Pin Committee. Most riders take great pride in all earned pins, and for some this is the only recognition received for years of participation, thus they should only Cha rles Clayton Sharo n Clayton Tom Culp Jo hn Beth ea John Huett er Art Fried man Ed Drechsler . . .. . Rheba Smith Marla Tarbet AI Duke . . ; Paul Boud reau Howie Fowl er Larry Groves Marion Hatashita Bobi Culp Rand y Dietzel Barbara Bebeck Squeekv Hay nes Beverly Townsend _ Publ isher Business Mana ger Gen eral Manag~r Manag ing Edi tor Ed it or Assistant Ed ito r Advertising Manager Circulation Manager Circulation Assistant Circulation Assistant . . . Production Manager Prod uct io n Assistant . .Lab Technician T ypographer Assistant Typographer Bookkeeper . . Bookkeeping Assistant General Sec retary Recep t ion ist National Adve rtising Director (Cycle News West . Cycle News East, Cycl e News Dixie) : Tom Culp. Cycle News West , P.O . Bo x 498 , Lon g '9 0 8 0 1. (2 13) Beach . Cal ifornia 427 ·7433 ; L.A. 636·8844. T ELEX NO. 673474 Subscription: One year, second class mail 2 years, second class mail 3 years, second class mail Single copy price , S10 $17 $21 $.35 Pub lish ed week ly except th e first and last week of th e ca lendar year by Cyc le News, Inc ., Po st Office Box 498, Long Beach, California . Also publishers of Cycle News East rand Di xie Cycle News. Second Clas s Po st age paid at Lon g Beach, Cali f. Ed itorial st or ies, ca rto ons. photos, etc. a re we lcome . Addressed, stamped en velope assures return o f editorial matter . Re p rinting in whole o r in part only by pe rmi ssion of the publishers . Ad vert isin g rates and circulat ion info rma tio n wil l be sent up on req uest. Se e S.R.D.S. Copyright€! Cycle News, Inc . 1972 all rights res erved I.iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~ Major Inside Reports NAT ION A L: Indy Road Race COLU MN : The Latest Poop ROAD RACE : ACA at Carlsb ad DIRT TRACK; Pro Half-Mile in Ohio SCRAMBLES: Perris weekly; Dist . 37 Pt . Run DESE RT : R 1m Runn ers' Hare Sc ra mb les SECTION : No rt h SPEED WAY : One of th e fas test - Irw ind ale ROAD TEST : Ltw t . Part III - t he 125 Nog uch i MX MOT OC ROSS: La ke T ah o e Nat ional MO T OC ROSS: A new one, A rr o y o Cycle Par k SECTIO N: Resu lt s (and bunches of 'em again) TECH NICAL : E.C. Birt 's Rickman G o -Fast T ricks S ECTION: Viewpoint - Editorials and Opinions S ECTION: Calendar, listings into August CARTOON : T he unbelievable Motocross Cat SECTION: Dealer Directory & Want Ads 6 9 10 12 14 .20 .22 24 26 28 . 30 32 38 .42 .46 50 51 sp ecies, the cl ub moved the ro ute so as n ot to disturb a potential nesting site. T he win ding through 1~5 miles of high desert, scrub pine and footh ills will start at Ballinger Ca nyon . nestl ed in the Cuyama Valley of the Los Padres Natio nal Forest. The e nd uro should run over rather easy te rrain an d 8 0% are estim a ted 'to ea rn th e unique finisher p in, if a condor d o esn 't ca rry th em off. All m achines are to have a rnufflerj spark re quired ar re ste r. D ue to US FS requirem cn ts , there is a limi ration on e n tries so no p ost er s a re o u t, b ut p o st en tr ies wi ll be open . Powder Pu ffs , Fathe r/Son and Clu b teams are we1come and expected . Seventy-six out of state, fo rty -nine NorCal and two Swiss A lpine riders are entered so this is a true Natio na l event. This is as close as California will ever get to an ISDT-type run. Se cond of Jul y is th e date , Ballinger C anyon is th e p lace . T h is is a new enduro a re a , 16 mile s fr om :\laricopa, 3 5 miles west of Gorm an. 3 0 mil es south of T a ft, ap pro ximate ly 140 miles fro m L.A. RED ~IO U"TAI" RALPH Lo s Angeles . Cal if. TRASK! VOICES OF THE WEST b e re cei ved b v t hose riders earn ing them. With all ' du e respect to th e t wo d ay Fini she rs , 1 have re mo ved th e lowe r half o f my ea rn ed Greenh orn pin co n tain ing the 5 0 0 . La st year all en trants in th e 11 0m re ceiv ed pins at sign up. TED IIARP Walnut , Calif. THE PRIVATEER PAPERS Last week 's "National Papers" , wh ich I noted was a u th o re d hv !lob F . Re ad, (whom I unfortunately h ave not met). touched upon a subje ct that I was ex tremely c o n ce rn ed with a sh o rt tim e back . Mr. Read st ated in th e o pe ni ng paragraphs of his d issertation th at there was a ce r ta in hollo wness in th e th e ory that . today 's privatee r ra ce rs ca n n o t co m p e te with the mi ghty fac to ry teams. li e d o cumented the co n tri b u tio n b y bringing to th e public 's att e nt io n the fact th at private m achin es have won four of the first seven Nati o nal Championship eve n ts. As one of the o rigina l backers o f th e Privateer push, I can no t help but feel that the afo rem e n tioned the ory is beginn ing to take on hollow charac teristics just as your author stated . However . the fac t of th at begin ning tren d m akes m e very proud in a nu m be r of ways. Fo llo wing th at train of though t , Mr. Read ' s assertion, th at th e factory salaries or b onuses e x te n ded to factory team ride rs h ave n o effec t o n h ow fas t a rid er is, be comes a very vali d one. However, if th ere w ere n ot a go ve rn ing b ody to guide the rules properly , the m onetary strength o f th e fa ctory c ould very easil y cause a monopoly in co m pe t it ion . And as you r auth or hinted , the road-racing circuit is certainly o n e that gets a b it expensive. In most cases corp orate subsidation can be extended further than th at of a private individual. The on ly poin t where it ap p~ ars that Mr. Re ad 's opinions are a bit shallow is the fact that perhaps he needed to co ns id er th e p ossiblity th at th er e h ave allege d ly be en instan ces wh en eq u alit y of equipment has been questi oned. But then again, perh aps I'm wrong in that as su m p tio n , because I d o remember that Mr. Re ad mentioned something about privateer kin g !lob Bailey and someth in g " bou t a cl aiming at the up coming O ntario event. \l'ith all competitors living ac co rd ing to the same set of rules, 1 would think there w ould never be re ason for another claiming. Oh well, maybe I've mi sconstrued the directives of that particular p aragraph . C. A . BROWN SEXTON STRAPPED BUT NOT SHORTER A note of thanks to all of J eff Se xton's fri ends wh o sent c ards, letters, cal led , or visited . Jeff is now home with do ct or's o rders to remain in bed for two weeks stra p ped into hi s b ack brace . \l' e h ave to sit o n him to keep him down as he can't stand 24 h ours a d av in bed . li e is w alking ab out ' some, but c on tra ry to pop u lar rumors h e will no t be two inches shorter. T he doctors predict th at he will be ba ck riding within th ree to six mon th s, J eff figu res that he wi ll be rid ing befo re the season is ove r. li e wants a sho t at the finals th is year. A ve ry sp ec ial thanks to all th e peopl e in the SRA wh o showed so m uch concern. To the Shoema n : Ken, you got to be the mo st bitchin' guy on th e ea rth . O ur heart felt than ks for yo u r conc er n. T HE S EXTON FAl'.lIL Y Chino, Cal if. HUGE CONDOR ENDURO REROUTE FORCES After three months of ard uous co u rse layout, the Dirt Diggers were forced to alter the course o f th e National Championship Red Garter Enduro. A condor. largest bird in North America with a 16 ft. wi ngspan , was spotted at Mt. Abel. Since this is a p rotected Dear R o n, In a tr iump h of vigor over jou rn alistic accu racy, Cycle . Iews prin te d last week (6 / 13) . th at the Pen to n team h ad wo n the Trask Mountain :>lanu factu re r's Award . It tu rn s ou t, h owever. that th e OS SA team wo n the event. In y our re por t to th a t e ffect this wee k, you 've exhibited w hat I consi der th e ep ito me of ta in ted jo urn alism , o pi nio na te d a nd mixed wi th a d egree of in accuracy. 1I0w would y ou justify running an IS DT qu ali fier even t withou t usin g a t leas t portion s o f th e IS!)T rules (i.e . Scorin g)? Th e Penton team co ns ist s ()f ... so me of th e finest riders in th is co u n t ry. Th ey've ably represented th e U.S. A . in the ISDT e n ough that they should be at least as familiar with the scoring as anyone e lse. Why not run your team at Trask Mountain like the Pen tons did a t Bad Rock? T here 's noth in g wrong with doing it first, is there ? Our OSSA team won the Trask :\lo u n ta in event fair and sq u are .As for in accuracy. there's no IS DT rule requiring riders to c o m p e te on different displacement ma chines, within a team, as you sta ted . The IS DT rules do require a Club T eam to ride mac hines of different makes. I believe this is the rule y o u' re referring to. I t is y o u r right to express your opinion, Ron. so long as it is labeled as such. It is your responsibility to report fa cts. It is you r readers' right to re ceive an accu rate report- of the go ings- on . You fill a very real need in the motorcyclin g medb. Someone has to st and up and holler o nc e in awhile to keep all of us o n o ur toe s. 1 do feel, however. that yo u r credibility and person al importan ce wi ll dwindle in dire ct proportion to th e number of tim es you allow yo ur enth usiasm to act as the in dus try's "irri t.m t ", CAL KREfTr Weste rn Sales Man ager Yankee Mo to r Co mpany P.S . Hop e tha t co lla rbone is O K soon . Dear Cal. I never intended t o imply tha t the OSSA team did not win the Tra sk fair and square and if any reader s got that impression , I offer my sincere apologies. My only excuse for misreport ing it in the first place was that I was with the scorers until 2 o'clock Monday morning and ~th ey still had no team resutts .I had an 8 o 'clock dead line, a very sore should er and a story to write so I made my best guess as I tr ied to make clear in the report . It turne d out wrong. I do thi nk the rules used were a bit illogical, but th is is not to take anyth ing fro m the fine effort of the OSSA team. Anyway. iLis all yo ur fault. If you had just gotten those OSSA guys to ride a littl e faster, I wouldn't have had any prob lems with scores!...Ron '

• Cover