Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

AMA DISTRICT MANAGE RS : T he District Manager for th e North west is Bill S pen cer (not to be confuse d wi th Billbo ard Spe ncer, o ur ace NorCal C o r r e s p on d e n t ) . H i s d i s t r ict enco m passe s Washing to n, Oregon, Id aho, Mont an a , both Dakotas, and Alaska. Folks u p th ataway w ho want to . reach him can point th eir pens at Box 272, Pay allup , Wash. 98371. Yo u can also get his 24 hou r p h on e service at 206/848-3 339. Jim Nidiffer is AMA Intermo untain District honcho an d lives in Box 20064, Denver, Colorado 80220 and can be reached through a wire c o n n e c t e d to telephone n um b er 303/333-847 1. J im ' s region in cl ud es Colorado, Utah, New Mexi c o , Arizona, and Why.oh -ming. * * * . We were sitti n g around d iscussing who was go ing to be Gra nd Nationa l Champ next year. One staffer th inks that it will be Ga ry Scott; a lot of .people agree. Mark Bre lsford wi ll, of course, be a likely cand idate. Gene Ro me ro was mentioned as was atways-popular Dick Mann. Yama ha w ill have Ken Roberts and Ga ry Fisher , both good all-rounde rs. The t hi ngs that will decide it a re mach ine performance a nd re liab ility a nd .inju ry . Chance w ill p laya hand . One popu lar pe rson who has the talent to do the job, b ut who has h is privateer status acting aga inst h im is fo rm e r Nationa l Champ Gary Nixo n. * * * COW GOSSIP: Some of our staffers we re invited to a little do with Kawasaki's PR and racing guys the other night. Wh ile there , we we re ab le to pick up a few bits of information , T he 450 m o to crosser is being b uilt for sale. 2 00 copies of Brad's b ike are bein g asse mbled. 194 will go to d ealers who ' can sp onso r or sell them. As it will say on the shop manual: "what you see is what yo u get". They are the same as Brad's. However, next fal l they will make a less - exotic version with alumin um rather than m ag parts an d (as one Kawasaki honcho p ut it) a "lead pipe" frame. But it will be avai lable. .;.T here is also an ISDT (read "Enduro") version in the works. Despite the fact tha t the bash was held at a seafood house, no one would say anything about th e "lobs ter di nne r" . T hat is the code name fo r the Big K's 500cc four-stroke single. We learned that Yvon D u Hamel cracked his back in two places while racing them weird snowmob iles up in Canada. This presented a mild proble m to the Kaw asaki folks , who were spending a d ay at Ontario Speed way . taki ng promotion pic tures of their racin g teams . Naturally, Yvon was n't avai lable. So the little green me n had to find so meone to ri de h is 1 10 HI' motorcycle for the pictures. T he o n ly p er son sm all enough to fit in the fea rless French Canadian 's leathers was PR dude Jeff Heininger. You can te ll which one he is when you see the p ictu res - he is rid ing straigh t up and looks terrified: • • • WHERE DID T HE FIM ACQUIRE THEIR SCHEDULING EXPERTISE? Great Bri tain will host the 250 class Trophee des Nations m o t o cr o ss on Sep te mber 16 of th is year. That's the same d ay that the Road Race of the Year at Mallory Park is scheduled. Both are FIM -san ctioned international events. Both are big crowd -p ullers and England is geographically too sm all to tolerate that kind of internal co m p e ti tion for moto rcycling sp ec at o rs. - * * * * * * In some Br itish mo t o c ro ss events, t he mechan ical starting gate fa lls towa rd the riders inst ead of away from them . Presumably t o keep eager beavers f rom jumping t he gate . The first Jawa was rid d en in Western E uropean speedway only six years ago. By Barry Briggs . . • • • At this w eek 's Baymare pro M-cross , the J ones boys were o n Hondas. • • • It embarrasses a dog t o " Ad ol p h" . * * be ca lled * The British weekly , "Motor Cycle News". made .a recent selection of the top ten motocross riders in the wo rld. T heir choices, in order, were: Ake Jonsson, Roger DeCoster, J oel Robert, Heikki Mikkola, Jaak Van Velthoven, Sylvain Geboers, Paul Friedrichs, Hakan An dersson, John Banks and A ndy Roberton . We find the exclus ion of West Ge rmans (Adolph Weil, Willi Bauer); Cz echs (Miro slav H alm an d Jaroslav Falta - a GP wi nner); R ussians (Kavinov and Moiseiev); and Americans, to be rather a narrow view on their part. Both Lackey an d Weinert, for in st an ce , have beaten Roberton at most of their meetings. And how about the Swedes ? Aberg, Kring an d Hansen should be considered in there so mewhere . • • • J im my Weinert may be lo o k ing for a ro ad racing ride. At least he has been seen very frequently w ith Kawasaki road raci ng team manager Bob Hansen 's granddaughter. * * * Arizona Cycle Park, site of the Phoenix T ransAMA, has go t a d eep , lo am y , traction surface that mos t California track operators wo uld kill for. Most of ' the In ternational riders agreed . Mai nl y we think they liked the big up hills and down hills. T hey do so rt out t he MXers. * * * . AN D THE LAST THIN G I REMEMBER, DOC , I STARTED T O SWERVE ...T he S uzuki 750 road ra cers have been clocked at 183 MPH at a test track in J ap an. Last year th e bikes were d oin g 174 MPH at th e same p lace. We understand th at Suzuki team riders may h ave to h ave special leath ers m ade that won't bum at these velocities. • • • Co lin Seeley , Br it ish f rame bu ilder of considerable note, has bu ilt hi s first monocoque fra me . It was bu ilt around a Suzu k i 500 twin. Seeley is noted in this cou ntry fo r h is tube f ra mes that tamed the team Kawasaki 750's . * * * THE KAWASA KI Z-2 ! Righ t. Kawasaki is goin g to build a follow-up to the 903 Z-l. T his o ne is a 750 with the same lay o u t. Bore-stroke d imensions ar e d ifferent. T he reason for it is that the J apan ese government won't allow the sale of anything larger than a 750 in that co u n t ry , so Kawasaki co m p lied . Maybe they will import some. * * • • • * • • • BAR RY BR IGGS, so m eti m e Cycle News correspo ndent and fo ur time World Speedway Champ ion , d ropped by the CN offices last week en route to New Zea land . It seems that anno u ncements of h is ret ireme nt we re no t en tirely true . He is reti ring f rom Br it ish League racing fo r th is season , whi ch is the mainstay of b ig time wo rld speedway, but w ill race in some of the b ig meets or special events like ma tch races d u ring 1973. After New Zeala nd , he is schedu led for so me German lo ng track races (That's k ind of like speedway on a sand y half-mi le wit h b ikes geared for 100 MPH .) later th is mo nth. He will be back in the US . to give a speedway school after Daytona in March. * * * * * • • • TRIPES TO RIDE CHAPARRAL . Wh ile Marty and fa ther , George Tripes , were t ryi ng to get hi s factory rid e w it h CZ sorted out a nd ag reements f ina lized , . fo urteen year-o ld b rother Mike took some in d e pen d ent action . He wa lked up to the Chapa rral d ist ributor, to ld him ho w good he was and wa lked away w ith a sponso red rid e . No muss , no f uss . * * * THE CONTINUING SAGA OF WHO 'S ON WHAT. Gary Jones on a Honda. • • • dist ribute KONI shocks, wou ld like to hear from a ll 19 72 race winners whose cycles were equ ipped w it h KO Nl s. Send all information to Walt von Schonfeld, VP Adv/PR, Bikon i Lim ited , ISO G ree n si., Hackensack , N.J . 0760 1. * * * • • • * * * La rry Huffman, moto r-mout h ex traordina ire, info rm ed t he spectators at the Baymare pro f ramm us t hat among t he front runners were Larry T ripes , Marty Grossi, and Bob Jones. We are always glad to see new stars en ter the professional motocross scene. * * * Joh n Hateley and Dave A ldana were also there, passing up the smooth t rack TT at Ascot to race motocross. Hateley made $37.50 and Aldana didn't. • • • All the editors of CN are itching to hang it up, go boogie off an d enter the neat motocross during Aspen, Colorado's famous Winterskol. The MX will be held Jan. 27 in the mi ddle of where the railroad station used to be . Pant, Pant. Snow fu n . (Continued on page 29) * BARRY SHEENE, English boy wonder road ra cer, will be sponsored by Barry Briggs at Daytona. • • • MASO N L EW IS , a motorcycling Even tho ugh it lo o ks like t rials cha mp resid e nt o f Santa Mo nica , Ca lif. , was Mick A ndrews w ill rid e for Yamaha in c ited under a mu nicipa l o rd ina nce for develop ing a new trials mach ine , he will park ing his motorcycle in a city park ing rid e a T riump h fo r Brita in in the 1973 lot. Th e Santa Monica ordinance seems IS DT . clearly a constitutio na l vio lation that * * * • d iscrim in ates without cau se aga inst a LEARN T O ROAD RAC E .The AFM will p roperly regist e red moto r vehicle . It have a rider's sch ool this Saturday a t a lso ma kes pla in common sense that a On tario in prepar at ion for their fu ll city pa rk ing lo t shou ld be open for use program of ra ci ng on Sunday . by any citizen w ho has a reg istered motor veh icle and a n ickel to put in t he SUZUKSTERS : Paul Smart has signed meter. to race Su z uk is , apparently ab andoning * * * Kawasak i. At Daytona , the Suzuk i team Former World Champ Phil Read has will consist of Sma rt , Ron Gra nt, Geoff signed to ride for MV Agusta. He will Per ry , and last year's w in ner, Don pilot the 35 0 and 500 racers and also Emde. At th is t ime, Emde is only signed hope s to have a 750 four for Formula to ride Daytona. T hi s gives Suzuk i a 750 meetings in Europe and, possibly, tea m ro st e r that must be outstand ing England an d th e U.S. fo r. it s re ord of consistency. • • • ;, J * 1 , *.. * '; l ~ ~ <'i N g ~ ~ ~ w c3 > o Biko ni, t he folks who im po rt a nd * Wonder who all those Experts will get to drive their vans n ow that the AMA has eli minated J uniors from m o st of the Nationals? Harley has booked Day tona a few days previous to the ra ce fo r testing of race rs by Mark Brelsford and Calvin R ay bo rn. * * Boy, are we relieved . We just found out that Buffalo Breath motocross (a lias "rugby") jerseys are still available . Same price ($ 14 .9 5) but a new p lace - Grand Prix Cycles, 2450 Cam ino - Real, Santa Clara , Ca. 9505 1. Whew! Now the ed ito r ha s three. The glutton. He looks like a t r icked-out convict . Don't let Kawasak i k now, but Brad Lackey rid es a Honda minib ike around t he pits. * * • • • The " Cyc le W6rld" show th is yea r is looking to put the emphasis on racing b ikes and street machines altered for performance. There w ill be all t he us ua l • classes, but they wa nt to have a good . turno ut in this up-and-coming catagory. If you wish to enter, contact Dan Hunt at "Cycle World " in Newpo rt Beach . . Ace w rench Dick Be nde r has gone to Yamaha. It lo o ks like Evel Knievel's S nake River Canyon j ump may be postponed a b i t. (I t was originally scheduled for the Fo urth of July weekend this year.) The steamjet-powered Sky-cycle blew up when it was being checked o ut at a fueling operation an d the King of the Leapers was injured by the blast. Estimates on the damage t o cycle and Evel are in the te ns of tho usands o f dollars. Hope it isn 't all h o sp it al bills. * Ontario Motor Speedway has been sol d to the owner of KSOM radio, an d he will con tin ue to run it per normal. It wil l cost hi m a m e re m illi on a year. Personally, we would have liked to have see n it made in to a housing developmen t for t he racing community. Cliff Carr is going to rid e for Kawasaki, it see ms. • • • THE UNITED STATES S UP RE ME COURT has refused to hear Charles V. Simon's c a s e regarding t he constitutio nal ity of mandatory helme ts for · motorcyclists. In refusing to hear the case, the highest co urt in the land stated, HWe reaffirm the lo wer co urt ruling." The ruling focused o n the police powers of th e state to require its citizens to protect themselves against the mselves. T he state can then we suppose require seat belts, air bags, e tc, nex t. It's m o re than a lit tl e frig h tening. Last week we an no unced England 's new road , racer, t he KRM "S uperst reak", Here is a photograph (courtesy of England's "Moto r Cycle News"), It will be for sale in that country for abo ut $4600. It is a d ual overhead cam fo ur cyli nder 350cc mac hine that claims an ou tpu t of 65 ' BHP at 13,000 RPM. This is just a few HP below the claim of t he Italian MV. KRM Managing Directo r John Pickett is reported t o have said t hat "unlike (road raci ng) Yama has -it w tll · last a seaso n w ithout having to be take n apart. .. t t

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