Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NOB ODY 'S PE R FE CT . It see ms a little item in las t week's Poop h as go tten so me people really upset with 01' Papa. (OHBOY ! N ow we 'll be like a real Cy cle News co lumnis t!) It h ad to d o with Kawasaki Te am MXe r Jim Wein ert and Bob Hansen 's "granddaughter." Bob w as torq ue d so me becau se he say s he i s n ' t o l d eno ug h to have a gra n dda ughter. It's his d augh ter w e were talking ab ou t, so i t seems. And Jim Wein ert...w ell, we 'll quote his reacti on . " Right now I'm young en ough to rid e m o tocross. When I get to b e a lit tle m ore m ellow an d can't stay with m o tocro ss, I'll try fla t track. Whe n I get to be a re ally senile old man, I'll go road racin g." Ah, th e joys o f you th . Jim also main tain s th at h e curr ently h as the be st ride he's ever had , ro ad racing or no road racing . ¥ ... Jf. Ted Hen ter, the almost-winne r of the Novice event at Lag una Seca, has purchased Gary Nixon 's Kawasaki 750 road race r and prom ises to be a rea l threat in J unio r events this year. * * * Speaking of Gary N. , Kawasaki seem s to want him back o n the ir road ra cin g team. T he n eat th ing is th a t he may h ave Irv Kanem o to tuning for him an d th ey wo uld make a p o we rful team. Gary was ab o ut the fastest thin g st ay in g on its wh eels at On atrio '7 2 . We would still like to see Gary b ack on the dirt tracks, however. • • • While on the subject of Irv Kanemoto , we might mention that he loo ks like the m an who ma) prepare the 250 BSA -R ickmaris for the short t rack Nationals. It seems that the dy no t hat BSA was using shows " 1 HP for t he 2 stock bike . The best mo dified eng ine that t hey cou ld f ind gave abo ut 25 HP. Then t hey t ried Irv's: 31 HP. The ma n's a w izard . * * * Honda may appear at Day ton a. • • • Last week we said that Yvo n DuHamel cracked his back and two ribs . He d id , bu t th is week he is back up racin g snow mob iles in Min nesota. * * * The Dirt Diggers No rth MC will hold Hangtown at the same site this year on Ap ril 7 an d 8. Entries will be limited to 120 riders, th ree clas ses (O pen , 250, 125) and the purse will be $2000 per class plus a large amount of c9 n tingencies. • • • HU R RA Y! Honda fi nally got past f ive, with thei r new CB 350 K6. In case you do n't know it , a ll Ho ndas are supposed to pas s away at K5. * * * Brad Lackey 's 450 Kaw us ed th e same crank all last season . • • • Whoever it is tha t st a rt s h is open-p iped 350 Honda o n Driftwood Street late at night and has nervous twitches in his right ha nd, had better watch out. Two more t imes and we're going to give him a specia l valve jo b, the one where yo u don 't t a ke the eng ine apa rt until afterwa rds . T he same goes fo r the squ id w ith a 100 Hoda ka who lives down Rose. . * * * .... " '" e M .... Cl g' e .., '" ~ w Z W By the time yo u can b uy a 450 Kaw asa ki m otocro sser, all of th e factory bikes will be u sin g the produc tion cases. Take th at fo r wh at you will. • • • All the press people at the Honda Preview lost their sh irts at the gamb ling tables in Las Vegas, except for t he CN staff who did n 't have any to lose. Now Buffalo Breath jerseys._ . * * * One of o ur larg er staffers feels that th ere is a consp iracy o ut among bike shops and distrib uto rs of jerseys. He spen t all da y Saturday trying to fin d an ex tra- large jerse y fo r Sunday 's big race. He never fo un d o ne , b ut co nse q ue n tl y didn' t have time to get hi s bike ready an y wa y . • • • Reno's Cafe in Mojave has the bes~ Rueben sa ndwich ever tested by ou r staff. A lso , Ca liforn ia City is b izarre. * * * Krau se H on da , sponsors of Gary Fisher and Roger Reiman at Dayton a in past years, w ill spon so r Rei man again this year. T his year Reiman will be backed up by Kra use m echanic Mike Lane. Reim an has won Daytona twice and Mike Lane was the hottest Junior road racer in 197 I. Kr ause will also back two Junio rs. Ms. Segouin 's English classes had better stop stea ling her cop ies of Cycle News . * * * T he Kaw asaki team MX riders are really dynamite in (on ?) Kawasaki's power water skis . T he sk is are top secret. • • • The Cycle Wo rld Show is co ming up aga in in April at the Los A ngele s Sports Arena . T he organ izers are chang ing their approach slightly t h is yea r and seek to emphasise the bikes wh ich are the nitty-gritty of t he sport . If you are the owner of a shar p compet it ion machine, clas s ic b i ke , s idehack, ca feracer , speedway bike, or d irt bike , get in t o uch w ith Pub lisher Joe Parkhu rst at (7 14) 646-4455 . He and friends wi ll zip you out an entry blan k. . * * .* MOT O RACING R ADI O , K BIG 74 AM, will be carrying both of the Yamaha Gold Cu p races fro m the Ho uston As trodome . The TT is on J an . 27 at eleven an d will be rep ea ted at 4:00 P.M. T he short track will fo llow the same schedule th e n ex t day , Jan. 28 . KBI G wi ll b e d oing pre-race preview s, interviews and purviews start ing on Jan. 22 at 7:35 A. M. an d 4:35 P.M. every day un til the rac es. A JS FACTO RY R ID ER VIC EASTWOOD m ad e an im pressive de b ut on th e n ew AJS 500 at the televised winter scrambles in Britain recen tly . He won bo th legs of the mo tocross fairly easily on wh at is believed to be the final p rototype m odel o f th e mach in e. The super-q uiet MXer fea tures left side shifting and a rubber-mounted engi ne similar to th e Norton 's "Isolastic" suspe nsion. A good guess a t th e weight is aro und 2 20 Ibs. Vic clai ms to have use d on ly second an d th ird gears in w inning the overall po sit io n in the mud, fog an d d rizzle. Unfortu nately, we w on ' t se e it in th e U.S. this y ear according to Norton-V lllie rs , • • • BSA is go ing t o use the frame design of t he C lews Stro ka motocross bike fo r their 19 74 product ion models. 500cc and 600cc vers ions of the supe r-special fo ur -st rok e have been enjoying a lot of success in t he mud of British mo t ocross. Very t orquey hand ling muthas. * * . * Look for a four event International Trials ch am p ionsh ip series in the U.S . this coming August. "Cycle World " publisher Joe Parkhurst would like to promote it with AMA ba cking and coo rdi n a ti on . The Japanese factories are reportedly eager to expose their new trials m o un ts in the co mp e titio n. Three riders would m ake up a factory team for the events. The events would have AMA-FIM san ction requiring an FIM license fro m A merican "trialsters who would l i k e to co mp e te in the International class. There are also plans for a national support class as in the TransAMA motocross series. The trials would be held across the U.S. with geographical distribution allowing most parts of the co un try to see the two-whee led magicians in action. Mon t e s a a nd Bultaco have also ex p ressed in te rest in bringing in factory riders ' w ith o u t making any fir m co mmitme nts at this time . • • • Th e Des ert M.C. Har e and Hou nd on Feb rua ry 18 will be ma rked from Lucerne out to t he depths of t he sa nd and puckerbush . Two 40-m ile loo ps are scheduled. T h is supple men ts ca lenda r inf o. * * * ..J Every year, mo re national mo to cro ssers ~ see m to get national Class C numbers . U They do it based o nly on th e poin ts they h ave ac q ui re d f ro m AMA-sanctioned MX in 25 0 an d 5 00 clas s. They see m to in herit th e numbers th at are left over af te r the fla t-tra cke rs and ro ad racers on the Natio nal circ uit ge t th eir bi ds in. .* * • • • T ech T ip of th e Week : CZs do not ru n well o n mudd y water ; or un de r it. Use mo re d uct tape. * * * GIANT FREE PRIZE IN MONSTE R PA PA WEALEY "F IN D THE BLOOPE R" CONTEST. Te n! Yes, a full ten Cycle News stickles in assorted colors (like red and white) will be awarded to the careful scrutineer who can find the dis crepancy on this page. Aside fro m all the typos, you bunch of wise guys! It's a real ch allen ge to read Papa Wealey's min d , isn't it ? " • • • T alk ing t o Jim Weinert an d Brad Lackey abo ut their success in m ot ocro ss, it see ms th e mai n ingred ie nt in their personal race prepar ati on is to sta y as loose as po ssib le and not give in t o pre-race nerv es. T he n , on rac e day , you ju st apply yo ur sk ill and don 't get psyched out. Unfo rt u nately , t hat's a lot eas ier said t ha n done fo r most of us. * * * One of th e neates t goodies n o ted a t th e Long Beach Dealer Sh ow was a plastic shift lever, m ad e o ut of th e sa me ma terial the plastic "no break" levers are made from. Looks like a win ner. How co me nobody ever did it before? IMPAC makes it and it'll be in shops soon . • • • • Art Bauman n and Pau l Smart have t raded r ides , Suz uki to Kawasa ki, and Kawas aki t o Suzuk i. They we re observed in th e Ontario pits telling each oth er how t o ride each other's mach ines. " O h, yo u got that b ike ? Yeah , that one hand les pretty we ll." Greeves 1973 is gett ing their MXers up to date with the 380 Q.U.B. producing a claimed 44 HP. The 250 is rated at 30.5. They have stock alloy tanks. a Motaplat e lectron ic ignit ion. Cerianis and Giriings to suspe nd them and brakes in alloy conical hubs to stop them. Q.U .S . stands for Queens University . Belfast bv t he wav, where the big engine was developed last veer under Dr. Gordon Blair. The 250 and 380 look mueh alike exeept for number plate color. * J im Pome ro y is off to Europe to race int ernati on a l motocross und er Bultaco sponsorsh ip. His first stop is in Spain where he will co nt inue some R&D rid ing on the 400 Bultaco . He will probably l o c a t e permanently in Belgium, possibly w ith fe llow Yank Brad L ac key . Pomeroy w ill also campa ign the 500 class Grands Prix on the Bultaco . He is as fast as most anybody right no w. If he learn s to be fast co ns istently o n European circu its , lo ok out! Watch fo r so me words by and about th is first year motocross pro in an upcomi ng issue. * * * Molly Blue is really a sweet, dem ur e young lady. One of Honda's latest offerings: a 5000 watt generator. Wow!

• Cover