Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141044
M N WORKS YAMAHAS FOR DAYTONA ." C> 0.. M .... '" 6 ~ w Z W ...J U AT1.A;I;TA . GA .•Jan . 3 1. 19 ;3 - David Towns ley o f Dirty Distributin g Company announ ced today th at hi s firm would ente r six Yama ha works bikes in next m onth's Day t ona ra ces . Three 35 0 ' s and three 250's ar e being sent to Dirty fro m Japan through Taneharu Nogu chi, Amon g the riders will be Gary Nixon and J e rry G ree ne. Xix on will ride on ly a 25 0 . wh ile Greene, last year's Junio r ro ad racing leader , will ride bo th a 250 and a 350. Oth er rid ers, incl ud ing 1>l arty Lu nde, are be ing co ns idered. Noguc hi has been w orkin g for Yamaha sinc e 19 5 5 . first as a team road race r, than as m an ager of racing. Now h e is under co n trac t t o ass ist in racin g resear ch and d evel opment wo rk in hi s p rivat e o pe ration in Yokoh am a. T he s ix Yam ahas will featu re m a gn e s i um brake asse m b lies and Noguch i m odifi ed fo rk s a nd sh o ck s; th e 35 0's will b e w ater cool ed, N oguch i sta te d, "A ll of the m ach in es a re works b ikes of G ran Prix cal ib er. We desire n o t to com m e n t on engi n e d evel opment, ho rsep owe r rati ng and such. We will let the b;k~~ spe ak fo r themselves at Da yto n a. , Dirty's Townsley com mented, "The b ikes are being provided to us fo r th e e ntire season . We fe el that after one ye ar of worki ng wi th Noguch i, we have reach ed th e p o int that hi s talen ts are familiar to those in th e American .m otorc ycle ind ustry an d t o th o se wh o fo llow th e . sp o rt ·c1o sel y . Both No gu ch i and I are confi dent th at o ur ro ad racin g effo rts at D aytona and th rougho u t th e season will be beneficial to b o th us an d Yamah a. "N oguch i is se ndi ng one of J ap an ' s n ation al cham p ions, U taka O da, over to compete a t Day t ona and Graham James of Flo ren ce, Al ab am a , will rid e b o th th e 25 0 C ombin ed race and the Junior ra~c;. EVEL When Eve l Kn ievel roars d own th e ra m p at th e Los A n gel es C oli se um , Feb. II, t o jump ove r 5 0 p yramided ca rs, he'll be cli maxing a dared e vil career th a t even the fa me d R om an gladiators neve r dreamed of. Now 34 , Kni e vel h as used a m oto rcycle instead o f a c haior fo r h is hero ics an d h as already ea rn ed th e crown of "Kin g of S tu ntrnen ." Evel started riding at the age of 15 and got so pro ficie nt th at he ne eded m ore challenges. His Co liseum stop is o n ly part o f a co ntin uo us t our of the Un ited States. He has th rill ed turnaw a y c ro w ds a t every s to p wi th h is spectacula r d ering-do . He h as j u m ped successfu lly over 21 ca rs , parked sid e b y sid e. His longest j u m p was ov er 50 y ards, o ver th e fo u n tai n at Caesar's Pal ace , th e famed gam b lin g casino and re so rt hotel in Las Ve gas . His landin g was not as smoo th as the take-off, and he spe n t the next se ve ra l weeks in the h ospital. Whatever an y on e else sa ys ab out him, Evel lik es to think o f himsel f as " an e xplo re r, a pioneer in th e art o f st u n t riding an d m oto rcycling." Knievel st arted in the stun t busin ess be cause he co uld not make enough money in moto rcyclin g to . live in th e sty le t o which he wanted to become acc us to me d . "Wh en I was in Great Fall s, Mont., as a kid th ey would sta rt me in th e back ro w facing the o p posi te direc ti on, and I'd still win," h e says with j ust a tra ce of m odest y. He started stuntin g by do in g " wheelies, crashing through fire wal ls, j u m p ing a b o x with 10 0 rattlesnakes and zip pi ng d own th e landing ram p past tw o m o u n tain lions tied at the end. He h as attem pted wha t h as been b i ll e d as "The World 's lon gest m oto rcy cle j u mp," n ea rly 200 times. His p er ce n rage of success has b een hi gh, but h is 13 m isses h ave al l resulted in se ri ous inju ry. He h as unde rgon e 12 major o pe n reduction operations as a result of th ese spills in the las t five years. >U ANNOUNCES THE FINEST NIGHT LIGHTED MOTO-CROSS COURSE ·IN THE UNITED STATES STARTING FEB. 16th----==:=:::::~ I"""'""""l ~ r-- U ~ - ~ "- • • • • • • • • • EVERY FRIDAY: NIGHT FRIDAY SCHEDULE PRICES CMC LICEN SE REOUIRED ,.J IL ~ n CHALLENGING S 18 t h' MILE COURSE UNLIMITED, CLEAN PITS FREE, PAVED PARKING NEW, FREE GRANDSTANDS FREE PROGRAMS GUARANTEED EXPERT PURSE EVENT DIRECTION BY CMC PROFESSIONAL ALL QUARTZ LIGHTING MINI-CYCLE CLASS-UNDER 16 YEARS OLD 4:30 PIT GATE OPENS. 6:30 SIGN ·UP CLOSES. 6:30 SPECTATOR GATES OPEN. 6-7 PRACTICE .7:30 FIRST JR. RACE ENTRY FEE $ 5 .00 • $3 .00 ADULTS. $1 .00 8- 12 YEARS • INCLUDES PIT PASS FOOTHILL FWY. 2 10 IRWINDALE RACEWAY * ... > ... ... C C Q ~ ~ !!! ... > C C J '" .... C ARROW HWY. N SAN BERNARDINO FWY . 10