Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

KAT HY MOH LER OF SEAL BEACH is awfu lly observa nt but doesn 't k no w the d ifference between a n asterisk and a sta r. Kathy po inted ou t tha t the " five po inted stars below t he first Poop ite m for th e last t w o weeks we re upsid e dow n . Now, we a re te mpted t o d isqualify her for her slight blooper, bu t her deg ree of awareness and level of perception is so mu ch h ighe r than a ll you othe rs , t hat we a re go ing t o awar d her t he pr ize . Fo r those of you who a re still puzzled, look un der th is pa rag rap h (real close) . Congrats Kathy ! Stay tu ned in t he next months when we w ill ha ve an other contest . T he prize fo r the ne xt on e will be th e Cycle News p roject b ike : " Kil ler Ho nda." An d we wo n't burn it up in a ga rage b efo re we give it awa y . • • • DO;,\'T EVER SA Y TilE CN CA LENDAR DOES;,\'T WORK. Some ho w or ano the r we got an item in for the Hi-Mountain End uro, an d it wasn't supposed to be ad vertised. The result is that th e Ca l Poly Pen gu ins have received ove r 1,000 entries o n the first day. T hey can o nly accep t 500. No w they have 3 .5 0 0 entries. The way en tries we re c h o se n w as randomly. They arc ap ol oget ic for u s, and please don 't thre aten them o r tea r down the ir mar kers. It was n' t t heir fa ul t. • • • We 've he a rd abou t the people o vercom ing so me severe hand icaps to ri d e mo to rcycles , but the mo st ast o undi ng story we 've heard came our way rece ntly . Bob Shaffer is blind . He always wanted t o ride a motorcycle. It t ook him se vera l months of p ract ice , and no w he rid es aro und h is ho use once or tw ice a week . He says it takes " a lot of con ce nt ratio n" to rid e by so u nd a nd that w ind ca n bo ther h im . To Bob , wearing ahelmet wo uld be unsa fe . * * * T HE CO :'l:T I :'I:GENCY GAME : Manu fac t urer's have a problem p urrin g up co n tingenc y m on ey for AlIlA events. The Al\IA requires th at th ey pay at least 20 percen t o f t he amo un t p ost ed. This mak es them wary. A comp any co uld h ave a bad year and n o t ha ve thei r mach in e o r product win an ythin g - an d still be required to p ay riders usin g thei r competi tor's product. This makes th e men with th e money rather war y . In fact , some manufacturer's are actuall y pay ing m ore money t han they ha -:e officially posted. The problem with this is that it isn't as widely kn own and potential winners aren't as likely 10 emp ly . th eir product s. The co mp any that h as been mo st successful at ge lling privat eers ' to use thei r ma chin ery is Kawasaki, who has becom e famo us for th eir big buck co n tinge ncy program. The reason th at t he Al\IA req uires a 20 p ercent p ay-out is that it keeps m anufacturers with no chance of havin g th eir product s win any thing from postin g and advertising a trem endous amo un t o f mon ey for riders to win o n th eir machiner y. T hey wo uld never p ay o ut a cent. Oth er co mpanies would pa y a lot with ou t being able to ad vertise large amoun ts. It see ms th at there w o uld be a bet te r way without the 20 percent form ula. • • • ROAD RACE RS : If the re a re any q ualif ied Ex pert roa d ra ce rs looking for a rid e t he y are advi sed to cont act Dirt y Distribu t ing in Geo rgia . You m ight w ind up w ith a ride o n 250 an d 350 works Yama ha s. * * * There is goi ng to be a real IS DT qualifier co ming up in J une. It will start in Barstow at th e Ho liday Inn and m eander for tw o days. One in te res tc d en tran t wan ted so me grass scrambles to be inclu de d. T his had t he clu b st umpe d un til one w ag suggested th a t th ey p ain t the streets of Barst ow green. • • • Larry Bird is in ' t he Corona Hospital after injuring himself at Co rona . Cards and lette rs are a nice idea . * * * Th e batt le for th e AMA Nation al Ind oor t it l e will be- se tt led on Sunda y aftern oon, Febru ar y 18, a t th e Co w Palace. Hock ing o r Genn ai? • • • I The SUPERBOWL OF MOTOCROSS will retu rn to t h e LA Coliseum. Mot ocro ss "indoors ". as it were. in the are na of t he Co liseum w ill happen aga in th is y ear. A m id-summer date is expected but not fi nalized . Can Marty T ripes do it aga in ? * * * FAS TER , QU IETER , LO NGE R? That may be if BMW b uilds a four-cy.linder 750. It wo uld be a horizo nt a l lay out . Yo u kn ow , a f lat f o ur, like a Superbeetle. * * * ,... The first man to eve r win aboard a 350 Ya maha in England was Cliff Ca rr in . May of 1969. Carr is also the only person residing in New England to rece ive an AMA Nationa l nu mber. He w ill b e Number 26 aga in. * * * If Shan e Cranjon will sen d Cycle News Produc ts hi s address, CNP will sen d him hi s h ot hats . ." Cl 0.. ,... M Cl ~ -" u. " ~ • • • w ,2 Loo k for a new motocross t rac k in th e San Fer nando Valley , no rth of Los Angeles , near the town of Sy lma r. Won ' t open 'til summer if it goes th ro ugh . w ...J U > U * * * • • • There is also an ~IX track bl ooming up in the Kern River area. six mil es nort h of Bake rsfiel d . Benell i is not go ing t o contest the European ro ad racing t itles th is year . Instead , they intend to put their development minds into the product ion of their road mach ines , meaning probably the ir 750/6. * * * STO P T HE T YPEWRITERS: Ca reful want ad reader s spotted a help-wanted listin g for "A sharp perso n" in t he ba c k of CN last week . II was, in realit y, a requ es t fo r an edi to rial assis tant. Our dep artmen t WOW reader disappeared under a st ack o f mail sho r tly thereafter . We wer e beginnin g to settle down to de cidin g o n th e appropria te sha rp perso n wh en an upper-ech elon decisi on can ce lled th e wh ole frammi s and o ur ove rwo rked editorial staff le t go wi th a groan and bowed th eir backs un der the al rea dy -ove r powe r i ng a n d eve r-increasing wo rk load . So sto p applyi ng. II w as raisin g of false hopes for eve rybody. Sorry abou t th at. .. - * Yamaha's 500cc road race r ma y be a " square fou r" des ign. T hey kee p den yin g th a t it exis ts , but it d oes and it has the compe tition worr ied . Agos tini is co nc erne d about wh at J am a Saarinen can do with it. One thing that Ag osti n i and ot he r co mp e titors always poin t o ut about Saarinen is th a t he has never had a bad crash. Hi s co mpe tito rs feel (an d probably ho pe a litt le , 100) th at if he ever has a bad crash . it may s l o w h im considerably . His most signifi cant get- off to date was wh ile practicin g fo r th e Cha mpio n Classics 25 0-miler a t Ontari o las t ye ar seventeen stitches in his leg o r the like . * O LD BIKERS DON'T DIE, T HEY GET TRAI N ING WHEELS: Bazoo ka Pete is getting old . He is giving up bikes fo r the most part and has acq uired an off -ro ad four w hee ler. Sad b ut true. You p robably w o n' t be he aring much fro m h im in the fut ure. But , at h is age , you have to slow down and take it easy (or any other way you can get it ). Don't la ugh, it can happen to you . * * • * If yo u chan ge the ignition co il o n yo ur l\IZ ETS-25 0, it will improve th e top en d. • • • Harley may be bu ild ing a 350cc two-stroke water-cooled road racer in Italy. * * * MV is b uild ing a 750 with ch ain d rive for th e Fo rmula 750 road racing clas s, but it w on't be ready until th e en d of the year . • • • Honda defin itely will be at Daytona . SoCal fast ie Steve McLaughl in and Roger Re iman w ill do the rid ing . Mirosh ito S um iya , a Japanese scratcher , w ill join them. Paul Smart will not rid e for them , b ut he hasn 't put h is hand to the S uzuk i contract eithe r, accord ing to last reports. * * * Should Papa ride Daytona ? • What could these be ? Not necessar ily wh at you th in k. F ind out on P. 24. • • SUPER LATEST FLASH . The 1973 InterAMA motocross ser ies w ill feature five races, $52 ,000 in purses, and the winner will receive the National Cup . The dates shape up as follows. J uly 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah for the opener. (Got that, Bob Brown?) J uly 6 , the ser ies comes t o Cal ifornia for the SuperBowl in the Los Angeles Col iseum (T ickets go on sa le April Fool's Day); July 1S to Lawrence , Kansas, to Toledo, Ohio on the 22nd, then the series finishes up on the 29th in New Berlin, New York. That is a very busy month for the national m ot oc rossers and a lot of t rave ling. Five races in one month? Argh . The Superbowl track is supposed to extend up int o t h e stands of the Col iseum, fr o m wh at we he ar . T hat should put some "fro nt ro w" seats back about T ier Fo ur . Watch out f or the get-offs on t he "d ownh ill," mother . * * * • THE F RAME GA ME : The fra mes on some of the h igh-scoring Rickma ns at Ho usto n were Boyd and Stellings it ems. Which leads t o the q uestio n : when is a Rickma n not a Rickman ? * * * The A FM is really co o king, T hey have fo ur mo re d ates sched uled fo r On tario Mot or Speedway. T he n ext is on March 4 . T he y also expec t to run less events a t OC IR . b ut th ey will s till have eve n ts th ere and, it is hop ed , River sid e. On e event tha t t he y are. workin g on for OC I R is h o ped to be held in conj unct ion with th e Al\ID RA drags o n April 8. Th e American Drag Racin g Associati on , like th e A FM , has j oined th e AMA. It could mak e fo r a fin e wee ken d of pav em en t sco rching. The o the r track th at th e A FM is trying to reopen is Sears Point, but th ey won't h ave an even t before May . • • • We we re wrong last week . We said Ga ry Scott wa s National po ints leader wh ich is t rue , but he is t ied with J immy Odo ~ (who is no t on the Yamaha team th is yea r) . * * * DEp·t . OF CORR ECTION. In th e rece n t in te rview with J im Pom er o y, th e name of his early d ays me n tor, e tc. was incorrectl y give n. His inspiratio n a t Seattle 's Uni versity Honda was, in fact, Terry Sax lun d, T he d umm y wh at w ro te the s tory doesn't h ear too good o r write too swe ll o r so meth ing. • • • WHO T ilE HELL? Hurley Wilvert is wh o. lie and Gary Nixon hav e both affixed th eir sign a tu res on con trac ts fo r Kawasaki's road racin g team . Last year Hurley was Paul Smart's tuner , but Hurley perfers to ride, and has done very well at it in th e pas t. 'Kawasaki has j us t a wh ole passle o f money inv es ted in racin g teams. Plus a third of a million dollars in c on tin gency m on ey flo ating aro und. PRIVAT EER S will do j us t abo u t an ything to win, even in mot o cro ss. No rthe rn Ca lifornians Ron Hu ffm an an d Dave Lo ngcor has rep air ed to Florida to con tes t th e Winter Al\lA Series on Grand Prix Cy cle-frame d specialty CZs. They m ust be in it for glory , th ey su re aren't going to ma ke th e cost of t he bi ke ba ck in prize mo ney . • • •

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