Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

How Come Cheaters DO Prosper in Sportsman Racing? TO CHEAT OR NOT TO CHEAT? Only If You Don't Get Caug~t and oils laced with nitro which are appearing o n th e shelves o f yo ur local neighborhood cycle sho ps. Nitro is a fuel and fuel s are illega l no matter what perc entage u sed. Keep this bit of knowledge in mind th e, ne xt time you mix a batch. These mixtures are highly toxic and can kill with prolonged ex posure, even in the by Elain e J ones SPORTSMAN: One who t akes part in sports. Who plays fai r and ca n lose, without o pe n. The life yo u take ma ybe yo ur own. They are also highl y flammable and on more than one occasion I have see n bikes catch fire, Is th e ris k worth it? co m plaint or win without boasting. Somewhere along the line this meaning has been lost to many of today 's riders . The attitude is, if yo u don't get ca ught, do it . The Th ere are all k inds o f mech anical tricks that don 't show o n the outside but get the saddest part o f all is the grave inj ust ice done to the ri~r who plays by th e rules. It ' s job done on t he track. I'm not talking abou t porting a nd the legal tuning but becoming a case of the good guys fmish ing last. Ofcourse, th is is not tru! for all d eliberatel y sign ing up as o ne thing when yo u kn ow darn well you're running riders, but it sure makes it harder to race competitively. something else. Und er t hi s category comes lying and boy, t he re's a lot of that going What is most disturbing of all is the flagrant disregard for rules, whether at an on. How many of yo u know gu ys who rode Asco t be fore the y wer e eigh t een? Now AMA sanctioned event Or at a weekly spo rts man contest. Igno rance is no excuse that th e age has been lowered to six t een , how many fourteen year-olds will be out because, usually , it's impossib le ! ther e ? Don 't the parents of t hese kids realize that in fal sifying entry blanks the Just in case you're not aware of what is m eant by cheating , I'll give you some ins u ra nce co m panies have a good case fo r saying, " F o rget it" when and if you ever exam ples, and, if yo u think real hard, you will probably come up with five more t o need to collect. every o ne that I've listed. These are all thi ngs observed over the yea rs at all t racks so These ar e just a few th ing s, but a bigger and ma yb e more ap pro pria te qu esti on is .no particular track or organization is being singled o ut. " Who d o yo u blame? The parents, who in their zeal to hav e th eir kids become The fi rst and the mo st maddening is th e payment of money a t spo rtsman eve nts. . .. wi nner s, will st o p at no t hing? Promoter s who, in their greed fo r more pro fit. d on 't It do esn't make an y di ffer ence if it 's only pa id to Experts, it is still a spo rts ma n event care as long as th ~ rid er bu ys a n entry? The AMA , fo r not enfo rci ng th eir o wn rules ? a nd th e minute th e gr een cr oss es th e palm that stand ing is lost and yo u b ecom e a . The rider s wh o wa nt to win no matter how th ey have t o do it? R ep orter s wh o keep profession al. You are earni ng mo ney for a talent. . ' quiet about what t he'y see so th at t hey don't o ffend a nyone? Probably all of us ca n What many of you don't know is th at as fa r as am at eur athleti cs areco nce rne d, sha re in th e guilt but we ca n a lso do so me t hing abou t it. yo u're dead. That t akes in a lot o f t errit o ry because it includes all high school, First of all, as a rid er , pla y by th e rules, then th e pr ob lem is elim inat ed. If yo u feel co llege and Oly m p ic co m pe ti t io n. Ol ymp ic Decathlon winner, Jim Th orpe is a go o d a rule has b een bro ken" speak u p ab out it . It 's yo ur sport and if you want it to case in point. He'w asstripped of his medals becau se h e had played smalltime baseb all b ecome d irt y a ll you have t o d o is t ak e a d o-noth ing atti t ude. If it's worth having ; it's wo rth fighting for. For th o se wh o st ill persist in cheat ing, officials are need ed t ha r and ea rne d a cou ple of b ucks. Har sh an d un feeli ng? You b et t er b elieve it but th a t 's will clam p down hard o n offende rs. It o nly takes o ne o r two t jmes and th e message t he nam e o f th e gam e . An ama teur is a spo rts ma n, a pro fession al is o ne wh o ea rns will be received. Com m unication between tracks, so th at they have an idea about m on ey. You ca n't b e b o th . wh o are t he up-and-co min g rider s wo uld help. Th is ca n also be acco mp lishe d b y What really, rubs wrong, is that rider who rid es as an Expert at o ne trac k, win s checking t he resul t co lum ns eve ry week in Cycl e New s. So it takes time. It's worth it. mon ey, th en goes to a no ther track, eve n AMA eve nts, a nd signs u p as a N ovi ce. This Rep o rters who are t u ne d in to the tracks t hey 're co vering, an d to the riders, ca n help. is a sports man? A lot of tr acks mo ve rider s up through the rank s because, b elieve it T hey are in a go o d posit ion to act as a media tor beca use many riders ha ve ta ke n th eir or n o t , everybody d o esn ' t belong to th e AMA and does not have a rat ing. Then we beefs to officials only t o have their protest s fan on deaf ears. have th e riders wh o ri de both as Amateur s and Exp ert s at the same track on the same . The re porter has th e du ty t o pra ise t hose t rac ks an d clu bs t ha t are d o ing a good 'nigh t . Yo u can be one o r th e o t he r bu t you can't beboth. T he same goes for riding job and inform th e public of t he b ad ones so that the riders can then make the cho ice o ut of class with you r mach in e. Now w e come to t he more so phisticated an d sub tle ways of cheating an d at th e of what organization th ey want to be associate d with. Ch eat ing is getting out of hand. If you love the sport an d are a true sportsman, it 's head o f the list is t he u se of fuels. The AMA ru le specifically states: pump gas only. Why then ar e ride rs literall y gettin g as phyxiate d standing behind guys running nitro ti me t o clean it u p. The Nationa·l Papers by Robert F. R ead HOUSTON T h e go ld pl ated Gold Cups fr om Yam ah a ca me back to California fr om Houst on thi s year, and, in sp ite of -th e fact that th e seas on has j ust sta rted , it loo ks like anothe r b ig year fo r th e Cali fo rn ians. . Three of the fo ur fo rme r T'I' winne rs d id n' t ride. S kip V an Lee uwe n has ret ired, Dick Mann brok e h is self mad e, fr ame and di dn ' t ride af te r turnin g in one of the top time tri als, an d J im Rice , although officially entered, failed t o show up. A lot of epole will be asking : who is Mike Han ey ? Mlke has always rid den a T riumph and started out as a TT rider on ly . It s tayed that way for m any years before he tri ed Hal f-m ile racing. If he had come u p under the current advanceme nt rule he wo uld ei ther be a Novice o r a J un io r on the ova ls and an Expert in TT·s. Bu t he d idn 't, so wh en he decid ed to try the A scot Hal f-mile he h ad a lot of ground to ma ke up . In stead of m ak in g it up, h e ate it, falling off on every tum m an y ti mes un til la te last year. Haney is also noted for being a rider th a t j um ped into m oto cro ss, ridin g a 650 T riump h and n ot d oing t oo b adl y, riding the lar gest machine in his class . Mike is also a cross-conn try rider, running in more than o ne o f the previ ous Bajas an d picking up dollars. His Ho us to n vic tory came because he m ade n o mi st akes and b ecaus e Kenn y Rob erts co uld no t ge t far en ou gh aw ay to feel real ly sec ure . Haney wasn't even breathing h ard at th e fini sh o f th e race on a track described by th e rid ers as th e roughe st and w o rst in th e five year history of th e vent. Jim Odom go t b ack on a T rium p h for th e fi rs t ti me in tw o yea rs. It was th e same T riu m ph th at he n earl y won on in 197 1. T he m ach in e h ad been p u t in a co mer in Les Edward's shop in San Jose , j ust like it was pl anned tha t way. Mann's tr oubles st ayed with him the fo llo wing n ight fo r th e short tra ck even ts. He p assed up a new Rickman in avo r o f a 35 0 BSA sing le, and it ran like a cl ock . The o n ly trouble was th at th e ba tte ry fe ll o ut on th e first lap of th e fin al, after Dic k h ad pulled a second in the heat ra ce . tim e Dallas road race. Day t on a h as a Ho nda h as their J apan ese ace, Mori o Sumiya, in California getting him ready new twist to th e track th at will be an for his American deb ut a t Daytona. equalizer fo r so me of the machines. Morio is the number one road racer in Dallas gets th e h on o r of havin g the first of the: new ro ad race: progra ms where. J ap an and has been test in g an d racing fo r Hon da for ten years. His best fin ish ride rs have to q ualify for the Na tional ou tsi de of J ap an was a six th p lace in final ra th er th an j ust be there and lin e up. (Continued on page 26) T h e hit o f the sh o r t tr ack had to be th e new 3 6 0 Yam ah a and th e Rickman 25 O. Both o f th ese mach in es ar e so mew h a t n ew to s ho r t 1st ANNUAL track co m pe tition and both proved, agai nst th e b est sh ort track co mpe tition this season, that th ey have th e h orsep o wer an d the han dling qualities that it takes to carry the rider to the money and points. . As usu al, Dave Aldana added h is touch of confusion to t he evenv. lie en tered th e short track o n a Norton. T he p roblem is that Norton does not have a lightweight machine . Announce r Roxy Rockwood, knowing that A ld an a was under co ntract to Norton . assumed then that the ma chine was an AJS. It wasn't. it was a Kawasa ki (n o t even painted green an d wh ite ), entered by fo rmer racer, Dall as Baker. One of the smartest races run a t the Dome w as turned in by Texan , Bu ck Bo ron , a roo kie Expert. In th e he at race he set ba ck in th ird while Aldana an d another rider we re bar-banging all the w ay to the last lap. T hen un known Bu ck za p pe d them both an d won th e race. A h eads-up j ob by a rid er t hat bears watch in g, at least o n th e sho rt tracks. Th e " most un iqu e silencer" aw ard h as t o go t o Harl ey -D avid son who h ad their team riders equipped with a un it lar ge enough t o pack a t least five gallo ns of m o on shine o r gas. Guess wh at. On e o f th ose silence rs fell o ff o n th e fir st lap of a heat race. Wonder h ow. th at happened? If it h ard b ounced in to ano ther rider , o r -th e stands, it was big enough t o w ip e o u t a bike or a d o zen p eople. Th e Junior.on ly In vit ati on al w as limi t ed t o riders fro m T exas and Louisian a, an d it p roved at leas t a coup le o f th in gs. Lou isian a d oes n ot have as good a group of Jun ior s as Texas this year. It di d give Texas their first win at th e D ome b ut fut ure National di rt tracks this season wi ll probably open the d oo rs to the best J un ior s. Ric k Ho ckin g was seen in the pi ts bitin g h is n ails an d wishing that the promo t ers ' h ad pi cked top rated rider s and n o t just lo cals. DAYTONA AND DALLAS Where do we go from here ? On t o Daytona, of co urse, and then to a fir st , ··. S. PATRICK'S MOTOCROSS T --"",,,", ~~ r:-..,.. 125cc National Championship I£~~~~ CASHTO 1 cPRO's 25c March 18, 1973 LIMITED TO 125cc CLASS BIKES ONLY SEE FAaORY TEAM R IDERS 125 JR'S 2nd 600.1:0 1 T OHIE 00% RP S TO FINISHERS 3rd 450 .00 $1 0 mail entry 4th 300 .00 5th 225 .00 SAT URDAY MARCH 17, 1973 6th 200.00 7th 150.00 8th 100.00 9th 100.00 10th 75.00 1st 51.000.00 ALL JR & NOV RACE l00cc - 250cc & 500cc 50% TROPHIES 510 MAIL ENTRY MAIL ENTRY - 530.00 POST ENTRY - 5100. 00 ALL ENTRIES CLOSES MARCH 1st 3-20 Minute Motos for Juniors , SUNDAY MARCH 18, 1973 125cc PRO &JR CLASSES ONLY 2·30 Minute Mot os for Pros SPECIAL 5' TROPHY FOR SPONSOR OF 1st PLACE PRO RIDER ON CAUFORNIA'S RNEST MOTOCROSS FACJII'Y ARROY,O CYCLE PARK SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF Mail standard entry form. or information normally contained thereon to : SHAMROCK ENTERPRISES 905 1;. 19th St. Santa Ana. Ca, 92706 INFO: (714) 887 -2714 or (7141 543 ·991 4 SPECTATORS: ADULTS $3.50 UNDER 12 S1.00 UNDER 1 FREE ~ w Z W ..J U > U

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