Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

6y&'apa~. . COORS BEER ca tegorically denies that th ey h ave con tri b u ted an y amount of mon ey to the Sierra Club. They called fr o m Colorado t o say so. Maybe th ey do kn ow h ow much beer gets drunk by bikers in Cal ifornia every weekend. We ex pected a letter fro m them , t oo. • • • ~ There 's a strong possibility that a competition club restricted to those riding the big four-strokes only will be ~ formed soon with monthly desert races part of the scene. Dust off those 650 twins and Goldstars and look for more details soon. * * w Z w oJ U > U r ,) * What is desert CZ ace J irn Fishback d o in g winning a IT Scramble s at Corona? What is even mo re perp lexin g in th is d ay of co m petitio n sp eciali sts is that the guy in secon d was sp o rtsman m otocross Expert Geo rge Lu ther. r:J : I' ( • • • So .fa r this year, big TT wins have meant Triumph. F irst it was Haney at the Astrodome, now Terry Dorsch has put two impressive ma in event victories at Ascot back to back on his Bonner·tuned TT Trumpet. Both are strictly privateers and have not had a sponsor call on them this year...at all. * * * Poor Mik e Ha ney 's nation al season is ove r almost be fore it got goin g. He broke h is leg during practic e a t Ascot . Says he missed a shift. One thing th e privateer s o n Triu mp hs co uld use is an updated gea rbox. • • • YAMAHA, BEWARE! The Italian firm of Gilera may make a comeback, as it were in small displacement road racing in 1974. An Italian team on Gileras of 50, 1DO , 125cc displacement w ill also contest the ISDT is t he United States tl>is year. Penton, beware? * * * FU RTHE R NOTES O N T R O PHY GIR L S AN D O T H ER UNFO RTUNATES. Somebody made a mi st ak e a t Ascot an d h ad six feet of really swell-lookin g lady as th e trophy girl. Hubba, hubba. Whereas at th e D-36 Ben efi t Fe stival Scrambles , th e Almond Queen d id n ' t app ear a t all. Which ':tlay be OK since sh e wa s probabl y a lit tle nu tty , an yway . (Groan.) • • • DEAD RACERS DON'T WIN. In sharp contrast to the you're·not-going·fast·if. you-don't-erash-occasionally philosophy that Paul Smart spoke about encountering in last week's CN interview is Kel Carruthers. Carruthers . has only once broken a bone in his long career which has included the 250 World Road Racing Championship in 1969. At age 16 he broke his wrist. That was 20 years ago. Some of this may be related to his experiences racing in Europe. If you get off at the Isle of Man, they have to tear the wall down that you splattered yourself on to bury you. In this country the road racing courses are safer for the most part so crashing isn't qu ite the hassle that it is . in Europe . * * * We were sitting arou nd discussing the meri ts of h avin g a frame that carries the oil on a fou r-stroke, This is a p op ular prac tice on so me British bikes. Since the fram e is ex posed to the win d stream the oil is coo led, an d there is no need to take up th e sp ace or add the weight of an oil tank. On the n egative side is the proble m o f flushing the frame after you mun ch an engin e. T he little pieces of metal fin d their ways into t he far co mers of the stru cture and do n 't co me o ut until vibration coaxes the m to co me b ack an d d o it again. We h ave heard other p ro blems relat ed. T here is the sad tale of o ne fellow wh o to ok his bike do wn to the DMV to h ave it registered and watch ed as the official hauled it off and puched h ol es in the fra me to attach a plaque for ID n umbers. There was also a customizer wh o decided to ma ke a ' har d -t ail out of one; Yup , sh ot oil all over the shop . R.I .P. • • • Can you imagine a Hare and Hound through the tropical jungle ? They do it in Hawa ii. * * * T he rul ebo ok for Bo nneville should be available within a month and will in clud e t he ru l e s fo r a n ew produc ti on- styl e class. It will require fen de rs, lights, stock seat and ta nk, m u ffl ers, an d a b ike th at isn ' t over four yea rs old . In ternal modif ications (p rob ab ly to class limit) will be p ermi tted , but th ings like th e gear box will h ave to be stock . • • • * * Nobody remembers the only Russian eve r to win a motocross world championship. Victor Arbekov did it on a 250 CZ the year that his CZ teammate Joel Robert didn 't. * ANOTHER ROUSER from the Union of Soviet Socialist Re publics is the announcement of the u pdating of the 650 Dneiper twi n . T he Sovie ts will also be ex porting so me c o mpe ti tio n mach ines, notably the J upi ter 4 06 .. • l ,..-;",. I -' m o ro cro sser , which looks re markably like a particular Czech ~xport, "?d a 35 0 twi n road racer WIth a cla imed o utput of 30 b HP at 63 00 RP M. :ro qu o te a ce rtain Britis her, "The mind b o ggles." • • • In Australia, so we noticed, a 250 CZ is cheaper than a 250 Yamaha MX. (Suggested retail price) Hard to figure that one, since Japan is just a short fre ighter ride north. * * * Why can ' t I find an t+S %/&? extra-large jersey in blu e an d yellow winter style ? Doe s di rt ri ding belong t o aireated mid ge ts? • • • • Anybody who got their Great Bear Grand Prix entry back in the mail , send it back again, same address. The post office messed up. There are still entrfes open too. * * * * * • • • CALIFORNIA , HERE HE COMES! Hold on to your hats, Pasadena . Bill Gere longtime Indian addict will be riding a new 1200cc four-cyl inder Indian prototype from the Springfield, Massachusetts factory early in March. If this new design works out, it may mean a new Indian. Is Minarelli to be 86'd out of the Indian business? * NOT US ? CZ is 'still im porting their 250 en d uro m o del into England. Dave Bickers is su pposed to get a batch of th e new 988 -0 serie s. CZ used to have the enduros in this co un try about six years ago. T he n ew ones are basically a mo to cro sser with lights, instruments, a bash p late , and a sile nced high pi pe. When will we see them again ? They sound reall y d y namite for two-day en d uros an d th e like . Maybe there co uld even be a 400. T here is already a Jawa 402 ISDT b ike. • • • LAND USE RESTRICTfON has, of course, always been a problem in smaller Britain and it seems as if some more sections will be lost to th is year's prestigious Scottish Six Days Trial. Rampant spectators seem to have a lot to do with it . * * * * * * If you want t o buy a Horne Guard, suc h as th e one listed in last week's New Products column, don't write An ne lux, Box Frammis, so o n. Write to Sam my Tan ner Dist., 734 N. Avalon Blvd. , Wil mington , Cal. 9 0 7 14 . Dept. Mislo cati on . Or y o u co uld call 21 3/8 30-4040. • • • K & G Engineering in San ,F erna nd o had an eight foot expansion chamber stolen off the roof of their shop. There is 25t reward being offered to anyone who can deliver the b ike wh ich it was put on. * * Mick Andrews is now in J ap an working on the development of the Yamaha tr ail s mach ine. Yamaha has sp en t a wh ole bunch of mo n ey to get Akeand Mick Andrews over to their brand this year. Kind of makes y o ur tunin g fork quiver. • • • * * T h e soon to b e famous short story, My First Enduro, is being held up indefinitely due t o the au thor's in ab ility to type with one hand. • • • * We n o ti c e the pig di sease in Gloucestershire, Eng lan d h as postp on ed th e running of the 5 0 th Ann ual Colmo re national trial. A t least they don ' t kill all the p igs in E ngland like th ey d o the ch ick en s in th e U.S. to keep th em fr om catch ing t he di sease and d yi ng. • • • (what else?) a Harley - Dan Mahony Photo, * The new chican e at Daytona requires a first gear entry. Nixon doesn 't get in to fif th gear again until he is entering th e Tri-Oval in fron t of the grandstands . wuv One international motocross rider who is quite pleased that Ake Jonsson has signed with Yamaha is current 500 World Champ Roger DeCoster. He figures that it will take Ake a while to get sorted out on the Yamaha, during which t ime he can be racking up Grand Prix points on the Suzuki. He has two years fa milia rit y with th at bike unde r GP cond itions. He wa s obviously concerned about Ake remai nin g on a Maico as the Swede seemed to be pe rfectly togethe r on that mo unt. This Harley tool was seen being wielded by this Harley mechanic in the Ascot pits. working on There is at least one person around here who thinks that GARY NIXON will win Daytona . Gary has shown his intention of doing SO by turning the fastest lap yet aboa rd his Irv Kanemoto Kawasaki during Goodyear tire testing . He turned a 2:20 lap . Second fastest went to "Cycle " magazine's Man of the Year, Calv in Rayborn, who did a 2 :27. Cal was slowed by seagulls, wind, sand , and other assorted j un k . THEY DON'T LIKE US ANYMORE. The California Off·Road Vehicle Advisory Board to the Californ ia Government has been disbanded. Russ Sanford (of M.O.R .E .) explains it thus: "The government of California has simply said 'If you won't tell us what we want to hear, we won't listen anymore.' ft * * * T h e thing to d o o n a Saturday afternoon is t o go to Saddleback in Bob En dico tt's ' 38 Ford van w ith a b un ch of toads in a cage in the back. One has two wheels, tw o have warts, and one , screams. . • • • Dan Whit e is th e only Junio r that we have noticed who has one of the neat Harley XR . racers. Wonder how he got it ? * * * Will Pap a go to Daytona? Will the ma sked T h u m p er rider p ick up all the cookie ? Will m oto rcy clin g as we kn ow it survive ? Will Pap a survive ? For all the thrilling details don 't miss a single thrill-packed episode of The Latest Poop! • • •

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