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b y Bo b F. R ead
A year ago at this time San Diego ' s
Don Em de was sitting on top of the
m o t orcy cle wo rld . He had just wo n th e
D ay t ona 200, he wa s getting ready to
leave for England an d a series of mat ch
.races. He was all set fo r the rem ain in g
six national ro ad races an d a tr ip to
It aly , A ust railia and Ne w Ze ala nd.
T imes ch an ge in a single season in
cycle racing . Today Don is h ome in San
Diego with a b roken shoulder and no
road ra ce ride fo r any of th e rema in ing
eight nation al races o r any o f th e eve n ts
acr oss th e wa ter in either di rection .
His co n trac t with Suzuki called for
Daytona on ly , so Don decid ed to re turn
to the dirt tr ack s. He en te red th e Ascot
one hund red lap TT o n Mar ch 18th an d
fou nd hi mself flip ping through th e air in
the Semi wh en ano ther rid er fell in
fro n t of him. ' Emde will b e ou t of racin g
act ion un t il la te Ap ril or early May. He
finished seve nth at D ay ton a fo r the best
showing by a Suzu ki rider .
A recen t vo te by th e AMA Exe cu tive
Commi ttee fin ds th e On tari o Natio nal
road race d ate being moved from early
May to la te Octobe r. The ne w d ates are
now O ct ob er 24th through 2 8th if
yo u're st ill plannin g th at vacation and
h aven 't set th e d ates fo r co mi ng West .
That date is a mon th af ter the Ascot
Half-m ile National. .
T he change was b ro ugh t abo ut due
to th e searc h fo r new o wners fo r
On tario Mo to r sp eed way. T here will be
a n ew owners' group soon. b ut not so on
en o ugh for the original Ma y 6 th th at
wa s sche duled .last ye ar. The On tari o
even t will remain on th e AMA-Fi M
ca len dar as th e o nly wo rld Formula 75 0
p oint event in North A merica so th e
en tri es fro m various overseas coun tries
should top th e re cent Daytona record.
S ome controversy at D ayton a in the
Tech ins pec tio n line was over man y o f
th e fo reign machines that had fairin gs
o ut in fro nt of th e riders hands. T hat's a
" no-no" ove r here bu t all righ t under
FIM ru les. Form ula 75 0 through ou t th e
wo rld is su pposed to be the same but
rep or ts are that it st ill vari es de pe ndi ng
on co un try. T he riders were allowed to
use these fa irings at Day t on a but the
result s in time trials and th e race
showed they neede d mo re th an a new
fairing. O p en-h anded ride rs won all th e
mo n ey .
Wh at caused so man y riders in th e
Day to n a Na tio nal to run out of gas? T he
new change t o the co urse ad ds th ree
turns an d abou t te n gear changes per
lap. Most of th e crews an d rid ers were
trying t o ru n th e same nu m ber of laps as
they di d in p revi ou s years befo re
stopping . T he o nes that d id ma ke it to
th e finis h were all b ut o ut of petro l.
On e rider th at finish ed in th e fir st five
coasted to a stop wi th a t an k th a t
w as b one-dry .
The new first tim e Dall as, T exas
Nat ional road ra ce goes on April I. T he
AMA req uired th e tr ack owne rs to get
th e track in far be tter shape than it w as
just a co uple of months ago . T ile race
will also see th e new fo rmat fo r AMA
road racin g on shorte r co urses. It means
that a rider can be elimi nated in the
heats or the Se mi an d is n o longer
guaranteed a spot o n th e lin e for th e
final. It looks like a good fo rm ula . It has
worked in d irt t rack racin g fo r years.
On th e di r t track side, th e Wes tern
Region season sta rts off with a b ang.
T wo tracks that will h ost Na ti on als Jate r
in th e year op en on the same weekend.
Ascot on Fr iday night, April 6 th an d
San J ose on Sunday afternoon, April
8 th .
T he Ascot opene r last season payed a
reco rd $4,400 to th e ride rs o n th e same
pe rce n tage b asis that applies thi s ye ar.
San J ose will ru n a straigh t guaran tee d '
pu rse. A scot will th en ru n every Friday
nigh t and San J ose sho uld h ave at least
o ne mo re regular eve nt befor e the ir May
20 th National Half-mile . The an n ual
Bo ise, Idaho TT goes again in mid-April
on a Su n day afte rnoon.
TQe AMA has d on e an excellent job
o f c r e a t ing th e n ew "Regional"
n on -N ati on al series. None pay less than
a $3,000 purse and they have the m
slate d from coast t o coast this year. The
r e q uireme n ts are that th e riders
pre-en ter o n an official blank and sen d
them in advan ce to th e district referee
wh er e the eve nt is b ein g held. If the
rid er d oes not send an en t ry he can still
race but will receive n o p o ints.
Each regio n has a point f und and it
can me an co nside ra b le buc ks to th e t op
ride rs at the en d o f the year. Asc o t is
due to have one of the regi on als th e
midd le of May . San J ose will h ave one
in th e Fall an d th e th ree TT t rac ks in
th e Washing ton .Oregon area all have at
leas t one this season ; t he same for the
Sale m , Oregon o val th at now has the
best ligh ti ng system in the West .
R em emb er Sprin gfield ? The Mil e
trac k th at used to p ack th em in every
ye ar wh en th e fif t y mile Main w as
usuall y decided o n the last tum ?
Rumors h ave b een flo ating fo r years
tha tit was co ming b ack , The fo rmer
manager of th e even t ac tually h as the
track for a date this season but is st ill
trying to work o ut wh at that date will
b e. It will n ot be held during t he an n ual
State Fair b u t on a plain Sunday
afte rnoo n . It last ran in 1966.
T he best kep t secret in racing so far
this year was th e n on -na tion al Mile th at
was held in A tlanta the Sunday
fo llo wing th e Day tona ra ce. Mo st of th e
rid er s in D ayton a didn't even know
about it. Secrets cost doll ar s in racing
an d we have all h eard about a lo t of
secret races - after th ey h ave happen d .
The Natio n al at Atlan ta on Sep tember
9th will not be ke pt quie t.
.
If yo u' re go ing to Dalla s fo r th e road
race, take your sh or t tra cker alo ng as
th ey have some go o d o nes tie d in wi th
th e road races . Bu t give a lo t of
co nsideratio n before en tering as they
have guys like R ober t E . Lee an d Mike
Kidd down th ere racin g ' we ekl y in
eve n ts th at are n ot we ll-k n own to the
res t of th e racin g world . Ad d a guy by
th e name o f Mik e Gerald to th at list ,
also. Le e and Gerald have won the
Na tion al sho rt t rack at Santa Fe Park in
Ch icago th e la st tw o years in a row.
For $24,000 They Could Get an AmbUlance
b y Ke n t Nic holls
The Mint 4 0 0 in Las Vegas is
b on e, arid extensive asp halt rash . Keep
in mind th at th is happened only th ree
a dve rtised as t he " Worlds Rich est
mi les fro m J ean, righ t alo ng side th e old
Off-Road Race ," It drew n earl y 3 0 0
buggys and m oto rcy cle s th is year to th e
- LA highway, not fifty mi les o u t in th e
rules. A p assin g spe ctator in a VW Bug
lit tle haml et of J ean , Nevada, thirty
was flagge d d own and sen t in t o J ean to
mil es Southwest o f Las Vegas.
ge t an amb ulance. Abou t 15 min u t es
T he Min t is. also o ne of the m ost
la ter he came back , but n o ambul an ce .
ex pensive races to en te r with a price tag
of $35 0 per veh icle . T he m o t orcycle - After ano the r 15 min utes, he again we nt
and in formed the promoters. Still n o
segme nt, held o n Monday , had arou n d
ambulance. T he n after another fift een
70 sco oters en te red. A' little quick ma th
mi nu tes, Sco t Har din went and to ld th e
tells us th at th is gain ed the promoters a
p romoters for th e third time abo ut
tidy $24,500 before p ayback .
T hi s y ear 's Min t co urse was fast, so ..., Hurd' s crash . He also told th e Kaw asaki
pe op le; amazing apathy.
fast in fac t th at R o lf T ib b lin's average
All th is ti me S teve is flat on hi s back
speed w as be tte r than 4 8 MPH. A t these
alo ngsi de th e course an d those of yo u
. speeds in th e desert, so meone is b ound
who ever h ave been unfortunate en ough
to un load and get h urt. Several di d , and
to have done a h igh speed n umber kn o w
one suc h per son was Steve Hu rd. Steve
wh at a bummer th a t m ust h ave been .
was h ookin g it d o wn th e p aved road j ust
Rem em b er , this is wit hin sight of th e
after th e s tart-finish in J ean, h it a
pits. As I walked around the pits, [ saw
washout, and did a b rutal endo on his
o nly two ambulances and one of those
big-bore Kawasaki. He ended up wi th a
was a p rivat e van wi th a red light stuck
b ro ken leg, a possible b roke n co llar
In Defense of
Freedom ..
b y J . G . KroJ
Ten y ears ago California h ad a law
requiring in te rn al com b us tio n eng ines
regu larl y used in b ackw o ods areas to
h ave spark arresters on th eir exh aus t
sy sterns. T he main tar get was lar ge
in d ustria l d iesels wh ich , as yo u know,
throw o ff quan tities of bl ack carbon
p ar ti cles in th eir exhaust, so me of wh ich
may b e glo wing ho t. Ve hi cles used fo r
oc ca si o na l t rans po r tati o n w er e
exem pted from th is requirem ent. With
the risin g pop ulari ty of m o t orcy cles
du ring the six ties, the law was chan ged
t o exem p t moto rcycles fro m the
exe mption . T hat's the way it reads.
Th us m o torcy cles, even tho ugh they d id
no t fit the category o f mach in es for
wh ich the law wa s o rigin ally d raft ed ,
were brought un der its con trol.
Si n ce accessory spark arr esters cost
well over ten d o llars a piece and o rigin al
eq uipment spark arre ste rs m ust ad d at
least a co u p le of b uck s to the retail
pri c e of t h e- w h o le m a chin e ,
mo to rcy clists are cu rren tly spendin g
over a milli on d o llar s per year on th is
legally -mandated de vice .
W hat goo d thi s i m po sition
acco mplishes h as never been m ad e clear.
Natio nwi de durin g th e sixties,
acco rd ing t o go vern men t dat a, -th e
o rigins of brush and forest fires were as
fo llows : D e b ri s burni n g,
2 5%;
In c endi ar y , 23 %; Smokers, 18%;
Ligh tnin g , 12 %; Ca m per s , 4% ;
R ailr o ad s, 4 %; L u m b e ring, 2%;
Misce llaneous, 12%.
Bu r ied so mewhere d own insid e
" miscellaneo us" is th at d readed scourge
of o ur precious an d irreplaceab le natural
r e s o ur c e s, t he u n -sp ar k -a r rested
motorcycle exh aust. A fe deral repor t on
fire haza rds in Cali fo rn ia mentions one
such mis ce llaneo us prob lem. I t say s the
"m iles of ele ctrica l trans mission lines,
both main and secondary. crea te a very
real h azard ". It d oes not eve n men tion
m o t or cycle ex h au sts. Miscellan eo us
' m ust also include airp lane crashe s,
roadbuildin g, military ordnance testing,
unkn own origins, and vehicle crash es
( th ink o f ho w many times y o ur TV h as
sh o wn y ou a car burst into fla me aft er
on top . Fin ally , after an agoruz mg one
an d a h alf h ours, S t eve began th e
j o u rney t o a Las Vegas h os pital .
.
St eve Hurd 's w ai t in th e d eser t was
made easier by the C lark Coun ty
Sheriff's Jeep Posse, a gro u p of J eep ers
wh o donate th eir mo ney , vehi cles , an d
time to the ra ce pro moters at n o ch ar ge
and t ak e ca re of search , rescue , and first
aid . A Las Vegas lo cal named J erry
Caine also did a lo t to m ak e Hurd's wait
easier , including giving hi m th e onl y
jac ke t he owned to help ward o ff sh ock .
Even so, Steve Hurd still lay in th e
desert fo r an hour an d a half. T here is
n o exc use for this whe n $ 24,500 was
just take n in . I k now I would n ' t ride a
race wh ere th ere was a ch ance th at I
would lay in th e d esert such a lon g time
an d possibl y die withing sigh t of th e
pits. Del Webb o r wh o eve r yo u are , yo u
h ad be tte r get it togeth er and plan
ahead , ' o r yo u are goi ng to fin d th at the
Min t 400 is j us t a b ad mem o ry .
go ing o ver a cliff) . In th e ove ra ll
statistics m o t orcy cle ex haus t sparks are
an o bscu re an d u tterly neg ligib le cause
of fires.
Ever sin ce spark arres ters becam e
manda to ry in California , I've b een
aski ng o ld ti me d irt rid ers if th ey 'd ever
heard of a fire started b y a mo torcycle
ex haust. None h ad. However, 1 did hear
of a case wh er e so me riders attempted
to start a fire by h o ldin g the most
flam mab le grass they co uld find righ t up
to th e straigh t-pipe exhaus t of a bik e.
No thi ng h appen ed .
• The problem o f motorcy cle spark
arr esters is wrapped in paradox afte r
paradox. On th e one h and, we are to ld
th at fi res must b e p reve nted to pro te ct
"val uab le. " . timber resources. On the
o ther hand, these reso ur ces are n 't
valuable eno ugh to pay fo r the ir own
fire p rotectio n o ut of their own
revenue. Stan ds of timber that re ally are
val uab le are p ro tected by their owne rs .
On the one hand we are to ld t h at fire
p reve n tio n is necessary to protec t
un iq ue n atu ral plant life . On th e o the r
h a nd , t he Fede ra l f ir e -f i ghting
establishme nt carries ou t programs , to
"con vert. " highly fla m mable spe cie s of
plan t life to ot her, mo re fire resistan t
forms of vegetatio n. They kill the
natural vege tation wit h herbicides to
rem o ve it. Why is it terrible to kill a
particul ar b ush with fire , but fine to kill
it with poison ?
