Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

r- We hav e fro m time to time ruminated on th e number of "Kawa sak i" logos th at Brad Lack ey di sp lays o n his bike and riding togs. Oscar J on es we nt to th e effort of coun ting th em up and arrived at th e figures of II " Kawasakis" an d . three green "K" sy mbols. T he produc t 10 program is at least workin g on th e fac tory racing team . * * '" Cl 8? M .... m o ~ « en w * ;: Speak ing of identification , we are reminded of the Yamaha ad we saw in last week 's issue . It read someth ing like " There ar e two name's behind the motoc ros s c ham pi o nshi p:' If you loo ked at the pictu re the fi rst th ing you might have noted was that they were li k el y to be "Karsma ker" and " Karsmakers". Act ually , the one with the 5 on the end is correct. It just d idn 't f it on h is jersey, we suppose . That may have seemed t o be an embarrassing slip, b ut we a re glad t hat we aren't the copy·writer who wrote the ad copy that proclaimed that his product" ...fired the National champ to vict o ry ..." 00000 . * * Z W ..J U >- U * JAWW IN' : We wer e j aww ing with J ohn Fu ch s from "Ho t Dog" (th at is the nam e of th at ma gazine, isn ' t it ?) th e o the r-rtlay and he .said th at he had di scu ssed th e sit ua ti o n at J awb o ne Canyon w ith an officer of the law up th ere . T he fr iendly deputy she riff was quite hel p ful , said John. It see ms becau se of all th e rain th at has been falling on Southern California , the land in Jawbone is su ita ble fo r grazing wh ich isn't th e case in no rmally dry years. The land isn 't .all closed, just square mi les laid out in a chec ker bo ard pattern. The co nstab le d irected John to the Ran d Mountain range as an alternative. * * * DIGG IN' D IR T : Th e Dirt Diggers No rth are , a s yo u may have noticed , wa rm ing u p for !-iangt o w n thi s weekend . Ther e are t o p na me rid er s co ming ' fro m all o ver . Karsmakers (w ith an 5 ) w ill be there, and 50 will Marty Tripe s, John Hat eley, a nd a bu nc h of them kind will pursue glo ry and especially cash . The Rupp 125 w ill d eb ut under Ji m Pome roy's .little b ro ther Ro n who will be one of several top Washingt on a nd Orego n ride rs. There will be fr ee camping per usual wit h rac ing flickers on Saturday n ight barr ing a th understorm or b lizzard. The o nly Penton starting gate on the west coast w ill be on hand. Th is year the DON are go ing to give a manufacturer's cup for each company that wins. If you ' dig Dirt , go ! * * * Bob Read called us up the o ther day an d pointed o ut that our National poin ts listing may con fuse some riders. On ly holder s of AMA licen ses get National poin ts. In o th er words, riders lik e J am 0 Saarin en and r aul Smart don't ge t p oin ts toward th e Nation al Champ ionshi p . The reason tha t they don't get AMA licenses is that th ey would b e requir ed to ask permi ssion fro m th e Worthingt on worthies to race in all foreign events. Get it ? * * Bill Armstrong took this artsv photo at the Ft . Hood Dirt Ride...• motocross. The same guyS hosted the first ISOT qualifi.... T he 19 74 Min t will p ay o ne hu n dred gran d . * * • * A so urce close to the facto ry inf orms us that t hey may in st a ll a 50 ca liber mach ine gun w ith COl igniti o n a nd wate r cooling on the T o pa nga Canyon tes ted last issue. There is so me tbottght t hat th is w ill impro ve th e T opanga . * * * Why do they have a st amp machin e at the top of Snow S um mit? * IMRRlAGl CUIDANCE COUNCIL * * * * * * • • Furtherm o re , w ha t wa s a fa mily en duro rider doing up t he re ? We bet that Paul Smart wins all those Nationals just to get even with his ex-sp onso rs. I don 't kn o w which freaked me o ut t he most, the chopped Jawa 3 5 0 with t he extended fo rks and sissy bar bu t st ock tank, o r the chopped h ardl y Davidson w ith all t h e norma l ch rome , e xtension s, etc . a nd a road raci ng fa iring. I do kno w t ha t seeing them bo th withi n the same b lock shoo k me up. * * * A couple of weeks ago we passed o n so me mi sinforma ti on wh ich A mos Ga rd lin o f Yam ah a h as been so kin d as to inform us abou t. O n the produc ti on models of the SC 500 (T hat incl ude s o ur te st bi ke.) the co mp ression release is co n nected to the kicks tarter mechanism. Whe n you kick it o pe ns, whe n you do n't kick it don't o pen. How clever. * First off, Mrs. Fribley, I th ink you're going to have to accept your husband's int erest in bikes, and stop cutting his brake cables. * * If y o u' re not eating meat , is it because you're a vegetarian? Try ing to be patr iot ic ac cord ing to N i xon's ' d e f i n i t i o n ? Boycott ing hi g h supermarket prices, o r trying to put " Kern Valley" and " Va lley Pr ide" beef (the cattleman who closed Jawbone effectively) out of business? One thing you've got is choice. But lo bst er season is closed . * * * You under-IS MXers, which see ms to b e about 90% of most SoCai start lines , get your bikes p repped fo r the California Schoolboy Championship at Carlsb ad on May 26 an d 27 . Better yet, get yo ur bodies in shape. Loo k for mo re info upcoming on th is eve nt . * • * * * * The o w ne rs o f t he Red Rover Ranch out near the Antelope Valley in So uthern Ca lifo rn ia hosted a Trials s ch ool a nd int roductio n on the ir property. Interest in the gentle spo rt of two -wheeled concentratio n seemed to be sign ificant eno ugh t o wa rrant a lo ca l t ria ls club . The local press gave this 'sch oo l a very po sit ive wr ite-up, The clin ic w as put on by the Valley Ob ser ved T rials Enth usiasts. Pla nk on ! LOOK for a repo rt o n th e Triumph effort for the In tern a ti onal Si x Da ys ' T rial in an upco mi ng issue . T hey will h ave both a th umper team mounted on 500 twin Trophy T ria ls and a Rickman -m o unted team. Ken Harvey took a go ld medal on th e b ig twin in the Ft. Ho od qualifier as di d Dick DeGraw o n the 125 Rickman. J oe Car son broke his arm . Hal f of the bi g thu mpers finished the qualifier in their fir st o u ting in ISDT t rim. • * * * * C IAO , COMME.NDATORE. Gene Romero may sw itch ove r to TransAm co mpetit ion (That 's them fast four-wheeters .] driving a Ferrari, More of T eam Mex ican goes Ita lia n . * If th e Mexican authorities ap pro ve i t, there is a very good chance that the course fo r the n ext Baja 5 0 0 will b e greatly ch an ged with mucho off-road ad ditions an d less pavement. This usually mean s th at the bikes get more co mpetitive w ith the cars. R unning at night in the rough is sti ll n o fun. * * *

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