Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

SEE WHAT HAPPENS? In De cember 1972 your paper in its Voices of the West section printed. a letter fro m D on ald C. Tillman , City Engineer of the City of Los Angeles requesting information relating to the p lann ing , design, op eration, et c. of motorized recre ational vehicle facilities . This info rmation was being sought in co nj u nc ti on with feasib ili ty studies on wh ich to b ase ci ty wide' bikeway and equestrian trail plans. As part of my d u t ies with the Recreational T rail s Committee I m ad e a follow up cal l to Mr. La rry Greer, th e gentlemen me n ti oned in that le tter to see wh at progress was being m ade on the VOICES OF THE WEST ..••••••••.. .....•....... •••....•.•...• ~ I'I~I II•• · · · · · · · · · · · · · Ame rica's Nu m ber 1 week ly motorcycle newspaper. You'll always see it fir st in Cycle News M ~ r- ~ Member MOTOR,CYCLE INDUSTRY COUNCIL feasibility study with respect to m o to rized recreat ion al vehicles. Much to m y su rp rise Mr. G reer rep o rt ed that as of February 26; 1973, neither he n or the Department had re ceived a singl e res ponse fro m any individual with res pect to the information requested. As . a consequence the feasibility stu dy with respect to motorcycle trails or p ar ks h as b een shel ved for lack o f interest. The study is going forward with respect to the establishment of ci ty wide b ikeway and equestrian tra il plans. It is a rar e opportunity when moto rcycle enthusiasts are able to get a gove rnmental agency to cooperate with the m in establishing areas fo r their use. An opportuni ty such as th is should not be wasted. I suggest a notice be reprinted in your p ap er , this time specifically reques ting lett er s from ind ividuals w it h resp ec t to their recreational uses, where they live and the type of facilities they would like to see established. Continued apathy ' on the part of motorcyclists and a misdirection of thei r energies will only lead to a co n tinued ,cl o sing' of ridi ng areas with no new parks to replace them. Recreational Trails Commi tt ee R ICHARD M. BROWN Sacramento, C alif. Repl y to the atte ntio n of Mr. L. Greer. Transporta tion St udies Group , Stree t and Freeway Design Division , 200 N. Main Street, Suite 700, Cit y Hall East, Los Angeles, California 900 12. UN-DIRTY NEVADA The Nevada Dirt R id ers' Association wishes to thank th e following people who con trib u ted to the success of ou r Fernley Moto cross : John & Penny Helton; " Ding" Wash; Carol & Bob Caudle; Pam R ogers ; Claudia Miller; Ken & Jane Thorsen . Thanks als o to the Oasis S cramblers and "Gentle Ben " H ornby and h is cre w from th e "Chukars " , and the Fernley Park Commission . The BLM provided us with litter bags fetched by Randy Chester which reall y helped keep the ' trash problem d own. NDRA Sparks, Nevada Charles C layton Ma nag ing Ednor Sharon Clay ton . . . . . . .. . . . • . . Pubt tsner T om C ul p Genera l Ma nager Grace Camp ... . . . . . . . • . . Office Ma nage r Art F r ied m a n . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Editor Dave Sch o onma k er H ow ie F owle r W endy B lanton Rneba Sm it h A ssistant Ed itor A dvert ising Manager A dv ertising A ssistant Circulation Manager Marla Boudrea u .. . •. Ci rcu lat io n Asstst ant Cheryl Stei nbe rg . . • . Cir culation A ssist ant M ike D illon Prod uct ion M anager Rosalind Qu inn Prod uct io n Assistant Hector Aguilera Lab T echn ic ian M arlon H at ash it a Ty pogra ph er M el vin Phel ps Assistant T yp ograp her D ave Crowe Collection Manager Ba rbara a eb ec k . . • . . Account ing A ssist an t Chris K olb et Accou nting Assistant Garn et Dun n Account ing A ssist an t Michae l Col ik as Serv tces & Suppo rt Ke n L ee Services & S uppo rt Services & Su pport Squ eekv Hayn es David Paull Services & S upport Nan cy Goodman Rece ptionist DEPT. OF ADDITIONAL INFO Nati ona l Ad vert isin g Direct or : T om Cu lp Cycle Ne ws Wes t and Head qu a rt ers P,O . Bo x 498, Long Beach Californi a 9080 1 (213) 427 ·7433 ; L.A, 636·8844 T E LEX NO . 673·474 · · • · Cycle News, East -D ix ie Ed it io n 4 19 0 First Ave n ue T ucke r, Georg ia · · · · · • . . .Thanks to shar p-eye d reade rs like yourself...Ed. Cycle News, Cen t ral Ed iti on 111 8 West 6t h St reet Austi n , Texas Subsc ription: O ne year, se cond class ma il 2 years, seco nd class ma il 3 years, second c lass mai l Sing le copy price We want to call to your attentio n that in the results of the Tecate 5 00 race, April 24th issue the nam e s of two fin ishers were completely o mitted. They are R on Bishop who finished 7t h , 9QO points , Kawasaki and Don G raves who finishe d l Ith , 989 points, Husqvarna. Also the Team Award wen t to Ron Bishop ; Don Bo hannen, Neil Holt an d Eddie Day. We esp ecially know of th e great capabilities of Ron Bish o p an d think he dese rves all th e credi t to wh ich he is e ntitled. Cy cle Ne ws is a fine paper. MRS. CA R L WATZ 'San Di ego , Calif. $ 12 .50 522.50 $30 .0 0 5 .50 Pu b lish ed week ly ex cept th e firs t a nd last week of t h e cal en d a r yea r b y Cycle New s, ln c., Po st Off ice Bo x 4 9 8, Lo n g Beach , Ca lifornia . Second Class Po st age pa id at Long Beach, Ca lif. Editor ial st ories, cartoons, photos, et c. ar e wel co me. Add ressed, stamped envel o pe assures retu rn o f editoria l matter . Reprin t in g in whole or part on ly by perm ission of t he publ ish ers. A dv ertising rates a nd circula tio n inf o rmation will be sent upo n request. See S .R .D .S. Co p y righ t te Cy cle News, Inc. 19 7 3 l a ll rights reserved : • : • • A~t1A LOOKS AT CALIFORNIA Mr . Jack Hurley President, D istric t 37 American Mo to rcy cle Association We recen tly have been very active in California, especially n ego tia tions with the Bureau of Land Management. As a result of our t ime spe nt in Cali fornia an d these m ee tings we have co me t o the realization that further steps need to be take n to i nsure co m p lete co m m u nicatio n and coordination o f efforts on b eh alf o f m o t orcy cling. We wou ld like to suggest that a comm ittee b e fo r med of two re prese ntatives from each of the fo ur AMA districts in the state, two rep rese ntatives . Tr o rn th e California Mo torcycle Indus try Council , and Mike Hins haw, AMA Western Regio n Manager. T he co mmittee m ee tings wo uld a lso be atte n ded by rep resentatives of the ' AMA na tional office when necessary, and consul tan t s in the various are as, suc h as R on S loan in BLM nego ti atio ns, could be calle d in. We wo uld cer tain ly appreciate it if you would take this matter before y ou r full membership and have, either by ele ction or unanimous appointment, two persons selected to serve on this co mm it t ee . We visualize that an in iti il meeting within th e nex t sixty days to get . the ball rolling an d th en meetings ei ther periodically o r as the needs arise. We would suggest that pe rsons selected to se rve o n this commi ttee need not be p resent membe rs of , ·th e Board of Directors or office rs of the district but should be actively interested in t he areas of legislation and lan d use and familiar with the district organization which they will be representing . GENE WIRWAHN Legislative Director AMA Wes terville, O h io Interested peoplesh o uld contact Jack Hurley (213/390.722t! (213/549·165 3)... Ed. or Ro y McE lro y DESERT ROUST I am writing in con ce rn about th e di sap p earin g desert, especially around the Hi -Vista area. For over two years our group parked on the west side of Aven ue G an d th e Hi-Vista store. Re cen tly the lo cal sheriff co mes along an d tells us we're riding on p ri vate p rop erty and to move to the east side of Ave . G and ride there. We did, wanting to keep peace with the la w. That was roughly four m on th s ago, now the sheriff comes again Sunday (April 22) an d tells us to move out of L . A. co un ty an d in to San Bernardi no, five mil es east. I am a d evo ted desert freak at fifteen and have no intention to pay for the privilege to ride on la nd , like in the cycle parks. My question is when I am seven teen will the only way to ride w i t hou t paying be to push my moto rcycle up and down the driveway and look at pictures of c ro ssed up European hotshoes and dream ? What happened to our fifteen do llars to keep governme nt lan d open and to open new lan d ? An awful expensive stic ke r c on sid erin g you c an ge t o ne about the same size fro m Cycle News for fifty cents . (It's better lo o ki n g too.] RICK CORDING ( Fu ture de sert rider?) Glendale, Calif. STUPIDITY HURTS While my wife an d I were driving to the Trans-AMA qualifying MX we foll owed six bike riders going the same ' way. They were not p ar ti cularly remarkable excep t that none of them were wearing hel m e ts. At leas t two of th e bikes had passengers. The ro ad is crummy, full o f holes an d breaking up in spots. We c ame aroun d a comer and the no t u n exp ected had jus t happened - the last rider and h is fe male passenger had go ne down. We stopped, of course, and di d wh at we could . He was ly ing fla t on his back, eyes wi de ope n, an d in violent convulsio ns . His only injury was a big d en t in the back of his head. He w as alive when the track amb ul ance an d the C HP arrived . Because of his stu pi d ity for not w earing a hel met h e be cam e a statistic instead o f a c ust o me r fo r a n ew clutch lever. By doing so he vio lated my rig hts. Statistics are the tools m ost useful t o our learned legislators in j ustifying th e passage of bills requi ring six-foot p oles with revolving lights, seat-belts o n motorcycles, and mandatory helmets. Who are we going to bla me wHen we end up with a m andato ry helmet law ? People who aren' t smart enough to wear one w ithout being forced to , th at's who. How about donating as m u ch space in Cycle News to educating pe ople as to why you should wear a h elme t as y o u did lo b byin g against the m anda to ry hel met la w. Perh aps your p riorities are so mewh at co n fu sed. Thank you for an otherwise excellent paper. ME R LE ENS IGN San J os e, Calif. The last time we en do rsed hel me ts, t he legislators to ok it too serio usly. The y see m to believe tha.t a helmet will make you immortal, which it wo n 't. We don 't know if a helm et would have preven ted the injury you w itn essed o r not . If t he rider had been smart e no ugh to wear one, he prob ably wouldn't have crashed... Ed. NATIONAL ENDURO PLAN After seeing th e AMA National E nduro sites, I was a Ii ttle p uzzled on how a Amateur could afford to attend. Reason being ; there were three in Cal ifornia, one in Texas, and one in Kansas, the bulk being in eastern states. The AMA must have magic carpets to fly from one event to th e nex t for I know vans cost, plus they gobble gas. I'd like to p ro pose a little d ifferent system that migh t turn the e nduro events back to the Amateur where it started and does belong , 1. Le t ' s divide the ·U .S.A . into five region s running No rth to South, and number them on e thru five, Wes t · to East. 2. Lets h o ld six endures in each region with the sixth being a "Master Enduro." 3. How does a rider qualify for the Master event? He o r she must finish in th e top te n slo ts of one o r more regional ev ents in their own region. 4 . If there are to be five regional events, and the top ten riders from each ride in th e master's, y ou will have 250 riders at the Masters if all who had slots showed up. 5. Now we need a Grand N ational Event, and we m ight only want the top five riders from each class fro m t hei r resp ec tive region. T his in itself would guarantee 25 riders fro m each region for the Grand National. Basically wh at we have done is this: Less financial strai n on the Amateur, al lowing him to compete with pe ople he knows , as well as b ei ng on h is own turf. Not only can this help th e Amateur, but it can aid the m an u fac tu re r as well. You can bet they would like to cut their cost as well. With a program such as th is, every one of us stands to gain in riding know ledge 'as well as keeping the sport w here it belongs TO T HE AMATEUR. ED E. HIL LMA N Wh ichita, Kansas There see ms to be a need for assistance to the Amateur Enduro rider. However, North-South divisions can prod uce 1,s00 mile drives, too. h would see m possible to set up a six district syst em where long distance travel could be minimized ... Ed. Internal Specs INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION : The A ng lo -American Match PRO MX : The Spillway Qualif ier D·37 MX : At DeAnza LOCA L MX : CMC at Carlsbad .. . ... . .. ....• . . .. .... .. .. . . . . . PRO FLAT TRACK : Gary makes it nine SECTION ; North '; vTECH: E.C . examines the R ickman 6 -Days ,END URD : The 4ger SPEEDWAY : S ideways NEWS ; Info TEST : The Moto·G uzzi V-7 Sport .. ...... . . .. . . . .. . • . . ... ... . . OPi N ION PERSONALITY : Nick Nicholson RESULTS ; Wieners .. . ... . •. ... ... . .. .... .. ... .. . .. . . .. .... CALENDAR; T he Future CARTOON : MX Cat 6 10 11 ..12 13 14 16 18 20 '.2 6 . .28 30 '.3 3 ..36 .40 47 THE COVE R: Professional racing here and abroad . Art Baumann leads t h e second race of the Angl o-Ame rican Easter match series. and participants at the Spillwav Qualifier. Photos by Art Friedman and Steve French/Broo ks Instit ute. M '" i' CL M e- Cl . CD > :< Ul ;: w Z W ....J U >- U

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