Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

DKW H Rl l ubricants 7340 Florence Ave. Downe y, Ca. 90240 '" > THE L ITTLE BI KE THAT WINS THE B IG RACES 213/927-4781 . BY BOB F. REA D THE NATIONAL PAPERS ::E ~ w 80DYFUELBYENDURA W ...J T est ed a nd used b y t he lollowhll) D iU , 37 r id ers . E RIC J EN SE N .. B O B McLAUGHLIN .. LAR R V Z BE RG QU IS T o " LA R R Y PFUTZENAUETER .. EO SC H E I D L E R " WA L T A XTH ELM" LA R R Y H EARN .. G EO RG E M AG A L LO N , M .D. $ 8 .5 0 f or 3 m o n ttt s Too Many s u p pl y >o The racing season in the East is underway . The events have been good, but the p ro blem is all the Novices th at ar e showing up . One hun dred and eighty five (!) were on hand fo r the o pe ni ng Hal f-mil e in Oh io . Well ove r the cent ury ma r k have been showing up at o ther h alf mil es in Ohio, Pennsyl van ia an d Ten nessee. T he complain t fro m the promoters is th at the paying customers are worn o ut by th e time the Ex pe rts an d Jun iors·get on th e track . It see ms as tho ug h th e silencers on the ligh twe ights are n o t keeping the fans happy. Talki ng w ith so me of these pro mo ters. they say that they know th a t Novices are need h ut m ost only show up fo r the early season ra ces . Then wh en a promoter co uld use so me ex tra riders they don't show u p. Novices are intended for a professional program to learn how to race and gain enough poin ts in a single season to advance to the J un io r ra nks. At least th at used to be th e idea. T he AMA h as create d by fa r the largest and perhaps the best ever slate of n on-n at ion al di rt trac k ra ces th is year. Most are of the two to three thousan d d ollar type an d no longer the "Cheapie " nin e to twelve mon ey events that were so co m mon a few years ago. It would ma ke in teresting readin g to h ave th e AMA co nd uc t a survey co vering the past two seasons to find out ho w ma ny Novice riders move up in class, how m an y d id not and how m an y entered m ore than six ra ces p er season . Another poin t migh t be to ch eck an d fin d out ho w many Novi ces have been Novices for mo re th an three years. A c ase in point was a re cen t hal f mile in the EaSt . It was a nigh t time event with the pit gates openi ng at 4 :00 PM b ut th e races n ever starte d un til close t o 10 :00 PM an d di d n ot fin ish until we ll afte r midni gh t . The referee showed u p with no ti mer and n o clocks o r w at ch es of his own but st ill in sisted that all the J uniors and Experts time ' trial. As the sun went down so did the te mperature . In fact, it got d o wn to thirty degrees before any of the main eve n Is had been run. Another major bl o w to the p rom oter an d the crowd was j hat the R eferee wo uld on ly allow five Novice riders in each heat on a fu ll h alf mil e track! T hi s created man y ad d it ional h e -hum eve nts while th e fans were w ai tin g an d freezi ng to see th e Ex pe rts wh o h ad been heavily advertised. The clocking sit ua tio n was o ver co me by bo rr ow in g a sto pwatc h fro m o ne of th e rider s. T he prob lem came whe n th e watch qui t working (Co ld ?) This event paid a majo r n on -nati onal purse and h ad an excellent turno ut of riders in an area that has long been void of good p rofessio nal racing. (ca~bor~~G~e~ ~~~d~ I~%Et~.J.:TU R AL $ 1 .5 0 f o r 3 m o nth s suppl y ( Ca li f . r el-id en t s ad d 5 "la K) . Se nd ( n eck o r m o ney o r d er t o : End ur. Vl t a m m. De p t, A . ,6 38 S . G le nd o ra A ve .• G lenGo ra. Ca . 9 17 40 . 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Aluminum Telescopic Slid es out t o 6 ft . fo r lo adi ng Loading Ramps Slides back to 4 ft . for st o w ing Fits in any car or truck cab. App ro x. we ight 7 lb . ',~'" .~ . ~ ( 21 3 ) VA LL EY 764- 1808 L.A. 87~ 6 94 ~ DEALERSlII SEND FOR YOUR GRAHAM 'S CATALOG NO W!!! WHOLESAlE ONLYIl! g,aham\' hal what you want F., All 0;" B;k., 7325 Greenbush Ave.North Hollywood, Calif. 91605 ovices Back East Happenin gs Ascot Park will h ost the fi rst weste rn regional hal f mil e race on May 18th. T he first of thi s new type even t on th e half mil e was run at R eadi ng, Pa. th e en d of April and drew we ll over two h undred entries . Seven ty-plus were late riders wh o race d but scored no poin ts. Young Mik e Kid d from Texas went to Readi ng and wi th o ut taking a sing le practi ce lap wen t out and wo n his heat an d the fin al. He w as leading th e Half-mile the ni gh t before in Tennessee wh en he was force d o ut wi th igni ti on tro ubles. Kidd will b e traveling to th e west for the As cot region al and the May 20 th San J ose Na tio nal alo ng wi th Mike Ge ral d who is go ing to mak e a serio us effo rt to co m pe te o n big bikes this year as we ll as run ni ng Iigh tweigh ts o n the short t racks . Ge ral d is one of the best short trac ke rs goi ng this year and about the o nly rid er that appears to be ab le t o top hi m is Kidd, T heir last laps duel s rece ntly in T exas were crowd pl easers . fro m star t to fin ish . Gerald won the Ch icago National short tr ack title .last sea so n b ut b lew a total of eigh t, repeat eigh t, engi nes at th e Ho us to n Nation als last Janu ary. He h as since switch ed brands, by th e w ay . Roberts Shoots Himself ! Kenny R ob erts is goi ng to chal lenge Tom Ro ckwood fo r th e lead in n o n -racin g inj uries . Sho rtly be fore Daytona Ken n y bent and bruised h imself _ o th e exten t he co uld hardly t walk , let alo ne ride in Florida. Now he will be car ry in g ex t ra wei gh t in to th e San J ose National as he accidently shot himself in th e leg wi th a 22 caliber gun. T he bulle t is still there (by choice) , b ut Roberts, th e National poin t leader , is read y . He won th e previo us San Jose non -Nat io nal race earlier this yea r. Wonder how he will ex palin th e bullet every time h e goes throu gh the me tal detect or this year in the many airpo rt s . he will p ass through? The San J ose Na tional is sup posed to find J im Rice rid in g a Harl ey -Davids on for the first ti me . R ice won the event in ' 69 and '70 abo ard a BSA but h as lost o ut to Gene Ro mero and Triumph th e past two ti mes. . Speaking of rid er brand changes, reports fro m the midwest find ageless Neil Keen switchi ng ove r and riding T riu m phs this year. Pas t years have fo und th e '6 1 A scot na tional win ne r o n BSA , Harl ey and Ya ma ha, but th is will be the fir st tim e o n a T riu m p h, wh ich is deal er sp on sored fro m the St. Lduis area. T he National cy cle raci ng dirt track pic ture lo o ks better th en ever wh en yo u co m pare with some of the so-c alled maj or car , races. Yvon Du H am el co mpeted in a recen t NAS CA R la te mo del race an d wen t 38 1 laps and finished in te nth place . His ta ke-horne Was less than $ 5 00. T he AMA Natio nal riders h ave th at beat by a co nsi derab le m argin an d o n ly h ave to ru n ' a fra ction o f that distance to earn as mu ch or more . T he new Expert-only Natio n al di rt tr ac k fo rm at for this year has put bucks in to cycle racin g. Mich Match More money is coming in o n J une 2n d wh en th e Half-mi le in De troi t , kn own as Northville Do wns h osts a $ 3500 Hal f-mile an d in additio n wiII have a fi rst tim e " Match R ace" be tw een California and Michigan ride rs. It se ts up to be a guara nteed drawing card with fo u r C alifornia Ex pe r ts an d two J unio rs match ing up against five Michigan Experts an d o ne J unior. Californ ia will h ave five T riu mp h riders an d one on Ya ma ha. M ich igan w il l ' be all Harl ey -David so n m o un ted . T he riders will co mp e te agai nst eac h o ther in two ten lap match races wi th the high p o int team taki ng th e en tire purse which will be a minimum o f $2,00 0 and a ma ximum of $4, 0 00. The teams have signe d with California goi ng wit h Gary Scott , Tom Rock wood, Terry Dorsch an d Tom Horton as th e Ex perts an d J ohn Gennai and Rick Hocking as the J uni o rs. . Michigan is led by Bart Mar kel who is backe d u p b y Rex Beauch amp, Corky Keen er, Mike j ohnso n and Ted Ne wton. . T he J unior is Tom Cum min gs. Ne w ton was t he big win ne r a t 1'! o rthville last season but Scott wo n th e on ly time he raced th er e. Gary is th e only California rid er th at has ridden th e track . J ohnson was th e leadi n g Michigan Junio r last season and is th e rookie on t he Wo lve rine team . Beauchamp has bee n the winnin ges t rider fo r the Mic higan group to date . picking up two Half-mil e wins in Ohio an d a Mile vic tory in At lanta. T he team rna tch racin g idea h as ca ugh t on to th e ex te n t that promo ters h ave con tacted th e Cal ifornia team for e ven ts in O regon , Deleware and T en nesse la te r in th e season . T he O rego n e ve n t . wi ll m a t ch t he C alifornians against a te am from Wash in gt on and O regon wh ile the eas te rn d at es wo uld be against so me eas te rn all stars. Cycle News received a n o t e from Los Angeles rad io statio n, KBIG, that the y will be recapping the San J ose May 20 th nati o n al rig h t a fte r th e race a t 5: 45 PM o n th e 20th. Fo r lis teners that's 74 on the dial. KBIG will also air the results o f th e Detr o it ma tch ra ce and th e Loudon, New Hamp shire Na ti o nal road races . J une 3rd an d 17 th . If Gary Scott can kee p h is Asco t win st reak go ing h e can bre ak th e 19 61 reco rd set by N eil Keen on Fri day night, Ma y 18th d urin g th e R egional race. T h e mark is seve n teen in a row.

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