Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141060
emJtin' c:Around I by Ch uc k Clayton AMA Tug-O -War ,;...,, _ T he mi ghty Am eri can Motorcycle Associa tion is being p ull ed fro m se veral directi o~s in this sp ring o f 19 73: O ne powerful ar m o f th e body wants th e AM" to forget the "little guys" of th e sport - the a mateur hobbyi st - an d m ake the m ost o u t o f what th e AMA is b est a t , p rofessio nal racing. " T he a m ateu r, th e sports man rider e ats up man agement time a nd in su ran ce be nefits," th ey say . He d o esn ' t pay h is wa y ." T hey co ul d h ave ad de d t hat he is also probabl y se co nd only t o th e gun -ho ro ad ride r in his gri pes ab o ut the AMA . AME R ICA now, th e AMA could th row Mid d le ro ad ers, like m yself, d an gle its ro ad riders a b one or tw o an d th ey fro m the AMA 's sleeve in the d irecti on co uld n ' t d o any th ing abou t it. Well, of sports , prim a rily, leaving th e road Russ San ford, MORE' s brains and co nscien ce , says he isn 't goi ng to d isturb and touring riders to th e unpreo ccu p ied o rganiz atio ns that a re ap pealing to th at th e AM A at what th ey d o best, run cat egory o f m o torcy cli st s prim aril y . Bu t ra ces . Hi s ai m is d oing MORE for th e we'll hear n o t alk of aban don ing us m o t orcy clist whe n h e is n o t ra cing. h obby riders when we need th e A MA T his aim en co m passes defe nd ing and th e most . ex t ending ri de rs ' righ ts , his fi nancial Understan dab ly, th e AMA S ta ff is well-being and h is sa fety . MORE' s tuggin g th e giant in th e directi on it is reas on ing is th at a perso n will enjoy p res entl y go in g, ad di ng new t erritories being a m oto rc yclist m ore , if he is and fo rm s o f ra cing to it s rol e o f being reason abl y well protected, rel ated to ,th e p ub lic an d knows h is interests are being all things to all m o t orcy cli sts . An d th ere is a small b u t perceptib le lo o ked o ut for. T he ty pical m o torcycl ist d oesn ' t care much wh ether it is Russ c1acq ue of o ld ti rners wh o 'd pre fe r to see th e AMA m ore like th e AM, a se rvice San fo rd o r h is namesak e Ru ss March organizatio n fo r road ri de rs . (S ure , w it h d oin g the lo okin ' o ut as lon g as t he dues a little racin g on the side, so you'd have are n o t unreason abl e fo r th e benefits so m ew he re t o go on those lo n g, m aj est ic derived. Fo r th e past de ca de, th e AMA has rides.] been ab le to d o lit tle for the heavy Un til Motorcy cle O wn ers, R id e rs an d En th usias ts o f Califo rn ia go t toge ther dresse rs besid es p ar ad e th em a ! racing with so me A rizo n a m oney a nd last eve n ts an d give th em ins u ra nce an d th en m o nth an no u nce d that it is MO R E of ta ke it away whe n a su rp rising n umber I I LEADS THE WAY Wise co is Numbe r One in th e moto rc yc le Pe rfo rm ance Indu stry! * * * First in Performance First in Dependability First in Service Let us show you how to be Nu mbe r One . We 've got just th e pisto n you ne ed to giv e t ha t ex tra powe r fo r the edge on co mpet itio n. Specia l a lloy m ainta ins st rength at elevated temperatures. Rad ius co rne rs fo r added stren gth . Rein fo rce d to prov ide add itional strengt h in high s t ren gt h Engineered to red ist ribute thrust loa ds f or ma xim um s tr en gt h. areas. / Extra support to withs ta nd elevated te mperature an d provide excellent s ea l. Prec lsion - s ized fo r accu ra t e fit. MODELS AVAILAB LE HAR LEY-DAVIDSON KAWASAKI OSSA BU LTACO HODA KA ' MAICO PENTON CARABE LLA HONDA MONTESA PUCH CZ HUSQVARNA MOTO BETA SACHS FUJI SUZUK I YAMAHA ZU NDAPP - WRITE TODAY for you r fre e Wisec o Piston Broc hu re C·lO. WISECO PISTON. INC. 72 03 IN DU ST RIAL PARK BLVD .. ME NTOR . OH IO 44060 TELE PHON E:' 21 6/95t·66oo used it . (I ' can imagi ne m yoId cl ub waiting im p atien tly fo r one of its me mber s to b re ak a bo ne so th ey can try out this n ew-fan gled ins urance.) It is no t that the AMA d o esn ' t want to please road rider m embers, they j ust h ave all th ese raci n g pots boiling over in Wo rthin gt on , Ohio. MO RE of A merica ch an ges all tha t. Now th e m o t o rcy cl ist wh o is not p rimarily in it for racing h as a choice. Several ch o ice s, in fact. I cite MORE m ore freq uently, aw kw a rd Eng lish th ough it so me t imes m akes, because I kno w i t better an d it see ms to offer (here it goes agai n) m ore. Bu t the re are at least two oth er natio nal m o t orcy cle associatio ns th at have a nnou nce d th eir existence in re c en t wee ks. Pl u s th ere a re an y n umb er, of state and lo cal asso c ia t ion s 0 f ferin g road rid ers esse ntially ' wh at th e AMA o ffe rs fo r co nsi derably less d ues. All th is tugging at th e AMA will release some co nsiderable hot air over th e va rio us c o ffee' t abl es where mo to rcycle p ol icy is d ecid ed ; Bu t when th at eco lo gical damage is d on e , the typical, ave rage m otorcy cle rider o f America m ay fin d ou t th at he does exist, and th e ex ce ptional ones who co m pe te with their toys ma y com e to regard h im as a n equal. First Nighter at the Dunes b y E. C. Ch it lin VALENC IA, CAL., Ma y 4, 197 3 - A tre me ndo us crowd of fa ns and ride rs were on h an d fo ; the fir st' night of Friday N ight R acing at Ind ian Dunes. ' Joh n lIrynkie wicz on hi s " all sto ck " CZ was th ere to ta ke ho me th e first place m o ne y in t he 25 0 class, wi th 23 Experts c o mp e ting. In th e firs t moto , J ohn shot o ut of th e p ack t o h e first over the hill and held that spot fo r the entir e m o to with J im Wilso n givin g battle in second place. With tw o firsts ,John was lo o kin g for a clean swee p. A bad start ca ugh t J ohn in the pack . Goin g u p t he hill it was bike-to-bik e wa rfare and abo ut 10 rid ers un lo ad ed. J o hn m a naged to ge t th ro ugh and was runnin g eigh th . He tu rne d u p the wick a nd fin ished one half inch be hind the fourt h pla ce rider. F o r a fifth in the final m o t o and a first ove ral l. T he final race was at 2:3 0 a. rn, ANOTHER NEW ASSOCIATION ... NML In se vera l areas o f the co un try ne w m oto rcy cle ass ocia tions are c ro p pin g up to handle local and reiional gro ups of m oto rcyclists who feel that they are being left to sh ift b y themselves b y th e giant A meric an Moto rcy cJe A ssocia ti on. O ne of the ne west o f th e yo ung organ iza tio n s , i s T he N a tion al Motorcy cle Leagu e, In c. It was fo rme d in Florida b y five men a bo ut two m onths ago , and "kep t u nd e r wrap s so it wouldn ' t d etract fro m the h ighl y presigious Win te r' Al\1A Championship Series" t here, p ar tly because two o f th e five fo u nde rs o f NML w e re in s trumental i n o rga n izaing th e Win ter AMA Ch am p io n ship Seri es, and no on e w an ted to hurt the sport. " However. th e AMA 's d eclinin g in t e r e s t in co m pe tit io n , an d it s in creased in te rest in legislation, it s m one tary d em ands on promo te rs an d san ctio ned activi ties , h as brought fo rt h th e need fo r new organizations to fi ll th e n eed of p articip ants in the world s fastest growing sport, " says NML press rel e ase. Several tra cks h ave already be en signed to NML fra nchises, an d ride rs are being licen sed for com peti ti o n. NML presid ent George Esse r h as been laying the ground work fo r a n ine-race su m me r Pro -Am series th at will enc o m p ass, no rt h , ce n tra l, an d sou th Florida. T he series is expec ted to carry a p u rse approaching $ 10,000.00. "The NM L will o ffe r an organization for the rider an d p romo t er, n o t the in d ust ry, it will keep a ce ntral p o in t tabulat io n on th e rid e rs, o rganize se ries raci ng, leagu e a nd team raci ng pro grams, give p romo t ers p ro tected fran chi se ter ritories so riders will have the be st facilities in any given area an d offe r i n c r e ase d ins urance b en efits," t he rel ease goes o n to state. George E. Esser S r., (Pres.)' Dean Dyess , (V ice Pr es.), George E. Esse r Jr.. (Sec .}, Garvin "B us ter" Bri tto n, (T res.) , and J am es R . Eddy, (A tty), a re th e names behind the NML and m ake up th e e xec u tive board. J ack Do nahey of Natio nal A uto R acin g Services In c., will b e t h e in su rance adviso r , a n d Le e Greg ory. fo rme r Radio and T V pe rsonality an d South Florid a - Racing an noun ce r will h an dl e th e PR cho res. .... ." '" e, M .... Cl '" > . :. til ;: w Z W ..J U >U