Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

c o m m i tte d o r re ad y t o co mm it th emselv es from the New Eng lan d area. They a re qu al ified and ca pable; m an y o f th em have worked th e Ber kshire even ts for many years. There are local peopl e I p lan t o use, friends of m in e, who will have to know where th e chec kpoin ts are. This is the first responsibility, th en we can fill in the ch ec k point crew with people who ca n run a chec k but ar e not familiar with the area . I ' ve p l a n ned several sessions of ins truction because the Six Day chec k points ar e not like t he average end u ro . The chec k point performs a function, but the basi s of th e responsibility of being proces sed is on the rider. He as ks no questions and th e chec ker is not r e s p onsib le -for answering an y. The checker is just there and t he minute the ride r crosses the yellow line the chec ke r im mediately processes the ride r's card th ro ug h the time clock and re t urns it t o him and he 's on his way. If he arrives ea rly t hen h e assumes th e ear ly sch edul e ; it's real ly entirely differ ent from the usu al system of scoring. CN; Wha t were Sen or Bulto's (FIM o bserve r) feelings o n th e quali fyin g event? AE : He was very helpful and was n ot h ere t o c ri tici ze unn ec essarily . He po inted o ut a number of. co rrec t io ns that we mi gh t make th at we re objective an d good co rrec t io ns. Another observer was Jan Krivka, the m an b eh ind t he sce nes a t the Czech ISD T las t year. After his visit he wrote and article in the Czech Mo to r Review in which he was quite objective about his feeli ngs and im pressions of o ur organization. I had tho ught tha t he wou ld ju st stand bac k and say that t his is wrong and that is wrong, but he di d n't do that; in fac t he even c o m p l i m e n t e d u s on our o rganization. I ap p reciate th at fa ct b ecause I think that there are go ing to be so me Europeans who will be very critical about us, and they're not going to b e too nice abou tit. FIM official Baron Vo n Essen was another person who has observed ou r organization on a separate oc casion. [ spent a day showing hi m arou nd the d i ffe r e n t a r eas a n d · it was very enlightening to hear his com ments. The Bar on spoke English so that we co uld co m m un icate d irectly , an d his objective st a tem en ts helped me a great. deal . CN : Wha t d o you co nside th e bi ggest obstacl e b efore eve ry t hi ng b ecomes fin al ? AE : The rou t e is goi ng t o presen t its problems but I think I'll be ab le to make m y peace wi th eve ryo ne in vol ved. Th e International asp ect and spectator co ntrol are also a big qu est ion. \\'e are going to have to hire th e lo cal p oli ce to help ad mi nister tr affic c o ntro l, and also work in areas wh ere th er e can b e spectator resp onsibilit y; this is th e ty pe ' o f assuran ce th at th e town fathers and th e selec tmen t wa n t fo r the handling o f th ese problem s. The co m pe titor is going to be the least o f o u r problems. Ano the r problem th at will presen t itself is t hat o f th e sp ec t ator who comes with his m o torcycl e and expects t o ride th e rout e. This cann ot be allowed b ut th ere will b e someone who will get o n th e ro ute d u ring the course of th e event an d he 's goi ng to get run off so damn fast that he wo n' t kn o w whether he's comi ng o r goi ng . We are going to co n t ro l ce r tain areas and p ost a policeman if necessary at trails where we have permission to use the m with t he under st an d in g th at we will keep out the casual spectator. I am n ego t ia t in g for areas suc h as thi s right no w and also certai n ar eas th at are cal led " p ro tected areas" wh ich m ay lie in an area that incorpora tes a p ower lin e that ca nnot be dam aged an d that we can us e wi th the u nders tandi ng that n o spectato rs are allowed. We will have to abi de by thi s de ci s i on ; this is the y ear of th e environmentalist and we are all subject to th e whims o f a few. The police, both state and local, are prep ared to h andle . the tr affi c con trol-· t he bi ggest problem--and th e cro wd co n tro l. CN: The U.S. riders' m ain downfall in Czech oslova kia were th e spe cial tests. What can we look forward to here ? AE : The special t ests will requir e t hat a rid er b e able to ride fast an d t o also rid e sm art . It wo n't be deceptive b u t will b e a straight terrain challenge. At last year's ISDT the special test used on five of the six days was a mo t ocross type track and it was very deceptive. It required a cer tain ability th at most endu ro riders don't ne cessarily possess, and therefore it may b e fair to say that it was -a li t tl e b it slanted . Ou r te rrai n challenge will be geared to th e en d uro rider who rides quick and smart; if h e d oesn't he co uld fall o r hur t himsel f. There will be th at ele m ent but it will b e se t up in the Am erican style. Th e r oadrace p ortio n of the special t est will be held in a fiel d because, after careful sea rc hing , I found out th at in the suitable areas the trees arc too close to the road. The safety feature is slowly creeping into the European scene also: the need for this was pointed o u t very c l e a rl y in the C z e c h ISDT. A motorcycle th at has been ridden off the road for six days an d th en required t o race on a public road is not th e safest vehicle; the sp eeds an d the tires are not conducive to safety at all. I solved the problem by de signating a field as the c ou rse and aft er showing the proposed site t o Baron von Essen, Mr. Kri v ka and Senor Bulto on separate occasions, I concluded t ha t it will work o ut fine. CN: Is the Six Days a spectator sport? AE: Yes , but it can become b oring eve n to the rid er partici pating. 1 thi nk t hat the best way fo r the spe ctator to attend the . Six Day s is with the id ea of seeing the area in which the even t will be o pera t i ng as well a s t he d irect c'o mp e t i tj o n . [ d on ' t rec omm end chasing the route eve ry day, bu t ins tead plannin g ce rtai n d ay s to spec tate an d spendi ng the rest o f the time visiting th e natural a ttractions as well as t he hist oric and touri st att rac tio ns. Th e surro undi ng area is a very histo ric place. Unless th e spectator is a real hard core en th usias t then he is better off alternating watching the competition. For the uninitiated spectator th e th ird an d fourth days are of m aj or importance to t he ride r, in that if he can finish day th ree he 's halfway there. The fourth day is a challenge in that the rider is apt to have his tire change scheduled that day, and it can be a traumatic experience because it's a tough job. There will be very few open access spectator points to view the ri ders out on the trail. CN: Can we show the E uropeans that we're just as good as t hey an d that we' re ready to j oi n wh at , up until now, Has been dominated by Europe? AE : I think so . I think that American riders have m ad e their initial attack on the European motorcycle scene, such as GP wi n i n a 25 0 Po meroy's champi onship mo tocross, and I bel ieve th a t th e Six Day s will be one m ore event to demonstrate to everyon e tha t th e U.S. rep resents a very lar ge p or tion o f t h e o verall motorcycling scene. Sometimes, wh en yo u 're d ealing with an unknown qu antit y like the p ublic, the Six Day s almost scares me. Bu t, by t he same to ke n , if you have an y con fidence in y ou r ability-san d you have t o have th at-then y ou ca n' t be negative ab o ut it. The experi en ce t hat we have gaine d o ver t he years in t his area shou ld help to make th is a qu ality event . Ther e will be mi stakes made and probabl y last minute adjustments, bu t the even t will go off as o ne of the b etter quality events eve r to b e run in th e U. S. I certainly am no t going t o d o it alo ne by any st re tc h o f the imagination : what it will requir e is t he help of each an d every volunte er com mitted. It 's r e ally a Ne w Eng lan d effort with everb ody standing b eh ind us , so we ne ed so me h elp I ca n ap p roach an en th us iast and he 'll say, " Sure, what can I d o ?" We are d o ing t his b ecause we w an t to, and because we sincerely beli eve in wh at we're d oin g. That's the important thing. CN: In an eve nt o f th is m agni tude t he re are always charge s of what would have to be calle d cheating. Will the re be ade q uate co ntro ls for thi s? A E : Th e b asic attit ude o f almost everyone is pl ay th e game fair an d sq uare, and I th in k th at this feeli ng will b e exhi b ite d agai n th is year . I th ink th a t th is co uld be the year t o clean it up so mewhat though, since the European s will be away fr om -thei r home terri t ory and they will have t o abide strictl y b y o ur rules as set out in the FIM manual. ' Th e m inor chic anery th at goes o n will not present a problem, but th e maj or overhaul ing of the mot orcy cle to make it last six days will n ot be allow ed . Th e r e l ia b iIi ty o f t he cycle and the ca pability o f th e rid er will be m o re in evidence t his year. I lo o k for the sporting aspec t to return to th e Six Day s an d I am setting u p m y o rganization ac cordingly so that it is th e rider an d his machine-sa team-who has to last ·the ch allen ge I pu t together in t he form of the route. There will be m o re public road used than was evident in Czechoslovakia and so me riders, particularly the Europeans, will p ro bab ly resent this. There will be a ch allenge provided that will separate the ri der abilities and mach ine p rep ara tio n of th e teams. It will be a tough one. / M " '" " .... ell C1. M '" > :; '" ~ w Z w -" U >U " ...a quality single cylinder 500cc machine, capable of surprising top speeds." The N ew BSA Gold Stl11'. CYCLE magazine, Sept. 1955 The ISA Gold Star T he firs t Gold St ar model wa s in trod uc ed in 19 38. It s pred ecessor had a cast iron cy linde r barr el and h ead , but the n ew mach in e featured alum in um for these parts, and a cas t-in pu sh rod tun nel w hic h has been present in all subseque n t models. Bore an d st ro ke were 82 and 9 4 rnrn , resp ectively . T he model was designa ted th e 1\1 2 4' G o ld Star. This ea rly mach in e w as manufactured thro u gh 19 39, bu t th e war p ostpon ed any furth er development un til ten years later . In 19 49 a 35 0c c model was intr oduced, which, as the BSA manu al rep orts, "achieved an ins tan t success by win ning t he J un ior Club m an's TT Race." In 19 50 a 500cc model ap peared wh ich was mo re along the lines of the an d later m ach in es. b u t ex cept fo r "present d ay " Gold Star. This mach in e , small details they are the same as the called the B34. had a bore and stroke of Gold Stars of 1953. 85 X 88m m, figures which have The Gold Star made its American re mained unchanged since. Man y of the d e b u t af te r passi ng t he A1\IA B34's were man u fac tu red fo r th e use of 200 · mi ni m u m producti o n ru le in the Armed Services, and o ccasional Feb ruary of 1954, and fo r about te n specimens are st ill fo un d. years the big single was a strong force in 1952 marked another ch an ge which American racing - at D ay ton a, in 1956 , characterizes die " p resen t d ay" mo del, fo r ex ample , Gold Stars ridden by Dic k the separate ro cker box. The postwar Klamfo th , George Everett, Tommy Gold Stars had the boxes cast integrally :\lc DerriJOlt, an d Gene Thiessen took with the cylinder head (like today's second th ro ugh fifth . AI G un ter turned Norton) . In 1953 a new frame arri ved, th e fastes t q u alifying lap that year o n a with du plex tubes an d a sw ingi ng arm Gold Star as well. rear sus pens ion . Since th en , the Gold In 19 6 3, the Gold Star appeared in Star h as changed very little . T he showroo ms for the last ti me . T oday p ictures on these p ages are all of 196 0 they ~re rarely if eve r, seen on tracks or I ~. Th is 1955 mach ine (Gold Star No. CB34GS·260 in factl was the one inspected by the AMA in the factory's 20D-min imum production"qual ification for entering the machine in AMA events, The following year the Gold Star finished 2, 3 , 4 , and 5 at Daytona. Photo courtesy Dick Dickinson .

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