Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

mountain meadows) to eroded dustbowls..... For that very reason ungulate grazing is forbidden on pUblie land slopes in Colorado until the grass is six to ten inches high each season . If it was allowed earlier, the slopes might not stay on the mountains where they belong. ". " '" ~ M .... ell ttl " :> .., c: * '" ~ W Z W ....I (J >- (J ONLY 17 SURVIVED COLUMBUS, 0 ., May 27 - The Little Burr National Enduro sank in a sea of m ud and mo nsoon weather today. Accordin g 10 early reports there wer e only 17 ( !) fin ishers o u t of 400 en tri es. T he uno ffi cial results list Buzz Witcla tch as Overall winner, with T roy Creech the top B rid er, BiU Uh l, J ack Penton and Doug Wilford were also am o ng the fini sh er s. Comple te story next issu e. Su zuki do esn 't re ally h ave any th ing tha t can be cal led co mp e ti tive in th e AMA ligh !weigh t class o n half-m iles and ro ad r ac ing courses . Lo o k fo r Suzook to remedy this by bringing out a 350 kit for their 250 single. It should show up . at the end of the y ear. • • • Dealers, manufacturers, distribu tors, craftsmen , etc. interested in vending their wa res at the Carlsbad GP can get a booth . There will be only six available on a f irst-come, first-serve basis. Reservations, info, and eternal happiness may be had by calling 714/557·9243. * * * AT LAST : Yes, Virgini a , Ho nda really is going to b uild a 350cc four-stro ke sing le. It should be on sale by th e end of A ugust an d will resemble , the XL·250 for ob vio us re asons. T his means th at H onda w ill make a tw o ' stro ke o pe n class motocro sser about six months .la te r, right ? • • • Speaking of Honda, their XL ·175 has been seen frenquently in the ir shop and maybe we 'll be lucky enough to test one soon . * * * A Yamah a 750 aver ages 3.6 bugs per Iac eshield mil e be tw een Santa Barbara an d WiIIow Sp rin gs, Cali fo rni a . • • • Two road racers can drink two six packs of Seven-up and a quart of Coke in three hours. Plus two sticks of Dentyne. However, the latter has been shown to raise lap times. It will, of course, increase reliability. * * * O u r fri zzy -headed test er ha s di sco ver ed th at riding on th e cord o f a T riumph 500 factory road ra cer's ty res will ca use th e gas lank to leak, eve n wi thout falli ng down . • • • In 100% of all cases tested, swapping a motocrosser in Ameriea for a VW bus in Europe resulted in a VW bus that wa s no more reliable on the pavement than the motocrosser. * * * If the plastic switch es on y our Ducat i 750 break, whittling replacements out of mah ogan y will not only increase reliability but also add a personal touch - and so me class. • • • The rumors about Kawasak i's middleweight four-stroke are growing. We still anticipate something that looks like half a Zee-Won. * * * The European road racing season has had another disaster wi th the death of I tali an Ema n ue l Mau glian i and fo ur spec tato rs durin g th e 350 race at an In te rnatio n al me eting in Yu goslavia . • • • WAIT TIL RON SCHNIEDERS READS THIS : ABC television is going to air a show called "Gambit." Next we expect ZsaZsa Gabor to star in a show called '·Scramblin' Around," and John Mitchell to do one called "I n Defense of Freedom." The ultimate, of course, will be Richard Nixon in "Wiring Around." * * * Paul Smart ma y rid e a t th e Isle of Man on his S uz uki. • • • The Horrendous crash at Monza leaves a great deal of doubt about the futures of the Harley and Yamaha works teams . * * * Gia como Agostini has denied ru mors that he may rid e for Honda th is season. Next season is still op en , howeve r. It may be that Honda has a two st roke in th e works. • • • Scott Autrey has had a great many offers to ride at various speedways in England , includ ing the prestigious Wills I nternational at Wimbledon. Barry Briggs wasn't invit ed to compete. Despit e d ri vin a o ver t he auard rail in hi s heatat San Jose, T erry Dor sch f inished f ifth, lo si ng onl y o ne po sition. Photo by Dan Mahoney . Internal Specs . DESERT : Chasin' them virg ins ', ' 6 NON .LOCAL RACING : Motocross in the Philippines 8 ISDT QUALIFIER : Bad Rock · · · · .10 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MOTOCROSS : yugoslavia 12 SECTION : North 14 LOCAL RACING · ·· · ·· · · · ·· ·· · .16 PERSONALITY : Ro lf T ibblin 17 MO RE DESERT : DRA 18 MOTO C ROSS: Salt Lake Qualif ie r 21 TEST : Yamaha's imp ro ved 360 MX~ , 22 GALLERY : Don Cast ro 24 ENDURO : The Greenhorn 28 - The Lon eso me Pine 33 SPEEDWAY : Slid ing ar ound ' , 30 WO R LD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD R AC ING : 32 Aus t rian GP _ The tragic Ital ian GP 24 EASY ENDURO : Sm uggling 24 T O U RIN G: Jo h nny , come home (to Humpty Watergate) .40 CO MPARISO N: Those k nobbies : .42 T he ultimate enduro repa ir kit seen on the cover is b rough t to you through the co u rtesy o f t he ca me ra o f Larr y Langley. * * * Ch rister Hammargren plans to re tir e from moto cross at the end of the season , an d both J oel Ro bert and J oh n Banks are tal kin g about hangin g it up fo r the remainder of th e season . Neither of them h ave h ad any success th is season. Robert wo uld h ave to win all th e remainin g 25 0 ro unds to retain hi s title, and Ande rsso n wo uld have to fail 10 score at all. • • • Which group does more harm to the " f ragile desert", Ronald Regan and nine of his horse riding buddies or Barry Goldwater and nine of his motorcycle rid ing buddies? It seems that the ungulate enthusiasts are more dangerous to the environment. The big hoofers take a clump out of any dirt surface they traverse with each step, and when spring rains induce flash flod ing, inst ead of washing over the terra in, the water will wash it away. Ten bikers rid ing a narrow trail are less likely to produce the kind of damage like ly to lead to flood damage. The same th ings goes for forest land also. The April issue of Recreational Equipment , I n c. 's newsletter " View Point.. points out that " Ho rses can reduce grasslands (high * * SP ECTATOR'S D ELIGHT : Br ad wa s one o f th e riders who voted against riding at th e Austrian GP. T he re were five feet of snow on the track on the day pri o r to th e race. No one exc ep t a bunch of Commies wan te d to ride since th ey really ge t alon g wi th th e slippery , cold s tuff. T he FIM an nounced that n o poin ts would b e given fo r the meeting. Forty -five min u te motos must be a real joy to th e spec tat o r when th ere is five feet of snow on the groun d. • • • Being a spectator is really difficult. At Hockenheim where the German GP was held, they sold out of beer and programs . * * * • • • * * * In case you h aven ' t n o ticed, the FIM has granted san c ti on s to the AMA for fo u r maj o r international even ts n ext year. The even ts will be th e U.S. GP motocr oss a t Carlsbad, th e Formula 750 round fo r th e U.S . o n O ctober 6 , th e U.S. 125 motocr oss champion shi p , and t he l n t e r na t i o n a l observed tri al ch am pionsh ip. T he latter will be held on J anuary 6 , an d th e 125 mo tocross will be held o nJ uly 28 in Misso uri . Kawasaki team motocross rider JIM WE I NERT has announced h is engagement to .Cat hy Hansen , daughter of Kawasaki road race team boss BOB HANSEN. Whether or not th is may bring about some change in what Jim rides is not known yet. BRAD LACKEY is living with RO G ER DECOSTER at his h ome in Belgium an d traveling wi th Roge r to all the rou nd s on the 500 International Grand Prix circuit. Next mo n th , o n J une 24 at th e U.S. Gr";'d Prix at Carlsbad , we should have a ch ance to see wha t Bradl ey has learned fro m h is roommate. • • • GARY SCOTT: Gary Scott has a SI point lead over Kenny Roberts in. the National Championship contest. The two of them might have a good little game for the rest of the season if somebody like Don Castro doesn't get too uppity. Last week's win at 5an Jose was Don '5 first National win (as an Expert) and it might feel 50 good that he wants to do it some more. Gary probably wishes that he was a little more proficient on the pavement. * * * Th e MOTOCROSS D ES NATIO NS wiII be h eld in Sw it zerland on September 16 . As ofyel the re h ave been n o denials 10 the rumor that it will be held at the top of the Matt erh o rn . • • • * * Our new managing editor, Tod Rafferty fell int o the unscrupulous hands of our staff road racers and was conned into going to last week's AFM road race at Riverside . He escaped with only a bad case of asphalt rash . * TilE GREAT ITALI AN .JA PA;o.;ESE. CANADIAX ~IOTORCYCLE CAPER: Ho nda h as decided to mo ve in to Ital y with a plant. Th at gOI Sr. DeTomaso all upset and said th at he wa s going 10 move out his Benelli , Mo t o-G u zzi, and Bian chi p lants. Now the wo rd is that DeT om aso and th e govern me nt of the Pro vince d e Quebec (Can ad a) are coope rating to build a fac tory . • • • We were somewhat horrified to read . that · a Harley Baja only lists for six dollars and ninety·five cents in last week's copy of Cycle News . One editor dashed to our local H·D dealer with eight dollars in his hand, but was told, alas, that the Piglet in fact retails for six hundred and ninety five dollars. Seems that we had a period left over from something else and left it between the six and the nine in the psec sheet. * * * .Co ngressman David N. lI enderso n of North Carolin a said all sorts of nice th ings abou t th e b ikies at Daytona and read it into the Congressi on al record . lie lab eled the people that he saw at Da ytona as "w ell-beh aved, wel l-m annered , and en th usias tic". • • • Pennzo il and Hodaka have gotten t oget her to ma ke a fil m about the Bad Rock ,Two Days Trial. The 24 minute film is p roduced w ith the cooperation of Peter Starr, and will be available for syndicated d istribution. * * *

• Cover