Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

." 'Wit h' Ontario fac ing a' dub ious future", · the Kawasaki Superb ike National at Laguna Seca looks like it is on it s way to becoming the most important pavement event on the West Coast. It's well that it should; Laguna Seca raceway , located in Monterey, is certa in ly California ~s most beautiful racetrack and possibly the best road racing course in the West. Be there or be square. Mark' July 21 ' on your calendar. s M .... '" " ::l ..., t: CIl ;: W • • • Z Speaking of im portant ra ces , we hear that m o st of the top riders in the world will be at the U.S. Hang Ten Carlsbad G ran d Pri x (see m s like that gets all th e cred it s in there) . T he rid ers in d o ub t are the R ussi ans. Fol ks are co mi ng fr om such bi zarre places as Ve nezue la. W ...J U >- U * * * AREN'T YOU GLAD THAT YOU RIDE A BIKE? ,With the gas shortage com ing down on us th is summer, and a five or ten gallon per station ration more than a possibHty, we sure are g'lad that we go most everywhere by motocycle. Trucks and cars are alr ight for haUling raci ng bikes, but we sure are glad that we aren't like those ,t u rkey s who actually tra vel in four-wheelers. A 38 foot motor home can be a long way from home with only f ive gallons of gas. Aren't you glad that you ride a bike? Don 't you wish that everybody did? (Actually, we don't either.) • Smash ! Down cam e the sledge hammer. Crash ! Crash! · First the headlamp, and then the gas tank were totally de molished. Again and again, partici p an ts of Kawasaki Escond ido's G rand Openi ng h ap p ily h amme red away at "Gary B.S . Sku n k, " co m ple tel y d estro y in g wh at was o nce a 1968 Sears 35 0cc motorcycle. . Passin g m o t o rist s straine d their necks to see wh at th ey co uld n ' t beli eve w~ h ap pnei ng. Mo t orcy clists sc ree ched to a halt, tu rned , an d came back to ta ke their tum at the hammer. It was fu n - go d, but it was fun'; and therape utic - everybody felt better afte r releasing th ei r frustrations against every ill-ru nning. co stly cy cle in existance , It was Kawasaki Escondido's way of attracting atte ntion to the fact tha t, J ohn Pe ter son , the new o wne r, h as indeed mad e substantial chan ges in th e way Es condi do's on ly Kaw asak i d eal ersh ip is being run. It als o helped to get rid of th e co mp e ti ti on . * * • * It's go od to see items about the ISDT in g e n e r a l ly-orien ted p u blicati ons like "H o t R od ". T he "Oly mpics o f Motorcycling " need s ex posu re to th e or n on -m o tor c y c l in g slightly-motorcycling p ortion of the pub lic . , Brit ish super..tar and winner of the 1971 Ontario National road race, John Cooper, has decided to quit racing after breaking his leg at Brands Hatch in the Motorcycle News Superb ike race. Cooper was running fourth when he slid out on what he cr iticized as a slippery circu it. • • * Dieter Braun (Yam) go t a ro ad race win in Misano, Italy, after Agostini's MV broke again. Both Harley-Davidson an d Yamaha sat out its tribute to their riders who w ere killed at Monza. * * • • • * Another b it of news from that crash at Monza is that Yamaha pilot Hideo Kan aya is in better conditio n than was or iginally re po rt ed. He has no broken bones and is on his feet and about . T he Cycl e Ne ws bowling team (T eam Berm-S hot), o f co urse , bowls at the "j a,,,a Lanes". * * * • • • The organ izers of the Italian GP, whe re Jarno Saarinen and Renzo PasoHni we re killed, have reported ly been charged with negligence and arrested. They were told before the race that there was o il left on the t rack from the previous race , but they felt that there was no need to do anyth ing about it. A m oto rcy cle repair class exami nes a machi ne that they have j ust repaired. Why in th e t +S % d o pe opl e kee p rip p ing o ff o ur to ol s. It 's begi n n ing to get absurd, a nd expensive, too. One co uld begin to ge t the im p ressio n tha t bikers are sh mucks. In fact, o u r ' new Managing Editor, im ported fro m bac k Eas t, is getting tha t impressio n . * * * SHIFTLESS: That is the kind of Bultaco 400 five speed prototype that Jim Pomeroy will r tdeat the U.s. Grand Prix at Carlsbad, wh ich is where you should be on the 24th of June. It will be a 500 International round. • • • Cycle News h as o ne staffer tha t lo ves his Suzuki so mu ch that he keeps hi s gir l friend in' the garage whe n she comes ou t to visit him from Bos to n. Ah , lov e! * * * French-Canadian fast guy YVON DuHAMEL showed up at the Indy Mile and expressed an _interest in entering one of this year's Miles on the t hree cyl inder Kawasaki that he has built. Yvon ain't no slouch in any kind of mo'sickle race and could probably make an impression few would forget . . * * * T he n' th ere is DIC K MANN , who has an n o u nce d that he will no t ride in anv more IS DT Qualifiers due to c onflic ts with the National schedule. , Bugsy is cu rre n tly ran ked fourth among th e 88 riders wh o have q ualified fo r t he IS DT . He ain 't n o slo uch in ariy k ind of rno 'si ck le race either. ' Bryan Littler dropped by our offices t he ot her day aboard a 750 Laverda. Gave everybod y a chance to ride it and got us all pumped on riding the 100 0 three . Bry an w ill be handling Laverda for U .S. Norstar and can be conta cted at 724-C James St ., Costa Mesa, Cali forn ia 92627 . Yo u can reach him by calling 714/642 -1347 . We are hop ing to have tests of the two Laverdas - or at least further chances to 'rid e them . * * * Enduro rider RON BOHN will be out of action for a while after an accident on a check out run prior to the Lonesome Pine National Enduro. • • • , A ' '25 0 ' HclIi d a t riple. Yup, they're making it. But will they ever im p o rt it? • • • CMC ROAD RACIN G: T he first CMC ro ad r ace will be held at Oran ge County Intern ati on al R acewa y o n July I. The people runn in g it fo r th e CMC will be Pat Mann ing a nd R EG PRIDMORE , Reg won' t be runnin g th e weekly road races because of hi s in c reasin g in vo lvemen t with BMW for th e N ation al ro ad races. If you want m ore in fo abou t th e CMC road racing set-u p y ou ca n ge t h old of , Pa l Mann ing at 2 13/842-7433 or write hi m at 3407 W. Olive , Burban k , California 91505 . * * * • • • * * * * * '" * Despite organizers' promises that this year's ISLE ' OF MAN TT would be a safer one, John Clark was killed inst a nt ly when he came off his 250 Suzuki on the first la p of the first race. Most major names are boycotting 10M speedweek because of the danger even though it is a World Championship round. It seems doubtful that what was once the world's greatest road race will cont inue to hold i t s World Championship status after th is year . Yam ah a d eclar ed May 27 as an official d ay of mo urnin g for road raci ng star J arn o S aarinen , kille d th e p revio us wee k at Mon za. T h us , the Yamaha factory m o t o cro ss was d ire cted to bypass the 500cc G ran d Pri x of 1taly. The gesture was ad mi rable, but it mi gh t have been m ade in some m ore app ropria te form (suc h as d onating the te am 's start mone y t o Jarno 's widow. ) AkeJ onsson , Ch rister Hammargre n an d J aak Van Vel thove n were d enied th e ch ance for val uable GP p oints in a m ajo r eve nt. Kawasaki has flown Peter Lamppu to Japan for about eight weeks of motorcycle testing. Peter must forsake his th ird place position in the National MX standings, and will m iss the Super Bowl and Grand Prix races . TA KE YO UR BOWL TO BRITA IN : As of June I , helme ts are mandato ry in Englan d. Fai ling to co m p ly can get y o u fined up to S 120. For some reaso n , sid ec ar passen gers are excl ude d. * * * * * * The AMA member insu ran ce S 1000 ded uctib le has been eli m inate d and lowe red to S 100. T his should do a lot to stem so me of th e dissatisfaction with the high cos t of AMA. Ron Sloan and Dick Ainsw orth helped. Go od go ing. Effective June 5, Speaking of good th ings from the AMA, they have returned to the silencers rule for 'a ll professiona l racing . This will do much to make it more pleasant in the pits at Nationals . The new ru le requ ires 92 decibels , at SO feet . That goes in t o effect in January. In the meantime there will doubtless be some controversy . Racers don't like it because it means more hassles and expense. Some feel it makes it less attractive to spectators . We like it for exactly the same reasons. It is less of a hassle to work in the pits. That " neat sound" of a billion 350 Yamahas becomes right annoying after a few laps, too. Good going again, Exec Committee. • • • If y ou are wondering wh o is co min g to the Superbowl th is year, read o n , The o rganizers were quite upset about the h e's comi ng/he's no t co mi n g thing with J oel R obert last year an d th is year are bein g more certain , lik e wi th con trac ts. Some of the fo r-sure guys are Andersson, Wei!, Mikkola, Pomeroy , Falta, Maisch, Tripes, La ckey, Jones, an d m o re. Rolf T ibblin is going to come o ut of retire me nt for th is event, and there is a chance th at h e will h ave a ch an ce to m a ke th e J o hnn y Carson show popular. It seems that so me one has a min d to put Rolf on the air. * * * Roger DeCoster and some of those other fast guys who aren't list ed above will, of course, be at the U.s. Grand Prix sponsored by Hang Ten at Carlsbad. • • • Team Michigan w on the Team Michigan vs. Team California match ra ces at Nort hvi lle Do wns Half-mi le in De troi t, Mic higan. Mlchigan's R ex Beauch am p scored two wins in-' the two race program to lead Michigan to the win over the guys from sunny California. Rick Ho cki n g led the California team wi th a 3 / 2 finish in th e tw o events. * • * BART MARKEL ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT from racing at Northville Downs . He wi ll sell his equ ipment and "help out some young riders the rest of the season ". • • •

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