Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

John Ulrich, our prying leg islative contributor, discovered recently, while talking to Congressman John Moss ' office , that the boys in Washington are "just begg ing to have a motorcycl ist 's rep testify" o n H R IO, the No Fault Insurance bill . No one from the AMA or the MIC had contacted t he people in the House putting the bill together. Russ San ford of M.O .R.E. hadn't heard about it either , bu t a call to h im a nd Bob Ha nse n ' o f the A MA , bro ught Ulr ich p romises of ac t io n. Do n 't let slee ping watch-dogs lie • . ~ " .'" e, M .... m c ": " ~ CIl ;: W Z W -J U >- • U • • It's worthwhil e being a pro m otocrosser. There are enough National motocross fo r almost every body to pi ck u p a few bucks. Seems like there's more Nationals almost than there are lo cal alp habet so u p motocrosses. • • • Pennzo il, in it s .co nt inued support of professional motorcycle racing, has posted $ 16 00 for the Hang Ten U5. Grand Prix at Carlsbad on June 24. There will be $500 in contingency pa id to the win ner o f both classes. Runners-up will receive $250 , and the f irst American in the 500cc International class will get $100 . All the awa rds are , of course, contingent upon the use of Pennzoil and the ir stiok ies . They w.i11 also have the fly ing Professor and h is plane,- the Ch ipmunk, do ing some stunt fly ing. NEXT Y EA R'S Y AM A H A : Th is is how next year's end uro s wi ll loo k, l ik e th is year ' s MXer. No te trick shocks & t h rou qh -t he-f rame mu f fler. We we re to o lin g d own th e st reet in an unm ar ked CN van th e othe r d ay an d th is Yam ah a wen t by , see? "Boy , was tha t tri ck ?" said th e te ch kid. " What was that ?" said th e ed ito r wh o was sc he ming on new ways to make his ro ad racer fas ter. ," T h at Yammie ," was th e reply . "Let's go back," So we we nt back, see ? Sure e no ugh , a right trick Yamah a. We snatched up our h andy Fu nny-well Pe n th acks c am e ra and snuck u p on th e u nsuspec ting rider. Whil e two of us div e rted his attention, the thi rd snapped lo ts of pix of the hi ke. Once he fo und out who we were, the rider be came a, lit tl e u pset. After he tired of trying to per su ad e us to no t 'ta ke or pri n t pic t u re s, he to ld us a little about the • • • KBI G (74 0 RP:-I o n yo ur radio 's tac h) will carry results, etc. fro m the Loudon Nati o n al ro ad rac e on Saturday an d Sun day ,J une I &a n d 17 at6 PM, • • • The p rod uction ro ad races at Laguna Seca w ill be ru n fo r only two classes, 350 and Open . Yo u have to be an AMA pro • • • - * • T HE FE NCE: Abo ut tha t fe nce at Carlsbad. It wiII be the re for a wh ile. I t was put up to re tain specta tors at the U.S . Gran d Pri x. If the U.S. is to kee p the sanction for a G .P., the problem with spec tators wi ll have to be so lved. Last year, 18 mi llio n television vie we rs were tr eated to the spectacle of tw o turke ys carrying a n ice chest ....oss th e track righ t in fro n t o f a hik e. One go t s ma she d. In Bel gium where th e speotato rs a re fan atics, j ust a ro pe keeps them off th e track . Here we need ch ic ken w ire to keep the t u r ke ys o u t. If y o u feel like crossin g th e track, use the cro ssin gs provided. • • • Theresa Martin seems to have hung it up, girl fans. • • • Some more on the Isle of Man: Bill Smith on a 500 Yosh imura Honda was the w inner of the 500 production ciass. . Beh ind him in order were : Stan Woods (Suz). Keith Martin (Kaw) and C.L. Brown (Tri). Bigger news is t hat Jack Findlay aboard a 500 S uzuki water cooled t w in was the wi n ner of the 500 Sen ior event a h ead o f Peter Willia m s (Match less ) . Peter Sandy fi n ished t hird on a Su zu ki. • • • Th e amazing m ech an ical wi zards at I1usq varna West, wh o can m a ke lots of bi kes finish the Baja 5 0 0 , can also take tw o days to figure out how to put together a Ho bi e Cat sailboat. . • • • The same group o f people m ight. sometimes lie on t he beach all day long and talk about doing "Rolf 's exercises" . • • • O ne of the fun thi ngs abou t Baja is ridi ng alo ng at ni gh t an d h avin g guys with lo ud m u ffl e rs, fu n ny lights, and nu mbe rs all over th eir bikes st o p and ask yo u wh ich way i t is to San Fel ipe. • • • The cooperation shown by competitors w ith fellow competitors at Baja races is really pleasant. It was neat to see two bikers rid ing into the fourth check us ing one headlight, but what was really fine was the car helping the b ike. . • • • Ge ne rally, wh en peop le who d on 't kn ow be tte r make estim ates of Ly n n Wilson 's age th ey guess at arou nd 24 . T he sa me gro up of pe ople te nd to he so me what su rprised wh e n the goo d lo okin g you ng ge n tlernan accompanying h er cal ls h er " Weirdo". A st range term o f en dearment in deed. T he sa me pe opl e are eve n more su rp rise d wh en the yo ung m an is scold ed b y the lad y and he ' rev erts to " Mo m my " , • • • The Eve l Kn ieve l mo t o c ro ss sched uled fo r July 3 and 4 is cancelled. " Wild Word o f Sports" (or someth ing like that) couldn 't ma ke it. Maybe lat er in the year. • • • Yamaha is goi ng to huild and se ll their 5 0 0cc fo ur cyiin d e roa d · r acer ne xt ... year. Only q u alified ro ad race rs ar e go ing to get the m, they say , b u t we are . stil l afe are d, Meanwhile Kel and G ary are aif to th e e llien t to see ab o ut a 70 0cc four. • • • Following the death of Jarno Saarinen, Yamaha has pulled their road racing team out of European competition for the rest of the year. It looks like MV is going to get another year of winn ing . • * • fe l lo w charge d FIG 'URE T lII S ON E O UT : Big b usin ess n eve r fails to a muse o r puzzle us . Take fo r ex am p le th e case o f Ho nda suing Suzuki fo r ste aling th e design o f th eir Peter \\tilliams , aboard a 'mo noc oq ue Norton , won the Fo rm ula . 750 race at th e Is le o f Man . Mi c k Gran t, aboard ano ther of the J oh n Playe r Norton s, was seco nd wi th Tony J e ffri es o n a T riu m p h in th ird. In winning, Williams posted th e sec ond fas tes t tim e ever cl oc ke d at th e 3 7 mil e 10M co u rse. T he fastest- time was set b y Mike Hai lwood o n one of the Honda 5 0 0 fo u rs at 10 8 MPH . Se co nd was previous ly h eld by G iacomo Agos tin i at 10 5. So Williams mus t ha ve avera ge d s o me w here in the nei ghborhood o f 10 6- 10 7 MPH. "N ot bad," co m m e nted Brian Newberry o f Norton, "for a blood y o ld pushrod twin. " "riif'ty -fi f'ty", the C · IOO step-thro ug h . 1 n Vi cksb u rg, Mis s . a imp erso natin g Evel Kni evel 52 0 00 worth o f hotel bilIs. • • • bike , see? It 's a 250, but it has the MX .sty le engine. The pi pe go es on through th e fra me wh ich lo o ks like th is year's ~l X version and, we noticed, is some q uiet, It doesn't have the lo ud exhaust bite of this year's Yam ah a E nduros at all. Th e rider says th at it handl es some sn appy, too . It will be for sale next yea r, perhaps with so me alte ra tio ns. You can probably e xpec t sim ilar thin gs fro m the 360 and maybe even th e 5 0 0. • • • Las t week when we comp iled the National point st a nd ings, we were unaware t h at Geoff Perry had a n AMA license , • • • T he deat hs of J arno Saarinen an d R enzo Pasoli ni h ave fin ally sp u rre d the facto ries an d rid e rs o n the Europe an Grand Pri x ro ad racing ci rcui t to really ge t o n the organ izers ab o ut safety. T he re have been seven pe ople killed in the p ast fe w week s. Yamaha, H ar le y-Davi dso n, an d MV ar e th re aten in g t o bo ycott the world ch am pio nsh ip rounds wh e re th e safe ty facilities d o n' t me e t their a pproval. "Armco" barriers a re the proble m. T h e car racers .w on 't race witho ut them , bu t th ey kill motorcy cli sts . It doesn "t co st . that much to ta ke out th e barriers at dangerous p ain IS o n th e co urse, T he re is also th e possibility of p ad d in g th em. Hay bales have traditionally been used for th is purpose , b u t it h as been sugg ested th at water bags. or air bags co uld be use d . Something needs to be done, an d it finally looks like somethin g migh t. • • • Co n t ra ry t o w hat a slip of t he m ind would have had you belie ving if yo u pe rs ued t h is column last week , the La guna Seca Kawasa k i S uperbike Natio na l road race w ill be held on J uly 29 , not July 21 . That is th e date of the Ascot Night TT National, • • • District 3 6 sp o rtsme n ride rs w iII be ecs ta tic to learn that th e 19 73 rul e books h ave finally been prin ted and will be m ail ed so o n, h a, The p ro b lem is th at wh ile th e season is h alf over, the bo o k is h alf wro n g. T h at figu res . • • • We were pleased to see that Speedway Superstar and somet imes CN eontributor BARRY BRIGGS received the MBE , The initials stand for something like "Master of the British Empire" and the award is presented by the Queen . It was announced recently with the Queen's Birthday Honors list. Briggs had been notified by mail previously , but thought that it was a hoax . It wasn't until he received a phone call from a government agency and the ca rds and lette rs st arted arr iving to congratulate him that he believed it. Mik e Hailwo o d (w ho eve rybody ca lls " lege nd ary") also received it a few years ago . Briggs say s that t h e BSPA act ually nominated h im th rough t he RAe whatever that mea ns . R igh t fine . • • • • • • Williams is expected to corne over for Kawasaki's Laguna Seca. Spectators will be im p ressed w ith the speed and supertative handling of the monocoque Nortons. , Also by Willia ms . The co mb inat ion is Br ita in 's best . • • • Ne xt week, Pa pa cl imb s the ro ckies in pursuit o f th e lege nd a ry Aspen Gold and the beautiful princess. Will he have en o ug h gas? All will be re vealed in an u pc oming ish of Cycl e News. ·. ~ Ho nda did sue the m and was awarde d 761 million yen wh ich co me s ou t t o $3.3 millio n in money . O ne wonders wh y Honda d o esn't sue Yamaha ins t ead. A fter all , Honda d o esn't o wn a co n trolling in te re st in Yamaha. It d oes in Suzuki. • • • Peter Williams' 107 MPH lap around the , Isle of Man was right inc re d ib le , but swallow this if you can : Klaus Enders smashed the sidecar record with a lap at 96.86 MPH . Also astonish ing was Tony Rutter's 10422 lap on a Yamaha 350. • * • j . D. T u cciarone won himself a Premie r Hel met at the Cy cle Swap-o- ram a , D oe m't it grab you right th ere ? • • • The Ca liforn ia Department of Motor Vehicles req u ires you to have a commercia l lice nse fo r you r van if you carry a b ike in it . However, t hey don 't ma ke the same req uir e men t for cars. Wonder why. • • • If you're really into dates, here 's one. T he U.S, G ran d Prix a t Carlsbad, fo r next year, will be held on July 14th, 1974.

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