Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

by Bob F . Read The AMA pr ofessional racing program has it all put togethe r thi s ye a r and can prove it. Whil e USAC is having trouble ge tt ing ra ces start ed and th en keepin g e no ugh c ars together j ust to fini sh , NASCAR being d omin ated b y j us t three o r four cars and drivers and the sporty cars finding tracks and sp onso ry, th e AMA is e njoying their best season. Afte r seve n na tional s. fo ur on dirt and three o n pavement. th e tw o asp ects th at h ave pu t th e AMA nat ional cir c ui t o n to p is th e E xp ert-only fo rm a t on the dirt a nd th e new "Sprin t-T ype " p ro gram in road ra cing. USAC and NASCAR co n tin ue t o ru n longer an d more drawn o ut races. A ~1A is giving th e fan s wh at th e y want , sho rte r eve n ts th at produce side by sid e racin g, wh ich is what racin g is all a bou t. Bobby Un ser co n tin ues to gra b all th e USAC headlines and is th e guy to heal at every even t - is his car holds up , whic h it is not in the ha bit of doin g. USAC appears to put m ost o f th eir effo rts in to time trials and 2 0 0 MPH lap speeds. But time trial are a bout as excitin g as watching the grass grown on the Courthouse lawn in M an sfi eld , Ohio . KASCA R goes in to eve ry eve nt with four or five drivers tha t ar e capable of win ning, and usually do. T he dri ve r who won the first half of the season point buns money nev er won a race , he just curised aro u nd and a nd finished in sid e the firs t ten! N ow t ak e a look at the A:\IA record after se ven nationals, or through the Louisville e ven t. Seven races, seven different winners. Seven even ts and four di fferent hrands rid de n to victory . The fir st seve n A~IA even ts fo un d rec ord c ro w ds a t "six of th e races. Th e only o ne th at fell sh o rt o f wh at co uld be ex pe cted was the first time Dallas ro ad rac e . and .ro ad races are n o ted for tak ing a wh ile be fore pe ople find o u t ab out the m, o r kn ow what is go ing on. Th e AMA p rogra ms fo r th is year o n the dirt a nd on th e pave me n t are p utting a guarante e to the paying The National Papers b y Bub F. Read the o n ly problem was n ot en ough sea ts for all th e people that sho we d up . A problem tha t all p ro mo ters wo uld like to h ave m ore o ften . Th e c ro wd s fo r AMA n at ion als have shown a major increase the past three ye a rs. In the p ast three yea rs the purses h ave b ee n greatly incre ased so the tw o are go ing hand in h and. The future for n ati on al cycle racing appears more than just a ro sy o ne . Th e track re co rd for nationals show s that if a promoter will ge t o u t and pro mot e the first o ne o r two even ts th en the m otorcycle fraternity will pass th e word through their fa mous "Rumor Mill" when th e next one is goinl{ to be . Promoters have to ld us that in recent years there a re less died.in.t he -wool moto rcycle fans showi ng u p but far m o re no n-rid ing people paying to see p rofessio nal races. The power o f publicity . Harley -Davidson now joins T riumph, Ya maha and Suzuki as a winning brand o n the national sce ne . Dave Sehl has now won th e Louisvill e n at ional three of th e last four years. He d id it th e h ard wa y , finis hi ng third in h is hea t race be hin d Mert Lawwill a nd Garv Scott an d th en co rning o n to win o ne of th e tw o semi-main even t. Th ai shows a lo t of class , wh ich S ehl is n oted for o n th e half mil es. Harle y h as n ot won all six o f the Louisville national races . More or less a throw-b ack to b y gone d ays wh en Milw aukee used t o win th em all, or at least 9 5% of th e national dirt track even ts. It is mu ch the same story for th e co m i ng Colu mbus national where Harley has won twelve of the last thirteen . Gary Nixon broke thei r string, ridin g a Triu m ph to the win in ·.19 6 8 . Laww ill has wo n the Columbus event tw o of th e pas t fo u r year. His fa st ti me, heat race wi n and second place finis h a t Louisvill e make Me rt a prime con tender again onJune 24th . Speaking o f winners, no Am erican has won a nati onal road race sinc e Cal Ra yborn ca rri e d the red , white and hlue to victory last J uly at Lag u na Seca, Si nce that time five straig ht road races h ave been wo n by Canada, En gland, Finland, England and New Zealand . Perhaps, like motocros s, the writing is o n th e wall for Ameri can ro ad racing even 15. T he d irt tr ack nationals, however, will con tinue to remain the stro ngho ld fo r American riders with o nly Dave Se h l, th e Canadian , d entin g the winner' s ran ks o n the ovals . The US A has c re ate d man y fin e road ra cers but o n ly Canada has co me up with ride rs wh o can race o ur m an y types of di rt e ven ts. This is unfortuna te in some way s. But there is a new cro p o f speciali zed road racers co rnin g up through th e ranks in ArvL-\ road racing. Many of them are Juniors th is seaso n and will m ov e to the Expert class next year. It may revive some winnin g wa ys for Uncle Sam. The pot of gol d for fo rei gn road race rs righ t now is her e in the USA if mone y is th e name of the game . Th e Loudon national road ro aces should produce another battle to the finish line of the Atlanta type. We ha ve been informed tha t Los Angeles - San Diego - Ba kersfield radio, KBI G ( i 40), will carry a fuJI ru ndown on Sunday evening at 6 :0 0 p m on June 17 th . T he station h as been getting a h ig fo llo wi ng of lat e fo r its m o t o rcy cle co ve rage an d may h ave reports on all of the re mai ning nationals this season. Th e station p hone nu m ber is, (21 3) 874·7700 fo r those that want to chec k ah ead of time on ' eac h e ven t c o ming up. cus to mer th at they will in fact see some racin g and no t a parade. It is obvious thal th er e is also a guarantee tha t no o ne rid e rs o r a si ng le brand o r racin g equip men 1 is going to do min at e an y of th e tw o ty p es of racin g. Sixteen different riders wo n nati on al races in '72. Th e c u rre n t p ace is showing th at the re cord will again be broken and mo re new champio ns \,,iII be cro wne d ' before the e nd o f the seas on , as o n ly on e thi rd o f the e ve nts have been run. T he national circui t has two mo re races in the east b efore head in g west fo r th e entire month o f July, a month that will ho st two mile track even ts. two 'IT ' s and on e ro ad race . A ll five will have guaranteed record cro wd s. Th e San J ose mil e on July I co uld have so ld out th e grandstands tw o months ago, but th e promoter wisel y held b ack a ce rtai n a rmo un d o f tickets. li e is als o go ing to again o pe n up the in field area for standing room . The Colo ra do Springs mil e has alr ead y so ld o ut th e en tire m ain grandstands at S 10.00 a th row. T he promo te r is puttin g in th ousands of bl each ers a nd will also have infield standing ro o m available an d this is only the second yea r fo r the event. . The Castle R o ck IT, third even t o n th e July A ~IA sw in g, p ack's m ore pe ople in each year a nd ad ds more sea ts each year. It's still the o n ly ni ght national that finds th e grandstands at least half full b y 3 :0 0 in the a fte rnoo n. The Ascot IT is the fourth race in Jul y and h as th at ad de d flav or th at finds a half mil e running at Ascot the night before th e 'TT. The half mile is a national if there eve r was on e as all of th e riders take tha t one in along with the IT national th e next n igh t. It's the o nly m eetin g where the fan can see both typ es of racing in twenty four hours. and see th e best. T he fifth an d lasi wes t co as t July natio nal is the second annual La guna Se ca road ra ce vl t will be interesting to see if the: seceond event draws a co nsi drably la rger c rowd than the firs t even t a year ago. It is here th at the wes t co ast fan ge: ts a chance to see the new A!vIA "Sprint type" program that runs along th e lin es of the dirt track events. In other w o rds, a ride r can be eliminated in the he at or semi races and not make the final . . The Loudon road race an d the Columbus half mile are the next two biggies on the AMA calender. Loudo n an n u aly draws second only to Day tona in t otal road r acin g spectato rs an d Co lumbus is always o ne of th e largest draws for h alf m ile even ts . T he repo rts are fr om Lo uisvil le that Since the beginning of motocross racing, Cl has been synonymous with winning worl d championships (they've won 32). Jawa, the sist er bike to Cl, has also earned unprecedented world recognition through its domination of " International Six Days Trials." (10 world trophies, 3 in the past 3 years). Now, CZ has applied this vast amount of reo search, testing and innovative engineering into the making of an E nduro's-Endu This machine ro. • will soon earn a winning reputation and take its place beside the other world champions from Jawa·C , l It takes a special combination of engine design. frame gecmetry. gear box ratios and many other engineering achievements to make a true enduro. . . and this 250 from C is a true Enduro. l A smooth 24hp engine with a wide power band. Lots of torque at the low end so you can ea sily maneuver through the rough. And once you hit a straightaway, the Cl enduro moves out like a road racer. Magnelo ignition. 3 gallon fuel tank. g' ground clearanc e. speedometer and tach, the newest Barum IS tires, and toppe off with DT d proven 5-speed wide ratio gear box. How good is the Cl enduro? To find out. you still haveto ride one, So drop by your nearest Cl dealer and see for yourself why Cl is still the one to beat. J a·cz AMER ICA N JAWA, LT D . WE ST: 3745 Ove rland Ave .• l os An leles. Ca. 90034. EAS 18S Express s t., Ptalnvlew. lonI ISlanc1. N.Y. 11803 T: CANADA: SkodJ & JawaMotors tarud a Ltd. 7600 Trans-Canada Hwy.• Montreal 377 c.. (~) / '; l ~ Ol Ol Ul ;: w Z W ..J U > U

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