Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

A WORD '": c N " .., ~ ~ w Z W ..J U >- U I wou ld like to take this oppor tu ni ty to give a word of thanks to IRRC and Search Service an d Rescu e, fo r th eir coverage of PV D R Granny R un II Reru n E nduro , June 3 . 19 73 in th e Stoddard Wells area. Th ese g r o up s have first class equipmen 1. and wh e n their servi ces are need ed , their concern a nd abilit y ar e outstanding. PVDR has had mem bers entered in many enduros and o ther desert even ts and have had several op portunities to obs e rve rescue a n d ra d io c ove rage of these eve n ts . At no ti me at the p oi nt runs o r other eve nts h as the res c ue coverage been handled w it h m o re pro fessionalism th an PVD R rec eived . I strongly re com me n d th at e ac h Dist ric t cl u b . u se th e services o f th ese fine o rga n izatio ns . Man y thanks to IRRC and Sear ch . Service , an d Rescue fo r a job well d on e. DAVID W. MARTI:-; Pre sident Pom on a Valley Desert Rider s SHOCKING? WiII some one please explain J ohn Ulri ch's Jun e 19 h eadline, " Is Cranston Out to G et You?" After reading b oth thi s and th e article's in troduction ca lling Ulri ch's mee tin g with Cranston " shoc king" , I go t the impression th at th e Senat or Was some so rt of anti-cy cle fiend. T h a t impression re ceived n o su bst an tia tion in t he article it self, which mad e Cranst on s eem r ath e r middle-of-th e ro ad, o r, at worst, just n ot talking. If Cranston is out to ge t me, I ' d . lik e to know h ow. BOB DA NI E LS Sacramen to , Cali f. The point is that the Senator ha s been beh ind OJ good deal o f legislat ion with a de cidedly an t i-motorcycle flavor to it . It wa s OJ common assu mp t io n t hat Mr. Cranston was an en em y of motorcycling. Ulrich clearly felt thi s wh en he went to inte rview the Senator. Th at he wa sn 't the bike po ison tha t the au th or expected , su r prised h im. What a lso surprises us is reports, as yet uncon f irmed , th at Cranston is aga inst the new legislat io n proposed by the EPA to outlaw motorcycl es in Los Ang ele s.•.Ed . !d "'I~ra ~ 1111111, , IMIcI A merica' s No .1 Wee kl y Motorcycle Newspap er Shir o n C la y t o n •• •••• • ••• • • •• Publi sh er Tom Cu lp • •• . , • . .. •• • •G eneral Ma nage r Ed na M e w t o n • • • • • Secre t ary to Pub l ish er Tod R a ff e rt y •.• • • . ••• • . M an ag ing Ed it o r Art F r ie dman • •• • .•• •• •• •• • • • •• •Ed it or Da ve Sc hoonmaker •• •• . • A ssistant Ed it o r How ie F o wler • . • • . • • A dve r ti si n g Ma n ager We n dy Bla n t on •••.. Ad verti sing A ssist an t Rhe ba Smith •• •• ••• • C irculation Manager Marla B o ud reau , •• , . C i rc u lati o n A ssist an t C heryl Stein be rg • ••• C irculatio n Assist an t Mi ke D i ll o n •• . • • •• •• Pr oduct ton Manager Rosal i n d Qu inn • ••• • Pr oduc t to n A ssist an t Hecto r A gu il e r a • • •• • • • , • •La b Tec hnic ian Ma rion Ha ta sh ita . . • .• , , • • •• Ty pograPher Melvin Ph elps ••• .• . A ssi st an t Ty pographer Da ve C rowe ••• • •.• ••• Co ll ec ti o n Manager Grace Cam p . . . , • . , •• A c c o u n t ln g Ma nager Ba r b ara a ecec « ••• • • A cc oun t ing A ssi st an t C hris K olb e t • • •• . •• Accounti ng A ssi st an t Ga r net Dunn ., • • . • . Accounting A ssi st a n t M ic hael C ol ik . s , .. • . . • Se rvice s & Su n c oe t K en Lee . • • • • • . •. • .. • Services & S up p o r t s c o e ee v Haynes •• •••• Services & S u ppo r t D avi d Pau l i ••••• • •• •• service s & Su p port Nancy GOO dman . • , .. • • . , • . R ecep ti o n ist Nation al Advert! ..ing Direct or : T om Culp Cycle News West and Headquarters P.O. Bo x 4 9 8. Long Beach California 9080 1 (213) 427-743 3: L.A . 6 36 -884 4 TEL EX NO. 673-174 Cycle News , Ce ntral Ed ition 111 8 West 6 t h Stre et Austin . Te xas (5 12)476-7571 $ 12 .50 $22.50 , $30.00 , . . $ .SO Publi shed wee kly excep t [he first and last week o f [h e ca le nd a r year b y Cy cle News . ln c., POS[ Office Box 498, Long Bea ch , Ca lifo rnia. Sec o nd Class Postage paid at La n g I:J e ach . Ca lif. Ed ito rial stories, c a r t oo n s, ph o tos, etc, arc wel com e. Ad dressed , sta m ped e nvelo pe assures re turn of edito ria l m atter. Reprincing in wh o le o r part o nly by pr em ission o f [he publishers . A dv e r ti s in g rate s a nd c i r c u l a r i o n info rm at io n w ill be sent u pon request . Sec S.R .D.S . Co p yr igh t •• I , • Cycle News, Inc. 19 7 3 jlll ~ i gh h rt . rved Voices I of the I West I I I IT HAPPENS EVEN TO CZ A nyone wh o h as boug ht or is thinki ng of buy ing a '7 3 C Z m o ro cro sser mi gh t benefit fro m m y ex perie nce . I recen tly purchas ed o ne n ew fro m Californ ia Kawa saki , a Santa Mon ica d e al er. Fro m the star t th e b ike h ad p roblems. The plugs w ould f o ul with bl ac k ta r afte r 2 0 m inute s of op e ra tio n , it would b e ne c essary to t o ge t it i ns ta ll n ew plu gs star te d-w here u pon afte r a short while th e plugs would again be sh ot, and so th e cy cle w ould repeat. I returned th e bike 10 th e dealer to correc t ' th e p roblem. Their di agn osi s w as that th e bike was in p erfect condition and th at I w as real ly the problem for n o t riding it h ard enou gh. Wh en I protested th at I h ardl y had time to ride it a t all much less " h ar d e nou gh" , th e answer wa s th e eq u ivale n t o f a shrug of th e sh o u ld e rs. I then to ok the bike t o an o ther d eal er, S outh Bay Mo torcy cl e s, R edondo be a ch . T hey found th e fo llowing defec ts: 1. C omp ression w as low, c aused b y two ve rt ical gro ves in th e cy lin der wall. A n ew p is ton an d rebore required. 2. One coil in the ignitio n was inoperative . Ignition replacemen t require d . 3. De fe c t ive sea l Was l e a kin g tra ns missio n 'o il int o th e c o m b u s t i o n c ha m b e r . S e al rep lace rne n t re quired. 4 . C rankshaft was o ut of balance. It h ad n eve r been balan ce d at the factory and severe vibration w as ap paren t at high RP M. Rep lace men t re q uired. T he bill for th ese rep air s hurt, but it would h ave h urt a lot m ore h ad n ot th e man ager give n me a s ubstan tial break o n p arts an d labor an d persu aded Am eric an Jawa to p ay fo r th e cra n k an d it s labor. (A me ric an J awa no longer gu ara n tees CZ 's, but will c o n sid er co m p lai n ts o n a n in d ivid u al b asi s). , My CZ now ru ns fin e, wheth er it is being c o w- trailed o r ra ced. It is d efinitel y a su perior pi e ce of machin e ry in its present stat e, but if th e d efects I have en c ounte red are an indication o f J aw a quali ty co n tro l, I w ould h es it ate to rec ommend it to a p oten tial buy er. And th e fac t that th e one-month/ four race guarantee is defunct means y o u a re a pidgeon fo r an y fac tory d efect th e J awa di stributor d o es n o t' care to stand good for. SHAFFER FULTON Manhattan Be ach , C alif', BEARLY I wis h to e xten d m y thanks to Cy cl e Ne ws for re p rin ti ng m y le tt er regard ing m y lost be ar,J oel. C y cle Ne ws readers h ave be en ve ry help ful, enc o u raging and will in g to participat e in th e bear hu n t a n d th e response has b e en ove rw h e lm in g, but as o f this writing, a d e fini te date a n d time has n ot been determined fo r the n on-vi olen t bear hunt. However, a new d evelopment has taken . pl ac e that borders o n a n "unbelievable" siutation since m y last le tt e r to you r publication. He re a re the fa cts : Last week (Wed nesd ay , M ay 2 3 rd ), I rec eive d a tel ephone c all from a ge ntleman, wh o se name h e requested b e withh eld , th at he w as o u t t rail riding e ast o f Bar st ow near D ry L ake an d h e stopped to answer th e cal l o f nat ure and left h iS m otorcycl e en gin e runnin g. A ccording to th e c alle r , h e re t u rned to fin d hi s new H u sk y 4 5 0 CR go ne . Upon in sp ection h e n otic ed b e ar tracks where hi s bike h ad been parked j us t a few minute s ag o . li e w a s rel uc ta n t t o notify aut ho ri ties a n d so h e co n tac te d m e. If this w as m y train ed be ar J oel, I' m p leased to know th at h e h asn ' t forgotte n some o f th e tri cks I taught hi m over the past two years . I'm hopeful of locating J o el very soon an d I' ll keep Cycl e News re ade rs abreast o f th e situation. As one ca n im agin e , it won' t be easy to c ap tu re a 3 0 0 pound bear on a ne w Husk y 450 C R . Besid e s, Joel p ro b abl y h as a ve ry so re left leg fro m starti ng th at Hu sky . »: Again, le t m e th an k you, y o u r staff and re ad ers. DA VID J . HOUGH S an Le andro, Calif. MORE ON BROOKS Any on e who rid e s a l25cc understands h ow I , feel wh en m y n eighbo rs o n th ei r 250's and 3 6 0 's laugh at my little bike. They say th in g. like " It 's not bad for a beginner's bike" o r, "for playi n g around on " b u t all fee l it 's some kind of a toy c o m p a ire d to a "real" bike like th eirs. So it's no w onder we 've fo u nd our h ero in T om Brooks. Us little guys on o u r to y hikes c an ' t wai t for th e new issu e o f C y cl e News t o . come out so we can se e wh at our man h as d one and rub it in o u r n ei ghbors fac es. GREG E L LI OTT 125 cc Little Gu y WE HAVE TWO ANSWERS I just w an ted io say a w o rd about the D esert Daisi es Hare S cramble s : ne a t ! It w as one of the n ea te st ra ces of the w hole year. T he Daisies really did a great job . I th in k every one o f us is proud to h ave a n e at bunch of gals o u I th ere to b righten our d es ert up and do their share of work. Bec ause it is a lot of wo r k to p u t o n a race. Keep it u p gals. See you at th e race s. LY;I/:-; WI LS O~ Chatswort h, Cal if. I have tw o questions. How is Mike Kidd doin g? I saw h is crash a t San J ose a nd it wa s re p orted h e " may h ave b ro ken hi s le g" , did h e ? Next - how c an I ob ta in tickets to th e Laguna Seca R oad R ace . T h ank You. D ENNI S McCOMA S Burb an k , C alif. Mike is just fine , we hear. No broken leg. T ickets to Laguna Seca can be pur cha sed a t your Kawasaki deale r. Kawasa ki sponso rs the race ..•Ed. Internal Specs Cycle News , East-Dixie Ed it ion 41 9 0 Fi rst Aven ue Tucker , Geo rgia (404) 93 4- 7850 Subscription : One y ear , se co nd class rna il 2 yea rs, seco nd class ma il 3 years, seco nd class ma il Single copy price \ CO LUMN : Poop , 6 FEATURE : The black man in raci n g '. ' 8 SPEEDWAY : International speedway 10 Local Speedway 12 PRO SMOOTH T RA C K: F riday n ight TT co m es to Ascot 14 POLITICA L : Ul rich visits t h e S ierra Club 16 DESERT : Getting your lumps 18 Getting re venge 22 TRAIL RIDING : The organized t ra il rid e 19 TR IALS : Boise T rials 20 NATIONAL : Nixon's weekend , 24 I N FO RMA T ION: The '1973 C lub Gu ide 27 SECTIO N : North 31 OPIN IO N: Gambi~ 35 MOT O C RO S S: Nat ional; Whit n ey, Texas 36 Int ernational ; Czec h 500 GP 38 Local ; SaCal , USA . .. . ... .. . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 0 CALEND AR : Mak in g dates _ .42 R ESU LT S': Winning .46 FROM THE HOUCHINS My wife and I would like to exp ress our appreciation for your sensitive co ve ra ge o f o u r son 's death a t the San Jose H al f Mile Nationalz a n d fo r all the o ther c ove rage a ff orded to Ll oyd during hi s racing ca ree r. Our spe cial thanks to R oxy Ro c kwood for his article , " In Memory o f Lloyd H ouchins." Roxy - you c alle d him " Wo b b ly "; we ca lle d him "LL", the last two letters o f a f our-letter wo rd . We h ope th at . Pa t McC aul h as re covered from his injuries and rish him and all th e o ther Pro ra cers much luc k in th ei r professional and p e rs onal live s. We still believe th at m otorc ycling is th e "gre ates t sp ort o n ' two wheel s. " Again to Ro xy - T h an ks. Very truly y ours, T O M & R UTH HOUCHlKGS C as tro Valle y, Cali f. THE CRUNCH: MORE FIFTY BUCKS THAN It appears that we are going to be had. The Environmental Protection Ag ency appears to be trying to ban 2-stroke motorcycles, p er the la te night news, fro m the st reets of L.A . The Si erra Cl ub is closing us o u t of th e de sert and th e Canyons that we ride an d expose o ur ch ild re n t o nature first hand. In the n ext 6 months it lo o ks like th e only way we will b e ab le to teach our ch ild re n about the de sert is in books. Wh o, where , o r what gro up of people ar e working to protect m y in te res t in th e .d ese r t ? The rid in g of the street without hassle ? I w ould sp e n d 550 a ye ar to as su re m y c hil d re n th e right to ride a bike with out hassle. C an 'y o u tell m e wh o is really figh ting for m y rights as a m oto rc ycl ist s? BEN HAUSIKE Los Angele s, Calif. How about fjght ing yourself, Hausike. Alan Cra nsto n appears to be on our sid e against the EPA . How do your co ngressme n feel ? Freedom isn 't . free. Get to work.. Write , phone , telegraph and get yo ur fr iends to do . so. Don't complain to us. Get on the people wh o can do so met hi ng . If yo u want to give so me money , give it t o M.O .R .E .•. Ed . MENDOCINO GETS A PARK ' On J u ne 7 the Mendocino C ounty Planning Commissi on app rove d a us e p ermit for a cycle p ark within Mendo ci no County . The area is approximately 5 2 0 ac res, located six miles east of Hopland (Ap pro x, I Y:z h o u rs fro m the bay a rea.). Tentative p lans c al l for a m o t oc ro ss c ou rse lay ou t , hare scrambles course, h ill climb . an d general riding area. Construction should be complete around mid-September. Suggestions or ideas of any individuals are welcome. Corresp ondence should be sent to Mendocino Cycle Park, c/o 1414 S . State Street , Ukiah, California 95482. J IM PARKS Park Manager STATE THE FEES PLEASE The ride rs who rode th e AMC e ven t on June 10 w e re ripped -o ff , to say the lea st. Firs t , th e ad in you r p aper sai d th e en try fe e was five dollars at the ga te . Wh en I a rri ve d the pric e had sud de n ly in cr e ased to seve n d olla rs wi th Sa d dlebac k's m an a g ement taking an other dollar - ei ght d ollars fo r a five d o lla r race. (Th ey d id in crease the t ro ph y p ay fro m 4 0% to 10 00/ but 0 sh ouldn ' t th is h ave been state d in th e ad?) Secon d ly , th e track con di tio n s a t Saddleback were te rri b le . No t th e ruts, etc., but the extreme d ryn ess o f the track surface , makin g f or numerous crashe s. The c o urse is beautifully prepared for the Europeans, but what about the lo w ly Juniors? A l s o , the eve n t d irec t io n wa s inadequate making for an undu ly lo n g event. Granted, th ere was a lar ge turnou t, but o ther clubs man age q uite we ll. I would ap preciate it if you woul d investigate the ads you run . LARR Y THEOBALD Torrance, Calif. KEEP IT UP, JOHN I would just like to c omme n t on the articles contributed by John Ulrich. I fou nd th e story on his trip to Washington extremely interesting and entertaining. His interviews with p u b lic officials are great! It se em . to me that this type of c o ve rage requires a lot of extra wo rk and in telligence, I hope that h e will c on tin u e to c o n tri b u te simi lar articles in t he future. K eep u p the go o d wo rk , J ohn Ulric h! BO B GRAlLo\M . . . _ , &.":,,t a ~na, Cali f.

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