Cycle News

By Chuck Clayton A NIGHT TO REMEMBER It was good that California had no helmet law last Saturday, for the woman who shares my fortunes had just made a sizeable investmen t in the arrangement of her hairdo. Besides, the nigh t air was balmy with a tropical breeze, in short just about perfect for riding a bike in from the suburbs to experience the International-AMA Motocross at the Los Angeles Coliseum. You could tell it was going to be a biggie by the way traffic jammed ul' miles before the off.ramp. Just snick down a couple of gears, to 40 miles an hour, fingers and toe resting lightly on the brakes and bike on through. What satisfaction whisking past all the caged commuters idling in their own fumes! At the Coliseum we are directed to the best part of the parking lot (charging half the car rate) where perch a couple of dozen other motorcycles out of all these thousands of personal vehicles. Hundreds of acres melon-like cars beside them a little spice patch of motorcycles. These are the good old days. They say that there are 50 million cars in America and something like 30 million bicycles today. Vet there are only 2Y2-million street legal motorcycles. Something is screwed up, obviously, but I don't let it bother me, as long as one of that 2!h-million is me. About 25,000 of us spread out in the Coliseum and enjoyed watching Magic Marty Tripes ride circle around the Europeans. Wow! 1 hollered and stood up and waved my program, hoping Marty would see how what he was doing affected me and so did everybody else. It was a really good feeling when he won. A few people left after Joe Einhorn's intermission act to miss the jam-up going home. Too bad. If they'd come there on a motorcycle they could have seen the most fantastic final moto and still beat the traffic, as we did. There is seldom any traffk in the lanes between the cars. Speaking of helmets, a subject lately· * * * * * on my mind (ha hal, I think it is my' duty to pass along some information that came to ligh t ip the recen t controvery over California's proposed helmet law. A comparison of accident and fatality statistics showed that in' several states which have had helmet laws for some years, the ratio of fatalities to accidents increases by a tiny amount (see box). The difference is so small (like one percent) that it is statistically meaningless. I reluctantly publish this information with the hope that it will not be mistakenly inferred that helmets are a hazard, but rather that compulsory helmet laws need be reexamined to see if they are not, in fact, detracting from motorcycle safety. INDIANA Motorcycle Year Registratfons 1965 43,249 N.A. 1966 63,237 1967 1968 64,543 1969 71.395 1970 74.250 MICHIGAN 1966 81,136 1967 89,366 1968 100,185 ~~~ylJ~~29 1966 67,890 1970 78,OOO(est.) 1967 67,177 1968 73,632 1969 81,326 OREGON 1965 33,435 1967 32,596 1968 36,760 1969 45,971 1971 69,400 %M/C % Deaths Accidents to 4.4 4.4 2.3 2.4 2.7 6.0 4.9 4.9 4.4 7.8 4.8 4.8 4.5 5.5 2.5 1.9 1.4 1.6 1.5 *Helmet law enacted (Statistics courtesy of M.O.R.E.) 2.3 3.2 -" Accidents 2.1 2.5 3.0 2.0 By Maureen Lee Scramblers, ex-scramblers and all, please pay attention! There ate a lot of us in District 37 who cut our teeth on the Perris track. Jim Hunter and John Rice got their number one plates there, so did Terry Dorsch and probably half of . the current Ascot brigade got their early racing experience necessary to get their novice pro licenses in the weekly scrambles there. By now you must have heard what happened to Perris. First reports were that the electrical wiring went blooey and started the rITe. Not so. It's official that some, well, can't say the word in print, actually popped through the gate, chucked in some inflammables through the side door facing the road and that is what caused the fire. The investigation is continuing and they'll get the creature who did it, but it doesn't help the Burton family. They lost everything. Wiring has to be re-approved, plus the sanitation inspector has to put his O.K. before they can open up for racing again; they lost all their flags not to mention some racing mementoes that are unreplaceable. To use British understatemen t, we lost a hell of a lot in that fire. But not memories. Therefore, headed up by Jim Hunter there's a group called "The Friends of the Burton's" (couldn't come up with a snappier title) wh,o have banded together to give them a hand. When the track gets operating again, there will be one Saturday night when you will get a chance to see probably the biggest attraction of racing stars in one place that you'll ever see. Some of the guys are rather ancien t (by curren t standards) and may have trouble seeing the track at night if they decide to race; some can barely throw a leg over a scooter; others still go like hell. The wonderful thing is that the old-timers are coming Goldsmith, out...like Hammer, Spargur, Ballard, Heynemann, can't list them all but people who grew up in scrambles and haven't forgotten -where they put in plenty of track time. So, if you were a JOINT TRIAL AN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR Two outstanding trials clubs, the San Diego Trials Riders and the Valley Observed Trials Enthusiasts, are joining forces to present a trial for the benefit of the American Trials Association on Sunday July 16 at Saddleback Park. Novice and Amateur sections will be handled by V.O.T.E. and the San Diego Club will lay out Expert and Master sections. The very popular Trials Ace from Great Britain, Rob Edwards will be among the leading trialsmen en teredo Rob, who was third overall and a member of the winning Montesa Team at this years Scottish Six Days Trial will present a Trials School at Saddleback Park the day preceding the trial, Saturday,July 15. . The famous Spaniard Pedro Pi whom 2.4* 2.6 2.6 1.62* 1.67 1.91 2.06 1.71 4.6* 3.1 4.0 2.7 3.3 many trialsmen will remember from his exhibitions of far out riding a few years ago here in the Southland is also entered. With Pedro is Jordi Permanyer, son of Senior Permanyer, owner of Montesa. Jordi is reputed to be an excellent Trials rider. With the tremendous growth in popularity of Observed Trials in the United States and with such an array of talent, this should prove to be one of the years best Trials. - HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO GET YOUR VERY OWN PRACTICE COURSE: Perris Raceway may come up for sale next year sometime. Presen t owner-operator, Jerry Burton says that his terms will require continued use of the land for bike racinl(. NATIONAL POINT Unofficial 1. Mark Brelsford 2. Gary Scott 3. Kenny Roberts 4. Gene Romero 5.Jim Rice 6. Chuck Palmg,en 7.John Hateley 8. Cal Rayborn 9. Dick Mann 10. Eddie Mulder 11. Gary Fisher 12. Vvon DuHamel 13. Mert Lawwill 14. Dave Sehl 15. Mike Kidd STANDINGS--------....;.;,----- 882 712 641 617 580 411 396 363 358 307 275 270 240 239 203 16. Rex Beauchamp 17. Don Emde 18. Frank Gillespie 19. Dave Hansen 20. Ray Hempstead 21. Dave Smith 22. Keith Mashburn 23. Don Castro 24. Kel Carruthers 25. Fred Gutloer 26. Dave Aldana 27. Mark Williams 28. Gary Nixon 29. Jimmy Odom 30. Doug Sehl 196 180 160 156 154 135 121 121 116 87 75 72 66 63 60 '0' name (or are a name) to be reconned with either Hunter or I will keep you posted and ask for your support. If we don't, then for Pete's sake call one of us, we want you all out there. The idea is to stuff Perris so full of people that night there'll hardly be room to tum. Remember when uWide World" covered the national scrambles there and what the crowd was like? That's what we want, to help pay some of the bills the Burtons are facing. It. won't be yet because the track is still closed but next month or early September we're gonna do it! Saying not to buy those green stickies seems to be unpopular in some circles but as I said last week, it has to be an individual decision. Want a laugh? A young friend of ours went down to the Long Beach DMV to buy one for his bike. They didn't know what he was talking about! Are you listening, Governor? The people behind the cages all had to ask each other what our friend was asking for when he requested the off-the-road registration sticker. Cor blimey! Have to put in my nostalgia bit, seeing it was the Fourth pf July. Remember the Jackrabbits' Firecracker Fiesta scrambles they always held on the fourth. One of 'em, at Prado had over 428 riders and 1 won't even mention the name of the starter who threw the whole collection of flags in the air as I motored past in the novice class...didn't know whether to stop, tum left, proceed with caution or whether the race was over, and in that heat 1 was glad the checkered was the highest thrown flag. Those were the pre-Gatorade days and salt pills made you sick. - Much has been written about the Umonster" bikes. True, I can't really see the need for so much horsepower and when the throttle is handled unwisely one tends to end up on one's head in a hurry, or another part of the anatomy. Lots of times the guys who buy these big bikes are not big enough for the bike; obviously riding something with Tested and used by the following Dlst. 37 riders: 80DYFUEL8YENDURA ERIC JENSEN 11" MORE ENERGY AND ENDURANCE LESS MUSCLE STRAIN AND FATIGUE. HIGH POTENCY MULTI-VITAMINS Endura Vitamins are manufactured from the finest raw materials. High in B-Comp'lex $7.50 for 3 month supply (Calif. residents add 5% tax). Glendora, Ca. 91740. Send check or money order to: Endura Vit~min. Dept. Aj essential for quiCk energy. $8.50 for 3 month SUPPlY (Calif. residents add 5% tax). 400 I.U. VITAMIN E-NATURAL 638 S. Glendora Ave., BOB McLAUGHLIN' LARRY BERGQUIST" ED SCHEIDLER '* WALT AXTHELM 11" LARRY HEARN" GEORGE MAGALLON M.D. .. '" .... It) go Q. en - water-cooled 750cc Suzuki was ridden U by a chap all the way down to Honduras and back with absolutely no troubles. He did dump it once on once of those South American dirt roads they just spray with oil, hit the ground at about 75 'but came up smiling with nothing more than a scuffed helmet. The worst part of that trip, he says, was going through Elsinore. It was the heat·! Still, I would like to see some kind of program put into effect to preach safety when buying one of the big 'uns. But then, when the 1000cc big-bangers were running around no one had to teU you how to ride it. The AMA is really cracking own this year on tech inspections of professional equipment, not to mention riders. Some of the boys were a little shook when they were handed a little bottle so they could be tested out for any evidence of stimulan ts, regardless of what kind. It's been long over-due, but knowing racers, a lot of them have been tarred with the wrong brush in that respect. A great majority of them have the courage to get on a track without the necessity of using some thing to take the fear away. Once the fear is gone, that's when you get careless and they know it. Equipment is another matter. Rumors have it that cheating has been running rampan t at Ascot, illegal heads, fuel, you name it, they're doing it. Well, we all know, too, that racers will always try to pick up a little edge if they can. We hope that the technical committee takes a very careful look at all bikes they check and knowing the gentlemen involved, they will. Just because they don't always look at everything in one tear-down, doesn't mean that they haven't noticed. Next week may be your tum. ~awasaki MACH III EXPANSION CHAMBERS FOR STREET STROKIN'IT $~r9c~ SfRDI[B~~~~)} SO"DCOIITROL 2 & 4 STROKE PIPES COMPETITION SILENCERS FRAME AND PIPE REPAIR HELl ARC AND MILLING WEELSMnH - ENGINEERING 3e3!S w. McFAOOEN 4366 E. LaPalma Anaheim, Ca. 92806 Tel. (714) 993·2602 Send $3.06 for Strokin' It T-shirt .ANT'" ANA. CAL.IF. 92704 (714) 839-0150

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