Round Up
ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
IT’S SHOW TIME again. April 15 through 18 is the date for the 1971 CYCLE WORLD MOTORCYCLE SHOW. This will be our 9th year, and as before, it will be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where we are their largest annual attraction.
We will again present our affair in conjunction with the International Custom Car Show. CW’s companion publication, Dune Buggies & Hot VWs, will also put together the greatest collection of hot VWs ever seen in one place.
As the largest motorcycle show in the world, many of our regular features include the continuous motorcycle theatre, run by the affable Clyde Earl, the trials course and our special displays of customs, racing bikes, and classics.
AMERICAN MOTOCROSS TEAM
The American Motocross Team, one of my pet projects, is steaming along. For 1971, we are adding Bryan Kenney as team manager. Bryan, 24, is from Cleveland. He started racing in enduros and road races in Canada, and his first
motocrosses were raced in Europe in 1964 and 1965. In 1967 he returned to Europe, and has raced there since then. Bryan rode Manx Norton scramblers, teamed with the famous Les Archer, until the venerable Archer hung it up. Kenney then switched to CZ, and finally to Husqvarna. Currently, he receives some support from Husqvarna and from Competition Accessories in Xenia, Ohio.
Along with his notable successes in French motocross circuit racing, from which he gains regular start money for a modest living, he finished 10th overall in the Swedish Grand Prix in 1969, one of the highest placings of an American rider in a motocross grand prix. Bryan rode the Trans-AMA series, and finished 2nd American.
WEBCO/CYCLE WORLD CLUBHOUSE
Saddleback Park boasts a new clubhouse, perched jauntily atop the highest point on the motocross course. Built by Webco and CYCLE WORLD, the clubhouse serves as an announcer’s stand, hospitality house and VIP lounge during important races, such as the recent Trans-AMA and Inter-Am international events.
When there is no racing activity the clubhouse will be the home of the yet-to-be-formed Saddleback Park Motorcycle Club, and will serve as headquarters, meeting house and party room. Saddleback Park will also rent the clubhouse to various motorcycle industry firms to use as a dealer meeting and demonstration room, or as an entertainment center for new model showings of off-road bikes.
Saddleback Park, the first motorcycle park in the country, has become the home of racing in the West, with regular ACA and CMC motocross events, plus regularly scheduled minibike races, and Southern California Trials Association and American Trials Association events. Scrambles, grands prix, and hillclimbs are also promoted by various groups.
Saddleback’s motocross course is now completely fenced. A permanent parts and accessories sales headquarters and a motorcycle rental facility have been added. Additional facilities are planned for the future.
LAUGH-IN TRIALS
Recently, the Norton Villiers Co., distributors of Norton and AJS motorcycles, staged what they called the “Laugh-In Trials.” They invited various members of the motorcycle industry and press to participate in a funoriented trials, which turned out to be a huge success.
Various locations in Saddleback composed the trials sections, and most were fairly simple. Some, though, were a real
challenge. I entered the competition and learned a great deal about trials in one bruising afternoon.
Whatever it takes to ride trials, and I’m told they are a peculiar set of characteristics, I don’t have. I’d say dogged determination, complete single .mindedness and ability to concentrate are essential. Also, you must attack each section with complete confidence, launching yourself into it as though it were as simple as deciding how to place one foot ahead of the other when walking.
I find myself worrying whether I'll make it, and how I will look while trying.
Winner of the Laugh-In trophy was the redoubtable Nick Nicholson, head of Nicholson Motors. Greeves distributors, and one of the West’s leading cross country and trials riders.
Tom Clark, competition director of the American Motorcycle Association, performed exceptionally well, which is quite a twist. We have long criticized the AMA for being run by people who don’t ride motorcycles.
Observers in the trials, those who count the number of times your feet touch the ground and make acid comments when you fall, were stars of the Inter-Am and Trans-AMA motocross series. Dave Bickers and Roger De Coster ran one section; John Banksand Dave Nicoll ran another. Andy Roberton, Jeff Smith, Malcolm Davis, and Keith Hickman ran still others. Most agreed they had not had so much fun in years. Of course those who said so were those capable of not taking their motorcycling seriously or those whose egos are fed by such activities.
After the official event was over. Saddleback Director Vic Wilson selected an “unclimbable” hill for an attack by the observers. Special prizes were awarded for the whole event, but for the hillclimb, CYCLE WORLD donated a bottle of booze for the fastest climb. Others were awarded for the best climb on a trials bike with trials tires, etc. Norton Villiers’ Mike Jackson dubbed the hill “Eiger Wagar,” since Saddleback already has a Matterhorn.
CW’s Wagar, by the way, won the booby prize for the most spectacular mistake within a section. He won it, of course, because nobody was watching me very closely.
