25 Years Ago October, 1973
25 YEARS AGO OCTOBER, 1973
This month, Cycle World's racing-oriented readers were treated to a full platter of two-wheel competition coverage. Indeed, a streaky photo of a sideways-sliding speedway bike was served up on the cover. The accompanying blurb, "Speedway: Addiction Is Easy," hinted at the action-packed feature inside, which included a rousing, first-hand description of the sport by staffer D. Randy Riggs. Assistant Editor Jody Nicholas was so impressed with the brakeless bikes that he took a Jawa 500DT for a spin, and it ended up as one of this month's road tests!
• Elsewhere, the Superbowl of Motocross was paving the way for today's AMA Supercross series. Held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the erstwhile stadium event drew a crowd of 40,000. Two hours south, Carlsbad Raceway was hosting the first World Championship Moto cross Grand Prix to be run on American soil. A four-page spread included plenty of photos, race re suits and a writtefl account of the weekend's highlights. Although the Europeans cleaned house, a young Californian named Gary Jones opened up a good lead in the eariy laps of the second moto before sliding out of contention.
• Meanwhile, on the East Coast, all eyes were on the AMA Roadrace National at Loudon, New Hamp shire, where Kawasaki's Gary Nixon was the big winner in both the 250 and 750cc classes. A young Kenny Roberts finished sec ond in both events, and went on to win the coveted number-one plate that year. -Don Canet
