Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125444
6 INDOOR SHORT TRACK By Maureen Lee Although drawing a compa rative ly poor c rowd , the indoor s hort t rack at Long Beach Arena last Sa turday' nit e had its us ual s pectacle of thrills , spills a nd good half-time entertainmen t , pl us new tra ck re cord s in eac h Main Event. Dan Haaby and his vintage BSA took the Trophy Dash a nd the " A" Main , stopping Eddie Mulder 's win streak. Mulder got off the line fi rst in the Main but Haa by was right behin d him, and whe n Mulder made a bobble, that was it . Tha t made the second ti me th at night th e same thing happened to Mulde r. In t he preliminary , he was in fi rst pla c e and looked around to find Guy Lo uis right on top of him. It a ppeared to shake hi m up a bit and he backed off mome nt a rily, gi vi ng Loui s the c ha nce to scoot by . (Ed. note : Or wa s it a Sam Tanner tries a Kart Indoors. ACA M OtD- Cross from 1 although that 's t he roug h way to Quit and he ' s a tough man to beat in th e rou gh st utf. If the re was a hero in th e 500 c c class , the re was a heroi ne in the 100cc conti nge nt . Honda-mount ed Sand ra T ermi n got out t he re a nd did a ve ry c reditable job in taking 5th ove rall, and nev er t a king a last plac e in any he a t. Eac h tim e she showed up on the lin e looking feminin e and pret ty in whit e a nd bl ue lea the rs, wit h the di rt was hed off fro m t he p re vious ri de a nd fresh lip- . stick on , re ad y to ju mp off t he li ne and dive into tu rn one right along with t he re s t of th e ga ng . All this in conditions that we re makin g strong me n Quail and give up. The dus t and heat took th ei r toll all af ternoo n, with s ome rid ers de- c a s e o ("sa nd-bagging" fo r po s itio n , sinc e the inverte d program ga ve f ro n t -row starts in se mis a nd ma ins to s e co nd-pla ce finish e rs in earlier e vents ? Se vera l nea r-w i nners were seen to look hac k frequ ently, slow down at the last min ute, a nd "get caught" a t the Ha g; In fact, one rid er outsma rted hims eH a nd wou nd ciding they didn't want to take it an ymore , and ot her suff ering mechanical failure s. The s e inc lud ed horribl e c oughi ng noises brought about by runnin g i n ove r a foot de ep sand without ai r c le a ne rs ! At t he end of the day t hey anno unc ed that if they could get 10 ride rs tog ether , they 'd hav e a Hooliga n. They got nin e , in cluding Walt Axthelm, a nd of course, he did it again . T riumph-mounted Ha rry Greenlee gave a t reme ndous display of har d ridi ng to take s econd a nd was s tarting t o ga in on the last la p, al th ough from t he fi rst turn at th e sta rt th ere was no doubt it was Walt 's ra c e . The big booming de s ert sleds couldn't e ve n get off th e lin e as well as he did . Lee St urnpenhaus ha d hi s share of tro ubl es. He didn 't ha ve it ea s y all the way a nd c a me around one ti me dragging co urse-ma rker stri ng with hi m from a s ortie off th e t rac k. But he still took the 200 cc cla ss on hi s Greeves. The Open was a wild e vent with some of the' real top desert ri ders making th e sce ne . T he fi rst four me n were all capable of winni ng and all tu rned in good rides, but it was Check er Bob F erro and his Tri umph who won. In spite of condit io ns fa r from perfect,with th e unexpected heat and dust, the re were pl en ty of rid ers who did e nj oy themse lv e s, proving that th ere is a nee d for t hese rea lly rough a nd t ou gh e ve nts that put a re al c ha lle nge on a man without hi s ha vin g to rid e the de s ert. (Res ults on pa ge 12) -- You m the nicest people pushing Hondas. eet Rick James gets down to It In ACA open class. u p third, mi s sin g t he " A" ma in al- to gether. ) Half-time featured t he cus toma ry band , flag-wavers , a nd majorettes, and then a driving e xhi bit ion t hat mad e en joyable watching with Don Ha wl ey , Ralph White , Sammy T a nner and J ohnn y Isa acs in go-carts . It was hard to te ll who wa s ha vin g more fun, t he c rowd or the driv e rs . Ther e was also a bi ke matc h-race bet wee n promoter Don Brymer an d disc jockey William W illia ms from station KBLA , wit h W ams winilli nin g, and an ex citing Offy midget race car de monst rat io n by J ohn ny Moorh ouse . T he " B" M n we nt to Bult ac o ai and St e ve Scott with Mert La wwill ba ttl in g up throug h the pa ck to a we ll-e ar ned second. The " c" Main was a Gre e ve s win with Lee s t umpen ha us first a nd Ivan Oden second. Mont es a-moun ted J i m C onnelly rode hard for t hi rd. T he us ua l la rge c ro wd of riders sho we d up, wit h th e fi rst e limi na tio n he at s starting ar ound five o'clock. T hey ran off 18 of them, with four or fiv e riders in each , before the actual progra m comme nced. Skip Van Lee uwen won his fi rst he a t ra c e in five att e mpts a nd also gra bbe d second in the Trophy Da s h. T he indoo r s ho rt trac k season a t Long ' Be ac h Arena i s now ove r 'unt il November , when plans a re for it to run on th roug h March. (Results on page 12) MOVIES TO SAN DIEGO Attenti on Dehesa s cramblers and Carlsbad road racers! Be sure to wear your technico lor makeup these coming weekends, because you'll be the stars of the Cycl e Action Theat er when it comes to Hoover High School Audito rium, on EI Caj on Blvd. Friday night, M 20. ay This weeke nd the CAT camera c rew will be filming the Hi Boots M.C.scrambles at Dehesa and next weekend they'll be making col or movies of the AMA road races at Carlsbad. Pres ented by Cycle News, the eve- DUST HALTS PLEASANTON OPENER Nearly 80 professional dirt track ride rs showed up fo r the ope ni ng A.M.A. half-mile eve nt at Alame da Co unt y F a irgrou nds in Ple a s a nt on la s t Sunda y afte rnoo n , but t he meet t urned in t o a fiasco . Offi c ials s eemed unp re pared for the large number of rid er s. De s pit e a million-dollar t rack fa cility (c oncrete covered gra ndstands , mile and ha lf-mile ova ls , etc.) , t rack conditio ns were a bomi nable. C ons cie ntio us efforts on th e par t of the promoter weren 't eno ug h to overcome the offici als ' comp let e lac k of familia rity with track pre para ti on. T he T ulare-like o va l (a multigroove, s li d)' hors e trac k) s uffer ed the s a me fate as did the T ula re half- fo urt h, aboard th e BSA fo rmerly owned by Dick Mann. T he Amate ur Main was re s tarted a t ota l of fou r ti mes , onc e wit h a n o [fic ia l s trolling acros s th e t rack in front of the fi eld. Ti m Harris unavoidably struck the man, but no injuries res ulted - - j ust more confusion. Eve ntual Amat eur winner wa sBSA mounted Jack Konl e, c losely c ha llenged by hard -r iding Harris on the P a t Owen BSA. The Novic e Ma in , dominat ed by Mel Dine s e n' s fl a shy Royal E nfi e ld te am membe rs , went to R oy Spik e r after a whe e l-to-whee I battle with fellow R .E . ride r Dan R e ed. (P hotos ne xt we ek) forced him to the pits with two la ps to go. Expert heats went to White. Haaby , Louis an d first-time Ascot win ner Mike Van Ness . Van Ness sailed by Eddi e Mul de r on lap two and held an impressive ha lf-a-st raightaway le ad ove r Eddie Hammond a nd Me rt La wwill at t he fini sh . Only casualty of the ni ght was firs t ye a r e xpert Jim Nic holson who zeroed the wall co ming out of the No. 4 t u r n . Th is w a s t he third strai ght yea r tha t J im ha s gone down on this sa me s pot . full hor e. (See pa ge 4.) T he amate urs bounc e d back to cha llenge the e xpe rts in the c lose fini s h depart me nt as P ete Bodett e again won t he main in a squeaker by six inches over fast improving Tim Harris . T wO wee ks ago Ha rris los t by one le ngth. Bod ett e ha s now won eig ht out of t en races a t As cot to ho ld a co mmand ing po int lea d , but is getti ng more an d more c ompetition as th e we eks go by. H-D ace Marty McDona ld returned Ra lph Whit e, Sammy T anne r and Da n Ha ab y put on a show -t hat will not soon be forgotten. It was White's turn to shine a nd he had a glow on that may carry ove r to thi s Friday nig ht. The Torranc e ceme nt man pla s t ered Sa mmy T a nner three ti mes out in th e he at, da sh a nd fin al to s core his fi rst wins of the ye ar. In the fi na l it was Whit e mos t of the way by inches every tim e they cross ed the line . Tanne r and Haaby took tur ns trying to take White. Ha ab y led two la ps a nd T anne r one . but it was a ll White at the finish . T he thr ee- rid er duel the e ntire di s tanc e wa s one of t he be st eve r on an y dirt t rack , a nywhe re . Only Guy Loui s co uld kee p th e three s tars in sight. Loui s wa s closi ng fro m fourth place until a flat tire (!)~~ ¥eeJtI.~ RON JONES PRESENTS IN EL TORO ~~ ~ mile whe n race d in th e da ytime bli ndin g dust a nd an a bundan c e o f holes . After fi ve la ps of th e ten- lap E xpert Main E vent, t he race wa s called off be cau s e of ze ro visibi lity conditions . -wit h Gen e Rome ro declared the winner . (One rid er, after groping his way dow n th e back straig btawav.Hkened th e e xpe rie nce to " runnin g last i n a fourth-g ear sandwash. ") Romero, who earlier won his he at a nd the T rophy Da s h, thus mad e it a c lean s wee p on t he Love Bros . ' Triumph. Sec ond pl a c e went to Art Barda, riding Sa m Sa tte rley' s Ha rl ey, and Mike Van Ness took thi rd on his self-tuned BSA. Northe rn C aliforni a ' s J ohn Hall was ASCOT fromfront page ~ gJ.o,d RaceJ, EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT Pit gate opens 6 p.m., Practice 7 p.m., Racing at 8 p.m. GENERAL ADMISSION S1.50 DIR ECTIONS: On Santa Ana Freeway between Laguna Canyon & EI Toro turnoffs. A.C.A. Sanctioned For your new 1Bq~P, SEE ning of racing, thrill s and co medy films will feat ure these specially photographed, up-to-the-minute movies, narrated by Chuck Clayton and Jim Manning, filmed by Clyde Earl. So bring your family , friends and favorite sponso r to the Hoover Hi gh School Auditorium and watch yourself ride and slide Frid ay night, May 20th at 7:30 p,m. Come ea rly and stay for the second show. Advance tickets may be purchased for only $1.50 each from Cycle News , Box 498, Long Beac h, Cali!. . ~ YA M AHA ~ HARRY FOSTER MOTORCYCLES 10425 SO. VERMONT AVE. 754-2811 to the wi nner' s circ le i n t he no vi c e fina l a nd won his third feature of t he yea r. Yamaha mounte d Don Ro berts I':a ve c ha se all t he way but could not ups e t the point l eade r lik e he did two week s ago . The fir s t fi ve we eks of Asc ot half mile racing have now produced three expert main eve nt winne rs , two amateurs and th ree nov ices. . Anoth e r hi ghli ght of th e s how was the return of vetera n Don Ha wley to ra cing. Don pull ed a s e co nd in his heat rac e a nd t hen ran 8th i n the fi na l. He is riding a BSA tu ned by former e xpe rt , Bob Hood. Don s ay s he is here to stay afte r reti ring a year an d lI" ha lf ago. . (Re s ults on pa ge 12) MOTORCYCLE INSURANCE COIiIPUES WITH CAUFOIIIIIA AIWICIAl IlESNlISIIIUTT lAW Rales AppI, T Both Male . nd FeIIIIle,All IIges. o Married or Single, lIIilitJry Personnel, etc. ASK YOUR MOTORCYCLE DEALER FOR ONE OF OUR APPL ICATION S O W TE DI RECT TO; R RI CaUfOl'llia Motoreyde DIaIera A880datiaIl Box 43262, Los Angeles, California 90043 _'I Bod a, Inj,,, $1 0.000 uch $20,000 u ch accident . • PI"Ol)ef1)' ~ 15,0 00 tub Ktl· dent SSO.OO Deduct ible . 0; " - . Pmo hlo 12 _ Ia C('. Up to 66 ee, 67 III I SO • ee, $19 29 181 III 328 cc. 39 Over 328 ee, 49 ..