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/125504
FOURTH ANNUAL '" - TRI STATE CLASSIC ~ CD By StaD Coffee Once again the gods looked upon the Bakersfield Sprockets and decided clear skies were in order lor the Fourth Annual Tn-State Scrambles. After a steady downpour Friday, the clouds Saturday momiDg parted and not a drop lell until late Sunday. Although the entries were down overprevious meetings, the spectator turnout was great and they were not in the least bit disappointed. Few classes prodDced run-away winners and blanket finishes were the order ol the day. era."I'. a palleal P.SMC wtlll Wid P.,.. r"lnc it. T1la IIot rider _ II. bot •• WlIIolarc,cl. defuled all - . . locI. . .C Joe, IInIwa (CZ) I. III. 250cc EIlJ*t f....... Bes& Race The award tor the best race bad to go to the Open Amateurs. Dick lJtell. ClareDce Pitman. Tim Tbomas, John SCantlin. and Bob Leppek waged wbat bas to be the closest. ticb1est battle ever. The lead was cballeDged. won. and lost so lIIllOY times. Il1 so lIIllOY ditfe~ eDt riders, that the crowd Dearly weDt out of it·s collective gourd. At one time the leaders come out ot the sweeper onto the main straillbt four abreast with only incbes separating the brace ot TriUlllPbs. This continued for tive furious laps with Lytell just nipping Pitman at the end. If they would ba ve bad another lap - wbo knows? It could bave beeD anyone ot the first five. Lytell bas beeD out ot circulation for Quite some time and seemed eager to prove be basn't lost any talent. Would you believe be basn't? Pelicau Pursaug . Anotber bard tought battle was !be 250 Expert go. Sid Payne on a new -pelican-like· Pursang (aren't those beautiful front fenders?) ran all three motos with a wire to wire lead. but be felt the pressure all the way from Joey Brown. Brown pusbed Sid for five laps in the second moto to the nth degree. but Payne refused to make even lbe slightest mistake and Joey bad to settle for second place gold. Wbile Payne & Brown were doing hattie for tbe lead. the Roseberry Brothers (Frank & Joe) bad lbeir hands full wilb Wayne SCbmidt. Althougb DO trophy was given for the third spot; Done of these guys wanted to give up lbe position. This was a race within a race with Joe and Frank. in that order. just edging SCbmidt wben the points were tabulated. De tweat)'-ODe iDdl Novice--'-teur Class pcocIuced aa ~ Bea Beelie c:IIuIp Alex CluzaaawsIU -a once-did lIIe job on tbe -'-teo. Odd. His silo... iDe iD tbe cJass was 90 oatstaDdiJIE ~ district referee Red Owen was forced to cast a critical eye _ his Novice raUnc. Red dDeSll't di& sandbaggers. EvicleaQy Alex was legally a Novice lboncb; so be IDlISt be c_ended on his creal. ride. ROy Spiker piloted a 175cc Bridgestone to an impressive victory over Randy Smith and Mike Lane in the 200cc Amateu~Expert motos. Although each of the aforementioned riders garnered a heat win. SPiker was rigbtthere to gobble up lbose precious second place points and copped the victory. Evidently someone forgot to remind him that he was giving away twenty-live cc's. Wild Affair Two-fifty novice bashes are usually wild affairs. and, with the exception of lbe leaders, this one was no exception. Don Castro guided his Montesa to a convincing win over Leon Watts and Jim O·Hara. but from there on back it was anybody"s guess what was going to happen. For a while it looked like an Ascot Figure Eigbt Race. Castro also got lbe job done in lbe 500cc class to take two of those huge blue and silver trophies back home. Don Hughes and Midge Griffith have been showing good fonn in the Novice ranks at Ascot and san Gabriel lbis season. In Sportsman scrambles they run in the Amateur Division and can be counted upon to provide plenty of action. with Midge usually coming home ahead of Don. But this was the Tri-5tate Main Event and Hughes conjured UP a whole bunch of psych and zapped us all. Griffith was a close second and -Good Guy· Jay Carter nabbed third over Rick Blake. High-Side Endo One of the few District 37 riders to make the trip north for fun and games was 200cc Novice Paul Coberly and his efforts were rewarded with a win. Louie Russell took a commanding lead shortly after the flag dropped and held on until the next to last lap when he missed a gear and three Sherpas passed him. Louie was so mad he let it all haDg out around the sweeper and treated the crowd to the most spectacular high-side endo of the day. Roy Yinger and Art Tull followed Coberly across for the second and third spots. Mike Keen and Sid Payne carried lbe Matchless colors to victory. Mike took the 500 Amateur Expert class and Sid was the bread-winner over • Bad LegJake Griffith in the Open Expert rounds. LIIII,. .I"" 111II on a s1ldJ cour... The Open Novice class featured David Mooney in the starring role, wilb Larry Garban making a strong bid for equal billing. Riug Diug Action The little ring-dings supplied a major part of the action with some real contests. The ninety Amate~Expert main was all Harry Krugb on a fantastically fast new 100cc Bridgestone Scrambler. Krugb would go into the first turn near the back of the pack and methodically knock them ot! until he gained the lead. Of course, it wasn't ill bike. Harry has been around a while. as some of the old De Anza Park fans know. Jimmy Maxwell rode well to cop the Amateur trophy ahead of -migb ty· Mike Lane. Larry Melton had his hands full holding off David Bellina in the ninety novice final. but he rode to the occasion and won. Amateur David Sprayberry and Novice -Dynamic· Darrell Smith traded positions all day in the fifty cc bash. Darrell would jump into the lead and the more experienced Sprayberry would chase and chase until Smith gave in. They bolb rode well and Smith can be justly proud of holding David off even for a little while. It was quite a sigbt to see these two little guys lugging home trophies nearly as tall as they are. As the cbeckered nag dropped on lbe last main event, what happened? It started to rain! For the first time in nine years a sprockets race was rained out. The scheduled Sweepstakes event bad to be called off. Altbougb it would bave been an interestiDg contest, I don't think too many fans were disappointed. They bad beeD watching great raciDg ror six and a half bolD's and went home totally satisfied. (Results on lace 16)