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/125573
, ~ - E Ora ge County AFM-Road Race Clash montesa 0 Kia' MOTORCYCLE RIDE MOIiTESA By Tom FInIq Pbotos by DeIUl1B Gr_ ORANGE CO., CaL, Aug. 4-The loyal fans of road rac1alr at County Internatlollal Racew&7 were treated to a fine atterllOOJl of rac1.Dc UDder a warm,If not sllchtly lIDComfortab1e, August sun. After the usual lbree-Iap heat race slwtt11ng, the first race, an elght-Iapper for 50cc GP and Production throtJgh 200cc was flagged off. Ass uming the lead, and hold1ng it unt1l the f1n1sh, was Tony Ni cosia (5Occ Suzuki). Tony reversed the results of July 21 at Carlsbad and def eated all of the Lightweight Production fiel d. For those of you who have notwitnessed Ib1s event, the GP " fifties" are flagged off first, and at a second flag, the Llihtwelght Production fiel d is started in the conventional manner. Second " fifty " at the checker was M1ke Lane, trying an ltal-Jet Vampire, andfollow1ng him was Sid Chambers on another Vampire. Stan Smith came home first as the toocc Prod. winner (Bridgestone). Second was Kelly Evans, who wasmistakenl y cred1ted with second at Carlsbad July 21, when in actuall ty he d1d grab the crance YEAGER: rtCOllllllnds Monllsa Hcausl, .. 'Irs just the bi ke for our kind of country - rugged!" Ylaelr Cycll Hut 310 1 Northwest Avenue Bellingham, W ashington 98225 • . St.ve McL.uplin lost 250cc GP r.c. by h.IIo_he.1 I. nllb Ia lormer 200cc ch.mplon 01 Sco~ I.nd, D.ve SCott, .lter comlnllrom blll lad IDd ,uslnl the lud.r. ~_. ....111111111111111~~ === VIVA MONTESA MOTORS , INC . Sale U.S. Distributor 3657 Beverly Boulevard Loa Ange les. Californ ia 90004 SALES SERYl CE HOCIIES MOTORCYCUS Norton Comm.ndo mounted G.o rl' K.rk.r smll.s an his w.ylo Inoth.rProducllan vlclal)'. HODAKA YAONS'U E GREEVES Compl.te "'cbln. Shop FlCll ltIIl 22025 So. F igueroa To rrance, Ca liforn ia (213) 328-1242 ~R"'~~~YJ*~ : .. .. HIGHEST TRADE-'N 239 N. An.h.lm Blvd. ADsb.lm, C.I. Phon. (714) 533·1309 : • ,. win on hi s Yamaha. Due to a mix- up in ted wi th entry, Roger Wood was ered1 200cc class honor s, which gives first 175 to Don Van Veen. Money Time First pro event was the 100-1 25-175 GP Main. O1ve Allee made hi s usual Jet start, and due to a lack of competition fr om the Power Research Team, romped home an easy winner in both overall and TED EVANS MOTORCYCLES TRIUMPH * YAMAHA * BULTACO* ROMA MINI BI KES _ YAMAHA OUTBOARD MOTORS Sales Service Racing Equipment Parts & Ac cessories ' WE ACCEPT BANK AMERICARD & MASTERCHARGER 13347 W. WASHINGTON BLVD. LDS ANGELES, CAUF. (n 3) 390-340' GRAND OPE I G 'BtJl1N4IpIMC~ .RANGE CO. CYCLE ~ StUt4AII4 WE HAVE A LARGE STOCK OF YAMAHA 250 SINGLES SET UP FOR MOTO-CROSS THE ORANGE CO. CYCLE DT-l rnx 21" AKRONT RIM 21" BARUM TI RE CERIANI FRONT FORK SPRINGS CERIANI REAR SHOCKS FACTORY GYT KIT SPE CIAL MOTQoCROSS FENDER COMPLETE MACHINE SHOP SERVICE FO RYO COMPETITION TU NIN G UR LARGE STOCK OF COMPETITION ACCESSORIES OPEN MON. WED. & FRI. 9:00 - 8:00 PM TUES. & n;URS. 9:00 - 6:00 SAT. 8:00 - 5:00 PM MEET THE EXCITERS AT 205 N, HARBOR BLVD, SANTA ANA -(114) 531-9984 the 175 011 hi s Bill Krause Honda. A scrap was waged for secondbetween Ri ch Stue1ke ( 175 Honda) and O1ve Scott ( 100 Yamaha). Stueike eventually wonout, and Scott remained in third, taking the 100 c lass with ease. Scott w1l1 be heard from later. Oswald Auer took the 125 class and brought a Yamaha YAS-l into the winner's circle for the first time at an AF M event. The Heavyweight Production Mainsaw George Kerker cruise home as the overall winner, continuing the win streak for the all-new Nor ton Commando. He was challenged 10 the early laps by Roland Pagan (Triumph), but Pagan pulled out with a mis-fire. First 500 was the everpresent Dick KUgroe, wh11e tile hlllre 350 class was won by Hurley WUvert, after race winner O1ve Allee was protested. ~ The 250 went to Gary Fiechtner (Suzuki). ) Wor d has been passed that AF M rules regarding prnduction bikes will be enforced at Tech. Inspection in the f uture. The most flagrant violations seem to center around removal of air cleaner assemhl1es and exhaust system blIffles. After the production bash, five si decars proceeded to slide around for eightlaps, wi th Reg Pridmore f1nally catching a wtld Doug Bingbam. The " chairs" should really be spectacular on the new eightturn course to be opened up at Orange Co. Raceway Sept. 1. More on this later. Two Graud Finales The 250 pr o race was a real e1I!fhanger, as Steve McL augh11n and the aforementioned Dave Scott (who was the f ormer 200cc champion of all Scotlanc:Q went at it tooth and nail, wi th a f ast i mproving Don Emde r ight behind waiting f or either to make a mistake. McL aughlin turned i n perhaps the best r i de of hi s career on a 250, coming fr om behind and passing the wily Scott. Scott finally passed at the las t bend, and won in the drag race f1n1sh by halI-a-wheellength. Fourth went to rising contender Bruce Tozier, fifth to Jack Simmons, and sixth to Tony Murphy. John Buckner was out for the first time in quite a whUe at an AFM event, and though he dropped outof the 250, made his presence known. Flyln' low, .nd not .v.n In his h.llcopter, John Buckner m.d. Ilut ro.d r. c• •pp.... .nc' In 10m. IIm •• F1nal main was the 350-500-1000 GP, which was a battle between ~eg Pridmore (Norton 500). and Ph11 Magnna (Norton 750). Makanna eventually won, and took fastest 12-1ap time of the d8¥ as well. Pridmore naUed down the 500 class, and Mike Kahn from V1rg1n1a took second. Second in the l000cc c:lass was grabbed by Roland Pagan (Triuniph 650) on his production mpcb1 ne. John BucJmer (Yamaha 251) left all of the 350 opposition beh1nd, but there was a late lap struggle between Tom White (Honda 350) and Bob Bender (A JS 7R 350) with White grabb1ng second. O1ve Blancett took fourth 350 on his Honda. New Cowse Next month, September I, due to the growing success of the events at Orange Co. Int'l Raceway, an additional section of the course add1ng lbree turns and about a quarter-mUe will be opened. This never-used portion leads out of the Tower bend and returns by the last set of stands on the spectator side. A map of the new course will be published shortly i n Cycle News, so wat ch f or i t. This new move will benefi t both the riders, by add1ng more challenge to the cour se, and the spectators, as a consi derable amount of action will now be visi ble fr om the spectator sid e of the track. Falllng on "lh e Labor Day weekend, a lot of the Northern California AFM riders w1l1 be down to try the new one, so you So. Cal. riders turn out and welcome them. Remember, with Labor Day actually fal11ng on a Monday, there will be little traffic. See you all there. (Results on page 16)