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WILSON GRABS 250 AT ASCOT ~ By Bob H1ll Col ~ Col d :>. (.) GARDENA, CALIF" July 30, 1970 - Mr. Conslstency, Jim Wilson, carrled away the honors ln the 250 Expert div.tsion at the weekly CMC Motocross get-together at Ascot Park Thursday night. He once again displayed the umtstakable Wilson style, as he rode his Greeves to three 'victorles ln thts divlslon. Slxteen year old Bob Messer, ridlog a C--B Motors Bultaco, sUpped by Tim Hart 10 the final moto to grab the checkered flag and second place overall. Messer failed to flntshed wlthin the top flve 10 the first moto, but cam.e back strong to take second 10 t)ie followlng two motos. Hart grabbed home thtrd place money flntshtng ahead of Chuck Lunde, 'leaving the number flve spot to Bob Grossi. John DeSoto returned to Ascot this week from the VlIdng Serles tour, but didn't fare too well. De Soto flnlsbed 10 the top ten belitnd the Europeans 10 the Vlklng Serles but was not able to duplicate that style tonight. John, who had gotten loto So. Callf. only a few hours earller, seemed to be having troubles wlth hls CZ, and only managed to place once 10 the three motos. Wilson really came on strong 10 the openlog 500cc Expert race and snagged the number one posltlon, wlth Jim Dawson and bls Ossa 10 hot pursuit. The second Jim West on his Ajay pushes hard at Ascot. moto went to AJS mounted Jlm West. Wllson's luck took a turn for the worse and he wasn't able to flntsh any~ wbere wlthin the top five 10 the two motos that followed. ' After all the results were complied. Rlch Thorwaldson bad scored a total of 850 polnts to make off wlth an open class victory over Matco rider John Maynard. HIgh-tlylng West, though rlding wlth an lnjured foot, tled down the number three posltlon on bls trusty AJS. The little b1ke class was a battle to the flntsh between Hart, Wilson and Bob Messer. All were ,saehs mounted and all three have scored victories 10 this class 011 several previous occasions. Hart ran away from Wilson 10 the first moto, leaving Tlm with second ahead of Thorwaldson and Messer. The liecond run found the tables turned and Wilson back to his usual wlnnlng ways. Messer moved up to take second place away from hard-charglng Hart. Hart was back on top ln the tblrd race, and walked away wlth the prlze money and flrst place trophy. Wilson, Messer, and lotermed1ate rlder, Greg Cunnlngham, made up the rest of the class wlns 10 that order. Bob Davis cranked hls CZ around the Ascot turf to take the drop of the flag 10 the 500 Junior class ahead of B. Parkenlng, also 011 a CZ. Tray Craln scooted his Matco across the 110e 10 tblrd. The lake was the downfall for several rlders 10 the 250 Junlor class, but B. Conroy managed to keep his AJS on course and ended up at the top of his class. Dick Macormic stayed on Conroy's taU rlght to the end, butfound'no room to make hls bld for first. C. Blalne was left wlth a not-too-distant tblrd. There were , four divislons 10 this class as well as 10 the 125 Junlor class. Johnny Garcia displayed good form on his Bultaco 'and grabbed the 125 Junlor class wln. The "Ascot Kid," Tom Rockwood turned up tonight to take second place on bls Yamaha, staying out 10 front of Ron Palmer of Carson. The little "peashooters" always put on a real tun show. Tbls week'S hero was Dewayne Jones. Tom Ferrls of Gardena was second, wlth Steve Nutter holding down tblrd. The track was somewhat muddy, as usual, but for next week track ground crew has agreed to use a little less water. Tbls should provide better tractlon and much better rlding conditlons. Separate practlce tlmes for the junlor and sentor classes w1ll also commence next week. (Results on page 26) Traveling by the lake was fun for Juniors Thursday night. LA WWILL COMES ON ST'RONG IN fINAL GARDENA, CALIF, July 31, 1970-Gene Romero got back 10 the groove on the Ascot, oval and was runnlng red hot untll Mert Lawwlll "cooled" blm 10 the 15 lap Expert flnal. Gene and Mert ran up against each other three tlmes during the wlld slldlog evening wlth Gene wlnning two out of the three. Butlt was Laww1ll wbo won wben It counted the most - for the money and the points. Paul Conserrlere was the first to upset LawwUl wben he put the Allison Norton loto the fast time slot 10 trlals, just one tick ahead of Mert. Tom Rockwood was thlrd fastest and Mel Lacher was fourth. Romero was fifth and posted ' the flrst alternate. In the heat race Conserriere ran loto the back of Keith Mashburn and new over the handlebars. He wasJlospltal1zed wlth a broken shoulder. The openlng heat was restarted, mlnus Conserriere. Lacher took the wln over Shorty Seabourne' wbo was riding a Norton for the flrst time tbls year. Mashburn ran tblrd wlth the recharged Dan Haaby 10 fourth. Jody Nicholas, 10 competltlon for the first time, retlred after his englne caught flre. The second heat race w1ll go loto the Ascot books as one of the all time classics. LawwUl and Romero dueled all the way from ~ to flntsh. The lead changed eleven times 10 five laps wlth Romero the wlnner at the flntsh Unel Gary Nixon failed to run fast enough to galn a transfer from the heat to the semi. ' The tblrd and flnal heat race started as a three rider duel betweenRockwood, Pressgrove and Aldana. Rockwood's machlne then broke aprtmarychaln,knocktog blm out at the flnal. Pressgrove went on to top Aldana for the wln. Yvoo Dubamel made his first appearance of the year and ll.ke Nlxon,1811ed to transfer. The Dash was rOund two and agaln it was Romero sqneaking out a win over LaWVl11l.Lacber ran..tblrd with Rockwood \ and a new chaln right beblnd 10 fourth. The four riders were all loa close bunch at the flntsh. The Semi was a heartbreaker for Haaby wbo came from the back to grab the lead from Mashburn only to have a rocker arm break on the flnallap. Dan tried to coast across the line for a transfer to the flnal but was passed for fourth and last transfer, loches from the flritsh, by Tim Harris. The wln went to Mash- as Mert Lawwill, National No.1, on his way to half-mi Ie win at Ascot. burn wlth DewaYne Keeter, second and Eddie Wirth, tblrd. 10 the 15 lap flnal, LawwUl on his older 750 Harley lined up on the outside of the first row and was lnto the turn 10 front of Seabourne, Lacher and Romero. LawwUl was 10 trout all the way wlth the other three riders side by side and wheel to wbeel from start to flntsh. Pressgrove moved up to fifth early 10 the race but once again was forced to drOP out with mechan1cal troubles at the end at six laps. Lacher drOPPed behlnd Shorty and Gene with five laps to go, leaving the Norilln and the Triumph to do battle down to the wire. At the flag Dav" super ~ookie Aldana (38x) zaps -Tom Rockwood (38) in the corner. John Hateley came up wlth englne troubles 10 the heat race, leaving the Amateur Malo Event wlde open. It was so wlde open and unpredictable that second year Amateur, N1ch Theroux, down from the north, for the first tlme this year, won the flnall Kenny Roberts and his Suzuki held off most of the fans and offJclals called the race for second a tie but Referee Chub Kellam, statloaed right at the fln1sh line, gave second place to Romero. It could not have been by more than one loch at the most! six Yamahas to once agaln top the novlce field 10 both the heat race and the 250Cc flnal. Gary Scott, the rider that appears destlned to always flntshsecond - was agaln second. Roberts has now run his latest WIl1efeated strlng to seven 10 a row with no real cIIallengers 10 sight. This week ls a' double-header at Ascot with the half mile on FridaY and a TT on Saturday night. There ts no natloDal slated the weekend so Ascot should once agaln look like a natlClllllI meetlng. not ODe but two nights. (Results 011 page 26)