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/125698
IGGERS GP •• TOUGH experienced a slight seizure..Wright and Terry Clark played tug-of-war for the top until Preston Petty hogged it. The Hopetown veteran quickly disappeared from the pack, leaving Clark with a second and Wright the third spot. 125 AM/EXPERT Wright once again got it off but soon found himself fighting aggressive Northerner Carl Cranke. Petty was pushing them along when Gene Cannady really lit it up. Petty dropped by the wayside leaving Cannady with a monstrous margin, followed by Cranke and Wright. 250 EXPERTS A total of 75250 Experts raged onto the circuit at full bore in a pack so tight you could have covered them with a towel. Scott Smith barely had a front wheel in front of everyone else's, but soon lost it in the water. In a few minutes Cranke, a Dirt Digger from up-North, had a lead·and·a·half. but Dave Rodgers began closing that gap. They went wheel·to·wheel for a while and Rodgers fmally got by. It only lasted a lap, however; Rogers' rear brake went bad so Cranke took back his lead plus some of that gap he lost earlier. Rodgers, still held on for the number two spot. Bob Messer had the dubious honor of starting .dead last after courtesouly avoiding a downed rider and, as a result, nearly smashing a parked car. With complications of banner-in·the.sprocket, Bob looked hopeless. The spirit of Hopetown prevailed and Messer cranked his Maico. The tall, lanky lad sneaked his way through the pack and was the third one to take the checkered flag. POWDERPUFF The most common source of trouble was that water hole... It was a simple task to drown the engine; much simpler than getting started again. The group that experienced the most troubles here were the Powder Puffs. It to"ok the women about twice as long to complete eight laps as it did the other classes. Even so, several went fast enough to drown their bikes, but good. Last year's P.P. winner, Patty Domay had the lead but experienced a fouled plug. Jan Ditson, Mary Brooks and Jim Wilson's sister, Joan, pushed onward steadily, eventually lapping nearly the rest of the field at the end. They fmished in that order, and it was a rare opportunity to see an exhausted female at the races that wasn't a scorekeeper. 250 NOVICE Doug Grant deserves a mention for a fine ride. After recovering from a bad start, he began knocking off the comp'etition in steady style. When he grabbed the second spot he still had to catch speedy Joe Sanderson, 40 second ahead. At the checkered flag, Grant had knocked off over 30 of those. Wow. The Diggers watered a whole bunch before Sunday's agenda, but the dust was still aggravating. Sunday's results aren't available as ofthis writing; those mentioned my be inaccurate: 500 EXPERTS John Rice jumped into the lead and never let go. Bill Payne was well into the second spot until he seemed to have mechanical problems. John Hateley took over for a couple of laps and got a visit from Bob Messer. Payne's mount began running well again but Messer had already put too much distance between them. Meanwhile, "young" Rice began pacing himself for the last two laps. At the end of the grueling 10·lapper, Messer cut Rice's 30-second lead in half and Payne once again fell way back. The win sews up the No.1 AMA plate for motocross, according to "John-R". The front runners didn't look too tired as the 40.minute battle wore on but any undertaker watching them dismount would have whipped out an order pad. 500 EXHIBITION The 500 exhibition was the only race to consist of three motos. One of the world's most amazing optical illusions is watching Preston Petty race. Flat out, Petty looks like riding in the pits; he's that smooth. This class was loaded with top riders - Rice, ~ w Clements, Thorwaldson, Messer - and Z W Petty obliterated the competition in the ...J first two motos. He had to be pushed U >out of his chair for the last one. He U lazily settled for fourth, since he could have finished last and still won the $1,000 of the $2500 purse. Russ Darnell Was the only rider to give Petty any kind of race, and that didn't last very long. S till, Darnell consistently set a fast pace good enough for second place and $600. On the second moto, Billy Clements and Darnell were wheel-to-wheel at the wire when Billy punched it hard to get around his adversary. It didn't cost Darnell any money in the final result, but that little maneuver was probably worth $175, at least, to Clements. He fmished third overall and four bills ahead. Bryan Holcomb was next in line and . earned $225. Holcomb was plagued with monor bike ills prat falls all weekend, but he is beginning to get used to his new Greeves.ride. John Rice won $150 in the last moto. In the second moto he lost a chair no less than eight times, therefore (Please turn to page 24) You guessed it - it's that horrendous first turn. Some Afte~thoughts Concerning By Maureen Lee As usual, by the Itime you get home from the two days of Corriganville, 'scuse me, ~opetown you find yourself mumbling "thank the Lord it only comes once a year." Once again, it was out of sight racing and after those two solid days of wall-to-wall bikes and people it takes days to sort everything out in your mind as to what really happened. Our impressions of this year...the sadness at seeing so much of the area burned out by that devastating fire including part of the old town and the Fort and Florence and John Howell's home which had always been such a cozy place...the 100 Novice class where the kids ride like there's no tomorrow...flrst man throu~ the Hopetown mudhole for the day was Jeff Davis on a he ended up back aways behind Terry Sachs followed by Duane Baade on a Clark(Baja) and Preston Petty on a Penton...and the credit for the first Sachs...people talking about the little drown-out of the day goes to Ray Smith kid on an Indian, that "little kid" on a Rickman...more and more of these happened to be Eddie Mulder and little Rickmans are appearing in Squirrel was having a ball until ,he competition now and doing very well drowned out in the water...and after all for themselves...spectators thinking Jack Morgan's careful p.lanning for the Wayne Rantz was a girl b!'cause this mudhole he crashed magnificently in young motocross rider has two long it...Sachs rider Ted Lapadakis opening blonde braids he wears under his up his engine so that anyone could helmet...out of sight...Jack Morgan check it out to end any discussion as M carefully watching the waterhole while whether it was the right size or not, it the Novices were riding, picking his line was•..Gene Cannady's win in the 125 advance...and why oh why won't more event, he was flat hauling and Petty just people waterproof properly as we couldn't catch him...in the same race watched a drowned out Hodaka right in the first appearance for the weekend of front of us with the water bubbling out Northern California's Carl Cranke who around the top of his carburetor...J eff ended up second, this is definitely one Wright on a Rickman looked awfully rider to keep an eye on for National good but !J,FJP.l!'~H~!I,{fM~ mq~If~~; dn9_Wlfg~"'PRlP};tjJ:!~ .he's three times better than he was last year...Dusty Coppage showing beautiful control in the wash when another rider really got bent out of shape in front of him... Doug Grant's performance on the A-Jay in the 250 Amateur, knocking seconds off his time lap after lap until he was second behind Joe Sanderson (Hus), if that race had gone just a couple of more laps there might have been a different winner...Carl Cranke and Dave Rodgers really having at it in the 250 Expert class ·with Cranke ending first...Steve Scott who was running first on lap one and then second really getting off hard...Bryar Holcomb on a Griffon lofting the front wheel through the mudhole and the sloppier it got the faster he was going but British bikes like mud...the Powder Puffers doing even (Please t~~'to J'i4)' pag