Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

-co .. I Clement$ Bolds Off CMC By David Swift ~ w Z W ...J U > U IRVINE, CALIF., Jan. 3, 1971 - The brand new season for the California Moto-Sport Club started out with less of a bang_ than one would have expected. That is, most 0 f the "biggies" were elsewhere when a genuine gathering of the tribe should have taken place. Those who came romped and bounced about the new Saddleback course with much aplomb, the al'ternative being acute thermolysis (freezing). Billy Clements was among them, aboard his 360 Husqvarna. Giving a sterling performance in all three motos by taking a 10·second lead in little time, he then settled ,back at a leisurely pace. In the final race, however, he looked a bit startled to find Bob Hershey's CZ suddenly appearing from nowhere to challenge for the lead. The most startlirrg fact is that the bike, a 250, was not supposed to be in the race and HersheY was not' the rider. Rocky White, who dominated as a 500 Intermediate and beat nearly all of the Experts, said that th.e unidentified rider "nearly knocked me over." A later report held that the same jerk actually did cause Ron Bunn, second race, to fall. Needless to say, Hershey was disqualified for the day after he finished second overall in the 250 Expert division. Even though he wasn't the rider, it was his machine. Clements didn't quite duplicate his other ride when it came time for the 250's. He won the first moto, but got knocked off his machine while tailgating in a tum during the second round. A strong comeback plus an inordinate number of crashes by the others gave him a fourth. In 'the finale, Clements lost control completely and knocked his wind out. Meanwhile, Bill Urban cut 'some quick laps with Hershey and soon left him in the dust. When it was over, Urban had tallied up the most points and Clements, somewhat farther behind, took over th'e officially-vacated second spot. Oppone~ts Pat deBenedetti brought only his Penton along and came dum close to cleaning up the 125 Expert class. Wi'th two wins to go on, he began moving towards the front, as usual, in the last race. A slight miscalculation involving another rider, however, sent him towards planet Earth in a most unpleasant fashion. Pat rebounded with a splendid ride, moving up some 10 places for a third and an overall victory. Virtually everyone took at least one dump on the new circuit, due'mostly to tile fact that the turf resembled cold oatmeal, thanks to the incessant rains. the course is the most Still, motocrossish that Saddleback has seen recently, thanks to the efforts of Stu Peters and Kelvin Franks. This particular Sunday was a bit of an anti-climax what with it being theopener and all, and this was primarily caused by the ridiculously chilly weather. But things are gonna get hot' this year. (Results on page 20) CRACKDOWN IEGI·NS TO LOWER CMe fNTRI E huge - By Dave Swift CARLSBAD, CAL., Jan. 10, 1-971 - A whopping 560 entrants kicked off the fust meet of the Steen's Metisse Trophy Motocross Series to~ay and it lTesulted in the CMC becoming less lax about its rules for entries. Out of the entries, 183 arrived by mail on time and the rest, nearly 400, arrived late. This, said CMC veep Kelvin Franks, makes it very difficult to return the entries. He added more people were tumed away at the gates, making for even more ill feelings. "AU we can do is be hard-nosed and shut the late ones out from now on," Franks said. He also stated that in the remainder of the series all entries will be by mail only - no exceptions - and even then entries may be turned away if a pre·determined rider limi t is reached in specific class. The class size will be in proportion to i~ current popularity. a Becailse Of the entry list, hundreds. of Juniors got six laps of racing for their $5 entry, creating even more upset riders. As for the actual racing, things were a bit rosier. Two Europeans from Puch's works were on hand and probably got a better race from the locals than they expected. Jim Beauchamp got in front of Belgium Harry Everts in the 125 Expert and fended off the attack in stride. The nex"1; round saw Beauchamp off to a bad start but Pat deBenedetti took the lead. DeBenedetti, Everts, and works-rider Christian Govverneur scrapped for a lap and deBenedetti fell out of the lead with a sick bike. Everts honked on while he teammate fInished third overall. These two chaps are quite bashful because they know no English but they certainly will be fun to watch while they are around until March. J obn DeSoto pulled a coup in the . - Belgium rider Harry Everts on way to 125 Expert win. 500's to no one's surprise. Mike Runyard did a brilliant job keeping DeSoto on his toes in the second moto and took third for the day. Jim West and his Ajay were also close with his efforts eaming a second. In the 250 Experts, Billy Clements and Tom Rapp traded 1-2's each time for a tie. Anyone who saw these two get it on,would really holler for one more race! The Steen's series ends on March 28 with 6 races and 'the high-point ,non-expert will get a nifty Micro-Metisse. Then everyone is eligible to win leathers, Bell hehnets, tires, and oil, all the way down to 25th place. Better get that entry in early. (Results on page 20) . Bunyard, Tripes Win Finish Va-le-ri-an'a Two Cy-cle City Ltd lViI'lir-e-an'sl 'tiil 'si-kal! 'sit-el ltdl n. a motorcycle shop. Known to deal in sales, service, parts and accessories for such well-known twocycle machines as Husqvarna, Penton, Suzuki, Jawa, CZ, Montesa, MZ and Trail-Hoppers. Distinguished by a large, unusually complete inventory of Torsten Hallman leathers, hoots and helmets. Also known for free piping hot coffee and warm, non-pushy service. By Rich Hoffman CARLSBAD, CALIF., Dec. 27, 1970 With conditions so good, the day was filled with some excellent 'racing, including "Downhill" Pat deBenedetti We service wh'at we sell (Pen), who left everyone far behind in the 125 Expert Division. Marty Tripes (CZ) and Tom Rapp (Bul) were both outstanding in the 250 Expert Division, BMW SPecialties with Tripes getting one of the better 411 West Whittier Blvd. rides of the day, as he overtook CMC , M..ntebell~, Ceii!. 90640 (213) 724-9474 No. 1 Rapp on the long downhill, passing h'im like he was standing still. Over the remainder of the course it ~ Mike Patrick' s ~. was a close race between these two expert riders, but the downhill was where the race was won, as Tripes did another "deBenedetti" on the downhilt llD1 E. 51b St. to capture his second moto of the day and fIrst overall in the 250 Expert I CllC)13.-11n Division. _ ~ Montesa mounted Mike Runyard and G. Harris fought it out in the 500 Expert Division, with Runyard taking first overall in fine style. , Randy Perry (AJS) made it two in a row as he won the 500 Jr. It's interesting that R",?dy had been riding another make of bike until a few weeks ago with little success, but since the ALL NEW MOTOF\CYCLES change he hasn't lost a race. SOLD WITH FACTORY Although entries were lower than usual - about 170 total - the racing WARRANTY was good and everything was run Dyno Tuning & Custom Engine Work smooth and fast. Congratulations to the Steve's BULTACO CMC for a fine 1970 season; continued 7627 Van Nuys Blvd. 780-6300 success for 1971. (Results on page 20) au:~&a~~~~ YWHA " COIOIA cenaa I t 1 oo~1~~!~~~ro~!~:.~tII. • Los Angeles, California 90064 - Telephone: (213) 475-4541 Sales - Service - Accessories - Parts - Motocross Leathers HUSQVARNA - JAWA/CZ - SUZUKI - PENTON - MZ - MONTESA - TRAIL-HOPPERS open monday through saturday -ONLY-

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