Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

_0 '" . $1,.0. FOR BO GROSSI,N ... e .., :l ~ w Z W ...J U > U By Dave Swift TWIN FALLS, IDA., May 22-23, 1971 - Californians Bob Grossi and Gary J ones were the top money winners at Evel Knievel's $10,000 motocross, held on next year's Snake River Canyon Jump site. The entire weekend was one of the most unique in American motocross-dam. There was showers one day, beautiful sunshine the next. Both top money winners won a single mota each. But Saturday's Amateur winners swept their class. The expected crowd of participants didn't show but a decent sampling of the nation's fmest did. jump. Jim Pomeroy, Washington's local hero, led the field and hit the mountain with entirely too much gas. Landed clear of the downslope, arms and legs flailing in all directions, he miraculously saved his lead. While Pomeroy was testing his suspension, C·Z works rider Sonny DeFeo, stand;ng in the pits with h;s helmet off, reilized his race was on. In two laps Gary J ones snatched the lead from quick Jim and held on for keeps. Meanwhile, DeFeo managed a seventh from dead last. The gross error of his late start would be costly, indeed. The final two mota were a magnificent Jones-DeFeo duel with Sonny the winner. Jones wasn't reluctant to let the 18-year-old have the lead in the last round, because the race was a good as won. Pomeroy took third behind Jones and DeFeo. Like Jones, Grossi's victory was largely due to flawless, cons tent riding with a significant amoun. of good fortune thrown in. Torke Jonsson, Ake's brother, led .. . .-11 Evel Knievel decided to ride his own form of motocross. S right way, the wrong way, and the Evel Knievel way." He p Jonsson, Grossi, Lindstrom, and West with about seven seconds separating them and a half·mile gap after that. Grossi mentioned that he felt he could have caugh t Jonsson, but suppressed the urge in favor of riding with his head. [t certainly paid off; Bob is $1,800 richer. Both Expert winners This is how Bob Leach, Jr.. looked to everyone else in the Open Amateurs, except in the last moto. Leach also took fifth overall in Sunday's race. Drizzle kept course damp but mud was not much of a problem. There were free cars, lots of loot and a cute trophy made with an Olympia Beer can for all fmishers. To top it off, the American Motorcycle Association performed the unpreceden ted task of issuing a Class C license on the spot, physical and all. Sunday's Experts, racing two classes for $5,000 each, roared to life with the 250's heading for the hairy man-made ~ .... ... -t ~ Gary Jones and his outstanding custom Yamaha 250 proved to be the best after Jones' textbook style and consistently strong starts put him in the winner's circle. Jones rode six motos and also took 11th in the Open class. Gary is 19 and half-joked about being over the hill when tre race was over, because he was pooped. Teammates· Battle for Honors By Gary Schmythe GARDENA, CAL., May 20, 1971 - The CMC's weekly program at Ascot Park is turning into a real battle between teammates for the top honors in the Expert classes. In the 125 department, Jeff Wright and Bruce Baron, both Rickman riders, have had a really nifty show the past several weeks. In the early season, Baron held a distinct advantage bu t recently Wright has been coming on strong. Tonight, Wright captured the first mota with Baron out of contention after he went down and remounted in last. In the second face-off, however, Bruce took the lead and battled Jeff off \ to win. The fmal go was a replay of the first as Wright took the lead and Baron went down again. Jeff took overall; Mike Garrett edged out Ruben Becites for second. In the 250 Expert class, Maico's John DeSoto took a1! three wins. Bill Payne (Hus) and Baron had such an even fight that they eventually tied for second overall. Then, in the Open, it was the Maico team of DeSoto and Jim Hart who put on the show. Last week Hart aced John when the Hawanan lost a chain. This week, Hart was determined to repeat as victor but DeSoto had other ideas and won all three motos. (Results on page 26) I n the 250 Expert moto, Bruce Baron (61 J feverishly pursues John DeSoto for the lead. won all three races, however, as well as all three in the Open class. the start of the first round and quickly dropped it. Grossi slipped into the lead, snubbing Gunnar Lindstrom in the process. Jim West characteristically worked hard getting through traffic and after considerable dicing with Colorado's Gary Myers, copped a third. Bob Grossi and his best friend; Grossi's abilities for Jonsson recovered and finished sixth. Interestingly, that's the order in emulate. haP a choice between a Toyota and the wh;ch the top riders finished the final loot, and both opted for the money. two motos except for Torke, who easily J ones changed his m;nd later. sent veryone back a notch. After the Because of the AMA's rules regarding initial laps to get things sorted out, the Amateur payoffs ($25 maximum), Evel remainder of both 20-m;nute motos saw rt I Jim Cooke rides out of The Bike Shop in Anaheim, Calif., and spends most of ~ road. He did a beautiful job in the 250 Amateurs but suffered a host of runni Sunday's EXl?ert race. Watch for him .< 0-' .'"

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