Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

- co ;::: - en ~ w Z W ..J U > U VALEK CHARGES; JONES By Jan~t W~st Photos by Dodi~ Stingl~y HOUSTON, TEX., July II, 1971 - Th~ hard charging Cz~choslovakian ac~, Vlastimil VaI~k who won th~ op~ning round of th~ Summ~r Int~r-AMA Motocross s~ri~s for 2 50cc machin~s, cam~ through today with anoth~r ov~rall championship at Cycl~sports Park_ Krist~r Lindblom (Hus) of Sw~d~n SouthWest aJI~1 I ••• bolt~d into the I~ad poslUon from th~ start of the first moto and h~ld a wid~ lead for the first two laps. But, on th~ th ird tour, Lindblom crash~d· sp~ctacularly in th~ first sandy tum, bending his bars completely out of shap~ and the bike was taken off th e track. B~n~fiting from th~ spill, K~it Fransn, another Husky mount~d Sw~d~, f1~ to th~ point for s~v~ral mor~ laps whil~ VaI~k b~gan to build his charg~_ ~ th~ pair clos~d ground, VaI~k mad~ his mov~ and shot into th~ I~ad luving Fransn to battl~ with anoth~r Sww~, Jan-Erick Sa~lIquist (Hus). Lik~ VaI~k, Sa~lIquist got around Franso and then b~gan to mov~ up on VaI~k to badg~r him for s~v~rallaps. On occasions, Sa~lIquist app~ar~d h~ could tak~ VaI~k, but th~ Cz~ch was d~t~rmin~d to hold on to first and h~ took th~ flag with Sa~lIquist s~cond and Fransn tb ird. Californians Jim West and Mark Blackw~ did som~ 6n~ riding in this first moto aft~r poor starts. Both mov~d up into th~ middl~ of th~ pack within a short tim~ and h~ld th~ir positions throughout th~ rac~. It look~d as though th~ s~cond moto would be a carbon copy of the first with Valek claiming the lead right away. Behind Valek and moving up was Fransn, who in turn was being push~d hard by Sa~lIquist. In the sandy "S" turn, Valek killed his CZ and could only watch as Saellquist blasted by to tak~ th~ lead. Fransn also passed Valek, reinstating himself in second place. How~ver, tb~ tables shortly tum~d and Valek regained s~cond. Each tim~ he got clos~ to Sa~lIquist, VaI~k r~ceived a lot of wind from th~ Husky's tailpip~ as it moved on out, remaining first for the remaind~r of th~ second moto. When it cam~ to tb~ final, Val~k b~gan to build a fair lead wh~n Gunnar Lindstrom, a European now r~siding in Lars Larsson (97) won SOllec Support class for 3rd week straight. Hicks, Kasson Score in lockhart Mud By P~t~ Szilagyi Photo by Richard Creed LOCKHART, TEX., June 27, 1971 Austinit~s Jack Hicks and Bill Kasson coll~ct~d top cash today at Southw~st Motocross Park. Hicks outraced both the 125 and 250 Experts and Kasson left th~ rest of the big bor~ mon~y riders far b~hind. And, 10 and b~hold, w~ w~re treated to int~rmittent thund~r-showers all afternoon. Whoop~e. It was a to he a big shootout day b~tw~en 125 hotshoes St~v~ Stackabl~, Hicks and Ricky J on~s. Ben~volent Mark Roberts loaned Stackabl~ his P~nton to put the top thre~ rid~rs on th~ gr~~n-and-white rockets. The first moto saw Stackable jump out in to a quick I~ad. H~ was followed by Hicks, J on~s, and Dave Bosart's droning Honda. After the foursom~ freight-train~d around th~ lrack~d for a f~ laps, Hicks decided to mak~ his mov~ and start~d to pull up on Stackable. The pack disapp~ar~d into the woods and a couple of minutes later a jubilant Hicks wh~elied onto th~ front straight followed closely by Stackabl~ and J ones. Accompani~d by lots of thund~r and lightning, Stackable built a giant lead in the second moto. He was nev~r chall~ng~d by either Hicks or Jones. The outcome of the third rac~ would t~1I the story. Hicks was first off th~ Lin~ and into tb~ gully but Stackable passed him on the steep ~xit path. St~v~ was • building a big Iud wh~n his chain allowing Hicks to cruis~ to an easy win. It was th~ third DNF in as many w~~ks for th~ discourag~d brok~, Stackabl~. Husky riders St~ve Hackney and Bob Tuggl~ w~r~ d~t~rmined to d~ny Hicks a win in th~ 250 class. Nothing doing. Hackn~y pushed Jack hard in th~ second and third motos which w~r~ run in the rain. On th~ last couple of laps in the final heat, l-licks was tiring rapidly from running two classes on the torturous Lockhart track. He alIow~d Hackn~y to g~t within striking distance, and th e inspired Husky rider mad~ a daring attempt to pass Hicks coming ov~r the jump thirty yards from the finish. Th~ pair collid~d in mid-air and w~re ploppw into the mud. Both rid~rs picked up their machin~s and had a foot rac~ to the finish line. Hicks again was not to be d~ni~d as he won the thirty-yard dash with use just as third and fourth place rid~rs Bob Tuggl~ and John Kasson (CZ) blasted through th~ checkers. Bill Kasson's finely execut~d wins in th~ first two Open Exp~rt motos allowed him to take it easy and pay in th~ mud in th~ fmal h~at. Aft~r building a substantial lead over the pack, Kasson shot around th~ track on his 380 CZ throwing mammoth mud roostertails for th~ spectators. In a friendly gesture, Bill I~t fellow CZ rider J ake DeBo~ pass him to win the third moto and allow D~Bo~ to take third place money home to Houston. Floyd Dunn rode consistently well to cop second overall ov~ his 400 Maico. Scott Elliot (CZ) appeared to have the second money slot tied up with a pair of second places. In an attempt to catch Kasson's mud-flinging CZ, Elliot went into the big gully crossed up and did a wild series of high-speed endos. Scott suffered minor cuts and bruises in one of the most spectacular crashes that anyone would ever care to see. The 250 Junior leader AI Bigley also suff~r~d from crash-itis as his CZ was stopped abruptly by a tre~ in the first moto. Bigl~y scored a second overall by letting Bill Malloy (Hus) and top-trophier John Hughes (Mai) each enjoy a win. Larry Brast demonstrated his sup~riority in th~ Open Junior class by scoring a trio of wins over f~lIow Husky rider Bobby Judd and CZ's AI Torr~grossa. TweJv~·year-old J oe Witt~r added another trophy to his big coll~ction by aceing th~ big 125 Junior pack on his P~nton. Th~ rac~ for s~cond was clos~ with Ralph Robertson (P~n) and Jerry Friwrich (CZ) finishing in that order. (Results on pag~ 24) .. -. ... ...•.•....•.••• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~_.~~~~~.~_.~~.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .....•..•.•.............

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