Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

SPROCKETS HOLD MIDWEST CHAMPIONSHIPS i By Carol Witt Photos b y Karen Hartman Ph otos by WICHITA, KANS., Oct. 3 1, 1971 KA S., 31, With a clear 53 degree temperature, a d egree cloudless sky, a nd one of the roughest, and o ne o f a nd sloppiest, and mud-soakiest tracks in a long time , the Sprockets first Midwest time, Championship races were held. A special ra ces invitation was issued to top riders from invitatio n Oklahoma, Oklah oma, Nebraska, Texas and a nd Arkansas . Arkansas. With with the track conditions and the intense rivalry of the riders, it was one of the b est races put rid ers, it o ne o f best on by Sprockets since the Inter-Am, and on a nd a test of the mettle of b oth men and of o f both m en an d machines. The CZ CZ contingent co n tingent was well we ll represented b y Tony Wynn, Ricky represented by T ony R ick y Jordon and Don Prowse of Little Rock, a nd Pr o wse Li ttle R ock, Ar., and Wyman Priddy of Ft. Worth, Ar ., of Tex. The Suzuki team from Amarillo, fro m Texas, Mike and Mark Harrington, a nd Harringt on, Dwight Nish eyamr and Terry Peterson Dwigh t Nisheyamr T erry were there, as was a rider for Carabela, rid er Mike Johnson of Irv ing , Tex. oflrving, Once again t he starting line was ag ain the ch anged, changed, with the riders' ba cks to the backs to grandstand, making it difficult to see m aking it to see from the scoring box who was off the wh o o ff th e fr om line first. Riders had to funnel into a had in t o narrow p athway before getting out onto ge t ti ng o u t o n t o pathway the track surface , and with an average of surface, an of 17 rid ers b las ting through, it was a test riders blasting it te st of skill t o even get out. to o u t. Marvin Whitham (Yam) is usually one Whitham (Ya m) usu all y o ne of the more serious riders, but today m ore seri ous rid ers, t oda y to ok one o f th e com ers took o n e of the comers a little too wide, end ing wid e, ending up in the creek with a c ree k su rp rised surprised spectator hanging onto the h an gin g handlebars.. This was just the normal h andleb ars co u rs e course of the day.. d ay . Riders were seen quite often doing a se en q uite d oing "Roy Rogers" routine, that of gettin g r outine, th at o f getting thrown off, but with the next step , o ff, step, jumping b ack back on on th e the machine ; machine; fish-tailing sid e th e track t o fish -t ailing from one side of the track to th e the other; strewing parts near and far just p lain _p ure rough riding. Anyone plain _.pure An y one CHICK GETS THE CHECKERED. CHECKERED. TAOS, N.M., Oct. 17, 1971 - Bla ck T A OS, N .M., 17, Black clouds hovered over Coyote R acewa y a ll h overed o ver Co y ote Raceway all day, but didn't let go until the start of did n 't of th e the last 250 Expert Moto . That's th e Mota. the wa y it way it was for the seventh points race of th e ra ce the season and a very rough and tumble seaso n a nd race it was.. With only one ra ce to go it was o n ly o n e race o ut ever y one was out to get those all everyone valuab le p o ints . valuable points. The 100 Experts got to try the new go t t o ne w rubber b and start first. It was Larry band McDow ell (Ric) a nd McDowell ( Ric ) and Bruce Gronseth (Pen) going into the third mota tied for (Pen ) go in g in to m oto the number one sp ot. The rubber th e o n e spot. snapped and it was McDowell to the snap p ed an d t o th e lead. But it only last ed one lap as Bruce lasted o ne Bruce pushed b y t o take over and was never by to o ver wa s headed. Wes Smyth (Pen) slipped in for (Pe n) the third spot. sp o t. It was Wayne Chick's (Yam) day as Ch ick's (Yam ) d ay he he ran away from the rest of the 125 th e Experts in the last two motos. In the rno to s. In first Bruce Coston (Bul) got the ju m p Bruce jump and stayed there. This win combined co mb ined with a second and third gave Bruce a nd Bruce second overall. James Lewis (Yam), a overall . (Yam ), newcomer to Coyote Raceway from to Racewa y n eighboring Salida, Colorado, rode very neighboring Colorado , ver y co nsist en tly to consistently t o take third pl ace m oney place money home.. h ome Next to th e line we re th e 200 Novice t o the lin e were the 2 00 No vice b oys, and Arthur Simoni showed boys, a nd Sim oni everyone that h is Mexican Carabela every one that his Mexican reall y really runs as he took two firsts a nd a to ok tw o fir sts and second to sew it up. Mark Haworth and it Mark Haw orth sec ond t o Mark Olson (Yam) really fought it out Ols on re a lly it o ut for the next two p laces with Haworth th e places edging out for second. out th e As always, the 250 Experts were crowd pleasers with each rider fighting for the next highest position on the th e nex t highest p o sit ion o n totem p ol e. Chick was out to take all to t em pole. Chi ck o u t to ta ke th e green st uff the green stuff he could get today and t oda y did j us t that as he cleaned up wi th tw o just that he u p with two fir st a nd fourth. frrst and a fo u rth . Scott Cole (H us) wrap p ed Scol! Col e (Hus) wrapped up the th e Open Novice with two frrsts and a Novic e tw o firsts a nd Miller: 'Where did everybody go?' By Mike Murphy LIBERTY, ARIZ., Oct. 31,1971 -The LIB ERTY, 3 1, 1971 - T he weather was mild, the turnout was light, turn ou t and the action was h ot for another day th e ac tio n hot a n o t h er d ay of moto cros s at Arizona Desert motocross Ariz ona Desert Ra ceway. Raceway. Only two riders signed up for the Pro up Pr o Turnout Troubles Hit ADR By Mike Murphy LIBERTY, ARIZ., Oct. 17, 1971 Arizona Desert Raceway made a first De sert today by holding the frrst Hare t od ay b y first Scrambles in its history. The race was sh o rt e ned shortened due to BLM limitations but to the number of laps were increased t o incre ase d to eight for a total of 44 miles. The t o tal turnout was light (54 riders) but the t u rno u t trophies were great gre at and a nd the weather.. .good. weather...good. Dick Butterfield (Hus) was the frrst (H us) first around aro u nd but soon so on retired retired with mechanical problems. " I t just quit," he "It just quit ," h e sai d . Dave Mill er (H us) th en too k th e said. Dave Miller (Hus) then took the lead all th e wa y to the checkered, the way to th e chec kered , lea d lap ping lapping all the other riders at least once. o ther at o nce. "I can't figure it out," Miller said.. "Off HI ca n't fig u re it o u t," Mil ler said " Off the line I was in th e mi d dle of th e line w as the middle everybody. Then out of the t rees at the eve ry body. T he n trees th e o ut wash I was out in front t o the first to th e check. Wh er e did everybody go?" chec k. Where second in the last mud mota. Jan Sana seco nd last m o t o. J an Sona (Hus) rode consis ten tly to take second consistently ta ke (H us) with Larry Lee (H us) taking third.. wit h (Hus) t a kin g t h ird With "Whiz Kid" Gene Durham Kid " Durham vacationing in Cali fornia . Lee Roy vacatio ning California, Roy Carmody (Hus) m ad e it t hree for three (H us) made it three as he rode like a man p ossess ed . Chick ro d e lik e possessed. Chic k Stutz and Jo hn Durrance fought it out John it o u t for second with Stutz taking it and sec ond it a nd leaving Durrance third, b oth on 250 both o n Huskies.. Huskies The mini-bike group was shook up b y Th e gro up shoo k by Brett Meyer (Yam) who is getting faster Mey er wh o ge t ting a nd fas te r each race. He made and faster each ra ce. H e m ade a clean sweep of each mota with Bobby Coss m oto with Bobb y (Yam) on his tail for a solid second. on soli d Little Darren McDowell scooted in for McD owell fo r th ird third place. Many of the riders, particularly those of rid ers , particularl y out in front, complained of the marking fr ont, c om p la in ed o f th e of the course. "I got lost after the first "I afte r of check," Miller commented. One lost Mill er com m e n ted . rider found a wash - at speed . He fo u nd speed. caugh t the crossbar h is handlebars caught th e c ro ssbar of his handleb ars a nd and was taken to the hospital for not a t o th e h osp it al n ot sti tc hes. few stitches. Gary "Iron Man Tussing Man" (T ri) (Tri) saw a wash coming up a nd stopped c om ing and stopp ed right at the edge of a ten 'foot drop. But a t th e ed ge fo ot as h e pu t it in gear both bike and rider he put b oth a nd slip ped and fell and Tussing got a go t slipped a nd fe ll a nd disl ocated shoulder. dislocated sh oulder. Despite comp laints , most riders D espite complaints, m o st th ough t that fo r a first race it was thought th at for it pretty good. A few, such as Joe Davis pre tty J oe [Suz}: took an extra lap jus t [or kicks. (Suz)' a n ex tra just for kic ks. He still took Open Novice. Cal Redman still Red man (Mai) was pulled out of the race right (Mai) pulled righ t behind Miller. But.when the check was b eh ind But w hen tallied it fo u nd that lap talli ed it was found th at he had one lap t o go . H e !;lo t a consolation trophy. to go. He got co nsolatio n (Results on p age 24) (Resu lt s page It OVER 1,000 class: Dave Mill er (H us) and Craig Miller (Hus) McCann (Gre), both 250's. Due t o the b oth 25 0's. Du e to McC ann small size of the Pro class they were run sm all siz e Pr o with the Open N ovices starting behind th e Novices starti n g them. This handicap (?) didn't seem to th em. h andicap to hinder lI1iller as he always ca rne from Miller ~ame b ehind to take the lead b y the end of behind t o th e by of th e the first lap and a half. From there on a nd h alf. on his lead was never challenged a nd h e lead challe nged and he came close to la p pi ng the slower Open lapping th e slo we r O p en ca me class riders. McCann seemed to have McC ann h ave mechanical prob lems a nd h e usually m ech an ical problems and he usuall y finished back in with the big bikes. th e b ig finis hed b ack Jim Lawrence (Bul) seemed to b e in a Lawren ce (Bu l] be o wn h e le ft the o ther class of his oWn as he left th e other 125 No vices far behind. Lee Nob litt (Suz), Novices beh ind. Noblitt (Suz) . wh o is usuall y up there dicing it out who usually th er e di cing o ut with Lawrence, h ad bike p roblems and Law r en ce, had problems an d co u ld could only manage a second overall. m anage sec ond overa ll. K.C (S uz) running K.C.. Scott (Suz) was runnin g up fr ont th e class o n sec o nd front in the 100 class on the second mota when he hit a h ole and was m oto wh en h e hi t hole a n d h an dl eb ar s a nd lost lau nch ed over the handlebars and lo st a launched few teeth. The irony of it is that he Th e iro n y t hat b ough t a mouth p ro tect or for his bought m ou th protector h is h elme t the night b efore but he said he helmet before b ut h e he didn't have time to put it on before the t ime it race. race . Eric Blatt (Hus) and Darryl Tussing Da rryl (Kaw) were always one-two in the 250 o ne-two Novice class with Blatt edging out class Tussing t o take the overall honors. Tussing to h o n ors. ( R esults on p age 24) (Results page 2 4) ACCESSORIES fOI MOTORCYCLE AND IIDfl FOR MOTOICYCLE RIDER All l.ale'iot equipment and app.llrd for rOold . desert lalest equi pm ent ~nd olpp.. , d fur ro.ad, .nd compe-tition. BELL, GRANT . H-A STAR ~nd competition. GRANT, H·A u.fety hdmeh from $9.95.. .Wond f~mous S9.95 Wond w,fety helmets BELSl Af f rldinl \oickets .and SUI(S for ram .lnd BELST AFF ridine ~ckets .lnd SUits "lin ~nd ni&ht riding. nicht full line leathers,, poi nts , ridinl boot.s from $ 18.~5 . fu ll le.lther\ p.ants, boots fro m S 18.~5. 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(213) 474-6650 or 879-3350 Open 879 -3350 who even finished deserved applause. wh o tinished deserved Priddy rode in both 250 and Open b oth a nd Open Exp er t Expert classes, making a beautiful showing for himself; taking frrst in each. sh ov..ing fo r fir st The 125 Expert was a b attle between E xpert battle Ole Finsted of Watawge, Tex., riding a Ol e F insted Watawge , T ex. , Suzuki, Whitham, Robert Snadrew from R obert EI Dorado, Kans., riding a Montesa, and D orado , rid in g Moritesa, a nd Jim Tieszen from.. Haysville, Kans., fr om Haysvill e, riding a DKW. First through the funnel was Marvin th rough with Andrew s right behind, but by the Andrews time they got around for the first lap, go t aro u nd th e lap , Ole had taken the lead with Whitham, Andrews and Dixon closely following. It Andrews a nd foll owing. stayed that way until the eighth lap th at wa y th e lap wh en when Marvin took Ole on the b ack t o ok Ol e o n th e back stretch, just about the only place to pass str etch, just abou t o nly to o n th e whole trac k, on the whol e track, with three minutes left in the race, holding it for three full h olding it th ree q uarter o f th e laps until the last quarter of the last lap when p roblems popped up and Ole wh en problems p opped up a nd Ole wh izz ed whizzed around him to take first. to fir st. sec ond a nd Marvin limped in for second and Jim Tiescen third. Jordan took first in th e second and to ok fir st the third mo tos. rna (Result s on page 24) (Results ~ w Z W ...J ...J U >- U .HOUSTON (Cont'd. from (Ca nt 'd. fro m page 24) second spot, got off the line fairly well, sec ond spot , th e lin e fairl y b ut thanks to a broken seal in the rear but th anks to bro ken th e re ar shocks, his Husky wasn't as com fo rta b le h is H usky wasn 't comfortable usu al as usual,, and h e wasn't always able to he wasn 't to ma ximum power. So, th e 25 0 use maximum p ower. So , the 250 E xp er ts D on and h is Experts again saw Diamond Don a nd his Wh at Husky ta ke another win. What did take a no ther California do to that boy? Cal ifornia d o th at boy ? Even though his rear shocks were th ough sh ocks n othing t o nothing to brag about, Esterlein led a ab o u t , Esterl ein charm ed life, charmed lif e, at leas t for a few hours. least Bob Graham was also forced out of the o ut Open class Experts, since he was riding Open his 250 AJS in b oth the 250 and Open both an d classes . However, Bob was able to ride classes. the first heat of the Open, at least long of at enough t o co llid e with Robi Holbert eno ug h to collide R obi (400 CZ ) when he did a spectacular (4 0 0 CZ) spectacul ar crash com ing onto the finishing straight. cra sh coming o nto finish in g straigh t . The "Grea t Crash" defmitely put Th e "Great Cr ash " definitely Holbert out of commission. His bike out co m missio n. was undoubtedly broken - smashed tank, bent forks,, crumpled handleb ars ta n k, fo rks cru m p led handlebars and all. At first, Holbert was his usual all . A t firs t, h is sel f, o ff th e lin e flas h, aro un d self, off the line in a flash, around the turn, and gone. So far ahead of tu m, a n d ah ea d o f everyone els e it was unre al. But. seems else unreal. But, se ems he took the w rong line along the to o k th e wrong lin e a lo ng strai gh t and that did him in.. straight a nd th at in With Grah am and Holbert out of the Graham H o lb ert o u t o f way, Ester lein h ad Robb Riggs, BSA, Esterlein had R obb Rig gs, and Bill Click, Suzuki on his hands. Clic k, Suzu ki o n hi s However , fate However, fa te saw fit to do in Riggs, fi t do Riggs. and h e pulled his BSA off the track with he p ulled hi s BS A of[ th e a shattere d case and all th e things that shattered a nd the t hings th at go with it. with it. Just for fun, si nce only he and Click since o nly h e Clic k J ust were left in the Open Experts, Esterlein Es te rlei n an d and Billy came over the fmish line (after ove r fin ish lin e agreeing to do only two laps to qualify a to mo to finish) in the last mota in a dead tie bu t at least it was all in fun a nd b oth but and both had ear-to-ear grins on their faces. ha d th eir I $25,000 I MOTOCROSS at site of EVEL KNIEVEL . RIVER SNAKE .RIVER CANYON.JUMP CANYON JUMP MAY 6 & 7, 1972 All classes 2 days 100% Trophies Twin Falls, Idaho Remember - May 6 & 7 &

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