Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ 1 g o ~ w Z W ...J U )- U CMC'S NEW COUlSE Drizzle Greets Night Motocrossers at Lions By Eric Raits WILMINGTON, CAL., Dec. 3, 1971 Stead y rain an d a cold wind welcomed 200 riders to the winter season's first motocr oss a t Lion's Dragstrip in Wilmingt on, California. Miserable we ather fo rmed a dismal b ac kd rop to so me exciting racin g whi ch sep ara ted th e serio us fro m th e curio us . Th e serious rac ers stayed but th e curiou s ones wen t h ome ea rly . T he course wa sn ' t completed un til just. befo re p ractic e and a lo t of speed an d action were crammed in to th e tight , sandy tra ck . The Ascot regular s were joined by the South land's touring T rans-Al\1A riders and the regu lars d omina ted th e to p spo ts. Bill Payne and Werner SChUL each Z had a first and seco nd and Ex-As cot regula r Mik e Cram to o k a first and th ird in Expert ac tio n. Payne had clea r sailing in th e 125 class as Jeff Wrigh I c ould n' t get u ntracked and was o ne of the few riders all n igh t to sweep any class with three wins . Wrigh t fin ish ed se cond overa ll ah ead of J ohn Rice. . Cram used good starts m ost o f the night to h old o ff Wern er Schutz in th e 25 0 Ex pert class. Gayla n Mosier looked st ro ng in the first mota with a dandy lead until he lost his chain and let Cram b y. Schutz was to o far b ack to con tend for the lead. The sec ond mota was a n ea r perfect rid e fo r Cram. H e led from th e sta r t b u t h ad Schutz pressuring all th e way . Th e German tri ed passin g in nearl y every comer b ut Cram staved off h is d esp erate t hrusts a nd rode a h ead s-up five laps to clinch an overa ll win. Phil Jacobsen too k th e lead in m o ta three an d fought off Schu tz as lo ng as he could. J acob sen's second place finis h earned him thi rd overall spot. T he 500 class saw Sch utz wo rk h is way up a ft er a m ed iocr e st art and then st retch o u t a fair lead by th e end of th e firs t mota. The seco nd mota p romised some exci temen t as Bill Payne to ok th e lead .and held it over Schutz un til h is b ike coas ted to a sto p wit h a m ech anical problem. Sc hu tz t oo k ove r th e lead and wrapped up th e overall win. Second overall see med 10 b elon g to Cra m as Payne sat an d let the entire p ack go by before he c o uld get ba ck in th e ru nnin g. Payne restarted an d rode like a m ad man to take fourth b e fore th e race was over, then won th e last mota ah ead o f Cra m and Sc hutz to take second ahea d o f Cram. Tim Han made it back to Ascot afte r the long Trans·AMA haul only to find it had been moved a few miles to Lions Drag Stip. J oe J ohnston c o n tin u ed his rapid rise through the ran ks. He won all three motos in the 250 Intermediate class and will be moved to Expert ne xt week. Second placer Dave O'H aver will also move up to th e top CMC clas sification. Lion's and CMC officials circ ula te d among the riders, asking suggestions for 250 Expert Dave Pessey leads while Brad Brown fidgets. improv ement, 1\1 a re lights will b e installed and the existing on es will be aimed toward the t ra ck's d ark sp ots. Most riders , th ou gh they fou ght the constan t drizzl e, co ld, dust and sandy whoop-de-doos , sa id they'd be b ack. (Results o n page 24) Paul Bakkedahl 1818l gets inside a bunch of h is pals . The funny sha pes on t he photo are ca used by raindrops falling in photog Rait s' lens. LANE RECORDS SWEEP AT DUNES MX By John Grout Photos by Racing Photos VALENCIA, CAL., Dec. 5, 1971 - On a day which once again found it a difficult task for any of the riders to score perfect grand-slam victo ries, Glen Lane, the Maico-rnounted mauler, located the three straigh t wins which had eluded him on the previous Sunday as he turned back a potent field of Open machinery during today 's motocross program at Indian Dunes ~ar k . Lane, seemingly never in trouble, led all three of his motos from the opening gun to the final flag , as he took the measure of two CZ racers : Gary Martin and Ken Janson. The young Maico rider also recorded the day's fastest lap time of I :33 during the running of the first mota for th e Opens. And, in so doin g, Lan e sh ap es up as a definite threat for this Sunday's final round of the Indian Dunes-A.C. E. Motocross Championships. Other riders to score three straigh t wins wer e Bill Waite (H. D) in the 100cc Beginner group, and Dan Drazkowski (Suz), wh o got nasty with th e Beginners among the 125cc crew . J.C. Siebrandt, wh o is always among the fr ont runners in the Old Timers' brigad e, collec ted a 1-2-2 record whil e grabbing the da y 's overall win aga ins t th at bunch while Ed Poore on his 200ce Bultaco , again go t th e victory for . th e small -b ore, Old T imers. Na ncy Payne (Bul) had to overcome troubl e in th e final Powder-Pu ff mota to defeat Noren e Hendrix (Ric) , T rud y Stubbs, wh o was mounted o n a new prototype 100cc Yam ah a, and Vicki Hendrix, who was also Yamaha riding. Larry Hentschel - just returned to the racing wars at the Dunes - cracked down on an excellent field of 100cc Novices ; getting his Rickman home in front of Hodaka rider Mark Morrison and Mike Porter, who was also astride a swift Hodaka. Randy Stubbs (Bul), who was clocked in a remarkable I :3 4 for one lap in his first mota was the day's overall winner in th e 125cc Novi ce combat in d ivision A while Penton-mounted, Johnny Fenton, was the collec to r of the he avy brass against th e division B bunch, Husky sn orter, Ernie Hendrix, had to settle for a sec ond in his first he at with the 250cc beginners - then h e got angry and sailed to tw o straigh t, lon g-yardage wins. That gave him the overall. . Lynn Stokey , str addlin g his ever -fast, ye llow Maico, was responsib le for sec ond fas t time o n th e p rogram, just a fracti on behind Lan e's time, and st ill in the 1:33 's, whil e he took th e win ove r th e 250cc Novice s in di vision " A ", Mike Keena, Lon g Beach J awa pil ot, b opped the 25 0's in d ivisi on " B" . This Sunday's m otocross a t Indian Dunes - whi ch should b e o ne of th e b iggest shows o f the en tire y ear - will feature the fourth and fin al round in th e _tra c ~ champ i onsh ips, _T.h ~.e'y~'1~ v.ct!Lb e' _ _ filmed by NBC television, and will highlight most of the top names in American motocross - along with a few o f the European hot-shoes, The first race this Sunday will leave the starting line a t 9:00: The adult spectator price will remain a t only $2 for this program. Larry Watk ins' un iqu e silencer . ....._~"'-_~-"'- _

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