Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125758
Eierstedt Challeng-es Tripes, Wins When Marty Dumps It By Eri c Raits IRVINE , CAL., D ec. 19, 1971 Richard Eiersted t served no tice on establis hed Experts th at h e may b e knockin g on th e d oor to th e b ig time b y beating Marty Tripes a t Saddleb ack Park today . T rip es is still fas ter th an Eierst edt, who just recently joined the Expert ranks, but Tripes fell o nc e t o o often and . Richard b eat him. Tripes was leadin g th e firs t moto wh en h e fell and wa s forced to put o n a hectic sp eed d emonst ration to work up to third wh ile Eiers te d t ca me across the lin e first. The sec ond mo to b elonged to Marty all . the way. He sto od up ca lmly an d pl ayed a ro und th e en tire course for an eas y win while Eiersted t was fumin g with problem s a nd finishin g ninth. The decidin g ra ce sta rted w ith T ripes in co mm an d and n o o ne really wi th in striking dist an ce to b eat h im in th e overall standing s . Sudden ly Trip es wa s in third as the pack ca m e ar o und, behind Garylan Mosier an d Eiers te d t. Eiersted t passed Mos ier as did T ripe s and th e pair settled to fight it ou t for the last w in . Tripes could h ave stayed in second, letting Eier stedt win and still picked up first overall but app aren tl y wanted to make his presence felt . He a t tack ed the leader's position with C great predato ry swo ops. com ing closer ~ each ti me until it seemed he would pass ~ Eiersted t. Sudden ly Tripes was d own w and lost en ough p osit ions to give Z ~ Eiersted t th e wi n . Gr eg Smith took third in th e 250 o - class behind t he scra pp ing pair and then ~ imp ro ved o ne p ositi on in th e 500 class to earn a ra ting as Sunday 's most co nsis ten t Expert rid er an d a bundle o f cash to b o ot. Mark No hr em er ged as the d ay 's o nly three-m oto winner t o solidly whip the 50 0 Exp erts. N oh r b eat Smith and third pl acing Wait Axthelm . Terry Trachy and Bill Sh onnard had a sh ot at winnin g three in their di visions o f th e 50 0 Juniors but darkness fo rce d can cella tio n of th e last three races. Resu lt s w ere c o mp u ted fro m t wo m otos o nly in th e 500 In termedi ate a nd Junior classes. This le ft De nnis Ch andler an d Wayne Bo y er tie d in th e Interme diate class fo r firs t ov erall. Chu ck Bower won th e 125 Expert clas s after th e third moto was thrown o u t of the res ults becaus e so me of the rid er cu t a p ortion o f th e cou rse . Bower bea t Jim Beau ch amp a nd Randy Mey ers. CMC o fficia ls an nounce d that ra cing will start one h our early beginni ng with th e new y ear. (Res u lts o n p age 48 ) Vi ncent Padia of Whittier, Calif . Rough Sledding at Lions Johnson (1 F) holds t hird Jon Speight (81 4 ) has Daryl Giovannett i 190M) right on his trail. Danny with Larry Mayer (939) right up there. too . By Eri c Raits WILMI NGTON , CAL., Dec. 17,197 1 Motocr oss Experts in th e 250 class found ro ugh sledding a t th e Fri da y night sh o w a t Lion's Dragstr ip in Wilmin gt on. T hree m o to s fo und three d iffer ent winn ers and when th e results came in, ·n on e o f th e nigh t 's winners could mu ster a h igher overa ll position th an fourth. Ed die Cole w on th e first m oto , Dave R ogers th e second and Mike H orstman n too k th e last o ne . Rich ard Eierst edt, a dark h ors e afte r a six th p lac e fin ish in the first mo to , w on top m oney over Bill Rubly and J ohn Vander Geest. Vander Geest h ad th e b est night how ever. is forced out . Dennis Chanl er (7 2) may soon be in troubl e, Jon Hager (5411 fights to stay inside th e berm as anot her rider am ong th e Experts , adding a win in the 125 cl ass t o m ak e h im the o wn er o f th e largest sack o f money carri ed away b y a rider th at nigh t, Richard Frankli n was t he o nly 500 Exp ert o n the sta rting lin e so was forced to race fo r p rid e o nly among th e In t ermedia tes. His nigh t also st arted badly . The fir st 50 0 moto saw fo ur differen t le ad ers b efore Eric Olesen cro ssed th e lin e. Fra n klin redeem ed h imsel f b y winning the last two motos . Dave Rogers an d Ken Zahrt finish ed b ehind Vander Geest in th e 125 class. Darrell Allen and Rourke Early split win s in th e first two 250 Interme diate motos an d left it up to the last race to ' de cid e first overa ll. Earl y smoked o ff th e line wh ile All en got ca ugh t in tr affic an d th e resu lts see med evid ent. All en mu st h ave bee n wishin g hard be cau se Early's b alan ce last ed one lap b efore he fell over in a san dy b erm. Ear ly mu st have b een co mp u ting lik e mad as he go t up o nly after a d ecen t interval and th en adjusted every ite m o f clo th ing an d eq u ip men t h e wo re, shaking sand d eliberat ely ou t of his crevices an d th en rem ountin g like a falle n p ol o player and slo wly mo to rin g ac ro ss th e lin e in last pl ace. His t wo go od races were enough fo r second o vera ll ahead of Lyn n Sto key. Shane ~ lcDonal d Friday 'nigh ted in sty le, winning tw o h ea ts and th en the 125 J unior fin al. David Kolb e also wo n tw o h ea ts b u t co uld n ' t ge t crac king in th e fin al. Mik e Wad e an d Gary Dra no w went in to th e 500 Ju n io r wi th a pair of heat wins each b u t we re b oth b eaten b y Ken neth Gave l's. Dran ow was second an d J oh n VanDell en too k th ir d. Des ert racer Tom Bro o ks to pped th e 125 Int ermedia te class ah ead o f J on Speigh t and Angel Posca, Posca 's bro ther Alex led th e 100 Junior fin al until R on Berr y go t by. Ron Ho mada just aced o u t Steve Mu ehler at t he flag fo r th ird. (Resu lts o n p age 48 )