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
... BAILEY, $JOOO PURSE DRAWS CROWD N " '" ~ N r- Cl N g ..., ~ w 2 ~ ~ o By Paul Hanson Photos by Richard Creed LOCKHART, TEX., Nov. 28, 1971 The parking field in th e fr ont 40 acr es of Hulon R obin son's Southwest Motocro ss Park was fu ll of ca rs, vans . and bikes. a nd th e track was humming with pra cti ce-rider vibratio ns well in adva nce of th e fir st m o t o . In th e p addo ck wa s a co ngrega tio n o f Austin and H oust on's best who h ad c om e t o d o bat tle w ith the mu ch -p ubli ci zed Gary Bailey. To say " wh eel-t o -w heel com bat" may b e using a w ell-hacked phrase . but it is a fitting de scr iption of the sec o nd runnin g o f the 125 Experts. Besides the t op spot duel . th ere were some fu ri o us battles go in g on down the lin e for third. fourth, an d .fifth , sin ce th e tr ack was paying in t o the sixth place. Bailey a nd steady S t eve Stackable were side-by-side on the aJI~1 I ••• Central ., , Robi Holbert in th e Op en Senior . C ream 0' jum ps, dicing in th e comers, and generally giving the spectators th eir money 's worth. Stackable would just pull Bail ey in the comers and open up a lead o n the straights . The 18·year- old was harried b y the elder rider fo r fo ur laps until, less th an h alf a lap from the fini sh , h e sn ared a sn ow fen ce in a downhill hairpin. The tw o tangled briefl y , Bailey shot a way , Stackable push-started his Yam ah a, but th e bright red Bul flashed ac ross th e finish firs t. Steve gam ely challenged during the third h eat. so m etimes as closely as Bailey had in th e previous meeting. The ta ll Cali fornian styaed in front however . leaving th e y oung Austin rider second. Kent Howerton, a Ya maha rider from San An tonio, clawed h is way th ro ugh a horde o f contenders for a third place. The fir s t Open Expert running was a free -for-all with Jack O'Leary on his 250 MX fa ctory special o n the line. Bailey took one look at the Yamaha a nd went to get his gun, a 250 Pursang. Ho lbert was grousing abou t having to run wi th th e less powerful b ut m o re fun ctional 250's. Co nsequen tl y , w hen O'Leary ran off and hid from Holbert and Bailey, th ey protested his machine. The hassle stemmed from an old track rule that allowed 250 's to run with the Open class when there was a shortage of big ' bikes. No doubt the antiq uated rule will b e buried forever after the pro tes t. Anyway , O 'Leary did what he wanted t o do , neither of the protesters h ad to st ep d own for him a t the winner's circl e, and the trac k scratch ed a blue law from its ledger, so every one seem ed to h ave been satisfied . H olbert flew to a seem ingly easy victory o ver Bailey, wh o remo un ted on an Open class-si ze Bul in the final two runs. Bill Kas son ch allen ged Bailey a n d led him for se veral minutes in th e second big bike h eat, but a fall and a brief tan gle wi th Greg Gr aham put Bill b ack to fourth beh ind Graham's third pl ace . Holbert, h as polish ed his st yle consid erably since th e days when h e would go faster than a nyo ne, b ut would total a b ike or two in the co u rse o f a da y's racin g. He has re cently sign ed with CZ and is ex pec ted to ma ke th e pilgrima ge to th e C zech fact o ry for a little fi ne sharp ening. S in ce O 'Leary waxed the likes o f Ho lbert a nd Bailey , it's an a n ti-elim ax t o m e n tio n that he wo n the 250 Ex pert handily with a commanding lead over second p lace Kasson team rider, j ack Hicks. H&H Racing's Fr ed Hanna was th ird. ( Res ult s o n page 4 8 ) Crop Gives Show By Janet West CH A PPE L L HI L L, T EX ., Nov. 2 1, 1971 - T he cream o f th e crop in Texas mo to cross showed up with co mpetitio n esp ecially fierce in t he 250cc Exp ert class with riders su ch as Jack Hic ks, R ob i Holb ert, Ed Abb ott , R obert T uggle. Bob Graham, Don e Rain ey and R ob b ie Es te rlcin. You ca n b eli eve tha t tension was hi gh as th ey lined up fo r tb e start . and tension w as the ke y wo rd th ro ugh o u t thc day. . He nsley a nd Helms had laid t h e trac k ou t differ en tly for this race. The start was wid e a nd hai ry , lead in g t o a righ t tum u p a steep hi ll , Even th e E urop ea ns wo uld have b een p lease d wi th th e track. It was ex trcmely fas t ; fas ter th an it h as ever b ee n b e fo re , a nd very tacky. Bill Kasson (C Z) came to show th e local gu ys his st u ff and suc ce eded by wi n nin g th e Ope n Experts cle an. Noo ne offe red th e lea st hindra nce t o Kasson as he walked awa y w ith it . However, sec o nd p lace was not so eas ily wo n. Gary A nderson (lIus ) had to fen d off Bill Cli ck (S u z) fo r his place, and that 's no easy j ob. This was Gary's fir st Ex pert ra ce, an d h e di d ex tr emel y we ll ; e ven tho ugh Bill gave h im a hard time, Gary h ung in there to take se c o nd. Gary has b ee n buildin g u p h is abil ity for th e past several mo n th s, a nd it 's begin ning t o pay o ff. Pr o b ably the m o st exciting races ever seen in T ex as hap pened in the 250 Ex p ert class t o da y. R ob i Ho lbert fin ally fou nd so me go od com peti tio n - Jac k Hic ks. The first m o to was fo r H icks - he w as off a nd go ne, out fr ont. Howe ver , n ot t o be taken t oo Iigh tly, H olbert was b c k there .all the time, p ush ing and prodding, .try in g his best to get around. When th e last lap came up, it was Hicks, then H o lb ert, su rprising q ui t e a fe w people. R o u nd tw o , and her e we go. Robi was geared . ready t o tum it o n - and he did. Holber t returned Hicks' favor - he le t Jack ea t d us t fo r a while. It see m ed as th o ugh the two were ti ed to gether, th ey wer e so close. Sever al t imes .lac k alm o st m ade it aro u nd Robi, and a t th e fin ish it see me d to b e a ci nch that Hi c ks wou ld get it. Bu t . fa te was not with hi m - he b obb led . cam e off th e bike. N ot being one to lose easily, J ack, even witho ut h is bike u nd er him, dove ac ross the fin ish, try in g u ntil th e vcry end to wi n the race . His " tack le finish n was to no avai l ; Holbert sti ll made it in tim e t o ge t th e second moto . H eat 3 looked as th ough it belonged to Ho lbert, an d with a safe m argin at th a t. He was ridin g well, n o goofin g off, n o tiring o u t. Hi cks was th ere, but Holbert was go in g so well. Big su rprise - las t la p of the mo ta a nd wh o c om es ac ross first ? H ic ks! T he whole sp ec ta tor crowd a ll at once b reathed a loud " wo w , " And so did H olbert. R obi did admit th at this w as th e most excit ing ra ce he h as rid d en in q uite some ti m e. At last h e h as found som eone to play w ith . The day was great , an d so m e esp ecially good races happened, but due to the co mp et it io n, and t hc fast track, some accid en ts also happened. Most of the ri d ers admit th at it was their own fa ult th at th ey crash ed , th ey were riding their h eads b ecause th e ove r competit io n w as so cl o se. Brian Fox sep arated h is shoulder (h ow m any times d o es th is make, Brian?) ; Ed Abbott broke his leg in several places, and will be out fo r som e time ; Robbie Esterlein broke his collar b one ; a nd Bob G raham ' did in his toe! A whole string of 250cc . Experts all in a row. (Results o n page 4 8) Gary Ba ile y (24) and Steve Sta ckab le b att le in the 12 5 Senior class .