Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

iHodges ' n a Clean Sweep o ,... '" ell By Bill Sp en cer ",' SA N J OSE; CAL . , Dec. 4, 1971 - Gr eg Hodges pulled off a clean sw eep in tonigh t's fift h run ning of th e San J ose ..., Indoor ri ots and in the process erased ~ Bob Scall y 's fast main time record b y w five seconds. Scally survived a n Z onslau ght by Al Ken y on to finish ~ second t o H odges , his third time in th a t ~ sp ot. After th e race , a t th e pa y window o Hodges remarked th at Scall y was "my good luck charm," as Scally h as fin ish ed second to Hodges in all three of his triumphs. Scall y 's comm ent, " I'm j us t n o t as competitive in the Main as I am in th e o th er races. " This is very true as Scall y ro ok th e lead on th e restart o f the Main an d led Hodges fo r six laps. The restart was for Nick Th eroux. On th e first start, DeI Silva read the st arter very well a nd jumped out first and in the p rocess, the other riders in the front tangled . Theroux bounced, off Kenyon and lost the front end with the gas wide open and as he went to the fence Pat McCaul was there and as Nick bailed, h is leg was pulled in b etw een McCaul's shock and tire. The ever alert Ron Beardslee, the ambulance attendant, was quickly on the scene with crescent wrench and got the sh ock off and away went Theroux with two breaks in his lower leg. Lady Luck and Nick Theroux are still not getting al ong too well. It seems th at last y ear's opener at the Cow Palace produced similar circ umstances. After 20 minutes waiting for the return of the ambulance and crew th e Main was ' resta rted w ith Scall y th e leader for the firs t h alf. H olding down g D1 e ttc O · ······ ··· ·· · ·~ MAI CO PENTON think.... rnettco 15 28 s. sa n ta fe ave. co mp to n, ca . 9022 1 (213 ) 63 6 ,6 144 • ................... MOTORCYCLES BUY - SEll - TRADE Complete line of Yamaha PARTS ACCESSORIES SERVICE . Gene H. Myer. (Yes, w e're still here!) 4151 Redondo Beach Blvd. Lawndale, Calif. 90260 NEW PHONE (2 13) 542-8817 ~Seasons Greetings all ...,.re,cI.+ To riders from City Cycle Center and Running Spring Recreational Parle. I we~kends I I SPECIALS fro m City Cycle Center The most complete Cycle Shop 1972 Yamaha 80cc , $299.00 1971 Yamaha 90cc Twin, 5349.00 1971 Yamaha 125cc, $469.00 AMA approved Helmets, $16.95 Boots, all styles, $28.95 to $44.95 a _ City Cycle Center 8423 Rosemead Blvd. Pico Rivera, Ca. (21 3) 861 4 139 (213) 86 1-6217 I I San Jose Indoor Series Falls to Hodges By Bill Spencer SAN JOSE , CAL., Dec. I 1,1971 - Bob Scally proved to b e his own enemy o n th e last nigh t of the six-ra ce series a t the San Jose indoor riots. Coming into the last night of ra cing b efore starting th e Redwood Acres Stages First Cross By Sue Baile y sty le. Expert Brian Le e was seco nd and EUR EKA , CAL., N ov. 2 8 , 197 1 ano th er Amate u r, Dennis Axelso n , When Pat - Richter's mudder flopped foll owed him. Foster lost it all wh en he ab out 10 -yards from th e ch ec kered flag, went down iin the se cond moto and h e p icked it up, tried t o start it, it w ouldn't, so he pushed it ac ross th e Lee , Roger Robison and Axelsen took finish . He h ad started o u t the 125cc firs t three positions, re spec tiv ely. The big Minis and th e little Minis Amateur , first m oto with th e lead with Ron Matsen close behind him. Matsen rac ed together t oday. Scott Wilson , Davie Coo k, Buddy Cook, and Ivan passed him and was followed b y Lawrence S or enson, puttin g Richter Blodgett put o n quite a sh ow in th e fir st race of the d ay . Scott started off in lead back into third p osition. He worked h is w ay back up to the top p osition by the position with his big Yamaha. David third lap and started off the fourth with took over when Scott flopped o n the a good lead to the finish. Even th ough first curve, but Scott wasn't going to be he finished second t o Ray Olsen, Jr. in left behind. He passed him and went o n the seco nd mo to, he still t ook the o nly to win th e first place tr ophy . Behind Amateur trophy in his clas s here a t both bi g bikes, came Buddy and Ivan. Redwood Acres first m o tocr oss. They sure had their problems wheeling Dave Jackson wheeled his bike those little Hondas through the mud, through the mud with the ease of a n but in the true spirit of the motocross, Expert. He had h is share o f flops, but it they never gave up. Eight-ye ar-old Ivan sure wasn't going to keep him from the finished first in the first moto; Buddy victory. In the 250cc Novice, second won the second and little Ivan pushed division, h e wo n both of his h eats. In his bike across th e finish in th e final the first, he started off in third, took rac e. A featured event of the da y was a over first and flopped half the wa y rac e held fo r t h e old er gen tlem en o f the ar ound th e first lap. When he started th e second round, he was b ack into th ird track. Many of th em hadn't raced in quite some ti me. Racin g wer e Car l agai n ; Barry Anderson was in fro nt with Gerry Gray b ehind him. When An de rso n Ch ri stiansen, James Cre ech, R oss Kuhnle, J im Morrison , Glenn Reed , lost h is groove, Gray to ok over. J ac kson p assed Gray wh en h e threw it d own a t Animal Halgaa rd, Joh n Wilkinson, T om the start of th e third lap an d too k it in Dilling, an d John Morrison. The race was bill ed as th e " Dirty Old Man's to th e finis h . The sec ond mo to was easi er for Dave ; h e b egan in front an d Ra ce " . J ohn Morrison's Ric km an left all the fello ws behind. He was challenged sta yed th ere . thro ugh o ut th e first race b y Dilling, Amateur Lonnie Fos te r p oured it o n mo un ted o n a Pento n. Dillin g j ust to start th e first m o to in th e 250cc Amate ur/Expert class . H e laid it over o n co u ld n 't quite ma ke it . Jim Morrison, b roth er of th e champion , raced both th e firs t insi de curve and rem o un ted in last. He worked his wa y around all nine m otos rec ove rin g fro m a broken leg. rid ers an d too k th e checkered flag in (Re su lts on page 48) I I Hocking Wins Starting Ja n. 8th, and . holidays, there will be free rid ing at Ru nn ing Springs , spark arresters I ~ ("d""~ third at the o nset was Dave Han sen com ing fr om th e b ack ro w w ith Ken y o n in fo urth. The Sonny Ken yon fly er m oved in to th ird abou t lap six with Hansen havin g h is p roblems. T hat p ut st ro ng Steve Foster in fo urth an d th at is h ow they finis h ed with Hod ges getting under Scally. Ken yon gave Scally a push o n th e last tw o laps bu t couldn't q ui te ge t aro un d. In the pro cess of getti ng to the Main s, th e fo urth r egul ati on h eat had some in teresti n g sideligh ts. Last year's Co w Palace champ , Mik e Yarn , se t a new eigh t-lap rec o rd ecli psi ng th e mar k set last w ee k b y Steve Hernandez. In th e process, Yarn a lso set th e low single lap time at 6 :739 , o n e th at should h old fo r some time. F or Yarn, h is Joe Simas Bul ta co is running fin e a nd b eing chased b y Al Ken yon gives o ne good inc ent t ive . For Hodges ' cle an swe ep , it we nt, fast qualify ing heat winner, won the first heat with second fastest time. He came within Aths second of Scally's fast semi and won the first with Scally winning th e other and had no trouble in winning the trophy dash and then setting a new record in the Main. Not to shabby for the Gene Lankins Suzuki and Junior ranked Greg Hodges. When asked if h e would like to make the Madison Square Garden race he answered, "Y ou bet, but I doubt if I could afford it." That sh ould give Suzuki something to th ink about after con su lt ing the point sta n d ings. (Resul ts o n page 4 8 ) Simas to Expert Quickly By Bill Sp en cer SA N JOS E, CAL., Dec. 3, 197 1 - Ric k In th e 250 Junior b ash , CliffServetti Ho cking n otched h is first win si nce h is su rvi ved the b est to win o ver Pete Portland victory in tonight's second Fra ncini an d H en ry San ch ez to keep th e running of the San Jose Indoor, Bultac o racing nam e in th e sp otlight. Sportsman style. H ocking led John The same held true fo r th e win in th e Gennai and Pat McCaul ac ro ss the fini sh 250 Novice Main for J oe Sim as but th e line in a very close con test that sa w outcome wa s o f some su rp rise to the Distric t ch am p, Jim Fo ley- doin g n o winner. . Over five y ears 'ago , Sim as was a b etter than fi fth afte r winning last week's main and enough p oints t o wrap Sp ortsman Expert an d a Class " C" racer up th e Distric t number o ne title for th e o f so me note' and th en h ad other things third y ear \n a row. to d o. He returned to th e racing scen e early th is year an d was just ge tting b ac k S te ve Foster led o ff th e Main o n to th e fas t thin gs with two wins h ere at bo ard a Jack Lan caster frame with a Sonny Ken yon Bultaco d oin g the San Jose wh en tonigh t, District p ower , but h e could o nly last a lap and Commission er MacD onald, was apprise d fro m th e second it w as a ll Hocking . of this OCCUrre nce and the next thin g Sim as knew , h e was a n Ex per t once Gen nai tried t o Ret b y th e Fremo nt flyer a couple of times, but th e Murrell agai n ; once an Expert , alw ays an Sportcy cle Bul ta c o was havin g nothing Expert . Carl Blac kledge won both the 12 5 to d o with the ' A & A Bultaco of Bob and 200 J unior Main s to b ecom e b est Goodman . While th e 33 rid ers vy ing for eight t ro phies was not up to las t wee k's winner of the night an d with six more ind oor races sc h ed uled into J an uary , h e 5 1 riders, m ost wer e b ac k to get prac tice on th e slippery saucer fo r sho uld b e an Expert b y th e tim e he ge ts ready to run o u t of d oors n ext year. futur e reference fo r professio nal ti mes to come . (Results on pa ge 48) Cow Palace series, Scally was second in the point standings behind Greg Hodges. In the six th qualifying he at, Hodges came from a bad start to nearl y take o ver the lead and th en get kn oc ked o u t of competi t ion . The third pl ac e man in points and only o ther racer with a chance to w in was Dave Han sen and last year he was in the sam e spot and came out the winner when last year's leader, Bill Mor gan was eliminated . Hansen was warming up h is Cycl e IMp orts Triumph Cub when h e sudde nly lost a rod and th ereby eliminated himself. This gave Scall y th e open ing h e n eeded an d so in the tenth qualifying he at , h e set third fastest time of th e night with a very nice win . He needed o nly to go on to the Main and get three p oints to win his first ever ch am pionship . Al Kenyon was th e h ost of th e h ot men fo r the evening's work as he came out for the first qualifying heat and set the absolute lo w time for both o ne and eight laps. He lowered th e one lap record to 7.541 and the eight laps to 1:01.684. The closer the Madison Square Garden event gets the faster he goes. But this als o he ld true for Billy Morgan and the two se t fast time after fast time with an obvious collision building up for the Mai n . Kenyon held fast time w ith th e first h eat and Morgan won the sec on d while Scally co nti n ued to lo ok like the ch am p with the win in the third h eat. Mike Yam kept active with the win in the fourth heat. Keny on rewrote the 10 ·lap semi record with a 1: I 7.229 and then Morgan immediately rewrote th at with a 1 :16 .280. An amazin g display o f speed was taking pl ace as th ese riders get their ma chines rea dy for th e Cow Pala ce and then t he assa ult o n New York Cit y . Ken y o n contin ue d h is win ning wa ys on h is S onny Keny on Bult aco w ith th e tro p hy d ash vic tory while Scally cooled it waiting for the Mai n in wh ich h e was t o start on th e b ack row. On the ju mp of th e Mai n, Mo rga n had it se t wh ile A I got in a little ta ngl e. Scally d id th e same and was d ead last off the lin e. In less th an five lap s he had m oved into seventh, precisel y th e spot th at would give him the n ecessary p oin ts to w in t he seri es an d th en it happened. Whil e t ryi ng to pass a rid er, h e h it oil or a tire or so me th ing and went down. His quick re flex es allo wed him an immed iate remount but he was doomed. He finish ed n ex t t o last giving h im two p oin ts a nd a ' tie with H odges but Greg an d hi s Ge ne Lan kins' Suzuki h ad w on more mains th en Bob and so Hodges was the winner . Meanwhile. up in th e fr o nt of th e p ack, Al was chas ing Mor gan and ca tc h ing him. Mor gan made a sma ll mi stake and b obbled early in th e race, allowing Ken y on to close th e gap b ut w ith ju st three lap s to go and a few fee t separating th e two, Al b obbled in o ne tu rn an d th at was all th at Mo rgan needed t o win . It was a seri es of fru strations for the two yo ung racers b ut th ings seem to b e going well now an d th e Cow Palace should tell the tale. In the 10 -lap consolatio n, Craig Michie won h is very first professional race on board a Harold Murre! Sp ortcycle Bultaco wi th Steve Foster doing so me hard ch argin g from b eh ind to catch an d nearly pass Michi e at th e end. (Resu lts on page 48)

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