Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

... M RENO'S INDOOR , SHORT TRACK By S teve Yo ung RENO , NE V., Dec. 4, 1971 - Ren o 's Indoor Short Track ser ies is pi cking up momentum, especiall y since the six-foot-high point trophy went o n disp lay . Ab o ut 100 ri d ers showed up at the ti ny track to nigh t. Cliff Richardson was the o nly double winner t his evening. He captured the 250cc an d 12 5cc Novice even ts, o ne w it h ea ch of hi s Ric km an s. If h is p oin ts were pro p erl y ta llie d by th e AMA, he wo uld be a Junior and that is exactly how h e rides . Rich ard son did have competition in th e 250cc class. It was o ne of th e ro ughest even ts o f the evening, with almost eve ry rider getting so lidly bashed at leas t once. Brian Yo ung, after a second ro w sta rt, several ramm in gs, and b eing in th e middl e of a m otor cy cle sa ndwic h, wo rked his way up to Cliff 's rear wheel and was trying to find some way around when the final flag dropp ed . . The 125 cc J u,:,io r,Expert event aroused mu ch interest. Ma nual Crummet got the jump on consistent winne r Rich McMurray an d h eld his tiny lead till th e end of th e race. Rich just co uld n't find room to get ar o u nd , an d th e walls are just to o h ar d to force th rough . McMurray was not d o ne for the evenin g, h owever. H e wo n th e 25 0cc J un io r Main with comparative ease . His biggest competito r, Bob Foster, was going fast , fas t b u t slid out early in the ra ce . You just can 't trust a Class Crider, esp ecia lly o ne with a b eau tif ul bi ke li ke Fo ster's. Bill Daan e h ad to work hard to win the 200cc Expert Main. He did n't gin the lead u n til over h alf w ay thro ugh the race, and then was fo llowed s o cl osely th at h e d id ri' t da re m ak e one mistak e. He kept u p h is speed an d style and held off for first, Po p ular, amiable Bob Foster won the " troph y for th e Best Lo oking Bik e and deserve d it. Brian Y oun g w on th e m atch race with Bill D uV all w ith sm ooth slides an d considerable poise. '" Cl g', N r0- C> c ..., '" 3! w z W ..J U > U An Elsinore in the Mountains By Steve Yo ung VIR GI NI A CITY , NEV., No v. 14 , 1971 - Even with freezing te mperatu res, the first annual Virgi na City Grana Prix was a certain success. The race, put on by the West ern States Racing Association an d Joe Hath awa y , was ru n very smooth ly. Unfortunately the capricious Nevada we a ther couldn 't be co ntr o lled and the ri ders were subjected to tem peratu res in the 20s. Many riders , incl uding man y famous racers, were not ab le to ma ke the trek over the Sierras and could not attend. Ou t of about 400 pre-en tr ies, on ly ab out one-ha lf were able to a ttend. The races were very exci ting . T he start-finish line an d part of the course were just one b lock off of historic Vi rgi nia Cit y 's main street, whi ch also happen s to b e th e o utskirts of th e b ea u tiful d owntown area. Du e to th e p revious day 's p recipitation, much of the co urse was run o n snow and ice . Although th is made the racing more spectacular , it also slowed th em · d o wn co nsiderably . Ini tiall y the race was to be eight 13·mile lap s, h ow ever , during the morning trophy races, the number of lap s h ad to be cut to five. Chuck Shipman was th e first ri d er to comple te the five mo rn ing la ps. His total t im e was tw o h ours , fifty-five minu tes and wo n h im the first place trop hy in the 2 50cc cla ss. The aft erno on eve n t, wh ich was ru n for a to tal purse of $I ,50 0, was m uc h more exciting. Leroy Kay p ocketed $5 00 fo r win ning the 500cc event. He was the firs t ri de r to get th e a fte rnoon Santa's Helpers Ride Moto-X By Dan Basin ski form. Th e second moto, Boaz grabbed th e lea d a t th e start but R oss see me d to get h is stuff together and got by an d h eld o n un ti l about 100 yards from the finis h where h e grabbed a boot full of neutral s and Boaz sneaked o n by for the win . Th e last moto Boaz took a comfortable second for a sure win and the first p lace cash. Nice riding, Barney. Gary Wells was th er e an d jumpe d some com pacts for 1 14 ft . (Res ults on page 48) PHOENIX, A RIZ., Dec. 12 , 19 7 1 With Ch ri stm a s almost here Beardsley Raceway p ut on an "Arizona Save a Child's Chr istmas" chari ty m o tocro ss. With th e race d raw ing 130 entrants and 19 50 spectators, there will be a fe w kids in the Valley that will have a Merry Ch ristmas. Despite the p o or co ndi t io ns o f th e track, there was so me fine racing done. This was o nly the second race on the new "t ra c k an d it was w orse than it was three w eeks ago. There wer e b ig sil t had sh arp , hard, p ockets w hic h gear-sh ift-bending edges on them. The dust was a problem that grew worse as the d ay wore o n. Water didn 't h elp much . Passing was dif ficult in so me By Dan Basin sk i PRESCOTT, A RIZ. , Nov. 28 , 1971 sp ots b ecau se the tra ck was quite Today was th e last d ay of racing at narro w. This is th e third track that has Slaughterh ouse Gulch. The Mile High b een' starte d in the Val ley and they all M.C. o f Prescott lost their lease on the see m to have the same prob lems: , narro w an d dusty. Seems lik e th e property an d h ad to ca ll it quits a t this promoters should take a trip o ver to the locati on. However , th ey have ac q uire d coast an d have a lo o k at a few tracks to 40 acres five mil es down th e road, so we h ope th ey can d o as w ell with the see h o w they should b e laid o ut. Condi ti ons w er e so p o or that several n ew p ro perty. riders from th e so u thern p art o f th e It was a fine d ay of ra cing especially state were heard to say th ey d efinitely for th e crew fro m Sal em's Motorcycl e Headq uarter s of Ph o en ix. They had five w ould n ot be back. The p romo ter said AJS's entered and gra bbed three firsts, a h e wo uld im prove the track. Let 's h ope h e d oes so we can have some decent second an d a third. Brian R oss, Open racing in th e Ph oen ix area. Sr .; Chuck Lampe, 250 Sr .; a nd Ed In th e 125cc actio n, Gary Hi ckerson WilIe, 25 0 Jr. all w o n th eir class with (Hod) an d Tommy Halford (Bul) h ad a R oss grabbing second in the 25 0 Sr. an d yours t ruly taking third in Open J r . r eal battle going on with Hickerson Ross said h e was n ever bea ten in the fin ally win ning. Dann y Croyle (Mai) won ' the 250cc . Sr , ra ce with so m e Op en clas s at th e Gulch and h opes he can contin ue his 'strin g at the new tra ck co nsisten t riding b eating ou t Sam Redman (Mai) .' Pre -race favorite Chuck next year. Fine rides were turned in by Steve La m pe (AJS) h ad his troub les ; h eto o k tw o spills o n this controversia l co urse. Wilks an d Bill Geltch , b oth o n Maicos, His last sp ill came while tr y in g to in th e two Open Jr. di visions. Both overtak e Croyl e. His trick arm ca me ou t riders w o n all th ree of their m otos. of pl ace, and a flagman h ad to give it a ' El WilIe (AJS) had so me hard r iding yank t o get -it b ack. He still ma naged a to do in o ne of the 2 50 Jr. divisio ns . He won the firs t moto b u t fe ll hard at the ·' th ird . Bill Beltch (Mai) an d Tandy Adams' (Mai ) won their di visi ons in th e start o f .th e second m o to an d go t ru n Open J r. race. .. , • over by three . other ri ders before h e In th e feature rice, -,the Open ,Sr.; could . g~t going again. He came back Brian Ross (AJS) and Byr o n Boaz,<~lai) • strong m the third ' for a win and put on th eir usual excell en ~ riding . ~ h~w . · \ ,?u t.p.oin~ed Nolan Sch~backc;r (Mai) b y .Boaz sm o ked "em the - first :·race :'_ 1 th..... ~ + sc;x~.n poin ts for th e ove rall W in. 'f.., \ .. W - Ross" falling back ' lo o kin g .sligh tly off (Results on page 48) Slaughterhouse Meets End ' checker after h aving raced for 2 :22 . lI is task was n o t a n easy o ne, as second p lace finisher Elvon Hoskins was not far be hin d and picked up $250 for his efforts. Two other riders had h eld the lead , b ut a fte r Ler oy p assed them, th ey experienced me ch anical d iffi culties an d could n ot p ursu e. One of the ri ders was Carl Cranke o n h is 125 who was going incredib ly fast. The other was local Barclay T re hal ridi ng a T R6C fo r Neva da Cy cle Sa les. Surprisingly enough, Barclay was passed o n the fast (80 to 90 mph) stretches and made up time in the rough parts, and t h ey w ere r ough . He took t he lead at th e start an d we n t aro und th e first solid-ice c orner lik e h e was ru nning the San Jose half mile. La ter in the race h e ripped off o ne footpeg, cracked the other in half a n d experienced o th er difficulties. James Hamm ers wo n $1 25 fo r first in the 125cc class and was followed b y the b rillian t track rider Ric k Hocking. Ben Sanc hez evi nced det erminati o n and sta mina to cap t ure th e 25 0cc class and $125 . Even at the end he never seemed to lose his style. He was foll o wed by Bill Dapra to an d Doug Harrison. The en tire to wn opene d its ar ms to the races. ' Sign-up wa s held the preced ing n ight a t the town ha ll, and before the weekend was over, several b ars we re drun k d ry , a nd some restaurants we re ea ten o ut of stock. Even with the co ld, q uite a few spectators turned ou t, especially since th e best viewing areas were the ma in BD ivision start. Ler oy Kay. the winner, come around the last corner . street bars ove rlooking th e course. Even t hough the co ndi tio ns w ere far less than optimal , virtually every rider th o ro ugh ly enjoyed hi mself. Hath away deserves a great deal of cred it for getting th e b all r olling, as d o the Western S tates club, who put a great deal of effort in and did a fin e job in such a short t im e. The course, which was exceedingly well marked , was n ot ma rked un til th e morning of the race due to th e.previo us day's snow. They even man aged to avoid having a ny riders fall in to the mu ltitud e of m in esh aft s in th e area. T heir n ext Gra nd Prix, which is p lanned to b e r un th e end of April, should be th e race of the year. A n Elsinore in the mo untains. (Res ults o n page 48) Arizona " / CRacing Assn. Champions M J o n Se llers raced th rough a painfu l last fe w races to re tain his number o ne pla te in the Open Ex pert class. J on was h urt in a severe crash late in the season but man aged to race anyway and earn th e vital p oin ts. H e is n ow receivin g help fro m vari ous sponsors in th e vall ey including Yo ung's Cycle Cen ter an d Yeager Machine Shop, also fro m .Tr iumph Corp oration in California. Someone wh o tri ed jus t as h ard bu t just couldn't get h is m achinery to stay together was Butch Beard. Butch is one of the younger ri ders and yet shows the det ermin ation o f th e old p ros. Bu tc h has wh at it takes to win, if h e can just get h is m ach in er y to ru n consisten tly it will b e too close to ca ll in the race for number o ne nex t year. Mr . Ka wasaki of Ph oenix is Bu tch 's spon osr. The d ark horse o f th is year's racing t urned ou t to b e Rick Kra ft. Toward th e end o f the season Rick ca me from out of the p ac k and really b egan to win bi g. R ick , to o, is a you ng rider bu t h e d oesn 't let his sm all size h andicap th e way h e rides his Norton. Ric k h as an awful lot going fo r h im , he 's fast, ' sm o oth , and above all h e's a nic e guy. The 2 50 Expert cla ss win ner agai n th is year was T omm y Halfo rd . Tommy loo ks asleep most of the time b ut h e's j us t psychi ng everyone o ut. He is rec ogn ized as o n e of th e smoothest an d fastes t riders in the state if n ot the fastest. A nyon e wh o d oesn't th in k so can just try an d ca tc h him so metime. Tom ri des for B.S .A. Yamaha West. Jim Hafl o rd is one of the fe w people th at ca n keep up with Tom, h is brother. Just b efore an acci dent in which Jim broke h is leg h e was p utting pressure on Tom with both riders o n equal bi kes on th e su per fast track ~lManzy they r eally p u t on quit e a r ace . J im is th at good. Jim won th e second spo t in the sea so n standings riding fo r Southwest Motorcycle Sales. Gary Wells too k th ird in t he 250 Expert class even th ough h e q u it racin g to ward the en d of th e season. He also took " th ird in the 125 Expert class. Rumor has it th at Gary will return ' to racing next year. Gary is a real cr owd p leaser an d a go od racer even if h e doesn' t th ink mu ch of the people he ,or J1~llOY J'IV ':'JWOA j races with . Dan Cr oyl e w o n t he 125 Expertclass wi thout a whole lot of tro uble ex cept for Cliff Allison. Danny h as been riding a 250 lately and really seems to lik e it. If he ca n handle th e 25 0 even hal f as well i s h is 125 h e'll d o real w ell. Danny maintains h is own bike and does a real good job. . Cliff Allison wo n second in the 12 5 Ex pert class. Cliff rid es fo r Eastside Cycl e in T ucson. H e also ri des in th e 250 and Open classes as an Expe rt. Quite an accomplishment to place we ll in that man y classes. Now comes th e lo ng overd ue rec ogni t ion of some of th e p eo ple wh o make all this racing possible. These are the h ard working personnel of th e A ~\1 .R .A . Unpaid an d usually unthanked they a ll d o a gre a t job. Ron Dorsey always h as th e best interes t o f the rid ers in mind. Ron does one h ell of a job and 1 w ond er h ow long it's b een since an y on e said th anks ins tead of grip ing abou t someth in g. T hanks also to Mrs. D orsey an d Mrs. Jon Sell ers. They are always there to try to ma ke some sense out of th e race r esult s. Also. Mr. Cr oyl e, o ur old fai thful sign up man, wh o hasn 't mi ssed a race in a lon g tim e . These p eopl e have the p atience to d o a good job . Not man y do. It's been .. good season an d everyone is lookin g fo rward to next year. Jaclcalopes Stage finale , TA OS , N.M., Nov. 2 1, 19 7 1 - With six inches of good old Taos mud on the entire track , the Jackalopes M.C. ra n th eir last race of the season, the Coyote Racew ay Poin ts Ch amp ionship. It was the r ace of th e year as everyone will be talking about it for a long time because it was so diffe re nt. Some ri d ers thought it was fun, wh ile o thers di dn't- think it was fu n a t all. S om e h ot Colo rado rid ers showed up only to have it put on t hem b y G ene Durham, who took the first place bucks in both the 250 an d Open Ex pert classes o n a 250 Husky. (Result s on page 48)

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