Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Scramblers Survive c .., '" ~ w Z ~ o >o m Loy Burnett took second in the 250 Sr. class Dunlap Wins at Sprckets By Carol Witt Ph o tos by Kar en Hartm an WICHIT A, KANS., Dec. 5 , 1971 - On th is d ism al day a fter a full week of mi sty rai n an d generally bad weather, th e Sprock ets held the ir regularl y scheduled motocross on a sloppy track. Neve r b efore has this wr iter seen th e track th is so upy a nd dan gero us. Th e mud was deep e nough to swallo w th e ax les in several sp o ~ , wh ile th e rem ainder of the tr ac k was so slic k it was im possib le to m ake much speed or h eadway. Most of th e regular ride rs turned ou t in spi te of th e weather, along with several new rid ers wh o h ad made th e trip in fro m various p arts of th e state. One rider from Hutch inson , K ans. , must re all y h ave lik ed to fight the mud, because he en tered two classes , comi ng in first in one an d th ird in th e o ther. You h ave to give credi t to ride rs like J im Mal one on his Suzu ki. Jim is just a young guy wh o also rides th e flat track. In th e 125 Jr. class, Danny Biddle from Anth ony (Pe n ) , won all three m otos wi th Fritz Hen sler (Yam ), to ok second. A brand new rider, first time o n th e track, Wes Bro oks (Yam ), took th ird. A t th e starting o f the th ird 250 Sr. h eat, it was a tie o n scores b etween Jay Dunlap (Hod) and Gary Witt (Yam) with L oy Burnett (Ka w) only 25 poin ts beh ind. O ff th e lin e, Dunlap was first and Burnett second an d Witt was trying to ge t his cycle started. By the time Witt got his machine go ing th e whole pack was almost re ad y for th e first lap co un t. The co nclusio n of th e race gave Dunlap firs t, after leading all laps ex cep t on e. Burnett took second and Witt made it in for fo urth . Double your pleasure Double your fun.:.. Rob Knoettgen. Wheelsporls Solve Dust Problem By Lyle Fergus LAWRENCE, KANS., Nov. 28 , 1971 Well, the Wbeelsports have finally so lved the pr ob lem of dust at the motorcycle races, as anybody that went to today 's Hare Scrambles will tell. If there was any dust around, it must have been under the foot of mud that coated the entire course. The Hare was run on the farm of Ernie Riley, the Yamaha dealer, and you would not believe the condition of his front yard, wh ich happens to be the parking are a, aft er all the cars and trucks had to be towed or pushed out after the race. Thevehicl es were towed until Ernie's tractor qui t. Then they were pushed out b y hand. It was lucky for th e own ers o f the st ock vehicles th at the Wh eelsports and rid ers love to push cars and trucks o u t o f slimey, cold , stinking mudh oles or th ey might still be there. Eigh ty-six riders showed up to battle By Max Dawson GRAND JUNCTION , COLO. , Nov. 21, 1971 - Loc al te en age dirt rider, Mark MacKenzie, fou nd out today th at though " what goes up, must come d own" - " wh at goes down, d oes n ot ne cessarily co me b ack up - at least not righ t aw ay! " Mark was one o f 3 2 motorcycl e riders who started in the Desert Scr amblers' Sm oke Run on 'Wbit ewa ter Hill he re today . How ever , he was a lit tle late getting b ack in - over t wo h ours late. According to Stan Jones, ano ther Desert Scram bl er , "Mark go t in to a deep wash somewhere out th ere on th e 25 mile run. It too k him qu it e a while to get back up and ou t." Local racers swe p t all th ree classes to day. In the open class , it was Gary Plesek , on a 400 Husky; Bob Hun t, on a 238 Kawasa ki ; and Sandy Harris, on a 40 0 Husky, in order offinish. In the 125 class, the first th ree in were J im Draper, on a 12 5 Puch ; Carl Koch , on a 125 Pu ch ; a nd Jim Hermance, on a 125 Yam ah a. In last Sund ay 's Motocross, Koc h and Draper too k first and second places in th a t same class , respectively. Hanging o n to a 175 Kawas aki, Mickey Co x ca p tured first spot in the Stree t Legal class; No rm Wyco ff grabbed second on a 250 S uz uki; and anothe r 17 5 Kaw asaki helped Leon Brown n ail do wn third p osition . Accordi ng to Bob Hun t , local Kawasa ki an d Maico dealer, a Deser t Sc ra m b le r l\IC member, an d second-place rider in today's Ope n class, "Som e t ype of eve nt will b e p ut on by th e Scramblers abou t every tw o we ek s throughout th e winter , depending on th e weath er. Changeabl e we ath er p reven ts us sch ed uling races very far in th e future." (Results on page 48) "Tire course was abou' a mi'e 'ong and mosl p'aces aboul a fool deep. " th e mud (I think th e mud won) and about 20 were still running a t the finish two h ours later. The start-finish line was at the west edge of the p ond, which th e riders had to cross also , then the co urse ran south in to the woods ; down in th e creeks, out of the cr eeks, into the woods, back in the creeks, up a slick hill, backs in the woods, d own a steep , steep hill , across the pond, and down the h igh speed straight to the finish line. Got it? The course was ab ou t a mile long and most places about a foot d eep. Keith Cobb (S up er Grip) shot out so quick th at b y th e time h e go t in to the wood (alone) h e was looking around to see if that really was th e start, only o ne other bike was in sight, a Hodaka, Twenty minutes later, all the creeks filled with bikes, and the rest of the riders so muddy you could hardly ide ntify them. Th e lap times ranged fro m ab out five minutes to infi n ity. This mud se em ed to stick t o anyth ing it cam e in co n tact with and so me of the b ikes acq uired gian t front wh eels th at did not want to t urn . Overall winner Cobb had to st op to remove h is fork bra ce from his 250cc Suzuki or h e mi gh t h ave got more than 201:ips. By Mik e Murphy LI BERTY, A RIZ" No v. 28 , 19 7 1 Take two rid ers and one m otorcycle , ride one lap on a motocro ss cou rse while try ing to stay ahead of eigh t o ther rid ers on four other b ikes , stop, switch pl aces an d repeat. This is wh at Jerry (Batman) Bateman and Scott (Li zard) McAfee did to fin ish numer o un o in the imp ro mptu buddy race at Ariz ona Desert Raceway today . The spe ctators wer e so en th usiastic ab out it th at th e buddy race may b ecome a regula r eve n t. Again th e turnout of th e Pro riders (th ree , o ne each in the 125 , 250 and Open class) fo rced them to rid e with th e Novices in their class. This didn't bother Jim Lawrence (Bu l) as h e led eve ry body acr oss the fin ish in all th ree motos . " Man, did y ou see th at? I b eat th at Pro. " Lawren ce got off to a b ad start in the fir st mota and was third b ehind Lee Nob lit t (Suz) and Mack Spurlock (Bul) after the first lap . By lap two Lawrence passed Noblitt and Spurlock and held the lead to the end. Mota two saw Lawren ce in fr ont a t the start and still there a t the fin ish. Th e third mota saw Spurlo ck in fro nt wi th Lawrence close en ough behind to count Spurlock's ch ain lin ks. On lap two Spurlock go t off h is line in the rough stuff and Lawrence moved b y never to be challenged again . In the 250 Novice class John Miller (Oss) and Cal Redman (Mai) were the pair to watch in the first mota as they rode like Siamese twins until a broken swing arm bolt forced Miller to watch. The second mota saw Miller off the line in front and Redman in third and moving up fast. Eric Blatt (Hus) and Darryl Tussing (Kaw) . moved past the dueling duo to take first and second in that order. Meanwhile, Miller and Redman thrashed for third until Miller's expansion chamber started to depart and his borrowed bolt broke. With Miller out, Redman led the field in the third mota until his engine quit on the last lap and he got a DNF. Blatt and Tussing went b y to claim first and second followed by Don Bulitta (Oss) who is returning from his 12-week vacation be cause o f a ' Bob Grossi' wrist. Herb Forst (Suz) managed a 2-2-1 to take first overall in the Open Novi ce while Gary Tussing on his new Husky , squeezed by a rider in the last few feet in the last two motos giving him a second overall with Juan Russell right behind. (Results on p age 4 8)

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