Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I Sod Busters Motocross - - - By Andre Ney July 9, 1972 - A beautiful hot day saw the_ Sod Busters put motocross on the fast and demanding 1.2 mile Four Comers' course. Just after the start a right turn anrrowed into a beautiful set of esses. Then through a series of straigh ts leading to the big hairpin, whose berm gave fantastic high speeds. Another short straigh t, a hairpin and then to the jump that a lot of riders got squirrely over. Two water trucks were used to keep the very dry earth from putting up too much dust. The turnout was not very large due to the heat and the fact the Sod Busters are no longer in the Dist. 38 Sports Committee. Steve Sabin, of the Sod Busters, told me: "We got tired of the Sports Committee politics." They are still in the AMA, but it was a no point race. No points and a lot of riders won't ride. They ran one 15 minute moto and one 20 minute moto for both Experts and Novices. Classes for the Experts were: 125, 250, and Open. Novices: 100, 125,250, and Open. Mike Stephinson (CZ) ran away with the Open Expert win. Steve Pollock, just turned Amateur, battled with CMC's Doli Martin (Suz). Don got the 250 Expert and Steve got the 250 Am. win. Mike Stearns, who got third 250 Expert, made a tremendous effort when his lead was lost by a fall and moved all the way back up from last to third with a throttle stuck wide open. All he had to slow the engine was the kill button. The outer spring of a rear shock flew off at us, but the bike did go on to finish with only one rear shock. Sage Hoppers Motocross - - - By Andre Ney July 2, 1972 - Like Oak Springs was the site of the Sage Hoppers motocross. It was a nice, hot day and the dust 'was abundant. It seemed that the right spots weren't watered·. "If y.ou weren't out in front, you just couldn't see a thing." one fider told me. A stop light starting system was used and eve,ryone seemed to like it. The course was rough with a deep sand pit that stuck one bike and stopped six others. The drop-off Ifa'd'to be changed after,a few motos. They ran one 15 min. moto, and one 20 min. moto for both the Novices and Experts. Curt Smith (CZ) and Mike Stephenson (CZ) were joined in their battle for the Open Expert win by Ted Weeks (Hus) and Jim Coteen (CZ). Their riding was very competitive. Bob Seay (Suz) fought with DeJ;lIlis Hamilton (Yam) in the Open Novice bout. In the second moto, Bob had the lead, but Dennis pressured him hard and took him on the third lap. The same thing happened in the 250 Novice. Steve Pollock (Suz) battled Mike Scillo (CZ). Again in the second moto, they were right on each other. Steve would get ahead and his bike would miss just after the water hole long enough to let Mike by, but Steve got the checkered flag in the end. Arroyo Motocross - - Woods likes Irwindale Money ~ > -, :; CJ) ;: w Z W ..J U >U Mike Curoso. Steve Gresham, Sumner McKnij:lht, and Mike Bast (I to rl slidin' together in Irwindale speedway action. By Ralph Springer IRWINDALE, CAL., July 13, 1972 When a big money main event is at stake, Rick Woods manages to put out a maximum effort....and win in the process. The Costa Mesa racer pr<>ved his point last Thursday evening at Irwindale Raceway"s 1/5-mi. clay oval easily taking the Scratch Main event. Throughou t the evening's preliminary heats, Woods had difficulties adjusting to the track surface and rode most of his races up mear the crashwall, actually bouncing off it on several occasions. But when the Scratch .finale rolled around, Woods gave his usual exhibition of fine gating and left second, third and fourth positions up to Mike Bast, Ed Williams and Scott Autrey. Autrey was ,never in the hunt and finished last but Williams and Bast scrapped it out for the full four laps with transplanted New Jeneyite Williams taking the nod at the line by a close margin. Williams was riding a J awa at Irwindalw, apparen t1y fmding his J AP unsuited to the longer and faster San Gabriel Valley track. The Handicap Main went to Johnny Fishburn who gated .from the ten yard line and put together five consistent, pole-hugging laps to stave off the last minute bids of Orange County rider Danny Becker. Becker, the 17-year old high school racer, broke lose from the pack midway through the event and took off after Fishburn but his attack came a lap too late and he finished second stuck right on Fishburn's rear Barum. Sonny Nutter and Mike Bast had their own private duel going for third, Nutter taking it at the flag despite pressure from the Van Nuys rider. Jim Gresham and Scott Autrey filled out the field in fifth and sixth. Curiously missing from both Main events was Bill Cody. The Speedway Racing Association's current overall points leader missed Irwindale's program two weeks ago due to a racing s,chedule in Northern California and sufferd the worst in racing luck last week. Minor mechanical problems kept him' from transferring in to the money races and the best Cody could <10 was slip into the Scratch Consolation. Predictably, he won the 'four-lap affair with Steve Gresham second and Becker and Steve Bast ou t with mechanical malfunctions. Ed Williams took the 'other consolation even t in the Handicap category. Mike Curuso and Mike Konie trailed in second and third but the dramatics were, provided by Woods who came roaring off his 40-yard handicap line at "the start only' to find Steve Gresham stalled on the line ahead of him. Woods pulled an impressive manuver to miss the younger Gresham and then moved up as h.igh as third in the race before beginning his bang-off-thecrash wall, high groove act which dropped him to fifth, righ t behind Sumner McKnight. While Steve Gresham stalled on the line in the Handicap Consolation, :he did everything but stall in the two-lap positions. MID-SEASON SPEEDWAY POINT STANDINGS PASADENA, CAL., July 15, 1972 Bill Cody, veteran speedway racer from Garden Grove, holds a slim lead over current U.S. National Champ Mike Bast in the mid-season Speedway Racing Association poin t standings. Cody has tallied 358 points so far this year as of June 30 with Bast, younger of the two racing brothers, a scant eleven points behind in second with 347. Bast has led the points table earlier in the year but Cody moved to the front on the strength of several winning evenings at area SRA tracks. The mid-season' point standings reflects action at SRA tracks at Irwindale, Costa Mesa, Bakersfield and Ventura. The complete rundown, as of June 30, looks like this: Mike and Steve Bast. current National and California Speedway champs,' doing it together at Irwindale. Shutter shooter: Dennis Greene. 3. Steve Bast . . . . . . • • . . . • . . . • . . . . . .284 4. Rick Woods .....•... , . . . • . . . . . .269 S. Larry Shaw . . . . . . • . . . , . . . • . . . . . .225 6. Mike Konle . . . . . . • . . . . . . . • . . . . . .222 7. Sonny Nutter ....•... , .....•...•213 8. Ed Williams . . . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . •210 9. Don Cullum ..... " ..•....•..•...133 . 10. Mike Curuso . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124 11. Danny Becker . . . . . . • . . . . . • . . • . . .118 12. Las Chanky . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . .114 13. Sumner McKnight • . . . . . . • . . . . . . .113 14'. Jim Gresham . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . • . •86 15. Steve Gresham . . . . • • . . . . . . . . • . . . •82 16. Guy Waterson .•..•.••.•. , ••••..••81 17. Larry Moon •..••••••••.••••••. 64 1/2 18. Billy Gray •. _..•..••.•..••••..• 57lf2 19. John Fishburn .••••••••.••..•••. .45 20. Scott Autrey ...•.••....•••..•. 43lf: .;,;,;;,=:.:.--------------..::::~~=~=~=::;..------Ventura Speedway By Ingrid Flanders VENTURA, CAL., July 4,1972 - Last week's track at Ventura was said to resemble a smooth motocross course. This week the track looked like a real motocross with holes big enough to plant a crop of watermelons. A ne"" track had been promised the previous week; half of it was put in the morning of the race. The other half is supposed Sacramento Speedway - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ By Bruce C. Young SACRAMENTO, CAL., July 7, 1972 Carl Cranke of Mike's Cycle Repair rode his fmely tuned Jawa to big wins in each race he rode tonight to take all the big money,. 'Carl outrode coiners like Joe Henry, Stu Morley and Barclay Trehal in each of his races to take the checkered' in the Handicap Semi, Scratch heat, Scratch Semi and the Handicap Main. There was stiff competition in each' race, but Carl just could not be beaten. Scratch Main Event winner Was another superstar, John Cunningham of Reno. John made a big 'impression tonight POOR VIC with much improvement in riding style. Vic Wilson. hotshoe extraordinaire All the riders seemed to have improved and Saddleback Park head honcho, over last year's first season of speedway crashed Sunday while cow-trailing up racing. the famed Mattemorn Hillclimb. W,ilson, . Tonight a special attraction came to riding a borrowed 650 Triumph owned Cal Expo with young lady rider Theresa by Ron Saffell, was taken to a nearby Martin of Long Beach showing up to hospital where x-rays revealed a broken give the boys a way to go. Theresa did Ieg..,-'"' ;,. '.>CJ ~~ 1.... '/ t"h. .. 'I • _~ "',-~.r -.'" '·... 1 ~..rot 'doi'too welt~bu.t she...didl.. .fihish lIer J. feature match race which pitted him against another young speedway racer. Les Chanky. The two evenly-m,atched chargers rode side by side for most of the two circuits before Chafikey pulled out a sligh t lead. But exiting the last comer, Chanky slid out wide and Gresham zinged in to the lead to take the win at the finish line by a matter of inches. George Armas took the always wild Second Division Main, fending off Jim Dancause and Robbie Waite for the win. Billy Meister, sone of Irwindale pr<;>moter Ed Meister, seemed solidly set for third before discovering Rick Woods' high groove which immediately dropped him to fourth! Bill Manley and Gary Densford filled in fifth and six th 1. Bill Cody . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • . . . . . . .358 2. Mike Bast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • . .347 _ By Joan Brandon SAN BERNARDINO, CAL., July 16, 1972 - Arroyo Cycle Park officials held a fantastic motocross today. About 100 riders were on hand for the nice. The rider's meeting was held at 9: 15 and the 100 class took off at 9:30 sharp. In the 100 class, Walker Yeito rode to top honors on his Hodaka, taking first in all three motos, David Brown (Hod) took second. In the, 125 category Mike Wilson took the lead in all three motos riding a Mopark, john Myerscough got second on a Bultaco. There were two divisions of 250s. Winning,the First Division was Randy Klasser on a 250 CZ. Second was Barry Fulcher, also on a CZ.ln the Open class, Kent Parker took all three motos in first place. Dottie Frost took the trophy for the Powder Puff 'class. July 23, Arroyo Cycle Park is holding a BIG Freebie. You race for the price of the admission into the park. Come out to the best racing park in Southern Calif. Sign in starts at 7 :00 am. Race at 9,30. Dennis Greene photo. I l.(l .,,', t "I :.b"..F""rC) ..... t;.J t.~''--~~ L .eo:, on'l"l',,,"\ race in last place and didn't fall down once. The crowd really dug on this novel lady speedway rider. The Match race of the nigh t matched a Sacramento rider, Butch Corder, and a Reno rider, Rich McMurray. Butch took off with a flash and could not be caught during the two laps of the circuit. Rich tried everything he could think of to get close for a pass but he didn't quite have it. Former Red Beard Racing Team racer Stu Morley could only manage a couple of seconds and a first in the Scratch heat race. Joe Henry and his new Jawa from' Vickers Honda dazzled the crowd by some fme racing and fmished second in the Handicap Main Event. Gus Lauer got his scooter on its rear wheel on the straigh taway and did a 60-yard dash with the bike standing straigh t up and down. Gus went into the pita, loaded his racer and watched for the rest of the night.: r .... I 1 ~ r '. I T J Lt. : '.{[J ItJ:i.':tO hLtL'h: l 1 _'L _11 <.H J to go in this week. Twenty-six riders went down and four events had to be restarted during the evening. That and the fact that the tractor spent almost as much time as the riders on the, track made for a long night. The match race between Les Chankey and Dan Becker turned out to be one of the best races of the evening, with Becker winning by a bike length after the re,start. Becker hit the wall and Chankey asked for the restart. Taking the win two weeks in a row in \ the second division Main was Jay Carter who receiv~ $15 from Monarch Distributing as did ,Paul Henderson, winner of the third division. Mike Curoso crossed the finish line first in the Handicap Main after five laps of holding back Mike Bast and Bill Cody. Among the big names in the Scratch Main, Sonny ,Nutter finished first followed by Bill Cody, Mike Bast and Don Cullum in that order. ,A lot of praise should be given to the riders for dofug their best to put on a good show under such hazardous conditions. Their ability for missing fallen riders while trying to avoid the holes in the track is really to be ~9fnm.i!ndea; :~"" '~f" J j",c.q:(tn 't'}fJJ ,- l' .01::., ." '.' '."," ',(Hlf,'H}

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