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/125795
N THE COURSE IS .THE REAL SUPERSTAR .... By John Huetter DEVORE, CAL., August 6, 1972 -Jim :!! Fishback took home two first place g; trophies (one in the form of long green) c( for 90 minutes of riding on the most authentic motocross track in Southern ~ California. l\! A mixed bag of MX freaks descended w on the rugged, muddy, tady Arroyo d motocross course, which had been >- altered yet again to weed out course (J specialists and keep it in teresting, for some good dirty fun. A lot of local '" 'shoes aren't into riding in mud and the first moto slipping and sliding revealed it. The wet didn't seem to bother desert ace Fishback as he did a little keeping in shape on his day off and won the 125 Div II and a small 250 Expert class in back to bac matos, sweeping the 250 on his desert-prepped CZ. When Arroyo advertised classes by displacemen t, I kind of wondered if they'd forgotten to say "Junior" and "Senior" or another . classification. No, they meant it, everybody is scorea together but Arroyo compensates by awarding 40% brass. Normally, it is un unsound idea to run mixed motos but all it meant in the fairly small (about 18-20 per moto) divisions was that Fishback lapped you somewhere around the white flag lap on the long, twisting course. Most riders settled into dices at their own level of riding ability. In about two weeks, Arroyo will start running motos by skill class. Will they still give 40% trophies? The course was well-prep;u-ed· and well-watered as the Open class wen t roaring off the line, many of the riders having their hands full with 40 horses of machine in the mud. As a matter of fact, stark terror was on more than one face after the first lap. They, like most of the riders, got sorted out by the final rounds. Or dropped out. There was a high attrition rate on the long, demanding course and some guys had forgotten about waterproofing, which is not a good idea at Arroyo. Despite it's length, challenge and tremendous variation in terrain elevation (Yeah, lotsa hills.) the course is basically safe. You're not likely to get your head run over if you drop it. While Fishback put on the best riding show of the day as could be expected, the real star of the day was the course itself. It's not a track where you talk about The Downhill, there are too many neat downhills to characterize. It's not a track where you talk about The S traigh t; there are at least two, sometimes three high-speed straight (with big mudholes in 'em to keep you alert). There are enough muddy uphills to keep even the most fanatical European happy with "shooting out of the ground" as one of the Internationals claimed motocross was supposed to be. A good performance can't be minimized on this course, but most guys have so much fun that your placing, sometimes, is almost incidental. This wasn't true for a lot of happ'y brass-grabbers including Eddie Johnson who put together a sweep in one of the 250 divisions, Rick Duncan who kept his Husky way oUt in front of the Open class for most of each moto, and Larry Roeseler who gave up his Baja for a CZ to win overall in the other 250 division in a convincing manner. Fishback spends bis off-days there staying in shape, so you know it's not for the faint-hearted, or for those who don't really like motocross but like to say they race it. If you want a lesson, to yourself, in hard riding and challenging terrain, get out to Arroyo. It's an honest 80 minutes from LA for an honest 45 (or more) minutes of racing. The $5 post entry· doesn't hurt, either, with 100% payback for Experts. Try it or regret it. Jim Fishback came out of the desert and rode back to back motos for two overall wins. CRC S a d d l e b a c k - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Christopher Ostlind ORANGE, CAL., July 30, 1972 - The CRC struck it rich today as more than 20~ riders grabbed up the opportunity to ride on the off weekend and from the action that I saw, nobody had any chance to take it easy as the competition was hot in all classes. The 100 Beginners under 16 saw over 20 riders go off the line. T.he figh t for number one was quite a spectacle as Jeff Sherwood (KDW) , Larry Wilkerson (Hod). and Jeff Tomlin on a Suzuki buzzed around the track like a hive of angry bees all trying to be the leader. The winner of moto one was Sherwood but moto number two was a whole new story as bandito Bill Glore on a Hodaka came from out of nowhere to zap everyone. Glore apparently conked out in the first race and only got a sixteenth place, but he more than made up for that poor showing with his gem in the second round. Sherwood meanwhile was solidly riding in second and in the overall race, was now the man to be reckoned with. Moto three saw Glore again copping the top spot with Mark Abraham sneaking by Sherwood to get third. For Sherwood the means did justify the end as he was sitting on top of the heap with the overall victory. The 100 plus temperature really became evident as all the early winners ran out of gas and some had to grit their teeth and just hang on as their strength was slowly sapped away in to the dust of the track. Such was the case for the 250 Beginners in both Divisions 1 and II as first moto winners Gary Hoffman (AJS) and Reggie Ragsdale (CZ) slipped off Lbe quick pace and straggled in for a fifth and fourth place finishes overall respectively. Lasting out the heat were Mike Freeman on a Yamaha taking first overall with a solid 2-2-2 performance and Skip Taylor (BuI) with a 2·1-12 also on top. You can really tell it is warm when the pit tootsies spend more time at the water hose cooling off in their bikinis than they do watching the race action. Congratulations to the CRC as they have been putting together a series of well·run events lately which really pay off for the riders. The Beginners and Novices have also taken note of this fact as they have started to come out in strong numbers and .that makes it especially nice when the competition is there. Upcoming races by the CRC are motocrosses at Deadman's Point and the new Arroyo Park the following two weeks. Check 'em out. CMC Lions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Buzz Baty WILMINGTON, CAL., Aug. 4, 1972 Last Friday nigh t here at Lions was a biggie: two hundred and thirty eight entries, But that was just a warm-up for tonight's record breaker. Two hundred and sicty riders anted up to make tonight the all-time high for rider entry in the history of CMC nigh t motocross. It seems only fitting that it was done at Lions Drag Strip with the Looney Lions Fast Cats. The Candy Man, Bob Hershey, started the night out like he was going to blitz the 250 and 500 Expert classes with his honking, Mid Valley sponsored CZ's. After wmning the first two rounds in the 250 Expert class and the first round of the 500 class, Bob, in taking the Lions Leap on the first lap of the second 500 Expert moto, landed all wrong and dislocated his righ t shoulder. He finished way ·down the line, getting only seventy seven points, and ending up the nigh t finishing second in both classes, behind Bryar Holcomb's Suzuki in the 500, and Ron DeSoto in the 250. However, I did witness Hershey filing a protest with Stu Peters over the final results in the 250 class. Final 250 results show Ron DeSoto, Hershey, and Tom Claire for a CZ sweep, but it's possible that this will be changed if a scoring recheck substan tiates his protest. The Maico troops had nothing but foul luck to nigh t. Tim Hart lost a rod on his 250 in practice, and had the 500 go totally sour in the last moto of the night for that class. Bill Payne experienced fuel feed problems all nigh t, and trailered his Maico before the last 500 moto. Dave Smith, suffering shifting problems, hung in there long enough to get third in the 500 Expert division, behind Holcomb and Hershey. The way things have been going for these Maico riders lately, I can see a picture of Payne, Hart, and Smith standing together, not talking, but over t)teir heads is a thought box containing a lot of question marks along with CZ, Suzuki, Yamaha, Bultaco, Greeves, well, you get the picture. Charlie Bower is like, when you're hot, you're hot, winning two out of three again, in the 125 Experts, with that super running, Penton, taking first overall ahead of the Bultacos of Ken Cook and Dave Rodgers. I'm gonna have to ask Charlie how many in a row he's rung up. Whatever the numbers are, he's really been impressive, and he has to be bringing great joy to his sponsors, Mettco. USMRC MOTOCROSS - - - - - -......- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Pat Gross EL TORO, CAL., July 28, 1972 - Is there really gold in them thar hills at EI Toro? Over 150 bikes showed up Friday to try out the new course and see for themselves. The new setup has the track snaking through the infield with more twists than a prairie dog's hideaway. The guys seemed to approve the change, and the desert-like heat didn't slow the action any. Bruce Baron returned to res take his claim in the 125 and 250 classes. Baron struck it rich with two firsts, $115 worth. Davy Carlson was experiencing difficulties all night. Mounted on a Bultaco in the 125, he barely edged into second over Ron DeDonato. This was his highest placing in any race, as Morris Malone took second in the 250 and Davy was back in third. Even the 100 was no longer Carlson's stamping grounds. Joe . Flores took con trol of first spot, Bob Stem of second, and a major pileup in the second mo~o reduced Davy to another third overall. Mark Barrett (Suz) seized the Intermediate with interference from Brad Dutoit. Dutoit had no interference in the Schoolboy II race, an easy sweep over Jeff Wilson in an all-Honda Class. Tom Mazzoli (Yam) rode herd over the larger Division I, leaving Jon Hewitt to pick up second. The Intermediates and J~ors were just as happy to bag some brass as the Experts were to grab the gold_ John Adams, for one, was overjoyed to come in on top of the 125 Intermediate. Richard Duncan (Yam) moved to fmt in the loaded 250, while Robert Crecelius swept the limited 500 class. A few Juniors deserve credit for some very fine riding jobs. Both 100 divisions were taken in clean sweeps, one by Kevin Crawford (Ric) and the second by Marty Foster's Hodaka. Roy Schubert (Oss) was another sweeper in the 250 II; John Heemsbergen (Bul) won the 250 I, with one moto going to Mike Cooper (CZ) for second overall. The 125 winners each scored a second and two firsts. They were Eddie Coulter (CZ) and Sheldon Messick (Yam). Dave Bradley conquered the 500 on a Husky for the third consistent week. Making a comeback was David Boydstun in the 500 Expert. There was no stopping Boydstun on his big new 501 Maico. The battle was for second place between the able Ajay of Morris Malone and Gary C.ochell's bounding Bul. And it was close, podnuhs, when five. yards from the finish of mota two Cochelliost control of his bike, laying it down on top of Malone's. Morris got his up in time to finish second, but dropped from the last moto to give Cochell the second spot.