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Double wins belonged to young Jamey Blunt in the 250 Expert class at Trojan Thursday night.
by Art Loya
Photo by Joe Gentile
SOUTH GATE, CAL., Sept. 14, 1972 One week ago, Chuck Hatcher, 34, gave
the youngsters at Trojan a few riding
lessons, winning the 250 Mains.
Tonight, one of these "youngsters",
Jamey Blunt, unleashed one of his finest
riding performances to show that he had
learned his lesson well, beating none
other than Chuck Hatcher in winning
both the 250 TT and F .T. Mains aboard
his finely tuned Ossa.
Sixty laps of furious Main event
action saw five different winners take
the checkered flag; Blunt just nipping
Hatcher by a bike length in the 250 F.T.
feature to score the only double win of
the evening. He also won all even Is
entered: both heats and the 250 F.T.
Trophy Dash.
The 250 F.T. Main, had all the
ingredients of one of the best
short-track thrillers as both Blunt and
Hatcher, treated everyone to a 1O·lap
Trophy Dash-type Main. It was really a
sight as both riders would throw their
bikes into a slide entering each comer,
Blunt holding the inside groove, while
Hatcher and his Bultaco probed for a
groove on the outside.
..()n lap eigh t, Hatcher finally moved
alongside of Blun t coming out of tum
two and, for a split second, looked like
he would overhaul Blunt. Blunt was not
to be denied this win as he reached for
that little extra to hold the lead. The
nin th lap was a carbon copy as all eyes
focused on Hatcher's bids to take the
lead only to fall short at the checkered
by a length.
Defending track champ, Rick Goade
(Bul), provided fans with a race within a
race by holding off Bob Byars (Yam),
Larry Furu (Ossa), Paul Coberly (I!.ul) ,
and "Super Mex", Brian Garcia (Yam),
in that order. Garcia, a Junior among
the leading Senior riders, lead the
contingent of Juniors including John
Newquist (Mon), Bob Spicer (Tri), Rick
White (Oss), and Mark Calicchio (Bul).
Leading from start to finish, Blunt
was chased by Hatcher in the 250 TT
Main for the entire distance, but the
expected duel failed to materialize as
Blunt easily held a big advantage over
the field right down to the wire.
Hatcher finished second ahead of Swett,
Coberly,
Goade,
Byars,
Garcia,
Calicchio, Newquist, and White.
In 125 class action, Swett (Han), and
Tom Chase (Yam) garnered main event
wins. Taking the lead on the second lap
from Ron Byars (Bul), in the TT Main,
Swett was ~railed by Byars, and Rick
Anderson (Hon). Anderson took second
on lap eight and for the two final laps
raced Swett for the lead and checkered.
At the finish, Swett was trailed by
Anderson, Byars, Jay Carlson (Bul), and
Ruben M31aguarnero (Suz). All riders
with the exception of Swelt were
Juniors.
Byars once again led the opening lap
in the 125 F.T. feature, but was hard
pressed by Tom Chase (Yam). On lap
two, Chase moved ahead for the lead'
while Anderson moved from the back of
the 10-rider pack to challenge Byars for
second.
In
the
meantime,
Don
Rockwood (Yam), was making an
impressive bid.
On lap five, Anderson took second
from Byars and two laps later, it was
Rockwood's tum to make his move to
take third. Although classed as Junior
riders, both Chase and Rockwood, give
expert performances as Chase held on to
win over Anderson, while Rockwood
finished third.
Lightweight's 0-37 TT Scrambles
PERRIS, CAL., Sept. 17, 1972 - Jay
Wahl broke his shoulder several weeks
ago while racing up in the Oxnard/Port
Hueneme area. He just got out of the
cast, but between the doctor and the
pain he wasn't able to make it today.
The other half of the team, Bob
Hudspith, came truckin' in with Jay's
hack and his good friend, Tony Masella.
Tony and Bob haven't been a team for
long b'ut there were going to go after the
SideHack win.
Practice
proved
to be almost
humorous as Tony dove into tum I,
crank the wheel hard left, and still plow
straight ahead. There was some serious
concern as one of the hacks did a
number on the tires, but after shaking it
off, both pilot and monkey took off for
a couple more laps.
Steve Fisher and Pete Demetrulias
pushed the green back around the track,
but came up second place in the overall
standings, with the win going to
Marsella/Hudspith .
Quite a few four-strokes showed up.
Not only did they show up, but some
proved to be competitive. Harley rider
Bill Bartels lead his teammate Rick
Hutchins to capture one - two in the
350 Combined class. Flagman Skip
Gallagher placed thrid on a sana
Kawasaki.
Open Novice Jay Hun ter raised a few
eyebrows as he zapped the field with
times only four-ten ths of a second
behind that of the Open Experts. Jay
certainly doesn't ride like a Novice.
Scott Smith chased Kirk Redding
around the track, but sensing that he
almost has the number one place sewed
up, Kirk was not about to get caught.
Kirk's win was very positive.
Going into the third moto, Walt
Foster on his "Wacky Racer" and
Triumph-mounted John .Sprague were
even with a win each. The prior action
had to be the most exciting of the day.
The lead changed more than 16 times
between them. Walt would go high and
John would get him and vice-versa on
the next tum. They appeared to be
evenly
matched
with
comparable
machines so the last race was the one to
watch. With the flag, Walt jump~d to
the lead and never let it go. It was a
good race. Willie Hockie, Jr. grabbed a
third.
Brian King won the 125 Expert class.
Welcome back, Brian.
Riding for Hackie's of Torrance,
Charles Soderstrom clearly dominated
the 175-200 Experts. He wasn't without
a challenger however as John Sperry put
the heat on a few times.
The Lightweights threw the race
today and they wish to let you know
that you can look forward to TT's on
Oct. 8 at Adelanto and a Benefit Oct.
22 at Elsinore. Also, don't forget ,the
back-to-back TT next Saturday NIght
and Sunday at Elsinore. Power to the
piston.
Steeplechase and Half-mile
by Tom Blattler
CHULA VISTA, CAL., Sept. 15, 1972
- Pat Guthrie, riding a San Diego
Yamaha, captured his first two Mai
event wins of the season at South Bay
Speedway, as he won the 250
teeplechase and Half·mile flat track
features in the CMRE Steeplechase and
Half-mile program.
Pat took the early lead in the 250
Steeplechase feature, but after the first
lap Guthrie and Sal Peluso were side by
side. Sal and Pat got a little too tight
and Peluso dumped it just as they were
entering the infield. From that point,
Guthrie was all by himself to take his
fIrst Main event win of the year.
Guthrie then returned in the 250
Half-mile feature and once again Pat and
Peluso fa ugh t for the top spot. Pat and
Sal swapped the number one position
throughout the 10·lap Main. At one
time Peluso began to open up a lead on
Guthrie, but late in the feature, Peluso
got too high in the second tum, made a
fantastic recovery, and grabbed second.
Kevin Stafford rode his Pacific Yamaha
to a third place.
The most exciting race of the evening
came in the Open Class Half-mile as
Peluso, Larry Collie, and Ward Ring put
on quite a show. The three battled right
to the checkered flag with Peluso
holding off Larry and Ward for the
victory.
In the Open steeplechase Main even t,
Ring took the lead in the first tum of
the first lap and was never headed. But a
tremendous battle was forming for the
second place money between two
youngsters, Earl Roloff and John
Allison, both on 360 Yamahas. Allison
began to close the gap on Roloff and
with two lap remaining Roloff and
Allison were really battling. But Roloff
rode his usual smooth race and held off
the determined Allison for second.
The
California
Motor
Racing
Enterprises will return to South Bay
Speedway on Friday nigh t. September
29th,
for
another
professional
steeplechase and half-mile.
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0-37 Heavyweight Scrambles Steward Dianne Connolly wrenches on husband Jim·s Bul to get
him out for the lightweight Main.
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