Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.... N '" g> "N .... '" .... ~ U 0 Ul :;: W Z w -' (J >(J This elderly gentleman didn't believe in specialty racing machines. Kawasaki 350'5 have won a lot of road races, so motocross shouldn't be that different. _ Expert MX at Baymare by Art Cox SOMlS. CAL., Oct. 8, 1972 - It was eviden t that many hours of hard work went into course preparation prior to Sunday's Expert/Novice day. Motorsports' Roger Smith, the new Baymare Manager deserves credit for preparing a bitchin' motocross course," according to the top riders talked to during the day. Zahrt: "great"; Robertson: "fun"; Hart: "great"; Payne: "greal"; Hershey: "bitchin"; Rice: "good". For the past three Sundays, this writer/rider has seen a course ch ange each weekend that adds more excitement LO the challenging Baymare course. Many new berms have been established to aUow those so inclined to I Ii "roller coaster" the turns. A regular day of motocross produced 300 riders, including 68 Experts battling it out for total cash of 865, paid to fifth overall. Top rider consistency award has to go to Bill Payne (Mai) and Tim Hart (Mai). These two Open Experts were way in front of the field m all three motos. Hart won the first, with Payne on his tail. Payne won the second with Hart righ t behind. The last moto, Payne grabbed a first for the overall, with Hart in for second spot cash. Ken Zahrt (Bul) really flew during all three of his 250 Expert motos, finishing 1-1-2 for top cash. The only real challe.nge he had all day was from Greg Robertson (CZ) who wound up second with 2-2·1. Tracy Oswald (CZl was third with a 3-8-3. (Zahrt also took fourth Open Expert cash on his Pursang.) V i die (Pen) and J e [[ Rickman-mounted Dave Kolbe had a few neck-to·neck encounters during the 125 Expert motos. Vidic pulled a first overall with 1·1·3, while Kolbe had to settle for second with a 3-2-1. Dave Rodgers (Bul) finished third overall. Intermediates were combined with the Experts, but scoJed seperately. for trophies. Bill Kelly (Hus), after crashing spectacularly on the start hill in his first moto, came back with the fighting spirit of a lion to win the huge Open Intermediate trophy. CZ pilot Ken J anson really had no competition all day to take home first 250 Int, while Larry Burgess (DKW) "grand slammed" for first 125 Intermediate. Novice Charlie Angell should think about moving up to the Intermediate class. He consisten tly places in the top finishers at Baymare. This time, he easily won eacll of his three motos on a 125 Penton. CZ seems to be the bike to beat in the 250 class. Mike Puckless and Wayne Edwards won first and second overall. Both were riding the Czech tractor. Another rid'er who looked good all day with fast, smooth style was Steve Brown. Taming a big bore Maico, he won the Open Junior A. Rick Duncan (Hus) tried his best in all three to catch Brown, but had to settle for second with a 2-2-2. One foxy lady on a Bul came out hoping enough would show up to make a Powder Puff class. She mistakenly started practice as the Experts were going at their early morning warm-ups. As sne carne over the famous "Ant Hill" she stopped at the top, shaking slightly. When she was told the Experts were on the track, her shaking became more pronounced. I didn't see her on the bike the rest of the day! New managemen t seems very sincere abou t buildmg Baymare to become one of the best prepared (and managed) tracks around. . However a few problem areas cropped up that they promise wiIJ be eliminated in the future. The trophy handout routine got way out of hand _because of the lateness of finalizing results, and the ticket gate procedure was very slow. It looked like they weren't prepared for 300 riders and the spectators this many riders brings ou t. The track, itself was great. Next Sunday, Beginners (less than 5 races experience), Novices, and Intermediates will running for 40% trophies. Five or more will also make a special class (such as Minicycles, Powder Puff, and Over 35). I Rex Staten got a nevv 400 CZ from his Triumph·Suzuki of Pomona sponsors and won the 500 Sr. class on it. AMC Saddleback "!""'""_ _ Ken Zahrt challenged Rich Eierstedt in the 250 Sr. class but had to settle for second overall. by Ken t Nicholls IRVINE, CAL., Oct. 7, 1972 - Every now and then the weather is just righ t for motocross-cool with just a slight breeze to blow any dust away. The fourth race of AMC's Smuggler Series was blessed with such weather. Also every now and then, there is a real upset and such was the case in the 175 and Oldtimers' Combined class. In \ the first moto, Gary Doleshal and his 175 Puch worked their way up to the head of the class. N-ot only did Doleshal beat the rest of the 175'5, but he also beat aU but one of the Old timers, some having engines more than twice the size. In the second moto, Doleshal got a poor start and got beat by two bigger bikes. Still, he won his cIass, with the next 175 four bikes back. Then in the third moto, Doleshal jumped right into second overall and pushed Old timer Jim Beltinck (360 Yam) for three laps. Then, in lap four, he got by. The third moto closed out with Doleshal winning his class (really?), Rodney Jones, second. The victor in the Old timers class was Earl Reinoehl and Beltinck grabbed a second. Bill Conroy (Mail has somewhat of a monopoly on the first spot in the combined 250 Novice and Jr. cIass, but today he had to really work hard for his win. If he wasn't being pushed by ex-125 rider Eddie Coulter (CZ), he was dueling with Novice Wilson (CZ). In the last moto, he got left on the start, and when things got sorted, he was in fifth. In a display of fantastic riding, he worked up to second in three laps behind Doug Benjamin. Then on the last' lap, Conroy got by to win, as he did in the first two motos. Second Jr. was Coulter, and the Novice class was won by Benjamin as Greg Massick (Mai)· got a second. Along with the Smuggler Series is the Yamaha MiniCycIe Series and today, in the fifth race of the Mini-eycle series, there was almost a replay of last week, with under-elev.eners Jeff Ward and Brad Roberts and over-eleven Brad putiot (everybody on a Honda) mixing it up. The first moto saw Ward win with Roberts just behind. Dutoit was third overall and first in class. Then, in the second moto, Ward and Dutoit dueled for all three laps. When the nag fell, it was Ward in the lead and DULOit just behind. Roberts and the rest of the pack were nowhere to be seen. The third mota was a mirror image of the first, only with Dutoit second and Roberts third. Ward again won. giving him first in his cIass and Roberts, a second. Dutoit was the leader in the over-eleven class. There are still seven races left in the Smuggler Series, so gang, if you wan t some of AMC's goodies for yourself, come out to Saddleback next Saturday and do some winning. R.A.C.E. MX at Corona by Christopher Ostlind CORONA, CAL., Oct. 6, 1972 Tonight was not one which Ken Zahrt wiJI remember fondly, as he wen t looking for victory in the 250 and 500 Expert divisions and came up with only one second place finish for his efforts. Zahrt's best showing was in the 250 cIass, where he fmished second overall but he was never a serious threat as his Bultaco just couldn't stay with Rich Eierstedt's ultra-quick Maico. Not all the credit goes to the AMX Maico tuhers as Eiersted t's talen t cannot be ignored. He has really been getting good these past few weeks and tonigh t was an indication of what he's learned. He fired off three straight moto victories with a decisive 15-second margin in each one to put away the overall vicLOry over Zahrt and CZ rider Ray Topham. . Right now, the' only rider of Eierstedt's caliber at Corona is Rex Staten, who has now chosen to ride in the 500 class after getting his new 400 CZ. And Rex really did ride that big CZ as he and Zahrt put on some show in the 500 Expert class. The first moto had Staten and Zahrt in a heavy dice for first with the two of them banging gas tanks at the top of the zig-zag hiIJ and sending a tire roning _ down to the bottom. Staten grabbed the lead after the collision and each time h~ made a tum the tire was in front of him making him shut off to avoid tangling with it. After that, Rex just motored over for the win. In the second moto, Zahrt jumped the start and broke the rubber band. A restart was set up with only half a band. Zahrt still got the hole shot on everybody with Staten in hot pursuit. Running a very c1os~ third was Mike Krebs (CZ) from Wichita, Kansas in his first effort on the west coast. The order stayed that way for three bps when Staten made one of his all-out charges on Zahrt down the front straight. They both hit the jump at the same time with Staten's bike doing an almost straigh t-up-and-down wheelie down the track, right beside Zahrt who was really blowing his mind. That stun t really zapped Zahrt, and he had LO figh t LO stay ahead of a hard·charging Krebs. Zahrt's ride was for nothing as he was disqualified because of the start and dropped to third overall behind Staten and Krebs. This Friday night at Corona Raceway, R.A.C.E. puts on another fuU slate of motocross for Junior, intermediates and Experts. Ql .'" ., '" .

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