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/125805
'" u o IJl ;: W Z W ..J (J :> (J The 250 Experts try to get going. Charles Soderstrom 15). and Rick Marcus (on the Honda doing a wheelie). Wow! It's ~me of them famous magazine guys, Pete. uh, sounds like Czechoslavakia, and super whats-.his-Hunk. 0-37 IT at Adelanto by Ed Drechsler ADELANTO, CAL., Oct. 14, 1972 Tommy Jamagan, Vince Graves and Jim Connolly ran away 'from the rest of the 500 Experts. In all three matos, the rapid trio left the pack in their quest for the checkered flag and opened a I(ap of as much as a quarter lap. Connolly, on a A bunch of 44's. Dan McWharten (144) was ""i0nd Amateur ahead of third place Randy Roderick (44) and Doug Perrault (2441. trick Kawasaki which, by the way, is the "Dirt Bike" magazine Project Bike, had his hands full with Vince Graves. Vince managed to hold off repeated attacks of last year's N umber One rider. Jamagan had some very good dices with Graves, bu t for the most part, emerged DISTRIBUTORS BATT'ERY THE MOTORCYCLE . fiELD IS WIDE OPEN! QUALITY & APPEARANCE IDENTICAL TO THE LARGEST SELLING BATTERY IN THE-INDUSTRY as the unqualified'victor. Suffering his first serious mechanical breakage this year, Kirk Redding lost both the primary chain and the drive chain during a two lap practice run prior to mota one. Very obviously, with Kirk in there it would have been a four-way battle for the gold. Jim Connolly really has had his share of mechanical problems this year. Riding primarily rna tocross, Jim seems to break in every race he attempts to ride. Today was no exception. During practice, he seized his Bul in lum one; high-sided and had the bike land on him. The handlebar went through the opening in his helmet and the observers though t he had really had it. A t any other track, it might have been tragic. Because he landed' in soft s.and he sustained absolutely no injury. Danny Hackie showed up to challenge Charlie Soderstrom in the 250 class. Rick Seiman and Pete Szylagyi of "Dirt Bike" magazine were supposed to transport his bike and arrived late for practice. When the bike did get there, Danny dropped it, the throttle stuck open, and to stop it he had to rip off the ignition leads (wonder why they don't put kill buttons on test bikes). After that it wouldn't run, so Danny left for his brother's party. With Danny gone, that left Dennis Briggs (on a Windy Briggs trick Kawasaki), Jim Wright, Mike Myers and ~harlie Soderstrom to do battle for tJ1e 250 gold. Charlie was favored as he )Von the 200 class 'llmost uncontested,.Mike . Myers fooled us all. He won his heat, and then proceeded to give riding lessons in the Main. . Charlie finished poorly in his hea~ trat:lSferred to the Semi and seized. Jim Wrill:ht, who finished second in the 200 class, also got a second in the 250 class. Dennis Briggs, who won the 100 class, was third. It was Richard Denham's second ride as an Amateur. The pressure of the first ride may have the cause of a poor showing, but he didn't let it bother his ability today. He ended with a second overall. He seemed to be a little more at ease in his new surroundings. Keep it up, Richard. The lightweight and ultra-lightweight classes had some cold wind to contend with, bu t when the heavyweigh ts 'Were up, the wind vanished and conditions seemed like they were going to be perfect. After practice, a decision was made to water each sweeper ligh ting. The driver misunderstood and flooded most of the track. Now at midnight ti,e water doesn't evaporate very fast. A lot of dry sand was thrown on the track which seemed to help and it was dragged and rolled to get it ridable. The first mota of the 500 Novices saw seven riders go down in tum four. Some got up and fell several more times.. Funny, the leaders didn't fall once. The rest of the heavy weigh Is had the same problems to lessening degrees. Some of the Open class riders hung it up after their first mota. . Denny Junker hung in there for a second overall in the combined Open class. John Sprague won it, with Randall Bowsman roaring across for third. You w.ould - neyer get me on one of these thundering behemoths•. Wayne WhiseJ\ant and Elaine Smith both .took rides to the h.ospital. Initial reports indicate no severe injury but they both did spectacular nUll)bers .. See y ·.J..I.at Elsinore O·:tober 21·; then Perris, October 29. ,. NRA Flat T r a c k - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ P.O. Box 161 Moraga, Cal. 94556 (415) 845-0444 SOLE NORTH AMERICAN AGENT FOR CHINA STORAGE IAnERY -CO. TAIWAN by Christopher Ostlind CORONA, CAL., Oct. ll, 1972 Tonight's N .RA. sponsored Half·mile and Short Track was highligh ted by convincing wins by Ricky Milner in the 250 Expert Half-mile and Walt Foster in the Open class. Foster completed in the Short Track as well as the Half-mile and in both areas he clearly dominated the opposition with his confident riding style and unchallenged power of his machine. The only rider to give Foster any kind of race at all was Dennis Junker in the Open Short Track. Junker's Short" Track challenge was not one of those "press 'em" at the start and hope they fall" things. He kept at it the whole way and was only yards behind at the finish of each mota. All this pressure and Junker is only an Amateur. While the Open machines were no contest for first, the 250 bikes were just the opposite. The most hotly contested division was the 250 Expert Half·milers with Ricky Milner coming through with the overall. He had to work for it though with hard charging Tim McCool and Short Track winner Mike Myers hot on his tail. Milner had to come up through traffic sometimes but he always made the points when they counted and did take the $31 home for the overall wm. Tim McCool who was second in the 250 Half-mile was also a double high finisher as he took the 125 Short Track title. Both fmishes took a lot of heads up riding along with a super prepared bike.