Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

to o ~ w Z w -' U >- U Ascot H a l f - m i l e - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GARDENA, CAL., Oct. 13, 19'12 Dave Aldana is riding a new hot streak. The Santa Ana flash returned to Ascot after winning it all in Sacramento the week before and did a repeat act in the Dash and Expert Main even t. Dave topp~d Lloyd Houchins and Tom Rockwood in the opening heat race and then came back to put it' on Rockwood in the Dash. Eddie Wirth upset Frank Gillespie, Ron Moore and Keith Mashburn in the second heat bu t could pull no better than a seventh in the Main. Moore jumped in e.arly to challenge Aldana in the Final but was pressured in the late laps by Gillespie and Rockwood and finally ended up in fifth place, behind the late running Houchins. The Expert Semi went to Paul TrojanSpeedway----- Pressgrove from Kansas but the out-of-state found the going rough in the Final and ended up in ninth place. Highly regarded Oklahoma Junior, Bruce Townsend came to Ascot for the first time and started off well with third fastest time in the time trial .. But it ended there. Bruce then ran fifth in the heat race and out of the Transfer in the Semi with a fourth place finish. Brian LaPlante, who has had troubles finding the winner's circle most of the season, borrowed a machine from Harold Allison at the last minute and won it all. He came from laSt place to win his heat race and then jumped in front at the start of the Junior Final and held off both Tom White and Tom Horton from start to finish. Rick Hocking was reported to be still by Art Loya turn, C 0 b erJy ' s mac h'me. load e d up on SOUTH GATE, CAL., Oct. 12, 1972 him, and in the instant that it took him It was big league stuff all the way to clean it ou t, Swett was on his way tonight at the fifth-mile oval with with second position. At the checkered Dennis Briggs. 17, of Tustin, providing.It was C b S wett, C 0 b erIy, or ett over the punch in only his second appearance Briggs, Byars, Brian Garcia (Yam), and of the season in winning the 100 IT Jim Medlin (Oss). Main, and then defeating one of the most fired-up fields in the 250 F.T. Main event. Sponsored by Kawasaki Motor Corporation, young Briggs earlier won his TT heat in 250 competition over the' track's top Seniors, Dan Corbett (Bul), Allen Sweet (H<>n), and Paul Coberly (Bul), placed second in the 100 IT heat, was third in the 250 F.T. heat behind Corbett, and Bob Byars (Yam), third in the semi-main, placed fourth in the 250 IT Main, and finished second in the 100 FT. feature. Not too bad a record for a night's work and a new come; to the ranks. Taking the lead from a 14-rider field in the 250 IT Main. point leader, Dan Corbett (Bul) was pressed .by number one plate holder, Paul Corberly, Swett, and Briggs on the first lap of the 10-lap Main. In a burst of speed in the front stretch that even surprised Corbett, Coberly surged ahead to assume the lead on the second lap as they headed into the fjrst comer. From this point on, it was strictly a four-rider race for the lead. Coberly gave ground under Again, taking the lead on.the first lap Corbett's pressure as Corbett regained of the final Main, Corbett this time lead over Briggs, Chuck Hatcher \ /'Monl' the lead. Swett, who has gained a reputation Garcia, Wiles, and Dennis Porter (H-D . for never giving up, challenged Coberly On the second lap, Briggs who by this for second on the next five laps. Op the time had already gained much of the final lap as the pair headed for the final attention of all those in attendance, Feet up and scarf flying D~ve Aldana disappeared. spending his Oakland indoor race winnings and did not compete- in the Novice class ·this week. This left John Gennai with no serious challengers and he again won it all. Hank Scott led the first two laps before giving way to Gennai. He then pushed the top Novice all the way to the finish. _ add e d the final punch of his evening's . performance as he grabbed the lead from Corbett as they raced coming out of . tum two. Corbett, who earlier overcame a bl own seal problem by changing from a 420 fuel jet to a 460 jet that enahled him to win the TT Main, was having another problem in holding off Hatcher for second spot. Hatcher ~ f sponsore d b y T om ' s C yc Ie 'rom L as . Vegas, was also havmg a pro bl em, t h at of finding the handling characteristics of his new Montesa. On lap six, Hatcher Perris TT ""':"""":'':''''""_:- , by Elaine Jones PERRIS, CAL., Oct, 7, 1972 - Rick Milner exploded on the Perris scene with a super fast 175cc Kawasaki. Steve Bales who has previously dominated the class could do no better than second which ain't too shabby considering they both posted the fastest times of the evening. Gary White was third. Each moto was close with Rick's riding poise being the deciding factor. . A teammate of Rick's, Mike DuBont, was also finding the jump a rather scary experience in the Amateur-Expert moto. Mike is getting the hang of his new machine each wee1¢ and ran third in this hotly contested race that saw Walt Foster, the even tual overall winner, dump it in the first ·_heat. As it turned out everybody made a mistake 'lI1d Paul Lambert grabbed the second from Mike. Jerry Renner lookea very good winning the Novice Moto 11 from Fred Scurlock and R. G. Stone. Bob Herrick won Division I from Dennis Thomas and Bob Grant. The 250 Amateur-Expert class was full of surPrises. the biggest being ~ new bike. C.H. Wheat and Bill Trott are two of the parties involved and Doug Mason was doing the testing. There are still a rew bugs that became apparent but the machine is fast as was evidenced during practice where Doug was pulling 350cc's. Bob 'Graves started things off with a good win but as he has been doing in recent weeks at Perris h.e just. can't put it together in the other goes. Gary White was cooking on all cylinders. and came up with the win but it was close. Bob was second and Bob FrauenbeI'l(er third. In the 250 Novice n each of the top three riders were capahle of taking the overall win and on other occasions had. Dusty Mudd who hasn't been around for a while pulled off the trick with Pryor Campbell another stranger second. Mike Beck had been taking all the wins Iii this class but did no better than third. Randy Montgomery, fast becoming a familiar name in the win column did it again in the 250 Novice Division III over This weekend finds the pro riders at Ascot on Friday nigh t and then moving to San Jose for Sunday afternoon and the "Race of Champions" that will pay over $11,500 in total purse for the event that will feature all eigh t riders that won the eleven National Half-mile and Mile races this season. - smiling Brian Garcia and Vern Maxwell. Larry Vermillion won Division I. Wiley Miller took his Kawasaki to the front and kept it there to win the 125 Novice 1. My hard luck friend Richard Beck is getting closer to the top as he took second and Vern Maxwell picked up another' third. Greg Byers won Division 1. Randy Monroe, riding under a new number, won the 100-125 Amateur-Expert but he almost lost the whole ball game when he developed bike problems the last moto. Rex Hailey got his Bul home for the second and Jim Wood was third. Happiest of th.e 100cc winners had to be Robert Friese. Bob is a familiar face or at least an arm to most of the riders since he works as a finish f1agger. Riding a Ho.nda in a mini-eycle frame really made his work even harder. It takes quite a bit of ability to take a body that is almost six feet tall and get it situated on that smaIl bike and then ride the tinally found the groove and passed Corbett to take second, but three laps later while in the process of closing the gap on Briggs, spilled in the south tum J'ust after taking the white flag. But it was still not over for Corbett. While all the eyes were focused on the three leaders, the "Super Mex", Garcia, was still in contention, and he came up with a briJlian t last lap effort and, to everyone's surprise, caught Corbett in the final few feet before the flag and took second. Coming through for fourth place was Porter. Salvaging a fifth place finish was Hatcher despite his fall finishing ahead of Medlin, Bob SpiCer (Tri) , Don Remp (Oss), Byars, and Jeff Wiles (Yam). Sentimental favorite, Tom Doty (Hon), qualified for the evening's hard luck award by leading both the 125 TT and F.T. Mains by a comfortable margin before dropping out of competition due to a loose coil wire. In the IT Main, Doty lead for four laps before team mate, Rick Anderson (Yam) inherited the lead and the race. In the F.T. feature, Doty lead the first five laps by a comfortable margin, but a six lap effort by Anderson closed the gap on Doty before Doty relinguished the lead to Anderson for the second time when a disconnected coil wire caused Doty to head for the pits. Jim Miller (Yam) finished second ahead of Don Rockwood (Ric) another of the racing Rockwoods from Gardena. . Robert Murray (Kaw) showed h1'S class in winning the 100 F.T Main oyer Briggs (Kaw) who too.k second on the final lap from third place finisher, Bill ...:.S::,no:.d::g;;,r::as::,s..:,(::.S::.uz:,:),;,., _ crazy thing to a win. Jay Wagner and Bob Christ were second and third. Rick Younger and John Erickson won Divisons 1 and Ill. Speedway Dates Cut Speedway promoter Bob Danforth of Thermal, California recently announced that the proposed speedway racing dates of October 28th and November I Ith at Indio's Riverside County Fairgrounds have been eliminated. "There would have been no feasible way to moving a proper speedway surface. in, run a show and then move it out in case they wanted to stage another rodeo there," explained Danforth. "Unless a miracle happens, we'll have to wait until next year or much later in the season before attempting any racing at the fairgrounds. Anyway, the October 28th and November 11 th dates are off now."

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