Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ .. "- ClOD N :;; . 0 " z ~ ~ w ~ .> U by Tom Blattler CHULA VISTA, CAL., Oct. 27,1972This was the final race in the California Motor Racing Enterprises Professional Steeplechase and Half-mile championship, and a three-way battle for the South Bay Speedway Overall Point Championship between Ward Ring, Earl Roloff, and Sal Peluso was in fun swing. Ring led the group with 308 points foUowed by Roloff with 298 and Peluso was only 21 points behind the leader with 287. To make the evening a little more interesting, Ring, who has been riding only an Open class bike also brough t out a 250cc machine so that he could hang on to his point lead. Roloff, who has been suffering mechanical difficulties in the past few months on the 250's, switched from a Yamaha to a Kawasaki, so he could try and catch Ring. Then came Peluso, who did not have an Open class steeplechase bike, and was given a ride by Jerry Renner who also was in the point standings, but gave up his ride to help out Sal. So the stage was set with all three riders going head to head in all four of the professional classes 'with the pain t championship on the line. The first race was the 250 Steeplechase Main, in which, Peluso and Ring transferred to the feature by placing high in the heat races, but Roloff, still having bike trouble, qualified by getting second in the semi. Peluso took the early lead in the six-lap Main, and never let up for the victory. Taking second was Yamaha·mounted John Allison with Pat Guthrie placing third. Ring, who ran in sIxth position throughout the race, finished fourth as a result of a crash involving the fourth place rider, George Voshell, and the fifth place rider, Tom Worfolk, on the final lap. Roloff fmished in the seven th position. The point totals after one race: Ring-324, Peluso-317, Roloff-306. The Open Steeplechase feature was race number two between the top three wi~ Ring being the point leader in this class and Roloff, second. Peluso transferred to the Main on the Jerry Renner Suzuki, but returned to his trusty Don Vesco 250 Yamaha for the Open class Main. Ring jumped out to a quick lead on his big 750 Triumph, but Peluso, on the little 250, was not going to let him get Sal Peluso leads John Allison (40) and Pat Guthrie (53) in the Steeplechase Main. Photos by Michael Kennedy. too far away. Peluso continued to close the gap on Ring. On the fifth lap of the six-lap feature, Sal tried the .slide.for-life on Ward in the first turn, but Peluso and Ring hit and Sal almost went down but caugh t it and kept running in the second spot. At the checkered flag, Ring took the win with Peluso only a bike length behind for the second position. Allison, riding the 360 Yamaha, finished third. Roloff, also on a 360 Yamaha, placed in the fifth spot. After two races, the point totals .ead: Ring-354, Peluso-341, Roloff-322. The third race for the point championship came in the 250 Half·mile Main, as both Peluso and Ring qualified for the feature, but Roloff's bike could not make it, and Earl was out of the point race. Still, Roloff finished the year with seven main even t wins to his credit and a third overall in poin ts, which is not too bad for a 15·year-old. In the 250 Half-mile, Allison took an early lead with Peluso and Rob Morrison of Perris righ t behind. Peluso and Morrison then passed Allison and the two battled to the halfway point of the 10-lap Main event. But, on the sixth lap, the black flag came out to halt the race, as Ward Ring fell hard in turn number one. At this point, it looked like Ring would be out for the rest of the night with a twisted leg, but Ward got another 250cc bike from Dave Emde, Dan's younger brother, and restarted at the back of the pack. When the race was restarted, Peluso and Morrison continued their battle for the top spot with Morrison winning the feature right at the checker over Sal. Scott Marshall rode his new Kawasaki to a third place finish with Ring unable to place in the top ten to collect any points. With just one race remaining, this made the point standings Peluso-371 and Ring-354. . Soderstrom. Several pOSItIon changes each lap served to make this one of the best races of the day. Doug Mason, on a Bultaco, beat off the likes of Mike Myers, John Sprague, Tom Heard, Jim Wright and many others to win the 250 Expert Main. Doug was out running along with Mike Myers holding off David Rees and the rest of tile pack. Here I am again, always telling the world that the 500 Novices are just as fast as the 500 Amateurs. Well, on his first Amateur ride, Buck Rich outrode John Sandona, Casey Callender,. and crew to win. In his third Amateur ride, Richard Denham followed Rich to take third. Riding on the thin edge of can trol, Yamaha-mounted Scott Smith rode to victory in the 500 Expert class, closely followed by Vince Graves on a Suzuki-powered Boyd and tellinas frame. Tommy Jamagan and 'Jim Connolly had it out after the checkered nag in turn one. The dust was getting pretty thick and Tommy managed to go down. Jim, who was really pushing it to the wire, had no place to go and both riders were down. No injuries, but close. 15 Year old Earl Roloff finished third in the points championship at South Bay. 0-37 IT Scrambles by Ed Drechsler PERRIS, CAL., Oct. 29, 1972 - The Powder Puff Association didn't have any thing better to do, so they' pu t on their first Pumpkin Scrambles. There were no pumpkins to be s<;.en, but Powder Puffers were allover the place. These wonderful women put on one of the finest races of the year. The only problem was that will all of them officiating and flagging and such, there were not enough of them to form a class. Those girls that did want to race had to ride with the men. Pam Hill managed a fourth in the 125 Amateur class, and that was about the best showing a girl made, what with mechanical problems. The rest of them got DNFs. Rickey Milner led the Kawasaki parade to the wire in the 100 Expert class. The lap times on this class come very close to equalling that of the Open Expert class. Ole "Rubber Legs" Milner looked as though he were on a Sunday cruise with the lead he built up over Wayne Whisenant, Vic Hensley, and the rest of the pack. Rob Morrison had some trouble and ran up a DNF. Brian King managed to make up for some non-spectacular starts and grah the 125 Expert win. After getting past the number two man in each moto, Brian managed to display the results of his tuning talents as his Yamaha gobbled up the track. Lloyd Quintard, Rex Hailey and Scott Smith gave chase but ended up overall in that order. Poor Randy Roderick. Last week, at Elsinore, he was the victim of some rock-rolling idiots who managed to deposit a melon-sized rock in his path. Zaapp. Instant destruct for both his rims. This week he did a headstand slider going in to turn one as he tangled with another 250 Amateur. Maico·mounted Jim Rees managed the class win. John Sperry's Suzuki outsJid Charlie Gann and Charlie Soderstrom in the 175·200 Expert class. Sperry jumped to the lead in each moto and lead it to the wire. Charlie Gann, who rode his first race in a year last nigh t at Elsinore and won it, fought tooth and nail with What's the hurry? ... 1 uti h ... .I~ aV' 4 .lot ... ..... L.o C.H. Wheat, the new general manager of the west coast Maico distributor, Cooper Motors, showed up with his famous 501 Maico. Yep, he was going to take a Sunday off and ride for the fun of it. It didn't word out that way. .Kirk Redding needed a ride and C.B. let him have it. While Kirk was out winning mota two, another Maico rider was having some carburetion problems, and C.R. took the time to rebuild it for him. All this with a smile on his face. Kirk Redding also had a smile on his face. Stuck with the problem of no ride - no points, he gladly accepted a ride on a machine that until now he had only head of. It took him a little time to get used to it, bu t once he did, he flew. John Sprague, the guy with the big "S" on his chest (Vic Hannan). Richard Marquis and the rest of the Open Experts Jed him for a very short time. After he got up to the front runners, it became Kirk's show. In the tmal race of the nigh t, the Open class Half·mile, both Ring and Peluso sat on the front row of the Main. But in this race, a new contender had arrived in' the person of Larry Collie. Ring grabbed the lead at the start, but Collie, aboard his Beach Cycle Triumph, flew past Ring like Ward was standing still to take over the lead. Peluso stayed in a very steady third position, knowing if he ran third in the race, he would win the championship. Ring tried to stay with Collie for the first half of the Main even, but Larry's Triumph was just too much for Ward. At this point, Peluso was moving up on Ring for the second spot, and on the seventh lap, Sal took the second position. Canie, running a fantastic race, was the winner followed by Peluso and then Ring. With that second place finish in the final race, Sal Peluso has become the 1972 South Bay Speedway Overall Champion with 395 point. Ward Ring tmisbed second with 374 and Roloff third with 322. Peluso also won the most Main events at South Bay this season with 17 followed by Ring with 14, Roloff with seven, and Collie with six. 4.{JGI,....-c:; .Gii.::J.f ' ... 4 i~l J .... 1

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