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/125834
Next y. . Randy can subtract 98. Jeff Szueber lilts hi~ in the Open Expert dass. Myers gets the plate CMC at Saddleback By John Bethea ORANGE, CAL., NOV. 4 Danny LaPorte tossed a wrench into what was going to be Randy Myers' victory party. You see, today, Randy clinched the number one CMC plate for 1974 by virtue of a ninth place overall fmish in the 125cc Experts. But, LaPorte -spoiled his 12 chances of taking number one via a win as he won both the 125 and 250 Experts and pocketed more than $300 in the process. For the past two weeks, Danny has shown tremendous prowess in the 250's on one of those remodeled Pentons. Today, he made it payoff with a clean sweep after two very tough battles with Honda's Dave Pessy, Yamaha's Morris Malone and KTM's Tim Lunde. In each moto, Pessy would break to the lead and hold for several laps or more. Then, LaPorte, likewise being pressured, would take over to eventually win. Malone, with a 2·3 showing took second cash over Pessy and Lunde, who overcame a ON F in round one to take second in two. Marty Smith seemed to have the 125's in hand, winning the first moto over Murray Hoffman and LaPorte, but, in the second, Marty's Monark blew a rod and clutch after he had worked from midl'ack to third in just a few laps. LaPorte wen t on to pull ou t the victory, Hoffman stayed in second OA with a fourth, Smith dropped to third in points and Chuck Lunde (Hon) moved into fourth with a final round second. After many improving wee ks, Ric k Sheren (Hon) dipped back down to fifth, overall. Rex Staten was here riding the 500's, so guess who won that class. Yup, and in another sweep as he sent chills up and down many a spine as he "played" over the Saddleback turf. For second, though, the race was quite different. Four riders were chasing second. Terry Clark (Hus), with a first round runnerup spot, was in flimsy control over Mike Yorba (BuI), John Fackler (CZ) and Bill Rubly (B&S). That's how they finished in round one. In the fmale, Rubly tried the spoiling role and took out in the lead, Staten second. When Rex got by, a lot of "well, there he goes" went up, only to be re·gulped when Rubly shot by again! Wow, a duel with Staten! But Rex came back again, charged to the lead, then began to slowly extend it as Rubly began to fade. Yorba was in third and very slowly edging up on Bill when suddenly ,along came Clark. The laps ticked off, Clark moved by and began to creep up on Rubly, but, time wore down too fast' and Rubly hung on to that second with Clark third and Yorba fourth. Overall, Terry still had second with a two-three, but Rubly's final drive earned him third place money, slipping Yorba back to fourth on points. Key Intermediate performances were turned in by Greg Bartock, Mike Tague and Don Bongiorno. Greg (Hon) topped the 125's with a pair of wins, as did Mike the 500 on a CZ and Don the 250's on a Honda. Interestingly, Mike Ruby (CZ) was second 250 with a ... re a d y? .. f 0 urth·third·fourth performance. Wild. Only two Juniors cleaned their respective classes. Robert Garcia (Yam) headed the second division 250's and Mark Marriott (Hon) swept the lean Mini Cycle class. Both Rudy Sayers IOO-Hod) and Mi ke Burkhardt 500-Mai) took a pair of wins enroute to their class wins. • l Schreiber Wins SCTA Trials By Ron Szilagyi BUTTERFIELD COUNTRY, CAL .• NOV. 4 Bernie Schreiber was a surprise win in the Master class because George Smith (second) just didn't have it all together. Marland Whaley was third and another surprise in fourth place was the old man, Mr. Armstrand. The sections were well organized and challenging, providing an excellent ride for the 150 participants. Butterfield Country lends itself well to trials and now the SCTA has 8,000 acres available for the exclusive use of trials even ts. Mike Hansen, Aundre Plouffe and Steve Graham were 1-2·3 in the Expert class, and Stever looks forward to a very successful season on hu new Yamaha. Kent Graham found the rocks and the loose up and down hills to his liking and easily won the Amateur class. Doug Bradbury was second and this looks like, a transfer to Expert for him. The Novice sections were ideal, challenging balance and turning in the rough banks and rocks. Mr. Collins carried the first place gold just ahead of Fred Graham and Mr. Levy. There were 24 en tered in the kids class and they are a treat to watch. I t is hard to believe a six-year-old youngster who rides a small Indian, because a mini-enduro is too tall for him, competing in trials. This is how championship riders are developed. • Betty's new, improved AMC AMC O.C.I.R. By John D. Ulrich TUSTLN, CAL., NOV. 4 Val Tamietti (Hon) blew off everybody in the first two 125/250/0pen Expert combined motos today run by Betty Lasker's new improved American Motocross Club. He took an early lead in the ftrst moto and never gave it up in spite of Husky rider Scott Miller's best efforts to take the lead away. Morgan Malocco (Yam) and Jeff Szueber (Yam) fought for third until Szueber lost it on a berm. Malocco passed Miller, wh 0 slowed enough for Szueber to also catch him just before the checkered flag. Tarnietti took the second moto win without any great challenges, with Smith second, Greg Lee (Hon) third, and Malocco fourth. In the third moto Malocco rocketed to the lead at the start and held off Tarnietti's c~arges in a wheel to wheel battle right up to the end of the moto. Toby Taki (Hon) pressured Tarnietti for second much of the time, with the three leaders leaving the pack far behind. Szueber battled Lee for fourth. When the dust cleared, Tarnietti, Malocco, and Lee held the first three 250 Expert overall positions, Taki got the 125 Expert money, and Szuebe.r took horne the cash in the Open class. The Open Beginner/Novice/Juniorl Intermediate combined featured some in teresting goings on. It seems tha t Beginner Pete Ketterhagan.'s CZ holed a piston while running well back in the pack near the end of the first moto..He pushed across the line, and. borrowed the only bike he could get his hands on to ride in the last motos. Mounted on a' Honda 125 Elsinore, Ketterhagan finished second in his class (Open Beginner) in the second moto and second overall in the third. By points, his performance was good enough for second place Open Beginner behind Dave Schilling (Suz). Steve Medina (Bul) dominated the first 250 Beginner/Novice moto, keeping fellow Beginner Dale Luedtke (Yam) at bay. Greg Wulff (CZ) lost a gas line and dropped out while running third on the last lap in front of John Rawson' (Hon). Back in the pack, Scott Wheeler (Yam), DeWayne Stark (Suz), and Jim Ball (Hus) were battling for futh, sixth, and seventh place in one of the tightest battles all day, and each moved up a place when Wulff quit. Wulff made up for his ON F in the first moto by winning the next two motos convincingly. Rawson moved up to take second in both the motos Wulff won. Medina'took third in the second and crashed on the by then cobby course in the thrrd mo to, falling back into fifth place. Wulff was first 250 Beginner overall, with Rawson second and Medina third. Wheeler, Stark, and Ball got the first three 250 Novice overall places. Pete Smith (Bul), Dave Martinez (Kaw), and Mark Balzer (Yarn) led into the first turn of the 250 J un i 0 r Iintermediate combined first moto, and crossed the finish line the same way. Smith never lost first, but Martinez and Balzer swi tched places a few times, ouly to get back in the order they started in by the time the moto ended. Smith nabbed first wire to wire in the second moto too, but this time Bob Brown (CZ) followed him around, with Martinez taking third after dicing with Randy Schloe (Bul) most of the moto. Schloe wasn't in contention in the first moto because he crashed, but this time he put plenty of pressure on Martinez as he dove into each turn, brakes squeeling and sq walling. It was Smi th and Martinez all the way in the last moto, and Schloe kept the pressure on Martinez again mos t qf the way. This time Schloe was in third, with Brown fourth. Smith and Martinez won the first and second overall 250 Intermediate 'trophies, and Brown and Schloe did the same in the 250 Junior class. Rich Reveles (Yarn) led the 125 Beginners/N ovice first moto start to fmish, and was running third in the second moto when he crashed hard and broke his bike, putting an end to his racing for the day. Chris Provost (Yam) took command and won the second and third motos,' with Bill Barnes (Pen) taking second in the second and Gary Priegel (Hon) taking second in the third. Provost was first Beginner overall, with Preigel right behind in the points standings. Danny Van Auken (Hon) won the Mini races going away 'even after losing it in the first moto. Van Auken, who also races a 125, literally smoked everyone else in his Mini motos as his XR 75 belched blue smoke like a two stroke. Officially, he was overall Mini Intennediate winner, which wasn't too hard since he was also the only Mini Intermediate, and one of only three Mini riders to finish all three Beginner/Intermediate motos. Dave Rasp (Ind) won the Mini Beginner class over Chris Carter (Hon), his only competition. Chris rode her very fJl'st race today and did all righ t. As the announcer said (stealing a line from my last AMC coverage), it was an admirable "sh ow of spunk." •