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- • • Slifpin' and a-slidin' Arizona Pro Series • • ~ E .. Bounce - Thud - Ooffl Ouch. By E. C. Birt PHOENIX, ARIZ., NOV. 25 \ Phoenix hadn't seen raIn In four months but- the Big Bike' In the Sky sure made up for lost time. It rained and rained, then just for good measure, it rained some more. The Dirt Diggers famous mud hole at Hopetown would have been the driest spot on the track this weekend. Beginner 125s were the 1lrSt bikes out on the track and after one lap you could hardly make out what kind of bike they were riding, let alone what number was on it. Yet, after the days racing was over I only heard one beef on the scoring, not due to getting the number's down wrong but on the adding of the scores. All of you young ladies who sat there all day in the cold and froze your behinds off did a superb job. The starting grid was on grass covered with standing water and slicker than vaseline on a ball bearing. When the starting gate dropped for the 125 Beginners, they figured out ery quick that it was a wee bit slick as some of them started taking soil samples with their bike on top of them. Kevin Marlnovich (Hon) broke into the lead and ran away with it. Kevin won both motos today for the second straight week. Rick Pook (Yam) put in a good race which netted him second for the day. Marlin Zellers (Bul) wound up with a third for the day. .... • .......... _ The 250 Beginners 'was also won by a Honda rider, Ken Hayes, with second place to Bernie Dugas (Hon). These two riders had a good go at each other. Both won a moto but the last win was Ken's which gave him the overall. Open Beginner was won by Roger Lyster (Mai); second to Tom Scnbner (Hus) and third to Arno Brittain (Yam). Novice 125 class was an upset this weekend for the Honda riders. First place for the day went to jerry ~anonie, second to john Riggs (Hon) with jim OWers third. The 250 Novice class was such an up and down, back and forth race, I couldn't keep it straight but 1 think the win for the day went to john Sewell (Yam), second to Greg Horrocks and his Honda, third to Greg Faust on a Husky. Open Novice cia,s went to Mike Weldon (CZ), and third to Rick Bomar (Mai) for their day in the mud. The 125 Amateur win again was picked up by Bill Meyers (Hon). This is Bill Meyers' second overall class win riding out of Honda East. Second place for the day went to Steve Derrick (Yam) with the Husky of Tim Gamble grabbing up third. 250 Amateur class 1lrSt moto was quite a moto. There were sixteen bikes HulkMl-w ..... p "da 'S in IirtuIy -V itt peiat ........... with their lap time very close to that of the pro riders. Ten Kezar is a sixteen year·young lady who has her heart set on being the best there is. Ten rides in the Amateur class with the guys and she held ner own very well last week, fInishing in the middle of the class. Today she showed that just because she's no bigger than most minibike riders and may weigh at least 100 lbs. (with boots, leathers, helmet and a big smile), Teri blew the doors off the other riders not of the feminine type. Ten's luelt didn't hold in the second moto. Because Roger Brown (Hus) got a second in the first moto behind Ten and won the second moto, he took 111"st for the day. Third was Steve Gunderson (Hon). The Open Amateur win went to Layne Hanna (Mai) with second hole to Alfred Macaraeq (Hus) and third, Pat Hurley (Mai). KaJ·t;ard saw to it that each first and second place rider g!>t a can of chain lube and poin t cleaner. It was appreciated, Kal-Gard. From the way the Pros were charging in practice, 1 could see it was going to be a battle of blood, sweat and more than likely, some b~nt bikes. The Pros were pushing every comer to its limits looking for a line in the mud. Their reward for finding out just how much it would take sometimes was sticking their head in the mud. This was the second round of the series and Larry Watkins on his 125 Tyran was holding thepoint lead by a mere two 1'0ints over Bob Wharton of Arizona. Now these Arizona boys had a week to think about this and you could see that they had made up their minds they weren't going to let Larry take home the 250 Maico that's going to the overall winner without a fight. The 125 Pros were 111"St out of the gate with Gary Hickerson on his works Husky in the lead, Brad Meuller in second, Larry Watkins in third. They . stayed this way right up to the finish of the first moto. The gate dropped for the 111"st 250 Pro moto and it was Larry Watkins and his Rickman, Chuck Lampe (Mai) and Bob Wharton (Hus) going full tilt into the first tum. Out of the 111"st tum, Watkins' Rickman got it all hooked up a little better than did Lampe or Wharton and got the lead down the front straight. Larry Watkins pulled the first moto win followed by Lampe and Wharton. The first 500 moto win went to Wharton again on his Husky, followed close behind by Craig McCann (CZ) and Stan Foster (Mai). Second moto of the 125 bikes again saw Gary Hickerson charge to the lead. Hickerson pushed it a little hard going into a tum and got off. Brad Mueller (Hon) took over the lead and held it to the finish. Ron Martinez (Hon) was in second and Larry Watkins, third. The starting area was getting chopped up IIIId.sIick by the start of the second !54t moto. Out of the starting gate and ~ the fIrst tum, the leader lost it ill dae mud and started a SCTlIP iron pile tbat looked like a WWlI stockpile. Bikes were endo-ing everywhere. Chuck Lampe tried to eat I1is handlebars and got some busted lips out of it along with a good bash in the rib cage. He in.tisted on racing and was back on the liDe for the restart. Out of the chute they came with Lampe in the lead, Larry Watkins ,second, and Bob Wharton behind him. Three laps later they were still in the same spots when Lampe lost his chain and Watkins took O'ler the lead with the pack righ t behind him. Then Watkins sucked some dirt and water in the engine and whiskered a plug. Bob Wharton (Hus) took the lead til the finish, with Keith Mayberry (Mai) second andjohn McCurry (Mai) in third place. The second Open Expert moto was a who's who game righ t up to the last lap with David Anderegg (Mai) getting the checkered fIrst. Ron Cowles (CZ) was second and Bob Wharton (Hus) , third. The last moto of the day was on the line for the 125 class. There was more nervous strain on that start line than in a june bride. Watkins had to win ·this moto to fInish high enough for the overall. The starting gate dropped and the hard-charging leaders got in to trouble as the slick mud started them hooking handlebars ending'with a chain reaction of endocs. The hlack flag came out for the restart. The gate dropped again and into the lead went Gary Hickerson on his Husky. Gary is Arizona's No.1 125 class rider and he had blood in his eye. No one was going to pass him if he had anything to do with it. Watkins, meanwhile, was picking his way through traffIc. When he 1mally moved up to make his bid for 111"St place, his bike quit. The fust crash had cu t a coil wire and he had to push across for a finish. Hickerson held on to the lead with Brad Mueller (Hon) second, but I think he was disqualified for short-<:utting. Ron Martinez had third. The last 250 moto saw a lot of tired-looking bikes and riders. The mud was taking a toll on both. Chuck Lampe wouldn't admit that he had a whole bunch of ouches going for him and a Maico broken bad enough to miss the last round, so he rode Teri Kezar's Maico. Her bike was set up a wee bit on the soft side and Chuck was bottoming out everywhere but he turned in a good ride. This moto, Sam Redman (Hon) kept it all together to win the last one. Sam is a hard charger but in the fust two motos, his bike rode him more than he rode it. Bob Wharton (Hus) hung in there and grabbed second. Third went to Lampe on the borrowed Maico. The last 500 round went to David Anaeregg (Mai) follo1"ed by Bob Wharton (Hus) and Craig McCann (CZ). December 9 will be the last race of the four week series with big bucks paid to the 125, 250 and 500 class pros. If you have no way down to the race and you want to ride the last one, give me a call at 213/542-8850 by Thursday night, December 6. We can get trailers and make a caravan to Phoenix to show them how we do it in California. This race is open to junior riders, too, so &tart ,euiD« your bike clemed up. Let's go and bring back sOllie goodies. Arizona now leads in the poin t stazac!inp. • Results: R_, Wharton Wharton Hickerson Watkins Martinez AIlder_ urry Watkins CRic-Monl. Chuck umpe (1) and Bob Wharton stuff it into . . tum _ -"*' unfortunate lifts himself from the mire. ... 34 Class 500 250 125 125 125 500 Pts. 895 894 889 887 886 882