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/125852
/ , St. Patrick's Day GP 'midst the Green Hills o'Carlsbad It is also biza rre to see dirt bik es t ry road racing o n kn obbies. / C~mbined 250-500 By John H uet ter CARLSBAD, CAL ., MAR. 17 It didn't count toward Dist rict 37 rider point totals this year and there were no big bucks to attract the pro riders so the turnout was a bit thin compared to last year's monster CRC St. Patrick's Day Grand Prix at Carlsbad Raceway. The result was more down-home racing that was in no way cutthroat ; in most ways fun for the several hundred riders who trucked out to the U.S. 500 GP site. Jerry McNeal strung together a course that had a touch more pavement while being, at the same time, very fast and very rough. The cobbiness of the off-road •portions demanded that you watch your wheel placement and Why di d a ll the 125 guy s do wh eelies ou t of this co rne r? If you had th e co lones, t his downh ill at the end of a fifth gea r straight was th e p lace to pass. throttle control while the two long straights, one asphalt and one dirt, had virtually everybody tapped out in fifth (or sixth if you had that many gears). The happy entrants who ran for finisher trophies in lieu of pins seemed to dig on the speed and most of the CRC 's regular desert riders kept their desert gearing - to good advan tage, It worked out like it was supposed to with Intermediates or Experts winning the Combined Nov/lnt/Ex classes. None of this embarrassing stuff about guys who entered as Novices blowing off all the established Experts. Could cherry-picking be on the decline? The only disappointment for the unreconstructed m ot ocrossers was that more of the actual Calrsbad motocross course wasn't used. It was, as advertised, pavement, cross-country, and prepared course, without too m uch prepar ed course. The running time (45 m in u tes) and difficul ty o f the course about balanced ou t . It was really no sweat to push it the wh ole way if you were in any kind of co ndition . A lot of racers surprised themselves by d oing well fo r that length of time. Among the fas ter ones, who also figured in t he resu lts for even bigger trophies, wa s Bob Co le wh o dominated the biggest 250 Beginner class. _ Keith Baker had an inc redibly trick XR· 75 with about eight inches of suspension travel and an exhaust note like a 350-Four . He was going maybe 50 or 55 on the asphalt en route to a Combined Mini/PP win . Sue Kannon was second overall, first Puffer in a class that didn't see too much dicing or wheel-to-wheel racing among the ladies. Bob Henry led the Combined 100-125 Nov/lnt from start to finis h stretching out a lead that looked like half a lap by the end. The rust three Experts in the a1! Everybody class were as fast as non-professional good Experts sho uld be as Craig Adams (400 Hus], Rick Blom (383 CZ), and Bob Warren (250 Hon) had a lap or so up on a goo d portion of the field by the end of 45 minutes. First Novice was Dale Luedik" on a 250 Yamaha. He looked a little tired on the last two laps but was able to hold on to a lead that was eroded just a bi t by Chuck Williams (Hus). Spectators and flagmen got off on the crazy dude who was riding this class on an enduro bike with the lights on (I t was safer, no doubt, that way.) Too bad it didn't have a hom because Dave Schoonmaker finished second Open Novice on what he claimed was a 367 KTM. Tom Bush aced him out on what he claimed was a 400 Husqvama. Bill Sears (CZ) continued to win the Old Timers' class as he does most times in these longer races. His jersey has "Pass with care" written on the back. Most of the time, he doesn't have to worry about being passed. His gray hair looks very distinguished poking out from under his helmet. T he fog rolled in, the sweaters went on, b ut it never rained and all those knobbies will continue to cry for traction as the So uthern California adobe gets drier and drier and drier. It's a whole different style of racing. • Results 100·125 Beg: 1. David Messimer (SUZ)o 2 Gary Graham (Han); 3. Ruben Roman (HOn): 4. Robert Boggs (Hon); 5. Jim K intz (Hon) ' 6· Larry D vse r t (DKW). • • 250 Beg: 1 . Bob Cole (Han); 2. Jim Herman (Vam); 3. Scott Pfeiffer. 175/0pen Beg : 1. Jack Hili. 2 . Russell Kaatz (Vam); 3 . Mike Moak (Vam); 4. T om Foreman. Sr . (SUZ): 5 . Tom Foreman Jr (SUZ). • I Mike Henry got extra lift by fly ing into th e wind on his way to an overall win. I Some riders got mo re traction th an they needed on the asphalt start. Some jum ped the sta rti ng rope and got th or ou ghly ta ngled up. ~,....,--- 10 • Mlni/P.P.: 1. Keith Baker (Han); 2. Sue Kannon (Vam) : 3. Andy Northrup (Hon)' 4 Jan Stanley; 5. Sherry McClure. • • 10Q..125 Nov/lnt : 1 ~ Bob Henry (Han)' 2 B ill N o ble (Pen); 3. Mike Foreman (Hon/ : 4' Chris Haas (Hon); 5. George Forte (Yam: 6 ' Mike Lee (Suz). 1. Corkie Moore (Yam) . • • 25 0· 500 Nov/lnt/Ex : 1. Craig Adam s (Hus); 2 . R i c k 8 10 m (CZ). 3. B ob Warren H o n ) ; 4. Larry K opp (CZ); 5. D a le Luedike V am ) ; 6 . Chuck Williams (Hus). 7. Russ H offman (Hon); 8. Tom Grbavach (Hus); 9 . Tom Bush; 10. Dave Schoonmaker (KTM)' 11. Ken Ellison (Hus); 12. B ill Sears (CZ); 13~ Robert J ones (SUZ): 14. Louis Hachnlen (Suz).