Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

TARABUSI 0 O Made in Spa in Qua lity Complete Racing Pistons with Rings, Pin & Circlips Sta ndard & six overs izes available. 125 Bu ltaco $22.00 22.55 200 Bu ltaco 250 Bultaeo Pursang 23.65 250 Bu ltaeo Matado r 25.85 28.05 250 Bul taco 5 port 28.05 360 Band ido 125 Montesa 24.20 250 Montesa Cappra 28.05 250 Montesa 5 port 28.05 250 Montesa thin chrome 29.05 28.05 250 Montesa VR 28 .60 360 Mon tesa Cappra 25.30 125 Maico 28.05 250 Maico 360 Maico 33.00 400 Maico 33.00 250 Husky 25.85 360 Husky 35.00 405 Husky 35.20 125 Sachs-Penton 23.65 - 'S: 0. -e conferences near the pits and fmally hung it up . The pack strung out around the entire track and everyone was racing, e ithe r for third, t wen t y-th ird or thirty-third. In th is melee Thorwaidson began an unnoticed move for the lead. Unnoticed except that upon overtaking a pack of : d icing ride rs he would slip through, over, or under and spe ed off to the next dog fight. I'm not sure even he kn ew where h e w as, as he kept on pres sin g the entire moto. Towards- the end he was clearly fas ter than any of the other survivors. Unraveling the lap charts fo u nd Thorwaldson the winner of the first moto, and clearly fast er than any other rider. The 2 5 0 lo cal Expert mota was dominated by th e top local rider, Chuck Lampe , to a degree that not even th e Pros co uld ma t ch . Johnny Brown VI copped th e start and berserked it CJ CJ around in fron t fo r a lap and a half. a: Lampe calmly reeled him in, motored III by, and went off and h id. Chuck's lap times o n my T ime x were within a oJ oJ sec o nd or two o f th e 25 0 Pros, and were th e moto l He ~ about verysam e for the entir e tive style, efficient, co nserva has a even h is fa ce is in co m plete repose. By Weinert gave lessons on style while capturing Open Pro class first. the end of the mot o he had a mile lead on second place! Unreal. T he Open Pro moto was never in doubt. Weinert led from st ar t to fin ish mak in g it loo k easy . Rather than con tinuning t o push like Thorwaldson had to, and Lampe did as a tour de force, J im laid back ab ou t 20 sec o nds o ut fr o m sec ond pl ace and gave everyo ne a lesson in sm oo th ness. The b ig Kaw ch ugge d where t he 250s had screamed, as shown by the lap times, which were 10 ·20 sec o nds down from Thorwaldson's and Lampe 's t imes. It 's - good to see an ol der fellow get to work, and whip ass on those yo ung sprouts. An in terest ing side ligh t was th e By Philip Briggs eq uipmen t begin run in th e var ious clas ses - there were the Mon t esa VRs PHOENIX, AZ., MAR . 24 wi t h com plete Maico front ends (Mo nticos?) an d of co urse th e latest in rea r shock geome tries. Lots of fun n y looking angles, shoc ks, and multiple hol e b ra ck ets. A porten t of things to co me perhaps was observed in the 250 Pro class wh ere three or four of the fifty-p lus riders had sh ocks mounted clear back at the axle, and nearly strai gh t up and down. This unusual placemen t is said by some to give longer s h oc k lif e, reduce over , heating tendencie s, and is less sens ilive to spring expect ed , bu t, Sunday m ornin g fo und a over Phoen ix so me 30 miles cas t. rates and is therefore easier to t une to lot o f eager unknowns, m ostl y fro m It was 80 de grees, with a light track co nd itions. If it ca tches on California, facing Holcomb, th e J on es breez e. Last week's rain washed remember you read it first in Cycle boys, Bill Grossi, Payne, T horw alds on , the h ills and the air, and ,New s. If it d oesn' t, we didn't say it . Stat en and Wein er t . The second 250 Pro mo to was a everything w as crisp . A beau ti ful day, repl ay of th e first except for Bill and it bel o nged to T h orw aldso n, Payne's lead in the early stages: Lam pe , and Weinert. Holcomb had packed up and left: Arizo na Desert Racew ays, th e scene Meyers ate it bad while running thi rd. I o f th is ye ar 's Ph oenix Trans-AMA was watching him through the telephoto qualifier, sits in the ro cky footh ills near wai ting for a sho t of him lofting it out Liberty, Arizona. T h e 1.5 mile track is of the wash in th e middle o f the straigh t draped across a sm all valley, crossing the wh en something went wrong. I must was h tha t drains it six times. Fro m the have blinked, as I mi ssed that part, but star t a t the bottom, the track runs a t ab o u t 50 MPH it looked like he and up hill, t urns, crosses th e wash up th e th e bik e disintegra ted ra ther than h ill, turns again, goes downhill, e tc., separated. He got up, restarted and swo op ing back and forth across the VI pressed hard again but lost a lot of time was h, finally climbing to run along the CJ CJ in the incident . Thorwaldson made his rim of the val ley past the fini sh , th e a: move about the middle of the moto for sui cide j ump and t hen back down the III a replay of the first. Gary Jones looked , hill to start over. The longest straigh t is !!: good in the second moto, with his dad ab out 20 0 yards, an d th at's half on oJ oJ up there a t trackside urging him on . ei th er side of th e wash . Stri ke s me as "';;::"--,,,-----J 1: " The second Open Pro moto was also "The Zigzag of Death " thrill track. Back a replay, excep t it took Weinert a little in these hills rock is awful close to the Bryar Holcomb opened with a 25 yard while to recover from a poor start and surface. so owner/opera tor/promoter take the lead. Towards the end he was lead only to succumb to mechanical Ph il Aure n heiemer has truc ked in pulling wheelies for anyone with a co un tless loads of silty sand, and gin failures. camera , and making it look easy. And trash (Eli Whitney st yle ) t o b ui ld u p an he's so colorful in green. accept able track surface. T he fill is a t So that was it. A good day's racing. least 18 inc hes th ick, and most of the Firs t up were the 250 Pros. The fifty The track was rough, each moto was tr ack is 20 to 30 feet wid e. The san d rid ers filled th e starting line and put on dominated by clearly superior riders, whoopies . were bad tho ugh and by the a tremendous ra ce. The drop of the gate and the spe ctators got a good show. The t ime th e 25 0 Pros started t he whoopdies found Bry ar Holcomb up front (blue is track is challenging even by the were a foot de ep everywhere. Anyone beau tiful) and setting the pace. By the standards of the Pros bu t most of them wh o has sp ent a ft ernoon here on a third turn h e'd opened up a 25 yard liked it. . If there was a flaw in an 400 Suzuki would no doub t feel they'd lead with a pe r fe ct ride. The sight of the otherwise perfect day it was that so few died and gon e to hell. It's a tough tr ack, Bul tr ac king arrow straight over the top not so much on mach in ery as o n men , of us were there to experience it all. • of t he whoopdies, and grooving around and t ight an d rough eno ug h th at it th e turns as if on rails made m e swell Results fav ors go od handling over pow er, and with pride even t ho ugh my ratty SD 2 5 0 Mot o 1 : 1. Thorwaldson (SUZ) . rider skill and stamin a over m echanical 250 Moto 2 : 1. Thorwaldson (SUZ). is a lon g way from Bryar's gem. Meyers 250 Overall : 1. Thorwaldson (Suz). tri ck ery and cu b ic dollars. on a town bike held down sec o nd . Bu t Open Moto 1 : L We inert (Kaw). T he racing program co nsiste d of 3 0 Open Moto 2 : 1. We inert (Kaw) . alas, a on e-two Bult sho o-in w as not to Open O verall : L Weinert (Kaw). minute motos wi th two motos for th e be as 10 minutes into the moto it began Loca l Experts 25 0 and Open clas s Pros and on e m o t o 125 : 1. T . Warren (Pen ) ; 2 . M . Wharton to come undone. Ho lcomb slowe d, left (Hus); 3. R . Jones (Pen) . each for the lo cal 125, 25 0 and Open the tr ack trying to lap some slower 2S0 : 1. C. L a m p e (Mal) ; 2. D . Garrett Ex perts during intermissions. Near ly (Man); 3. B. Brooke (YZ). riders, and began to fall b ack. T owar ds Open : 1. D . Baydstlen lBul) ; 2. A. eve ry bi g name _ on t he tour w a s the end he made a co up le of tracksid e Macar.eg (HuS) ; 3. R . Coules rczj. .. 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