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/125855
Hangtown Classic: In search of gold PLYMOU1lI, CAL., APR. 7 Spectators swarmed to the Sixth Ann u a I Hangtown Classic sponsored today by the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club. It was the first time the popular Nothern California race, held about 30 miles east of Sacramento, carried an AMA National sanction. It was also the first time in the AMA's fifty years, that all three AMA National motocross classes s-. were run on the same track on the same 0.. day. ~ The track was not exceptionally challenging from a technical viewpoint, with no killer uphills and downhills with hairpin turns at the top like seen at Livermore. It was very fast, and, as the day wore on, very rough. The track mud was just the right consistency for knobbies to shape into soggy whoops on the straigh ts and deep trenches in the turns. But the traction was ex cellent all over the track. The worst part of the track at its worst all day was still better than most Southern California tracks at their best after one moto. .-- "' I- ~ t l- V> Z The background for the races was really fine, a regular pastoral ideal. Hangtown is in the midst of California's Mother Lode area, spawning grounds for the great Gold Rush. The course itself was built on the site of an old mine repu ted to have yielded over S75 in gold, counted at today's prices. Lush green hills wet with dew and spotted with stately old oaks held up old barns and farm buildings around the area. The race watchers could spread picnic blankets and lunches under the trees or in the sunny meadows, wander around toting bottles of sweet wine and cooler. full of beer, or even stand in a swampy place surrounding the finish line, their feet slowly sinking into more mud than it takes to get some Southern California promoters to cancel national races. It feels good to know your engineer boots can handle more goo than Baymare's bulldozer can...or maybe it just feels sad. Marty Smith (Hon) cruising in with the 125 Overall in hand,laps Richard Sheren (Han). Gaylon Mosier (Hon) squares it off as Gary Jones (Can-Am) gets readyto do the same. But today was beautiful, the feel of the crowd was superb, and the racing , was fan tastic, 125 By John Bethea 6 Yamaha "s newest prototype, a monoshock 125cc sleek looking machine, picked the roughest track in Northern California to make its debut and although the handling was "super" according to veteran Tim Hart, it still ended up in the pits prior to the ending . of the final moto. And Hart, after a tremendous endo, had reportedly fractured his wrist in the spill. This had happened about a third of the way through the third and final National round. Hart had gotten into some trouble on the first lap, running dead last and nearly a minute behind the leaders when he came around to complete tour number one: In the second moto he had blistered the field, winning by a cool 50 seconds over the incredible eleventh grader from San Diego, Marty Smith on the factory -prepared Honda. Marty, who hasn't tasted defeat overall since February 17 and only that one time since December, had tangled with several riders off the line and had been shoved back into about 25th spot in that second race. He had won the first with a comfortable 13-second gap ahead of Bruce McDougal (HIm). However, with Hart wailing away at the point, Smith continued to be bogged down in traffic and by th e midway point was still running eleventh. Time was running out in the short 20-minute round and with just a few laps remaining, Smith suddenly found the groove again and banged his way in to second wi thin two and a half laps. By this time, Hart was on the other side of the 1.3-mile co urse and co uld n' t be seen. With Hart finishing fifth after a co me-fro m-behind flurry in the first moto, and Smith's incredible late-race bid to second, the two moto victors shared the spotlight for what was expected to be a winner take all showdown in the final. But, Marty broke to the lead right into the first turn - by far his best start of the day. He then quickly built it up to a 75-yard margin by the end of lap one and that's when it seemed sewed up as Hart was trailing the field. Marty con tinued to remain on the pipe, sliding graciously through otherwise rough corners, and perfectly judging throttle control off jumps to keep the rear wheel producing traction. In last year's unsanctioned Hangtown