Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1974 04 23

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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~! Hangin' out -at Hangtown = ...:I g ~ r-C"l < By John Ulrich PLY~ IOlJrI l , CAL., APRIL 6 A sparse showing of spec ta tors wat ched to day's -Arna rc ur racing preview to the National Ro u nd s to be held tomurrow. Jeff Wecker took the lead o f the 125 Expert fir st m oto on the second lap and ne ver gave it up . By the end o f the moto the lead e rs were la p ping gobs of slo wer riders as stea m very gent ly , slowly rolled up fro m the slightly sodde n t ra ck from th e su n 's irradiat ion o f th e so il. When the checkered fla!: held, Wecker had six seconds o n second p lace Da n ny O lsen (Ho n) , wh o was fo llowe d by Nick Hall e (Ho n) a nd Mar k Sc h roede r (Pen) . T he second 125 Expert m o to saw O lsen gra b t he lead after th e start , hau nt ed b y Sc h roe de r a nd Pete Scarlett (Ho n). Sc hroed er quickly m oved up and stole th e lead from Ol sen. Scarlett pa ssed O lsen ab o u t a ha lf lap later, and Weck er foll ow ed cl os e behind. Weck er was in to a hard cha rge a nd fir st cre pt up o n Sc h roede r , the n to o k the lead for h imself. He was o ut in fron t for good . Schroede r held second and alsen passed Scarlett fo r t hi rd, b u ilding a six seco nd c ushio n be twee n himself an d Scarlett. T he n , a t th e last turn of th e last lap, a m ere 20 feet before th e fin ish line , Sca rlett j ust fell over fr om goi ng too slo w. He got up and tried to star t his bike, all the tim e nervously glancing over h is sh';ulder ' as d udes he had _.alread y lapped ea rlier passed hi m . Finally the spectators started yelling, "Push it, push it." Scarl ett suddenly decided his bike wasn 't going to start, and pushed it as fast as he could acro ss the line, barely getting there before fifth place finisher Dennis Pye att (Ho n ), w ho was still on two wheels at t ha t point. Wecker took the ove rall , with O lsen second and Schroeder third. Gary H ymes (Pen) , a Dirt R ider magazine staffer, led fro m the start u nt il the last la p of the fi rst 25 0 Expert m oto, H ymes, wh o was the o nly edi to r-ty pe from a major publica ti on to ac t ually d o some raci ng a t Han gtown, (aside fro m h is boss Dave Swi f t fr om the same rag), was in co ntro l until o ne Danny Olsen start ed to m ov e up, t h is time havin g tr aded his 125 Honda for a 250 Maico, From fourth on the first lap , Olsen mov ed fir st past T odd Snyder (Pen) . A few laps lat er it wa s Dale Stelter (Ho n ) wh o was feel ing th e hot breath o f Olsen on hi s ne ck. Ol sen and Snvd er had a heavy d u ty d ice for a while: but Olsen wo n it. In a fl ash he was up to Hymes, passed h im o n the last la p, and took t he che ckered. Dan Robert s (Bul) also got past Snyder, to take t hi rd : Hy mes ju m ped into the lea d again in the second rnot o , almost blowing it on the first lap by over coo kin g' a berm when the pa ck was still hot o n his ass. This t ime it was Brian J odry (Ho n) d oin g the pressuri ng, an d he got in front of Hy mes on the thi rd lap . A few turns later Hy mes ha d the lead again, an d Jodry ha d slowed to third behind Lar ry G urley ( ~ lai) . Hym es and Gurley went at it wh eel-t o-wheel , lap a fter lap, wh ile, back in the pack, Olsen was starting to pass everybody in sight, Olsen moved into t hird as Gurley m oved in to first, and it was Hymes an d O lsen at it again . O lsen wa s really h ot, an d he flas hed u p to battle Gurley. Again on the las t lap, Ol sen blasted in to the lead and took th e checkered flag fo u r second s in front of Gu rley . II ym es was third, Ove rall it was Ol sen , Hymes, and S tel ter, wh o won with a co ns iste n t ' fourt h and sixt u, T he o n ly lad y racin g t odav, Nan cy Th om as, ca m e al l the way from Ap pl egat e, Oregon, a t own with one sto re a nd one gas sta tio n. Sh e fini sh ed abo u t 16th in her 125 Amate u r race, in fro nt of a w hole b unch of guys. " Some lJ:UY tried to pass m e on the last lap ," she recalled in digna n t ly. "No way ! Not afte r wo rk ing so hard for tw en ty minutes - it see me d like twen ty yea rs was he going to pass m e o n the last lap . I j ust said, ' Come o n body, ho ld on!' and it d id . He didn 't get past m e. " •

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