Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

..... C( w a: w :I: U ...J -,- C(L---2~ -,,-- ""': ~ Jack J o h n so n (Husl cleaned u p a b ig chun k o f ORA's $1500 purse Baker-to-Vegas ra ce April 6 . . Cordis Brooks (Bull wa~ second , gettin g his share of sil ver, t o o. Ken Henry had some problems on h is w ay to t he 5 0 0 dass win. found o u t when h e go t p assed, but a t the checke re d, he gra bbed the win from Jam es Noreen an d T ony Morgan . The 125 Novi ce Main turned out th e largest entry an d j u st a bit too many fo r th e tra ck, p erhaps. The fr ee for all for the trophy spot produced barely en o ugh finishers . Lonny De atley beat Bill Railsback, while the tra ck was strewn with crash victims (no injuries). Gary Spinazze came from n ear las t to t ake third. • Up the Widowmaker By Terry Newfa rmer SALT LAKE CITY, UT A H , MAR . 3 1 Like: th e cres t o f so me gigan tic wave ab out t o break. th e grand old lady Wid o wmaker Hill, looms over the valley here, o ne tho usa nd five hundred feet high . II has never been climbed. The critics wh o said m an and motorcycle will never co nq uer th e , hill are n ot so sure n o w si nce on e r ider m ade it hal fw ay, a lm o s t t o the pl ace w he re th e hill he gins gett in g easie r ra th e r th an h arder . He w as Larry Smith of San J o se. Californ ia, run n ing a T ri u m p h twin tha t must ha ve had p ap er -thin cy lin de r w all s, because it wa s ann ounced at I ,OOOcc. Running in the Exh ib itiu n cl a ss wit h so m e kind of weird fu el , Larry lo gged a run o f 74 2 fee t , hea t in g th e n e x t closes t r id e r by over 100 fee t. What m ad e th e di ff eren c e was a sud de n rise in th e h ill a t 56 0 feet, co ve re d w ith sta irstc p h um moc ks an d sage b r ush , wh ich trapped a ny rider wh o made it th at far. Sm it h w as the o n ly o n e to ge l a d e cent sh ot a t it an d t he ne xt smoot h srre tch , whe re th e hill c ha nge s fro m sagebrush to grass. The n e xt b e st effu r t w as th a t o f Ha ro ld - Marten sen , a Uta h rid e r wh o wen t 62 7 fe et o n a red No r to n th a t looked like a ll he did wa s ta ke th e lights o ff a nd slip o n a knobh y. T alk ahOUI to rq ue ! He p rob ah ly rode it h um e a fte rwa rds. Th en ca rne Den n is Spencer. a lso of Utah , wh o ro und ed o u t t he Exhibitio n class trophies wi th a run o f 6 0 0 feet, iunning a Norton en gi ne in a rigi d fra m e tha t doesn ' t stand over three feet hi gh. The first rea l assa u lts o n th e hill star te d with th e 5 00 class, as 62 riders p ounded up, lo o k ing for a way through t ha t t ough clump o f sage b rus h . S ome fell victim to f ish tailing in th e so ft st u ff o ve r th e first hump a t 100 fe et, and many more were nailed by th e sw ell approa ching 50 0 fee t. At fir st it looked Nice little hill ! w..., C( :I: a: w u .J C( L - "--- -Z.-'-= lik e th e Peter son b o y s o f JMI in An ah eim. Ca liforn ia , wer e go ing to ru le th e class, un til Kenneth Hen ry of Minnesota sa ile d 580 feet o n a Honda. Kerry Peter son held on to secon d p lace with 5 73 o n a Ma ic o , bu t tw o Utah ns surp rize d the hi llcl imbers, begin n ing wit h Prest on Gerbe r , w ho we nt 5 64 o n a Bu lta co . Ken A rch ib ald fo llowed up wi th 5 62 o n a 5 0 0 Yamah a . ( In th e E xhibition Class, Archiba ld rode th e same b ike to 58 1, w h ich didn' t cou n t for an yt hing, b ut it w as a good ru n . ] T h e Op en class w as lackluster a t fir st , and it seemed tha t th e big hi kes wouldn't o u tdo th e 5 0 0 s, be c aus e t hey are so di ffi cult to c o n trol. But De nnis Spen ce r b roke the ice w it h a r un o f 59 4 , wh ich was answered a lmos t im medi atel y b y Min ne so ta's J o hn l\lcQu ire , who pu t on t h e 5 96 lin e . a H arl e y Triu m p h-mo un led Robe r t Terre ll of Califo rn ia ca m e back with 5 9 0 , fo r th ird . In t he E xh ib iti on cl as s, w he re e very t h ing goes , th er e w a s so me fo ol in g ar o und wi th f uel , b UI n o o ne tried cha in s. T he specialized hilld imb b ike s di dn' t see m to be th at much be t ter off. To see w h y, you have tu underst an d th e hill a bi t. Th e b ase sits on wh a t wa s on c e th e s h o r c o f an ice -age lak e, at a p ower-robb in g 5 0 0 feet e le va t io n ,- " h e T di s ta n c e t o th e r idge to p is l .!iOO Ie e t , wi th a ver t ic a l rise o f ~ O O . giving it an a ve rage s tee pn e ss o f 6 :) p e rce n I! T h e s tee p n ess is greates t in the ,5 0 0 10 70 0 fo o l range. Do wn lo w, the su rface is lo o se so il w ith smal l ro c ks, w hi c h Kivcs wa y to t uft ed grass, a n d t he n to very san dy soi l nc ar the top. Nobody pra c tice . on \\"id uwma ke r : th cy only Iry to heal he r in l"lJtnpc l it ion. • 12 SAMMX By Tom Corley IRV IN E, CA L., AP R . 6 Maico mu scle-mach ines tore up th e sad t rack last Sa tu rd av in th e SAl\1 500 Exp ert clas~. Cur t Bish op and Alan Rohrbach er s t 0 od o ut of the pack of co mb ined Expert thro tt le hand s and h ad a Sp eedw ay t ype-ma tch race, Co nsistent Roh rb ach er swep t t hr o ugh with th e first m ot o w in just to watch Bishop ta ke the se co nd m o to an d smoke 'e m wi th the o vera ll wi n . In th e small but ver y fast 2 50 Expert race the n ewl y m ount ed Bul a ce Mark Su llivan stre aked to th e front of th e p a c k an d it loo ked like he w a s goi n ' to gra h the ca sh t o day . T he n the Blue Tan ke r Bul sm oked its cl u tc h which pu t him o u t of t he ac tio n an d fro m then o n it w a s YZ a ce Ric h F ra nklin wh o m ad e t he rest pl ay follow the lead er . T he qu ic k Glendal e Yama ha go -fa st rac er Rich Frankl in had h is m ajor breako when his m ach in e w ent w acky in th e se cond m oto wh ile h e wa s smo kiri' a track fu ll o f bikers. lI is tran s b lew th e d a y fo r him but, as it tu rn e d o u t , he st ill d id n ' t lose ' cau se he w as th e on ly 25 0 Ex pe rt left. As fa r as vic to ry go es, o ne of th e fas te st Kaw M X m ac hin es t o ram b le o n the Sad tr ac k o n a Sa tu rd ay sinc e Wei nert ca me, cleaned up . T he clean green machine w as b eing gassed hy th e ove ral l w inne r Bo b Bea uvaif w h o roosted on Bu l man Bo b Willis a nd Kirk Dunn in g o n a H onda Elsinore. •

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