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/125856
HONDA AND PENNZOIL WIN ATHANGTOWN --- 'C 0.. -c They went that-a-way. 250 Juniors Dwight Stayer (93 CZ) and Greg Butz.er (9G Bull go t third and fourth fo r the day . ' AME M X , By Lane Campbell VALENCIA, CAL., APR. 14 With the entry cut by the nearby National, AME combined classes and ran off a three moto program in near record time, using the Dunes' "International" circuit. In the crowded 125 Beginner class, Scott Faulkner and Lynn Van Noy swapped each other a first and a third apiece to go into the third moto tied. John Greenway, who could do no better than sixth first time out, pulled off a spectacular coup at the start of the second moto, Coming off , the line , Greenway hit the hill turn high and outside, apparently bottled up in abo ut sixth or seven th spot. He banked off the powdery berm (co vering up a few stray spectators in the process) an d knifed through the leading we dge of riders to be first down the hill and into the esses , Faulkner passed him in the far end of the course and held him off for the rema ind er of the twenty min u te m o ta. Fa ulk ner's efforts to break the tie during the final m oto en de d in disaster. Nobbled in t o fo urth from t he start , he wo rked h is way to second d ur ing the first lap , then fell while trying to get aro und Van Noy o n the o utside. Scott then pulled out all the stops tryin g to catch the leaders an d cras hed heavily between the whoops a t the far end of the co urse. What with the corner flagger being slow on the uptake, several riders got by without seeing the yellow. One o f them endoed over Scott, to compound the trouble . During the con fusion , Greenway took the lead and won the, moto to put together a second Overall. Larry Watkins was spe ctacular in a run away 250 Senior win , and Steve Maxwell properly broke in a new ree d-valve Husky by winning the 250 Intermediate. A tie -breaker battle failed to materialize in t he 125 Senior division when Tony DeLaTorre stopped early in the third moto with an unexplained case of bike gre mlins, losi ng two laps. In the 125 I n termediate division, Craig Egerman steadily im p ro ved his positions m o t o by moto (3 -2-1) to win the class. A gophe r wa tched two o ut of t hree m o t os from his ho le less t han a foot fro m the outer rim of the Hill T um. Once he had consumed all the availab le chow (any gras s growing with in reach ) he ch ucked his fron t door full of di rt and split for parts un kn own . T y p ical • t urkey spectator. Results 100 Beg : 1. B i ll A c li n (Y am ) : 2 . D av id A be r c r o m b ie ( Hon); 3 . Ste ve R ichar d (S u z ) . 100 Jr : 1. Bobby Jones (H on) ; 2. Je ff Dr umme n (HOd) . M in i s: 1. Lee O ' Neal (Hon ); 2. B o b Kline (H o n): 3. JOhn De La Torre (Hon) . 125 Jr : 1. D a n Wade (Kaw); 2 . Scott B r own (Hon ) ; 3. J i m Roy ( Hon) . 125 Int : 1. Crai g Egerman (HOn); 2 . Mark R itchey(yz) ; 3 . B ill Cook (SU Z). 1 25 Sr : 1. V i n ce n t Clark ( Su z ) : 2. Ga r y Huber (Pen) ; 3. Tony DeLaTorre (Pe n /Mnk) . 125 B eg: 1. Lynn Van Noy (Hon); 2 . John Greenway (Han): 3 . David GoOdrich (Han) . 500 Jr : 1. Mit ch Alread rczr. 25 0 Jr : 1. Ron W in k e l man ( YZ) : 2 . John Nagel rc z j : 3 . Dw igh t St r ayer (CZ ) . O ld T i mer: 1. M ar lon G etche ll ( Su z) ; 2. W es Sharp (H o n) ; 3. D ic k W r ig h t (Pu c ) . 25 0 B eg: 1. S t u Fa ulkn er ( H on ); 2 . Mark Hofma n (CZ1 : 3. De an McCoy (H on ). 250 I nt : • St eve Ma x w ell (H u s) ; 2 . Wayne Carlton (M all : 3. Bob G allemell i (Bu l ) . 2 5 0 Sr : L La r ry Wa tki ns (Hon ) ; 2 . R u ss McAfee (B u l ) : 3 . V o n Pet erson (C Z ) . 5 0 0 Sr : 1. Tom Cl a ire (CZ) ; 2 . D enn i s Cl ar k e rcz n 3. Tony L anzarone (Mai) . Dunes Combo-cross By John Grout VALENCIA, CAL ., APR. 7 BI L L GROSSI 250cc WINN ER Team Honda rider Bil l Grossi outdistanced th e 250cc f ield in the A MA Nat ional Series opener at Hangto w n. T eam Honda and Gro ssi get champ ionshi p caliber engin e protection fro m Pennzoi l 2-Stroke Motorcycle Oi l. A BCA-sanctioned co mbo-cross, used a lengthened Shad ow Glen track t hat incl ude d a pair of high-speed water crossings at Indian Dunes. While the 4th annual "World Mini Grand Prix" was unfold ing on the International co urse at the park, the big bik es zipped in to ac ti o n , with all divisions co n testi ng a series of 45 -min ute m o t os or heat races, on an obstacle course that had been stretched to approximately 2 ~ m iles for the program . Larry Watkins , Tom Bar ne tt and Martin Tajara, all ridi ng in a com bined grouping for th e t hree Expert divisions, scored handy victories in class, wi th Watkins the overall winner at th e conclusio n of th e lengthy 45 -mi n ute gri nd. , Taking his initial ride on one of the new Hondas, Wa t kins rolle d rapidly aw ay from a 250 crew which inclu ded, among others, Steve Ro be rts (Hon), Ch ris Bartlett (Hus), Tom Grant (YZ) and Kawasaki-m ounted Mark Hateley. After the first lap, the re was never m uch doubt about the final outcome, though the remainder of the field managed quite a bit of position swapping. Tajara, who was rattling a swi ft Husky , tallied an Open Expert victory at the expense of Manuel Torres (Yam). Tom Barnett (Hon) collected his share of the cash p urse fo r 125 Experts, following an early-lap back-and -forthe r with Mike Hill (Hon) an d Puch-rnounted J eff Wright, among others. With 45 m embers of the Old T im er s' Club out to contest their p art of the racing show, di vision al victories wen t t o Blac kie Lewis, ri di ng a bi g-bore Maic o agai ns t t he Mas ters a nd Manny Dau ber (CZ ) over Experts. Ken Eid e (Yam) p ick ed up th e win at 100 Junior, lap p in g all but secon d p lace Ke nny Kr au se (Hod) . George Viens, who was cam p aign ing a rapid Monar k fo r the R o torcycle Shop o f San Fernando , was vict orio us over a 3 7-racer fiel d of 125 Novi ces. Ch ri s Burgeson ( C~) sco red a Io n goy ardage win agains t a lar ge gro u pi ng of 250 Ju ni ors. Den n is Leigh , w ho m ove d his CZ u p q uickly in th e last few lap s of h is 45 -mi n ute even t, gra bbed a narrow win in the Open J uniors. Lloyd Boland (CZ ), who hel d the lead for m ost of the race , was second. T he ne x t grand pri x-styl e racing program at the 'Dunes w ill be held April 2 1. • MA RTY SMITH 125cc WINN ER Smith chalk ed-up another w in as he disposed of t he 125cc fie ld at the AMA Nationa l Series opener. Marty Smit h uses Pennzoi l 2-St roke Motorcycle ' Oi l. Take a tip from these Team Honda winners. . .i f what you ride is worth cari ng for , Pennzoil is worth asking for. PENNZOIL COMPANY 9.