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/125857
... 0- -< John Hateley (98 ) and Mark Williams (hidden by Hateley ) lead int o the Expe rt first turn. Story and Photos By Marty Gregory BOISE, IDAHO, APRIL 19·21 It starts on a Friday afternoon and winds up on Sunday around nightfall. It attracts upwards 0 f ten thousand spectators and over 500 racers to peaceful cove o utside' motocross on Saturday. Starting at of Boise Ida ho . What is it ? The 10:00, the. 125s and 2505 were f~r~ed , , b y sheer rider turnout to run qualifiers Owyhee Motorcycle Club s IT to en d up with a fair ly sane number of weekend. 30 for eac h start. T he Experts were Starting wi th the one-eight h m ile Shor t T rack on Friday night, the pace of the weekend was set WFO. The IT weekend race is the' first one of the season run on the flat track an d t here are always about twice as man y riders as anyone expects. Crowded pits, duplicate numbers and anxious racers kept the crowd entertained between heats and the action o n the track was fast and furious. From the first wave of flagman Layton Kite's green banner to the final pop of an astro being shut off, short track is a crowd pleaser, The little guys had the people h ollering as Meridian's Jerry Wright edged out Danny Atkinson and Tim McWhorter for the win in the Main . The Mini-B Main went to Jerry Pillar of Milwaukie, Oregon and Chet Davis and David Mazour scarfed the gold in the 100cc events. Boise motocross ace, Kenny Gallegos, took a win in the 125 A Begin ner wi th top honors in the Expert Main going to Larry Harvey of Fruitland, Idaho. In the bigger classes, Stan Williams held off hard charging Lar ry Buffington (Larry put a track tire on his YZ .. . on the rear anyway) to pick up the 250 Beginner win. The fi nest racin g of th e night was see n in the 250 Expert class as Dan McWhorter, all the way fro m Riverside , California, showed the rear end of his Montesa to Idah o State Flat Track Champ Larry Merideth to win th e Main . Lew Alter, Jr. rode his heart out on his Astro to wind up fourth behind o ld man Mark Tennyson in this hotly co n tes ted race. The 3605 got a run, and Ray Merkley 100. of Vernal , Utah e m e rged victorious. 24 After a part of a night's sleep, everyone was rarin' to go for the run ning down the infamous "sand hill" and m an y casualties were inflicted on bikes, bodies and nerves. The " balls" factor is what gets you to gas it whe n you make t he turn -at the top and head for the bottom. The co urse was fairly dry and hard and the dust was pretty bad in so me spots. There was no dust in the water crossing, however, and a lot of those racers I saw sitting on their bikes wishing they would run probably thought the d ust was better ' than the water. Flashing through both dust and water faster than - anyone was Thome Waymire of Milwaukee, Oregon. Thome rode a 125 in the Expert class for fast time of the day. Lo cal fast guy Leon Sackman on a 250 Penton, made Salt Lake City's Bob Plumb work for the win in the 250 Expert class and Boise's Husky salesman, Bruce Harris put it on all of the o ut-of-towners to do a number in Open Expert. Loren Sh ockey put it all together for a big win in the Mini -Expert and Daddy Lyle just beamed. In the Beginner events, it was Curt Harpan, J erry Pillar and Kelly Fly win ni ng the Mini, 100 and 125 respectively and Rick Wylder of Portland picked up a bitchin ' trophy fo r a first in the 250 B. Russ Tackett sm o ked the fie ld of Open Begin ners despite a consistent performan ce by Lynn Cowles on the $825 (brand new) Yammie. After running 20 and 30 minute heats, everyone was plumb t uckered out and more than ready for the world famous free beer after the race. It was only halfway through the TT week end and most folks had a bit m ore cele brat ing to do. Finally the big day. The 20th annual IT race held a new meaning this year. For the very first in its history, Boise 's biggest race had the designation of being an A~IA Regional event. Over 150 riders, including some 50 Experts, showed up for the stellar event. Things got underway pretty much on schedule although the large number of Novice sign - ups created a pretty hairy situation for qualification. The Novices were placed in Qualifyi ng heats of about 10 and only the first and second man had a chance at a transfer. Boise's so le entry, De n nis Neibaur (Yam) , knew he ha d t o get the job do ne an d set out to do it. Den nis won his heat and possibly staved off an ulcer attack for his tu ner, Steve Jones, who had worked for m on ths to get the machine read y. ' If the Boise rid ers were a little apprehe nsive about only getting fo ur laps to win or go h ome .. . ho w about the poor dude who drove two thousand miles? The general consensus seemed to be to take a couple of guys down with you if you didn't make it into the comer first and try it again. The first corner of the first Qualifier spelled disaster for several Novice racers as someone went down and the crowd went up. The balance of the heats went without serious incident and when it was done, there were 12 Novice riders waiting for the Junior and Expert heats to get over wi th so they could run th eir Main. The large Expert class featured several past winners of t he IT as well as a "who's who" of IT racing in general. Guys like Dick Mann, Mert Lawwill, Sonny Burres, Gary Scott, Randy Scott, Mark Williams and John Hateley were lined up in the heat races an d the big scooters were really wailing around the track. Dick Mann missed his transfer and the partisan crowd was somewhat disappointed. Mert won his heat however, and things were made right again seeing as how Mert originally hails from Boise. John Hateley and Mark Williams fought a tremendous d ue l in one heat race and Williams pu t it to "Little John " on the final lap to end up the winner. Mark also won the Trophy Dash for the Experts. In the finals, it was Trophy Dash an d Q ualifier winner Mark Smi th from Dublin, California d o in g it t o t he pack with his trusty Honda . Dan McWhorter (t he short track guy) kept the Mo ntesa singing to p lace second . Randy Scism, all the way fro m Renton, Washington, took home the Junior dollars and honors with Darr ell He nrickson and Bud Smith running second and third. The stage was set for the climax of another IT weekend and the running of the Expert Final. This is what you came to see, mama. Mo nte See waved them off and the 12 Experts were running. The 20 lap Main event saw Mark Williams pull off his second Owhyee Club IT win over Portland's Ed Herrmann and H·D teamster Gary Scott. Much to the delight of the fans, Mert took fourth and was last seen walking from the clubhouse counting his money . The crowd went home tired, dusty, drunk and happy. Another IT weekend had ended. • Results TT RACES NOV T .D. : 1. Mark K. Smith, DU blin. Ca. 2. Daniel M. MCWhorter, Riverside. Ca. 3 . D el b er t L. SPinney , Philomath. O r . 4 . Frank W . Wor d. III. Grants Pass. Or. JR T .O. 1. Donal d L. D od ge. Po r tland . Or. 2. T ony D. Nova , A lbany, Or. 3. R i ch ard M. Cook , Littleton, Co . 4 . G len C. Par k er , Milwaukie, Or. EX T .D .: 1. Mark A . Wi llia ms, Sp r ing f ield , Or. 2 . Charles R. Joyner. O regon. O r . 3. Me rt Lawwut, San Fra ncisco . ca. 4 . Ga r y L. Sc ott, Ba ld w in Par k. Ca . N OV M AIN: 1. M ark K . Smith, DUblin , Ca. 2 . D an iel M . McWhorter , R iverside.t.Ca. 3. Delbert L . Sp i nn ey, Ph llmotht..0r . 4 . l,;:a rl W . Yerby Jr .• Stockt on, Ca. S • .-rank W. Word n t, G rants Pa ss. Or . 6. R up ert P. D y k st ra , Por tland, O r . 7. Ste ven O. T Oftdahl Ju n c t ion Cit y . Or . 8. M icha el A . Pfe i f fer . K e 50, Wa Sh . 9 . Thos. J . Street. Bend . O r . 10. Dan G . W i l l iam s. A loh a, Or. 11 . Ro be r t O . G ore , Long view, Wa. 12. D en n is E. Ne toaur , B o i se. ld. J R M AIN : 1. Randy D . Scism , Ren t o n , ve«, 2 . D ar rell H endr iCk so n. Seattle. W a. 3 . B ud C . Smith Jr •• Antioch . Ca . 4. G ary J. TOOda. san Mateo. Ca. S. T ony D. N o va. A ltrany , Or. 6. Richard N. C ook, Littleton . Co. 7 . Arlen K. A nd er so n. Tac oma, Wa . 8 . J . Mitch Kelley. K en ne w i Ck, Wa. 9. D ona l d L. Dodge. Po rtland . Or . 10. Ber n ie D . Larson. Pu y all up. Wa . 11. K ir k O . Matterson, Enumclaw, Wa. 12. K o ler T. Kanlstanaux. A ubur n , Wa . EX M AIN : 1 . Mark A . Will iams, Sp r i ng fi eld Or. 2. Edwar d J. Herrmann, Portland, Or. 3. Gary L . Scott. Ba ld w i n Par k . Ca. 4 . Mert LawwlII. San Francisco. Ca . 5. Chas. H. Joyner. Oregon. Or. 6 . J ohn W . Hateley. Van Nuys. ca . 7. Ricky J. H ocking. Fremont. Ca . 8. Terrence F . Sage, St ock t o n . Ca . 9. James C. Einarsson, Sheton, Wa. 10. Chas. O. Brown Jr •• Castle ROCk. Wa . 11. R i ck y D . Graves, White Salmon, Wa. Mert Lawwill, ex-Boise boy and now California clasher, took fourth. 1