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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125859
CMCWeek By Alan Shepard The CMC pulled in its clutch, shifted into third, and headed down the' straightway toward its peak summer season. Beginning this week with the opening of South Bay, it will be four events a week for the next five months. Ascot opener Ascot Park, now in its fifth year had the lar gest first-night rider turnout since 1970. First night action had a three-rider tie heading into the 250cc Pro final. Bob Messer, Dave Pessy, and Bob Hosford, all had a shot at the overall. But Bob, on the Montesa, retired before he ever got off the line. He had splintered a bone in his righ t hand in the first race : while winning, had taken a third in the next, then started to feel the pain. That left Hosford and Pessy battling until the fourth lap when Hosford lost traction in the dry and dusty sweeper before the IT jump and spun out leaving Pessy (ass) with a huge lead to the end. It was a good start of the Ascot season for Pessy , who ranks as the all-time 250cc CMC Pro at that track. The same thing with less drastic results, occurred to Bob's brother, Luke, in the 500 Pro class. He and Joe ' Johnston, both on Maicos, entered the final tied on points. Joe, who has had his share of bad luck recently, got on Messer's tail and wouldn't let up. After a few lead swaps, Joe came out on top and picked up the last lap nag only a few bike-lengths ahead of Bob . But, Bob Messer, like Bob Hosford, spun out. Johnston came home easy winner for his second night win in a row. In the 125 Pros, it was like no-contest for D-G Performance Specialties' Mark Tyer (Han). He won the second mota and seconds in the other two added up to a clear advan tage over Cliff Lett (Han). . Dominating Juniors were Lance Moorewood (Ind) in the 100s and the very impressive Byron Hendricks (Mail in the 500s. Brad Morrison (Kaw] took all three motos in 250 Intermediate to dominate that field. The wildest set-to came in the 125 Junior Division III . Eugene Gayo propelled his Honda to victory with only a 2-5·2 score. Sam Ringo (Han) won the first two motes, bu t had his hands full in the final, down to third overall with a lOth. High school to SuperBowl Hi g h ligh ting CMC Irwindale motocross was the special high school class. Last week, Azusa barely nipped LaPuente , 37·29, in a wild one which saw LaPuente lose it more than Azusa win it. This week, Western Christian took on Alhambra and nearly upset them. Western Christian, a private school, was the underdog as three of its eight team riders failed to get .CMC licenses. Riding for Western Christian , Tim Wyant (CZ ) and Eugene Gayo (Han) took first and third overall. But there it ended as Alhambra, led by Jeff Sloan (Ya m ) , took second, fourth, fifth and sixth. When the points were totaled for the team championship, Alhambra came through with a 36-30 triumph and now advances to the Semi- Finals in three weeks to face Azusa. Next to face off in the single-elimination tournament will be West Covina and Mark Keppel H.S. The Team Finals will be June 7 when the two undefeated teams face off. Also that night is the All -Star Meet : the top two riders from each school compete for individual honors. . The top rider from each school will qualify for the SuperBowl of Motocross upport mota in the L.A. Coliseum. cholarships and other goodies are being egotiated for the winning team, plus ots of . rider contingencies including ophies for every rider. . Irwindale General Manager · Steve vans directed course changes, including longer course and loftier jumps. Dave Pessy wowed the crowd nroute to his 71st career victory oming from behind in the third mota a win. Not much time Was left as Jim Jim West got a double win at Saddlebac:k: 250 Pro and 500 Pro. West (Hus) appeared to have the victory when Pessy passed two riders in mid-air and landed in third place sewing up the Overall win. In the 500 Pro class, J DC Johnston was on his way to three night motocross wins in a row wi th the lead in the first round, but suddenly came up with a dead engine that never revived. Jim West won overall with Dan Barnes (CZ), second. Dave Eropkin, 125 Pro currently second in the point standings after finishing third last year, got the jump in the first pair of motes and won both. In the final he took only fifth .but it was still enough for the overall victory, his first ever as a CMC Pro. Mike Bell (Hon), this season's points contender took second. With one victory to his credit, West headed to Saddleback Park Sunday to secure firsts in both the 250cc and 500cc Pro classes. Taking second in both was Tommy Croft (Fra). Croft won the first 250cc but then broke his brake pedal off in the first lap of the second and that ended his hopes. In the 500, Marty Moates (Han) could not catch West. Cliff Lett and Bob S team (Han) produced very fine rides to win one each of the two 125cc Pro rnotos, but they couldn't combine the victories with other good finishes, leaving Dave Williams (Pen) on top overall, one pain t better than Rick Sheren on the Norris-Roberts Honda. It was Williams ' first-ever CMC Pro win and was particularly significant in th at he is a privateer in the strict sense. Sheren and Williams finished up no more than 20 feet apart a~ the end of the day. _ Results on Results pages. Luke Messer is about to crawl onto the fork crown in an effort to keep the Maico's front end down. SALES SERVICE Welding Porting Accessories 1352 Continola, W. Los Angeles Corner of Santa Monica Blvd. & Centinela Open 9 to 6 Tues-5at 9 to 9 on Thursday ~)( -. c C • u Santa Monica Blvd . ; "W+E ~ N .:: S .. c ~ .. c ~ ant,) Monic. Frwy. 11