Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

McDougal. Mike Bell was in con ten tion before lo sing a cylinder head nut in the first round, switc hed to a back-up bike and rode disqualified in the second, leading for a brief ti me. Maxwell also con tended on ly to have his Yamaha blow a lower en d. Lunde a n d McDougal, meanwhile , di ced away an d end ed tie d on points wi th Lunde getting th e winning edge with a final event victory. Tom my Croft 's wo es came abrup tl y in th e 25 0cc Pr os in an excelle n t battle. Rex S taten ran o ff wit h the Overall sweep, but in the first mo ta Croft and Montesa's Marty Mo ates had a great duel, a t one poin t lo cki ng footpegs o n the downhill which resul ted in Crof t seizing his Franks . Mo ates then went on to take the sec o nd , but had to figh t from behind in th e next clash, taking a fourth , a nd wind ing up th ird Overall behind Chuck Lunde (Mon ) and h is third a nd second. The final w as also a cra zed battle b etween Lunde and S taten with each t ak ing turns at shutting th e other's door, deligh t ing the sparse bu t enthusiastic cro wd . T he 5 0 0 cc Pro s w as cap tured b y Wayne Boyer (CZ) in a sweep with R ob Norgaard (Ka w) and Chris A llen (CZ ) taking se cond and third in each . Expected co ntende r Mike Yorba (Mai) lost t he use of hi s ca rb in th e first on e and that sp ell ed hi s d ay's d o om, to o. He fo r it Mo n d ay a t m a d e up Saddleback . . . • 395MX By CFS Photograph ADELAN TO, CAL ., MA Y 26 The motocross held at 395 Cycle Park today was th e last to be sponsored by the Desert Phan toms Motorcycl e Club o f Geo rge Air Force Base this season. All involved wish to express a great b ig thank you to the cl ub for all their support and sp o rtsmanlike spirit that co n t rib u ted so m uch to t he races . A co m ple tel y new track was laid out , wi th all new t ur ns, d ip s, j u mps, and st raigh taways at differe nt p oints of th e trac k. Some of the participa n ts said it was the ro ughest track they have seen yet. • Results in th e Resu lt s Se ction. AMCMX By Stewa rt B. Sapicoff IR VI N E, CA L. , MA Y 24 Tonight at AMC's weekl y nigh t motocross races at OCIR young 125 In term ed iate Sco tt Clifton (Hon) did something un iq ue. Clift on j ust tu rned Intermediate tonigh t and proceeded t o bl ow o ff hi s new bunch o f competitors to prove that being a new comer to a class does not necessaril y mean th at you' re go in g t o be left behind . Cl i fton to o k an unchallen ged first pl ace in al l three m otos fo r th e Overall wi n. In a sh ort su m m ery o f th e E xpert class , in th e 12 5 gr oup it was Missi o n Honda's Dave Carl son (Hon ) who swept the class for a landslide of a vi ctory wi th a second go ing to h is teammate Brad Dutoit who was m ounted on th e same. Third was awarded to th e only YZ th at was ' out in th e field. The 250 Expert class saw Bryan Breker ( KT M) do it to his group in the first m oto. In th e following two motos' it was Wheelsmith Eng ineering's Morris (" it's din-din time") Malone (Mai) blasting aro u nd the track for the first Overall. Breker managed second Overall. • Res ults in th e Re sults Se ction. SRA Speedway By Tom Corley ORANGE, CAL., MA Y 22 While half o f the field did crash ac ts, Bill Bark er gassed h is fue l burner tow ards th e Handicap Main win last Wednesday night in SRA Speedway at OCIR. fo u r-wheel drive rig. He also p icked up a tie for first on Sunday (25 0 ). The big hitch was the co ncurren t running of both a road race at Mel Larson's Sporty Car Track and the final race in a high-roller's series at Arizona De sert R aceways. As the Riverbottorn strives (y ea , ye arns) for a no-conflict race date, we were bloc k-passed by those tracks ' c ha n ging of their race d a t es in order to acc o m o date o u t-o f-sta te riders. The 125 ac ti on began with the snap o f the pesudo-pro start sy stem - a real long sh o ck co rd . It became obvious th a t Harry Calahan was t he hot sh oe. Previ ous winner Calahan. o n a 125 Husky, worked the track lik e the Expert h e is, a d di ng so me grandstand corner-sq uaring fo r th e fans. The race o was marred by the intentio nal disguising .. -''-'''.~''_ cr o f a 17 5 Honda as a 125 by Bill Watson. ~ UJ Ts k ts k. Ch eat ers never prosper. J: Calahan won th e first and th ird III m o t os, with the second go ing to lo cal Z Ex pe rt Alan j e ff r e ss astride a non -combati ve Kaw asaki 100 (whe n '--'--=---'-"'---.:::....:."-":.....:..J « Harry over-worked o n a b erm . and Fast Rex St aten co mes c rashing d own right on Marty Moates' tail dumped it) . Harry put o n a go od show , particul arl y for al l three non-MX people in the ear ly stages of the 250 Pro race . St at e n won. present. T he 25 0 class , running ab o u t 15 units, had the lar gest t urn o u t. It also T he co mpeti tion was narrow ed had the lar gest num be r of fir st-turn down when th ree riders b it the pil eups. It was also a good pl ace to tent h-m ile trac k. Blue leat hered appreciate protective eq uip m e n t. V ince Co rco ran shattered his ny lon hel met Dennis Arms t rong hooked a wheel ie fa ce guard when punched b y Rick whi ch flippe d him over o n t he straight. Cal ah an . T he Ari zona su n and o zone Lee Crecilius and Bobby Hill were als o re ally tak es a toll in nyl on . The sleeper rubbed out when thev cam e off o f their in th e 250 set was a 250 Ho nda Xl machines and made the winning easier By Geo. Thermal four-beater. Harry Kirb y 's rig was w ell for Barker, Phil Mo on a nd Bobby Ro ss. matched to th e tight co u rse an d he The wierd thing abou t this race ca me at T B IPE ARIZ.,l\I A Y 19 made it look like he was motoring the th e fin ish . ap paren tly there was o ne co u rse rather than raci ng . The obviously With the Phoenix su mmer sun m ore lap to go bu t everyone just creeped n on-stock bike was a good dirt squirter. alo n g aft e r the three wip eou ts. waxi : g hot and lon g, th e fourth . I t ce rt ain ly wa sn't a lizard . Looking The four m an Scratch Main m oney Rive bottom GP was viewed with like a hot sh o e in th e first m oto was was ca p tu re d by Mike Muntean. :'Iike alan 1. Would it be too hot ? Would johnny Slog eb (Soo) , taking se co nd. sm o othly led the rest of the cre w th at th e snivelers o ut-number the Un fortun ately, he suc ke d some water was bobbling at ea ch sw eeper. past his air cleaner in th e second rnoto Two of the people with lots of stoics? Would th e tra ck dry out? and was un able to co n t in ue. The final p o tential that I've no ticed are Bobby The answers to these and other st atistics sh owed th at t he first three Ross and Bob Herz . In this season's questi ons are hidden in this pl aces we re se pa ra ted by o ne po in t , opener Ross snuffed the field and won report. See if yo u can find them. The wit h Tony Pierce (Yam) and Harry both the Handicap and Sc ratch Mains first person getting all co rr ec t will win a Kirby (Hon) tied for first a nd Cly de wh ile Herz w hi pp ed ' e m in th e Scra tc h Stewart (So o ) in t hird b y o ne point. Mai n last week. Herz m ad e it in to the The ties were broken by best fi nis h in Sc ratch Main to n igh t when he swept the las t m o t o . thro ugh with a fir st pl ac e in one race. T he R iverbo ttom w ill ex perience a His wi n was handed to h im wh en Dave hiatus o ver th e: summer mo nth s du e to Van Hom slamm ed into the crash wall t he obvious weather co nditio ns , b ut will just before star te r j erry Stro ner waved re sume in th e fall with a ga la • th e chec kered flag. ex tra vaga nza sim ilar t o Cecil B. DeMille , Woods to ck and t he m en's ro om a t th e Cas a Lorn a. • Resul ts in the R esul ts Se ct ion. S Honda XL 250 smokes Riverbottom GP AMCMX By Stewart B. Sap icoff Penton tops Potosi field ELS INO RE, CA L., :'IA Y 19 The 25 0 In termedi ate race was one not to be missed . The battle for first place was betw een Kevin Willis, moun ted on one of the new Huskies that everyone has been read ing about, a n d Perry Black ( Bul). Willis , wh o 's been ou t o f th e racin g scene for a while, m ad e a fan tastic comeback as he t o o k the first p lace b rass over Black, who had to se ttle fo r second pl ace. T hird in this class was Bill Haney ( Kaw) , who als o ga ve b oth of th ese gu ys a bit o f trouble , but it was still n ot enough to place him an y higher th an thi rd Overal l. Let's see, now, wha t is the most popula r 125 a round.. . POTOS I, MIS SO U RI , j UN E 1-2 J ack Pen ton, moun ted on a slightly detuned and end uro-e q uipped Mint 400 Pen to n, defeated a field of 235 entran ts in the Potosi There is no such thing as a Rive rbonom GP. T h is p hoto is merely a Fig Newton of you r Im ag ina t io n . valuabl e pri ze. Subm it entries prior t o june 2 0 , 1974 for full cred it , ( 10% off for late work ), to Sun En gineering, 1972 E. First si., Tempe, AZ 8528 I. After a period of 100 degree d ays , th e week end was a record low o f 75. As for th e conjec t ur e th at th e he at would keep racers awa y, th is was mostly a boon. However , th e typ ical lack of ra in had p roduced a track lik e taclum powder a nd it really ne eded w ater. A supercharge d t rac k cre w lai d d o wn m an y loads o f water p lus a couple o f pickup trucks full of sawdust in th e be rms as a bind e r. Probab ly 40-50 man-hours were k illed in setting up the faci lities. Witho ut appeari ng ty pically provincial, thanks have to be passed onto To ny Pie r ce for h is al l -day -S a turday work with his r ound of the ISD T Quali fier seri es. The Pen ton man /machine co m bo low-scored the competition both d ays , although th e poin t spread was close. A t the end o f th e first day Penton held a narrow lead for the overall posit ion of three points o ver j oe Barker. Four p o ints behind Bar ker was Billy Uh l on a Can-Am who had lost valuablepoints wh en h e stalled in a mud hole during the second part o f the special test. Rounding o u t th e front four was Carl Cranke , also on a Pen ton. T he team scores a t th e end of the first day showed Penton East in a lead they held t o the finish . In the final scorin g the Penton t eam s of East and West took the top two spots over the third pl ace Husky B team and Rokon. Rokon had a heart breaker just before th e ev ent 's final chec k. Joe Simmons h ad a drive belt break an d he was ten m inutes into Silver tim e: wh en he c hec ke d in . Befor e th e bel t mishap th e entire Rokon tea m had been on Gold tim e. With o n ly on e Quali fie r remainin g before the American IS DT t eam is cho sen the individual scores and chances of m ak ing th e team have co m e d own to a much closer race fo r th e team berths than in past years. • t 31

• Cover