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/125865
Wash o ugal reworked the track and it just made the competition fiercer wi th th ree chances t o w in - or break. disaster. Fred ~IcCuire (Suz) riding in the 125 In t erm ed iate ca me off the b ill d ownh ill j um p and was in mid-a ir whe n he saw a spectator on the course j ust abo ut where he was goi ng to la nd . He mad e all t he n aviga ti o n al cha nges he cou ld to miss t he nu t and crashed when he came d o wn getting a clutch lever in his shoulder in the process . He's tough, though , and lucky! Sweet Duck Suzuki ,.,.Desert and MX Specialists 10 10 E. A rrow H w y. Covina, Ca. (213) 966·8541 T hese 125 In termediate riders had a real scramhle. Tony :o.lcClosky (Han) won the first race then spent the other two motos tangling with other bikes . Clay Azar (Yam) put togethe r two good rides to go with a lousy one and ended up with nothing, also. Vernon Lamping (Han) took top honors with a second and two fourths. Creg Cainer (Yam ) in second was the only two winner to place Overall. Rick Burgett was leading in the first 125 Pro ra ce when his Bu l stu ck and the win went to Mark Cregson (lion) . Burgert came back to take the next two for fifth Overall. Ron Sun (Ha n ) took home second money. Bill Jones (Yam ) crashed on the first lap of the final mota breaking off both the clutch and brake levers. He found riding without them ' v -asn "t too neat when he crash ed again and ended up with his leg jammed unde r the re ar fe nder clear to his knee. Burgett (Bul) dominated the 250 Pro field with Chuck S un (Bu l) nipping at his hecls aga in. Bill Coo k (Mai) managed to slay o n th e co urse lon g eno ugh to pull o u t a th ird . Mike Kin near (Hus) was in the money u ntil he junked his engine in the thi rd mota . Su zuki & Maico Mail Order Specia lists First Open Expert was Bob Leach on a Maico. Rick Burgett (Bul) had a big lead in the first mo ta until he broke the primary chain. Rocky Hardland (Mai) moved up to d ice with Leach and took the lead briefly before he, too, was beset wi th mechanical miseries that lasted all day . Dan Zlock (Bul) took the second m o ta win and th ird Ove rall. The consistency of Vernon Gabbert on his four stroke Honda paid off for second . Billboard By W. H, Spence r A rece nt ruling by t he Dist rict 36 refe rees barred any pr o fession al AMA Expert from riding in amateur or sportsman events. This was to enforce th e i\l\ IA amateur activity rule that excluded Experts and former Experts who had held a card within the last two years from riding certain amateur races. They still ride hare scrambles and motocross but it did exclude them from riding scrambles and shan track. The A~ IA rule was p ut in some years back when the factory teams were riding Ascot on Friday nights for bucks and then getting paid to go take away sportsman trophies on Sundays. But in District 36, things are diffe rent fro m District 37 and most likely, each District has its own little set of peculiarities, th is one's being thai it has very fe w professional races. That seems odd since it sports the largest number of professionally ranked National num bers and nearly half of the factory spo nso red ri de rs, but nevertheless. it's true. Class "C" raci ng is nearly non-existent in Northern California. In 1973 there were abo ut a d o ze n total inclu d ing two Nationals and one no n-Natio nal mil e, a nd t he regul ar indoor series th a t used to be p re tty b ig stuff. What see ms 10 be th e subject of the great con troversy is t he sys tem tha t ru ns the sportsman racing. Knowing this. th e District 36 Board of Directors, o r rather live of the n ine , decided to allow Class "C" Experts to ride just like anybody else. If they have an A~ IA co mpetition card and an appropriate Dist rict 36 card. they were in. Some of the members of the District arc disgrunt led about it and the next two meeti ngs should p rove eventful. . could The 125 Int e rmed iat e scrambl e p ro ved to be the action class at Wa sh o ugal. 51 5 N. Vic t o ry Blvd . BURB ANK, CALI F (2 13) 849-7295 '{"\~ "11.": "·~l~lj · j \~ p.' , po 80_ 4 4 4 . Cyg, ..., . CA 906JO 11t4 1 8 27 1417 COMPETITION M OTO RCYCLE WHE EL S DESI GN EO. BU ll T AIIID REPA IRED . SEN D !to¢"OR C AT ALOG' Mik e Pat r ick's -~ ..~~ . YAMAHA of CORONA 1101 E. 6th S t. - C or on a 22 (714) 735 -772 1 Past yea rs show th e pr ogr ession s and shortco mi ng of the sy st em o f j us t how it works. In 1967 when Le n All en was the Commissioner . and I ligh Priest of t his District, it was d eci d ed th at those Experts scoring the highest points fo r the year in the scramb les would be issued special numbers on Black Plates from 1-20, designating their standings as they performed from the year prior. something like the Xational where if you did good on the National trail, you got a number without a letter behind it . The first number one plate holder for the 1968 season was Jim Ricc. That may give you some indication of the system and the competitive racing. The number three rider was Mark Brelsford and the number eight rider was Don Castro. Other Black Plates included Dave Hansen, AI Kenyon and Ken Roberts. Ra y Hu ff, a 43-year-old man of iro n. has held a Black Plate every year since its inception and is still tough to beat, Paul .I ohnson is another examp le, considered to be the finest rac er to come down t he p ike, he quit in his firs t pro year after having beat Ken Roberts and Cary Scott at the Asco t regul ar Friday n i!:h t show, T he p oint of all this is th at once th e District gets its top rid e rs to the pro circui t, t hey har d ly ever come back to the amateur ranks a nd are lost as a draw for th e spectators t o come an d watch . T he professional no-rid e controversy extends itself whe n the non- touring pr os wan t to r id e on t h e wee ke nds when the re isn 't any thin!: going o n with in th e District. I f the Dis trict Spo rts m an Association wont let them race, th en who will? Some other sanctioning body or an out law event. but docs that serve a purpose? Most likely not, as t he loss of those riders tends to downgrade the sport by not letting the up and comi ng rider get right into the stiff co mpe tition. The likes of Bob Scally, Jim Foleyr j im Crenshaw, Mike O'Brien and Al Ken yo n . not being able to ride within the District because they hold professional Expert cards is not log-ical and doesn't ma ke much sense or seem right, Jim Foley worked his way up to pro Expert by being damn good on the indoor tracks and fair to rniddlin' on the ha lf-mile. Foley is tied to a job as ch ief wrench at Lafayette Sportcycle and only wants to be able to ride. He likes having- his pro card an d bei ng a Black Plate rider: so do t he majo rity of th e riders he runs aga inst. It seems t hat alt hough th e rul e has been in e ffec t fo r so me years, it was never e nforced in th is Dist ric t. Why kick nut some great ta le nt tha t is a good draw and makes for so me better raci ng? Dick Man n still rides in a ma te ur competition b u t limi ts it t o moto cro ss a nd hare scrambles, just like it sa ys in the book, although it wasn't always th at way. R eflecti ng now on why t he re aren 't many pro races shows that t he m aj o ri ty of the name riders that are the crowd pleasers and att ractions aren' t arou nd during the season. The tracks have been, for the m o st part, satisfied 10 ru n the sportsman races where the riders pay most of the tariff. When the tour of professional even Is goes Eas t , they have a half-m ile track in every little town from Ka nsas to .Eas tern Pennsylvania and on any Sunday, there are pr o b ab ly a dozen or so good b uck runs for easy m o ne y. T he loc al hero Roes out and challenges the best from Ca lifornia and maybc even wins, thus making him a better man and a bigger draw. NOI so in California, there are on ly two regular shows for the pros, both are in Southern California. Both are super com pet it ive when the big: boys are in tow n and are just like t he res t of the shows when they arc u 't: that is, won by the regu la r rotation cr ew . (he local he ro. In Nonhero Ca lifornia t here is one b ig half -m ile early in th e season . two and now thr ee Nationals, o ne fair ha lf-mile in Sep tember and a fcw short tracks, p lus mayhe a half-dozen indoor short tracks. That is t he sum total of pro rac in g fo r C lass " C ·' guys fro m up North. A ll that and st ill District 36 manages t o p roduce number one caliber ride rs and for the last five years has, in fact, produced t he Num be r One man . So it boils down to whe ther to le i the guys ride or tell them to hang it up.