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
, Banging fairings at Sears Point S EARS 1'0lNT, SON01\IA, CA L. . J UNE 9 Nearly 1000 people braved the 90 degree heat to come watch 149 racers slither around this hilly, twi stv race t rack. In some o f the most' exciting racing seen at thi s course, positi ons were decided in the last few feet with even one outright tie! The sid eh ac k pe ople all know each other a nd are fri ends so their races sometimes d on't pr o vid e the c ut-th roat kind o f racing th e o t he r cl as ses d o, but today all friendsh ips ' were fo rgotten. Some fan d onated a S I 25 .purse for th e first four pl ace s in the sidecar class and nobody w as givin g an inch. The southern Cali fornia team of McNeal and Kerle y were pre-race favorites with their Honda powered ch air but the Redwood City crew of Lougee and Morris and anothe r southern team, Bender and Weisberg, were expected to provide a challenge . T he M eN e a l j Ke r le y co mb inati o n s e em ed to be faster through t he turns but sligh tly slower o n t he str aight sec ti o ns co m pared to Lougeerlvlorris. Since Scars is m ostly turns the 1\IcNeal side car had man aged to gain a slight ad va ntage over Lougee by lap four. The ne xt race w as fo r the 125 cc, 200cc , an d 25 0cc Production cl ass es, a race that h as been d ominated this ye ar by Dave Gar ou tte o f Mill V alle y , riding an anc ient and ven erable 2 50 Ossa. T oday Da ve n early missed gett ing on th e grid on time a nd h ad to star t fro m the very last spot. By the end of lap o n e Dave w as in third place, having passed 16 b ik es in o ne lap ! He p assed th e other tw o in lap tw o and left th e rest of th e pa ck to figh t for second . And t he fight for second was a thriller! J ack . Ba ker from San Francisco rid in g a 2 5 0 Du cati , Phillip Ro ck e of Cast ro Valley o n a 25 0 Suzuki and Larry Leg arra with a 250 Yamaha were di cing for the sp o t th e e nt ire ra ce. They too k th e che cke red de ad even with Baker on e bike length behind ! The he avyweight Grand Prix race, for 350cc, 500 cc and Open class bikes, provided the clos est battle for the fro n t posi tion of any of the ra ces. Three bikes jumped to t he front at t he d rop o f the flag , two 750 Hondas and o ne of the " gia n t -k illers" - a 35 0 water cooled Yamaha. One of t he Hondas, ridden by Greg Andrus, had a Yo sh im ura Racin g 10l(0 on its tank while th e other had been p repared by V anguard Engin eering in Marin County an d w as piloted by Dave Garou tee , the 2 50 Pr oduction cl ass w inner. Mik e Wen zel was push ing the 350 Yamah a. For the first four laps these three were pac ked toge ther so close th e ir e x haus t n o te m erg ed, w ith the m ell ow w ail o f the Hondas almos t drown ing o ut th e rasp y crac k of the Yamah a. On lap five Wen zel went d own in a p at ch o f oi l. When as ked lat e r if he had see n th e yellow flal( he replied so met h in g t o th e effect that h e was conce n tra ting so hard th ere cou ld have been a herd o f ele p ha n ts aro u nd the edge of th e tr ack and he wo u ldn 't have seen them . Th a t left Andrus a nd Garouree, bo t h on ye llo w fl ondas, an d bot h ru n n ing sid e by sid e. Into tha t slow last t u rn w ith Andrus ah ead j ust a h air, then o u t for th e race to the c hec ke red . Garo u t te slow ly reele d him in t o win hy a hal f bike length ! Th e 2 50 Grand Prix clas s was a four w ay figh t for seco nd p lace. G erh lo Pe ls with a 25 0 w at er coo led Yamaha g rab be d the lead from t he st art and w as ne ver headed. b ut T om Hril(ht , Bill Judkins, Karl Klceton a nd Ri ch Reed m ixed it up tryi ng for se cond. Kle e ton W as d oi ng a ~r e' at job keep ing his old Kawa saki tw in up w ith th e ne w er Yamahas. but the s train mu st have be en too much : .\ 1 the wh it e l1 a ~ it w as T om Bright. llill Judkins, Ric k Ree d a nd Ka rl Klee to n a ll r unni ng whee l-t o -wheel, bu t as t hey ca me aroun d to ta ke the c hc ck c rcd, T om had dr o pped tw o pl .1CCS and Karl had d rop ped o ut. Fina l order was Pels. Jud kin s. Reed and Brigb t . • Result s in the Result s Se ct ion. WE'BE LOOKING FOB PEO LE wao LIKE TO SELL OUT. Accord ing t o our latest survey, more t han 60% of all Cycle News dealers sell every copy on t heir cou nters. Every issue. 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