Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Keener comes to Ascot c- , By Bob Read . . . -._ a GARDEJ"A, CAL., JUL Y 5 Michigan's Corky Keener IS every bit as good on a half-mile as the press clippings say he IS. Keener invaded Ascot for the first time last Friday night - but maybe he picked the wrong week. Bart Markel's pupil came in undefeated in Heat races, he 12 finished second to John Hateley, Keener d oe s no t run Trophy Das hes in the east, he finis he d third in th e Das h behind Hatele y a nd Rob Mo rrison. Early repo rts were that Co rky had nev er lost a Main eve nt this year whe n th e bike was ru nning. But he finished t hird in o ne of the wildest and most ho tly-co ntes te d finals ever run at the Gardena oval. Keen er was sh ut o ut in fo ur times on the track. Eddie Wirth to ppe d him in time trials, but to most experie nced o bservers he turned in the best job by a first ti me out-of-stater since Markel flew in and won hack in 1960. Keener knocked off a 22-second time trial. Then he came from an early distant third in the Heat race to just miss beating Hateley. After the event it was learned that his right foot peg had fallen off on the first lap. When Keener came to the line for the Mai n event, not all of Ascot's tigers were on ha nd . Missing were Tom Rockwood, Dave Aldana and Gary Scott, to name a few, but there was more than enough talent on hand to give Corky the acid test. Rookie Mo rri so n led the first three laps with Keener rig ht there behind. Wirt h was th ird, Hateley fourth . On lap four Wirth shot from third to first in o ne pass an d st arted pulling away before his Lockhart Triumph wen t on one cy linder. Keener zoomed to first place on lap eight with Hateley taking over second from Morrison on the tenth round. The n Kee ner gave way to Hateley on lap twelve. Keener was inches back and still pushing for the win when Morrison got back into second on the next-to-last lap . The front three cam e out on the final turn on the last lap with Hateley in front. Then Morrison shot 10 the inside, bumped in t o J ohn twice, cro wd ed o n by and won his third Main event o f th e year. Four rid ers led the Final with th e lead cha nging eleven times before th e finish. Keener ended up third with Danny Ho ckie co m in g on late for fourth and Wirth keeping half hi s engine running for fifth. Yes fo lks, the twenty-eight-year-old Michigan lad is a ra cer. Markel stat ed after the races th at the rear tire on Keene r's Harley was co m plet el y worn out. Corky sa id th at it was the hardest race he had ever run, includin g hi s recent Nati onal w in at Louisville. Hateley was unhappy and pointing the finger at Morrison for rapping him not once, but twice . .M orrison said that Ha teley 's engine was souring and John was slowing up . John said it wasn't true. Markel a nd Keener both said they wou ld be back before the season is over. Eddie Wirth felt he ha d it bagged until his e ngi ne slo wed. All five Junior Main even t winne rs th is season were on han d fo r Friday ' s fracas . All five were sh ut ou t in t he Heat race s a nd a ll had to rid e in th e Semi . O n ly p o int leader, Ale x J orge nsen, made it to t he Main event. Mike Myers an d Dennis Briggs p u t the one-two o n Skip Akslan d and J o rgy in th e first Heat. Ryan Gifford and Tony Dell did the sa me to Walt Foster in th e second a nd Earl Meye r an d Rick Kraft pu t back Tom Berry in the fi nal Hea t. John A lliso n also took it o n the chin in the last Hea t to acco u nt fo r t he fron t five this ye ar. Jorgensen was deep in the back row for the Final but again smooth, highgroove riding took him to the fro nt on lap seve n, passing Ryan Gifford who was trying for his first win of the year. Gifford kept it close right to the finish but settled for second. The longest night was for the Ar izo na team of Rick Kraf t and A rt Frede nb erg. Fredenberg got caught trying to jump t he starter in two events and went to t he pe nally line. He finally crashed la ter in th e race. Then Kraf t bailed off in the fin al , taking last pl ace . The Novices agai n put o n a threerider battle from start to fnish in the lightwe ight final with Elbe rt Turner showing the way over Steve Eklu nd and season point leade r Dan McWho rter . Dan ca me fro m a row two start position to make it interesting, but co u ld not ca tc h Turner a nd Eklund, who started up front. This com irig Friday night is the final tuneup for the July 19th "Gardena Gold Cup" 3,000 half mi le and the 13th running of th e $20,000 AMA National T .T . on Saturday night, July 20th. Novi ces a nd Juniors are eligible on the J 9th but the 20th will find Experts only. Ti cketron o u t le ts have the tags to get you in . • c c: <:{ o ; Z ::l • c: III <:{ .-... . . ::;: l~~ ~~~~~~~~=~J ~ "~ Barry Armgard (Hon) only got th ird at S.A.l\1.'s MXat Sadd lebac k Mini class, but he's photogenic when he jumps. Rick Wiseman (Pen ) and Clay Muso lf (CZ) d ice it out in AMC's 25 0 Expert race July 5 at Saddleback's Raceway (used to be called OCIR). Results Expert F inal : 1. ROb Morrison (NOr) : 2 . John Hateley (Yam); 3. Corky Keener (H-D); 4. Danny Hockie ( Yam): 5 . Eddie Wirth (Tri): 6. John Gen nai (T ri); 7 . DeWayne Keeter H -D ) ; 8 . Tom Horton (Yam): 9. Bob San ders N or); 10. Pat McCaul (NOr) . Junior Fi na l: 1. Alex Jorgensen (T ri): 2 . R ya n Gifford (Tri); 3 . Mike Meyers (Nor); 4 . Den n is B riggs (Suz); 5 . E ar l M yer (Y am ) ; 6. Tony D ell {Nor h 7 . Tom Berry (Yam ); 8 . R i c k Kraft ( N o r ) . N o yi ce ~i nal : 1. E lbert Turner (Yam) ; 2. Steve E k lund (Yam) ; 3 . D an McW horter (Yam); 4 . Brian Garcia (Yam); 5 . Scott Pear so n ( Kaw)i 6. J i m Crowley . (Kaw) ; 7 . Mark M ttscnere (Yam) ; 8 . Rex Halley (Yam) ; 9 . Bob Murray (Yam ) ; 10 . T o m Worfolk (Vam) . l Home-built monoshock debuts at CMC Saddleback: second ain't bad By Alan Shepherd ORANG E, CAL.J ULY 7 Tommy Croft and his sponsor Kelvin Franks unveiled a neat 125 at C:-'IC's Sunday motocross at Saddlcback today; a Honda engin e Tommy Croft rode hi s Honda-powered, Franks-framed monoshocker to second Overall 125 Pro in CMC's Sunday Saddleback race. in a Franks Monoshock fra me. For his first timc out on a 125 in mo re than three mo nths and conside ring it' s a new machine (which seized the da y before a fte r five minutes of pr actice) . his second Overall was a con vinci ng performance. In the first m ota, he and Tim Lunde (lion) put o n a fin e sh ow racing righ t d own t o the wire , with Tommy win n in g. Lunde. returning from th e Salt Lak e City war s o f a week earlier, then took t he upper hand in the final and sc urr ied away to a s trong win while Croft spent much o f the ra ce arrernpting to pass Dave Eropkin (lio n). T hat left them tied o n points with Lunde gellin g th e nod due to his final win . Erop kin (oak a third barely nosing o ut Mike Bell (lio n) wh o tied him o n Overall po int s; each too k a third and fou rth. .Cro ft t hen too k o n th e 250 Pros on another Fr anks d esign, this one Suzuki po wered , hut abo u t three years old. Again he garnered second Overall, mu ch to the disappointment of Billy Clements (H us). Vet eran Clements had won the first round substantially over Jeff V idic (l\Iai) afte r the lat ter had shift-lever proble ms near th e end; Croft taking thi rd . In the fina l, Vidic j umped into the lead and looked lik e he was goi ng to ru n away and hide. But, on the second la p. his fro nt tire began 10 go fla t and he co o led it. Mea nw hi le, Cle me nts was working through traffic q uick ly a nd was soon hovering on Croft 's rear shocks in third. The pa ir closed on Vid ic and Clemen Is got by for second. Two laps lat er, he was hou nding J eii; bu t the wild-mart fro m Glendale co n tinued to shut the door each time Billy tried to pass. Several laps from the end, Cle ments made yet another move, p u lle d alongsid e an d in the das h got a lltt le too close. Billy e nded up sliding o u t, droppi ng hi m way back to fif th . He got bac k to fou rth by th e checkere d , leavin g him third on poin ts. C lements made up for it by swee pu .g the 500 Pros over Mike Yo rba (Maico) and Doug Sherman (Penton), second and third respectively each round. Double-class riding see ms to be paying orr for Clements, as he is gelling into very s tr o ng: shape:' in preparation for this fall's TransAMA seri es, a three month ca m paign he did very well on last year. Results in the Results Section . Doug Sherman's new Penton Mint 400 is ind eed a FMF ; he took third Overall 500 Pro beh ind Billy Clements and Mike Yorba.

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