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/125872
...... Spectating t he spectators doesn't hurt. this week, for th e second week in a row, won all three C~lC eve nts! In the last two months, he's won 14 times . T he re is no doub t that he is running away with the 1974 C ~ I C Points Championship . Both at Ascot an d Irw indale, Bell swep t all three m o to s, He then cap p ed off the weeken d with a o ne- two per fo rmance at Car lsb ad . In th e fi rst two m eetings Cliff Leu a nd Dave Er op kin, b oth also on Hondas , for med the o pposition. O n Sunday it was Billy Urban wh o da ng n ear stole the: show. j f it w eren't fo r a firs t lap, first mo ta crash. He came fro m last to take four th by th e en d of the rac e, was closing in o n leader Bell but jus t didn 't have eno ugh ti m e. Bob Maxwell was seco nd and Da ve Eropkin was th ird. T he next mota was in Urb an 's favo r. It on ly t oo k abo ut half t he race for him t o catch first Erop kin and t hen Bell for th e runaway lead. Bu t, being co nsistent as always , Bell herded home t he wi n wi th Urban sec o nd an d Eropkin, faltering wi th a sic k engine , allo wing Don Bongiorno t o ge t by fo r third. Maxwell cras hed but came back fo r fif th . Sunday was reall y a co mebac k ty p e Mike Bell is determined to keep setting CMC records. How do 14 Pro w ins in two months fee l? Billy Urban almost upset Bell's streak at Carlsbad , but almost doesn' t count at all. of day in all t hree Pro clas ses. Both Rich Grafton (Hus) in the 2 50 s and Mike Yo rb a [Mai] in the 500s also had first lap, fir st mot o sp ills whic h sent them ou t of t he main pack. Jeff Vid ic ( ~ I a i) wo n the fir st 250, but Graft o n's terrific charge cam e up on ly a few feet short at th e fin ish line which mea nt th e fina l was to be th e showdo wn. Rich Pin ni ck (Ya m) led brie fl y . then fir st Vidi c' and t h en Graft o n go t b y and pull ed out. On lap four. Grafton to o k over and that w as th a t. " It was j ust Grafto n 's day ," co mme nted Vid ic later. For the second w eek in a r-o w , T e xan Darrell Sk o gm an ( ~ l ai) went hom e with fir st pl ace 50 0 cash in C~ IC Sun da y racin g. Thi s time it was a bit more wild. In t he fir st m ot a, Wayn e Boyer led bri eny bu t br oke , all owing Jim 'Ho o ver (C Z) to take o ver all th e way to the near end wh cn he too had tr ouble and even tually fini shed n int h, giving th e win o ver to Skogm an . Meanwh ile , Yo rb a , wh o led on the fir st lap before crash ing , was working fro m about 19th all th e way to sec o nd a t the chec kere d, This time, in t he fina l. Hoover was bent o n prov ing a po int and he wen t o ut and led f ro m start to fini sh while Yo rba wo rked his way up to t hird . Skogman , how ever. wedg ed himsel f in seco nd and t h a l d en ied Yorba his co m ebac k victory. Two nights earlier, a t Irw inda le, Sk ogman had p ut the Pros in h is bac k po cket wit h a fi nal m o to win . Bu t a fif t h an d a third in t he f irst tw o deni ed him th c O vera ll as Billy Rubl y (C Z) used win s in the initi a l pair to ga rne r enough poi nt s for first Ov erall w ith Ted Scruggs (Ma i) scco nd o n poi n ts. D ave Pessv took ad vantage o f a . pre-race t ip from J e ff Vidi c to end J eff's six we eks wi n s trea k in the ~50s . \Vhil c lining u p fo r thc firs t ro und s tart, Vidi c sp ie d Pessys swingarrn w as ab out to brea k through. He t o ld Dave, wh o sp ed back in to the pit s, made frantic repai rs fro m his bac k-up Ossa, re tu rn ed jus t in time fo r th e start and t hen went o ut and won all three motos. Vid ic was second . Wednesday a t Ascot , Joe J ohnst o n was nearlv lost for awhi le. He was o ut for a doui,le win in th e 2 50 s a nd 50 Os when suddenly he highsided in second spot be hin d R ub ly in th e m id 500 rno to and we nt off th e crash wall knocked o ut . Alt ho ugh bruised in th e ri bs and with a sprained wrist , J oe was no t serio usly hu rt even th ou gh he was ta ken t o the hospit al. Jeff Jenn ings (Ha n) th en cap tu red th e 25 0 aft er having taken second to J oe twi ce and Steve Van Worm er. riding on ly hi s firs t race at Ascot. to ok seco nd . Rubl y domin ated th e 500s after J oc's e x it, winning the fin al two race s to cla im th e Overall . Dennis Chandler (~ Iai) was second . • Results in the Re sult s Section. .. 37