Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NorCal Speedway T he two-t hree spots wen t to Mike Ellis ' an d Greg Rew. Mi ke and Steve Bast faced John Cunni ng ha m and Alan Christian' in a No rth versus South match race. With po in ts being awarded th ree for first, two fo r second and one for th ird, the win went t o t he Bast Brothers four- two. Alan Christian's secon d place accounted for t he t\VO northern points . August 31 will be the season finale a t Napa with the run n in g of the Wine Cup Champions hip, Rac ing will co ntinue at Sac ramen to un til mid-October. By Sneaky Pete Rooney gets a double, and the Bast Brothers come visiting SACRAMENTO, CAL., AUG . 25 SACRA MENTO, CA L., AUG. 23 Mike Rooney became t he first No rth ern Californi a rider thi s year to lak e home the first place dol lars in both main events at Ca l Expo . Fo llowing Mike across th e line in t he Scrat ch Main were Pa ul Orland i, ' Barclay T reh aI an d Alan Christian. Starting on th e 40 , . in the Handica p Main , Roo ney wo r ked his way th ro ugh the 10 and 20 ya rders, passed Russ Po we ll o n the whit e flag lap an d at th e checkered it was Roo ney, Po well and J o e Fitzpa trick. Moving a ste p closer to the first division, Mik e Ellis wo n ton ight 's Division T wo Main. T he second and third spot s went to a p air o f Re no riders, Greg Rew and Ga be Dick. After a first co m er tangle elim inate d John Cunnin gham, Alan Christ ian ca me ou t to rid e in his place against Norman Denny in the Dash-for-Do llars ma t ch race. Denny was t h e winner a nd no w has two straigh t win s in t his t wo lapper. In a special " mechanics only" bicycle rac e, Grover Eckl es won th is hil ario us event ahead of Bill Ben ck an d Chuck Miller . Gr over 's co mment: " T hat trophy tootsie was en ough t o m ak e anyone go fast ." (Di rt y o ld man .. ) o In his four th appearance at a Northern California track this year, Mike Bast won his fourth Scratch event in another of h is "first out of the gate, first at the finish" rides. Second went to the Number O ne rider in Northern Califo rnia , Ala n Ch ristian with Ron McG ill and Mike Ro o n ey tra iling. Steve Bast ca me off t he 40. entered t um o ne in fourt h and three lap s la ter was on his way to victory in the Han di cap Main. Alan Christian ag-ain finished second ahead of Ron Long . With four rid ers on the Ze ro, Bob Bellino led t he pa rade in to the first co rner and le d al l five laps to win the Division Two Main. No rm Denny wo n his th ird straight Das h-for-Do llars ma tc h race in a real • close d uel with Mike Ro on ey. Res u lts in Res ults Section. Action overa hot conference table: D-35 Council meets By AccuReport VISALIA , CAL. , AUG . 18 The first issu e br ough t up at t h e Distri ct 35 co uncil meeting was th at of ride rs suspen ded in one district go ing o ut of dist rict , pu rchas ing new ca rds and rid ing o ut of the ir own area. An occ urrence o f thi s sort led the coun cil to decide : When a ride r is suspe n ded in NA PA, CAL., A UG. 24 U.S. Ch ampion Mike Bast ha s bee n to Napa t wic e this 'year an d has wo n t he Scra t ch Main o n b oth tr ips n orth. Fo llowing Mike across the lin e were Steve Gresham , Mike R oon ey an d Alan Chri sti an . Mark Eckles won his secon d s tra ight Ha ndicap Main here ah ead of Br uce Hasero t an d Da le Stetler. A fte r ne arly two years of tryi ng, Butc h Rovelli won a Divisio n T wo Main Z 0: Z l- e: 0: Z Z IJJ ..J c Mike Rooney finds the short way ins ide Pau l O rland i, who is out in the marbles at Cal Expo, and almost out of the p icture. Mike Ell is won the 0·2 Main at Cal Expo, is t abbed for first d ivision soon. Z 0: Z l- e: 0: Z Z. IJJ ..J o Dist ric t 35, Dis tricts 36, 37 and 38 will b e no t i f i ed i m me dia tely o f h is suspension . If t hat rider is th en ca ught riding in AMA sanct io ned events in th os e or any ot her d i s tr ic t his s uspe ns io n will a uto matically be doub led. T he council wi ll ask the cooperat io n of the other districts in keep ing th ese suspended riders inac tive. Next on the agenda was an inciden t at th e T u lare T rackmasters ' race two weeks prior. Seems a 250 Expert and a 250 Novice were competing on t he same bike. When a couple of counci lmen no ticed it, bo th riders we re disqualified on the spot, which seemed like enough p e nalty since both were firs t time offenders . But it was taken to the ' co un cil. Minimum pe nalty ac cordi ng to the rule book is 15 days . However. the council agreed o n a seven day suspension to co mme nce August 18 and be lifted August 25. Riders in question were Doug Garrison. District 3 5 's Number One rider and Kent Mi ller, a Dis tri ct 36 Novi ce. Hank M cCaulley, district commiss ione r. got the approval of t he co unc il (o n a less than unanimous vote) to p urchase fue l tes ting eq uipme nt for $20 to make fuel checks in case of protest. If tech inspection is not taken a t a Dist ri ct 35 event a fine of $50 will be levied fo r each offense . If a cI ub refuses to pay- the fi ne , the co uncil will take it to 1\MA in an effort to get the club 's sanctions p ulled. T he offenses will be reviewed at each counc il meeting. T he m o t io n was passed and is to take effect August 19. T he Big Va lley M.C. announ ced t hat their doub le poin t motocross scheduled fo r October 13 at th e Lemoo re Naval Air St at io n has been cance lled and the November 24 event will become their d ou bl e poin t r ace. The 19 t h of October pro riders ca n hi t the Tulare oval for a Professional half-m ile. • 1975Puch MX Jeff Wright, who tested prototype models sent over in January of this year, recently p icked up his new production model Puch 125 MX. The Puch has a new frame, about two-and-a-half inch es lo wer than last year's model. The seat position is also lo wer in the frame. The bike comes stock this year with different ports, a 30mm Bing carb, Akront rims, Magura controls, a conical .fr o nt hub, and a new, stronger, transm ission . ~earing seemed right as it comes (a payoff from prototype testing), w ith a 13 tooth countershaft sprocket and a 58 tooth rear sprocket. Betors help the front end in the suspension department, w ith G irlings on the rear. Jeff's comments: "The Puch is a great hand ling bike. Yo u can do an yt h ing with it. The faster you go over stuff the better it handles. You just don 't know ho w fast you can lay int o a tum until you t ry it on t he 125 Puch. Wright got a little lo os e after a hot day of testing in 100 degree de sert h eat recently, so he tried a little cl iff jum p ing to cool off. (See photo above'! The Puch fa ct ory (w ith some urging on from t he American d istributo r) is go ing all out to build competitive motocross mach inery. Harry Everts campa igned a Puch in the 250cc Wor ld Championsh ip Motocross series th is year and fi ni shed as Number Three in the world , beh ind only 'Gunnady Moisseiev (KT M) and Jaro s lav Falta (ez). The photo below shows Ha rry at t h is ye ar's Dutch GP, rid ing a Puch and wear ing Bu ltaco p lastic boots. 21

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