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/125879
Silent Superbowl finale final st raigh t , b ut was rele gat ed to second. ahead o f Robert Fai r . In wi nning the race. Clin ton bettered h is earlier mark by a full second - 6 9.3. The Expert final wen t two la ps (other classes wen t one lap) an d was p retty m uch up in t he ai r as to who was going to win. A h uge pil e-up af ter th e wa te r hazard eli mi nated several riders f r o m co ntentio n . Stuart Thomsen ' extracted himself from the m addening crowd on t h second lap and pulled away to win. John Wells and John Ge orge were as cl ose as possible going fo r the chec kers , with Wells co mi ng out on top by the proverbial whisker on a knobby. Th e win ner s received Yamaha Mote-bikes, the runners-up got MX boots and third place finishers go t hel m ets. The event was covered ex t en sively by the press . The guy fro m Sports Illustrated set up flash units on both sides of the track for t he first 110 yards or so . It got to look like a psy ch ed elic party after a while. Larry Huffman was on hand to d o the a n no u nci ng (ch eerlea ding, actually), along with a couple of lo cal disc jockeys. The OJ's seemed t o have a good time. The cro wd booed the OJ wh o vee re d around th e waterhol e, and after five minutes o f 4 .200 people booing him. he got ba ck on his bike and m ade th e run for th e water hol e. Just like Evel, he cra sh ed. • DeAnza's swarming 125s By Tim Mickey SUNNYMEAD, CAL., SEPT. 14 Haybal es? Fiberglass be rms? BX goes ' ig t ime in the Co liseum. BX Gold Cup By Dale Brown WS ANGELES, CAL., SEPT. 14 Stuart Thomsen, David Clinton and Bobby Watts became state champions tonight, triumphing over th e competition in th e Yamaha Gold Cup Bicycl e Motocross final Saturday night in the Coli- scum. After prelimin ary events in Van Nuys, Sansa -Clara a nd c.an Diego . abo u t 200 pedal-powered-crossers converged on the quarter-mile T artan tu rf trac k. The track fea t u red a water hazard known as the "Snake River," several carpeted jumps, fibergl ass berms and many twisty sections. The artificial surface was a far cry from dirt, but it seemed a lo t safer than the cinder running 'trac ks used in earlier events . Nobod y crashed for lack of tractio n, ju st lack o f roo m . After a couple of tu nes fr Jm the Inglewood Toppers Band. the qualifiers got underway . Ten started in each of th e five semi-final s, two qualified for th e final. The other five spots in each final had been earned in the p revio us events. During o ne of the Expert semis, Ken Day to n picked up the lead going d o wn the b a ck section. pulled out a good-sized lead. co nfi de n tl y flash ed the peace sign t o the c ro wd and then crashed upon lan d ing ov er the wa t er hazard, a scant 20 feet from the finis h. Although he sc ram bled madly to get ba ck on his bike again . he ended up third and o u t of the fin al. Fin all y, about 9: 3 0 , the final s go t underwa y. Scott Breith aupt, BX 'er o f some fam e (and too old for the seri es) predicted th at Bobby Watts would win th e No rice fi nal. He finally got himsel f separated from the mad scra m ble behind him d own the final straight and lived up t o the prediction. Greg Galati and Dan Garcher followed for second and th ird. Breithaupt predicted that David Clinton would win the Junior final. It was so me what of a foregone conclusion as Clinton had set fastest time during th e afternoon qualifying session. C linton took t he lead almost immediately and was never headed. Bob by Encinas got awfully close on the There are always more 125s making it out to DeAnza on Saturdays, and th is week seeme d as if it belonged to the m. Robert Lo tt (Hon) immediately took co mmand of th e Beginner class by get ting an early hole shot, and he j ust stretched it o ut into a long lea d by the e nd. Righ t beh ind, th ough , was Suzuki-moun te d Mark Ellis , wh o ha d had to co n t en d with traffic ea rlier, and who got h is ow n hole sh ot in the next moto to show he could do it. Lott tailed him 'fo r awhile, got past him, and then got passed in return when he fell, Ellis going on to tie u p th e score. In the fin al rn oto, Ellis and the pack disappeared around the first tu m whil e Lott restarted h is stalled bike. He t ried to catch up , but Ellis wa s too far ah ead and had th ings pre tty well se wed up . Running with th e 250s, the 125 Juniors a ttac ke d the bigger bikes in packs, so me getting b y t hem, so m e not. Ron Cain (Suz) got pas t ea rly a nd had a coup le lap s t o stretch ou t a lead sufficient fo r the win by th e t ime the oth ers go t around. In the second mo to , they were a t it agai n, this ti m e Cain b ei ng the only o ne to slit her past . The other 12 5s were battling fo r second pl ace beh ind th e lead 25 0, and wh en Dale Brown's chain cam e off on hi s Ho nd a , Ro y J ohnso n (Hon) went arou nd t o tie up the score. In the last m or o, Cain o nce again stepped inside the lead 250 and stayed out front for the o veral l. Brown got a po or sta rt , but managed to wor k hi s way through the pa c k, and miraculously motored around Johnson on the fin al lap to p ick up the second overall. • ...... ... I:J ...0 o ..... u o .. SRA Indian Dunes: $100 record breaks By Steve Richards INDIAN DUNES, CAL., SEPT. 7 Mike Bast's record lap time of 12.8 17 ha d stood for only one week when Bob Schwartz broke it by being in the right place at the right time. Aft er the previous week's third division main winner Chris Modic cam e within 1/10th of a seco nd o f th e record, it was Schwartz 's tum on the track. As lu ck had , 'it th e track offered a go od deal of traction, which was not the case when Bast set the reco rd. Bob cam e o ut o n Brian Short's bi ke af ter h is own machine would not fire an d turned a time of 12.706, good enough to earn the S100 reward p ost ed for the first person to break Bast's record. Bobby Hill was unable-to repeat h is main win this week after getting off twice in his heat race and being too so re to race in hi s scratc h he at. Don Stu b b's ret u rn t o speedway was sho rt-lived wh en he went d o wn in the scratch semi an d ended up ' with ,a broken sho uld er . New second division rid er Dick Lewis t oo k advan tage o f his zero yard line start in the handicap m ain t o hold off Ralph ' Cast or an d Ph il Moon. Mo o n donat ed his third place earnings to th e J ohn Fish burn Fund for J ohn 's widow an d ch ild. T he sc ra tc h ma in was le d wire-to-wire by Schwartz. The th ird di visio n main was won by Ron R o se, riding his first-ever speedway race. Not bad for starters! • R esults in th e Result s Section. .' • The way these kids go , you ha ve to do a double·take to realize they're pedalling . 35