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/125889
fIJ Hannon and Nancy Number One after tense motos II 5lIII • 5lIII ~ g =- By Teresa Mart in g SIM I, CAL., NOV. 17 T here was lo ts of tension at Valley Cycle Park as this was th e last District 37 motocross of the year and riders were trying to grab those last important po in ts toward better earned nu mb ers for 19 75 . In th e fir st Am ateur-Exper t Open m oto tensio n was too so ft a wor d for it! Mik e Ha n non an d J im Connolly were both close to the Op en nu mb er one district pl a te an d this was th e deciding race. Although Hannon has beaten Connoll y in every race they both com pe te d in , Connolly got the jump in po ints o n Hannon while he w as away riding th e I.S.D.T . qualifiers, and tho ugh they are both frie nds, each was eager to w in t ha t num ber one pla te. When th e gate d ropped it was Ran d y Berkeley (Mai) taking th e lead with . Hannon (Bul ) moving into second , Mike Sixberry (CZ) third an d J im Co nn oll y (Bul) in fou r th . After a few laps Berkeley slid o u t an d let Hannon pass. Bu t Berkeley recov ered , pass ed Hannon and really st arted gassi ng it , gain ing much gro und to an easy win , followed by Hannon an d Co nnolly . By the sec o nd an d fina l mo ta t he tensio n had d ou b led - this was it ! Th e Irate wen t down Han no n jumped in to th e lead with Ron Blan to n (Bul) right beh ind and Ber kel ey in th ird. Then Berkeley passed Blan to n and Hannon an d took the lea d , leaving Hannon with second and Conn olly m o ving in to third . Berkeley again b uilt a good lea d only this ti m e dropped out with bike pro blems and then thi ngs really started to happen ! Hannon h ad the lead just ahe ad o f Connoll y an d they were rea lly flying. First Ha nnon ha d a pret ty good margin, but then Connolly began closing in . Hannon started to feel th e pressure and kept glanc ing over h is shoulder. Con nolly was right on him and th ey went this way for a couple of laps until Connolly made his mo ve , passed Hannon and held the lead , only to go into a high -side o ver a berm. Connolly got up to find that a rock h ad got caught up in h is ch ain an d after ge tt ing back in to the race was almost down a lap. Th is was a really bad b reak for Connolly. Hanno n then went on to an easy win an d that number o ne pl a te. Hannon remarked , "best race I see n Co nnolly h ave all year. " Co nnoll y repli e~, I had to get be at, I' m glad it was MIke. Th e wo men 's class had a large turno ut with 20 riders. Again it was to see who would hav e th at num ber o ne plate next y ear an d the two co ntenders were Nan cy Payne an d Ch er ry Sto ckto n. Ch erry had atte nded Rolf T ibb lin 's school with h op es o f taking th e win, but was pl agued with ba d luck. In th e firs t mota Cherry to o k the lead, bu t was im me dia tely pass ed by Sue Fish and Nancy. These two girls were riding at a pace all their o wn and af ter a few laps were alrea dy lapping the slower riders. Cherry was still third wh en she dro pped out with bike tro ubles. Sue took an easy wi n with Nan cy second. Mota tw o saw Sue an d Na ncy looking as sm ooth an d fast as they d id in th e first mo ta. Nancy Payne will have th at nu mber one plate on her b ike next year. "if. 'd'" rO"l ...... C'CJ .... IU ..a E IU U IU Cl • , New Dist rict 37 number one Mike Hannon used up all the t ra vel in his shocks to do it. came back on his Puch t o beat the 125 Experts . In the first Open-250 Expert go , Leo n Baird on a 250 CZ grabbed the lead, as Wright and Don Deleh ar t (Mai) sat with dead engines o n the starting line. Wrigh t too k o ff after the pack and picked one off at a time un t il h e gained first place t he seven th lap in ti me for the checkered flag. Bair d followed through for second, winning his class . Delehart had the lead at th e top o f th e hill in the second m o ta, as Wrigh t fouled a plug on the firs t lap an d got going aga in dead las t. He turned that big Mid-Valley CZ on like a crazy man and moved up to third as Baird took o ver the lea d an d go t the checkers first . Dele har t was second , wi nning the 5 00 class. Going into th e last m o ta Deleh ar t and Wright were even, and Baird had two firsts. Plus, it was tied up for second 250 Expert wi th Adrean Hernandez (Kaw) and Jim La T endrine (Ha n ) both having a second an d third. Wrigh t grabbed the lead th is time and was long gone. Baird moved pas t Delehart, into second, and th at was th e way th ey finished, Wright taking the top 500 Expert m on ey . Hernan dez beat o ut. th e co mpetition for second 250 go ld . In th e 12 5 Expe r t class Wrigh t fo ugh t off a hard ch arge fro m Su zu ki-mounted Doug McGowen . Each had a first and a second goi ng into t he last mo ta, but Wrigh t broke th e t ie b y taking th e las t mota an d agai n th e fir st place money. • McGo wen got a well earned second . Results in Results Sect io n. Nancy Payne, left, (Honda) wo n t he District 37 number one Powder Puff pla te witho ut w inning a mot a Sunday . Sue F ish (Hod) right , passed Cherry Stockton in points f or the number two p late in 1975. Wright makes up for lost time at DeAnza By Walt er Washi ngton SUNNYMEAD, CAL. , NO V. 17 Action was he avy in th e co mbined Open and 250 Expert ra ce as Jeff Wrigh t (CZ) came fro m dead last twi ce to take t he Op en class , th en • 29