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/125890
"; Dollars flew at ~ Rawhide ;a ~ ELSINORE . CAL. , NOV. 24 ...,; A $60 0 purse, with $100 to firs t . place brings o u t th e Exp erts. ' Ray Lopez m ounted o n a 12 5 "Pinda" g out o f C·H Ind. to ok o n a b ig field o f , 125 Exp ert s and won th e top ~ e- mon ey. He h ad to fight o ff a h ard O"> ch ar ge from Steve Gee o n a Honda wh o en d ed up .sec o nd . Mike ~ ~ 0 ~ .0 r- i:: u u u ,......, • - McAtee go t fast er as th e d ay wen t on , bu t his troubles in th e first mota, taking sixth, held h im do wn to a th ird overall . Mike Sixbery on a 250 Bultaco , put together, two firsts and a seco nd to. be king o f th e 250 Experts. It was t en sion to the end as Tony Roger s (Mai) push ed hard and ca me o ver the finish line in th e las t mot a bar -to-bar with Sixb ery , But Rogers had to se t tle fo r second ove ra ll. Hal Strau ss brought his Maico in fo r third. Jeff Wright, mounted on a 4 00 Mid-Valley CZ, to ok the measure o f th e Open Exp erts. lie h ad to battle Rich y Downer all three motos and won by onl y o ne point as Downer claimed seco nd mon ey. . The Old T ime rs all came o ut in the ir red jersey s an d did th eir thing. Spike Dun can was top Mast er rid er , Dave Chandler was th e Expe r t win ner, George !\Ieyer got all th ree m o tos in th e Am at eur class a nd the Old Ti me rs • Novice win went to AI Matto s. Results in Results Section. f- J: o a: ~ :! o Moreno Valley MX o Th e 125 Experts hot-foot it thro ugh t he smooth stuff at Rawh ide , w it h Ray Lo pez t he even tu al winner hol ding t he insid e. Now, if we on ly knew what a " Pinda" is . ' .' By Tim Mickey SUNNYMEAD , CAL. , NOV . 23 • number After laying it down late in the first mot a while in th e lead, Ed Schnit zer (Bul) w as h ard put to m ak e up lo st time after Hugh Hen ey (Han) got past h im. Bu t th e next t im e th e p air cam e around, Schnit zer was in the lea d again, arid this t ime h e held o n for o ne the fin ish . In the second m ot a, th ough, it looked as if hehad no clutch, so h e had to make a rolling st art in de ad last . It didn't seem to faze him, h ow ever, since he worked his way through the pa ck and into th e lead aga in. The fina l mota was a replay o f the sec o nd with the sam e handicap a t the start, b ut o nce again h e herded hi s way thro ugh t raffic an d mad e it a clean sweep fo r the day. For 125 j unior Pete Pet erso n , his new red Ho nd a was all he need ed to du st off his class . After he got aro und leader Bren t Price (Han) h e just st re tc he d out a lead. never making any mistak es. and too k th e checkered flag . Heavy tr affi c h eld up Price ju st a little to o long in th e second mo ta, an d by th e time he worked his way clear of it , Peterson was too far ahead to catc h . The last o n e, though, found Price jumping in to the lead and h old ing o ff Peterson for half the mota. He might have taken it all the way until Peterson barely man aged to edge h is way past him . After th at, Pri ce followed closel y, looking for an opening, but Peterson had things too well wired to bobble. and • he took the final mota as well. Results in Results Section. . By Stewa rt B. Sap icoff ORANGE, CA L. , NOV. 24 36 Second win h e nee ded to cop first ove rall. • Results in Re sults Section. AMC tw o-r ace series results next wee k. Whaley takes Orange County Trialer's meet By Dick Vasquez RECH E C ANYON. CA L. , NOV. 10 Over 100 riders 'Showed up at the Ranch o Col a Del Tigre (Tail o f the Tiger · Ran ch ) to com pe te in the Orange Cou n t y T rialer 's first ATA meet. With o nly o ne mo re ATA Drew Nelson (Yam) bangs a be rm at Saddleback . He put together a first an d a fourth for second overall , 250 Expert. AMC series finale at Saddleback In the 125 Pro ra ce Mark Tyer (Fl\IF) proved to be the domineering force. In both m otos Tyer st arted in th e number o n e pos itio n , stayed in the number one position throughout the race, and crossed the finish line in the posmon, overall was a points tie between Mik e johnson (D&G) and Terry T urn er (Han) , broken in favo r of J ohnso n taking a second o ver T urn er's third in th e final mota. The 250 Pro race saw a very rad ical Drew Nelson (Yam) ace ou t th e compet it ion in th e first mot o , no t having to worry about pushing himself any harder than n ecessary to maintain his first place spo t un til th e last few laps . Peter I\laly (CZ), third o verall, and Tim Battenschlag (Mai ), who eventually took the first overall for the da y, starte d to increase t h eir speed . This still did not ca tc h the truly insane Nelso n. In th e second mota Nelson was to fini sh no h igh er th an fourth pl ace because o f a st uck fr o nt bra ke which caused him to semi-eat it. Tha t one misha p would even tu ally cost him th e first p lace purse. Ba rt en sch lag got the -' -' W lD a. :;; <{ o w z S ~~ECIl - meet to go prior to the " big one" - the Trial de Espana (December 15) - all o f the top Experts in Southern California went at it to oth and nail. When all the dust had settled, Montesa mounted Marland Whal ey (Natio nal Number Two in Trials) had anoth er win followed by Bultaco 's Bernie Schreib er (AT A Champion) and George Sm ith (Ha n ) who finished thi rd. Mike Griffitts (Ma n) edged o ut ano th er Morites a rider Mark Eggar (Natio nal Number Four) for fourth place. In the Amateur Divison, no w also dominated by very young riders, Paul Williams (Ilul) put it all togeth er to edge ou t Ly nn Barnes (Suz ). Ron Doster (Bul) to o k third via a rid e-off over Matt Prit ch ard o n a new Kaw asaki. Lynn's Suz uki is rea lly torqu ing no w with the addit ion o f a bol t-on two and one-ha lf pou nd fly wheel weigh t. Al th o ugh th e Orang e Count y Trialers are new as a club, th eir ex p erie nc e and hard wo rk were evide nt eve ry whe re - at th e sign-u p area and in the lo op itself. Th e sec t io ns were tough and the six and o ne-hal f mile loop (ridd en three times) req uired the stamina o f an end uro rider. Sever al riders got flats including Brian Perry who "retired" after his second fla t. The loop was well marked with signs such as "Trucks used low gear" on a steep downhill and the sections were named - qu ite appropriately, " Weird Haro ld's Ho ller ," "Echo," "Graham's Grabber," "Sidewinder," "Snydley 's Whiplash," "Nut Cracker," et c. The mo st interesting section was "Sidewinder" chec ked b y j ac kie Sm ith. The better riders were the ul tim ate picture o f gra ce, as they turn ed and forth across whee lied bac k a nd switchbacks up a steep h ill then turn ed and fough t fo r control on th e do wn hill which required a turn to the left at the bottom. The rest were no t as gracefu l especially on the d o wnhill where the rear wheel s were lo c king up. Yo u never saw such big eyes! In the Novice Div ision, Siegfried Magenheim (Bul) took first. Mike Meade (Han) second and jerry Elders (Han) third . Twelve-year-old Keith Pagel - didn 't trophy, bu t d id finish in the to p 10 in th is t he largest o f th e fo ur Divisions . • Resu lts in Results Sec tion.