Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

II IKI a= IKI By Phil Carpenter ...:I g ADELANTO, CAL.,JAN. 5 ~ New trac k surface, new TT and half-mile seaso n, an d a new Number On e cham pion met the warm desert sun at 39 5 Cycl e Park Sunday. Mike Laney graduated from his Number Two plate on a 360 Yamah a to his Number One plate on a new 750 Yamaha. Earl Roloff traded in hi s five plate on a 3 60 Yam ah a for his earn ed two on a 750 Norton. Foll owing traditio n, the new Number One led the 150 en tries o ut to pract ic e. Just lik e th e n umber pla tes rea d, it was Laney in first and Roloff in seco nd as the ch eckered flag fell in both the Open Exp er t 1'1' and the Open Ex pe rt hal f-mil e mains. Laney broke the lead luck tradition of a ne w n umber o ne as he came with in .3 -sec o f breaking his o wn h alf-m ile trac k record of 28 seconds . Mike Melancon, San D iego Number O ne p icked up th ird o n the TT. His n ew Amateur card o nly gave BSA moun te d Joh n J arrett some n ew race- faces to b ea t as h e copped his first Am ateur troph y for Norm's Ra cing Team in th e Open TT main. Ontario Honda Te am won th e tra d itional weekly "Team or Club Par ti cip a tio n Tro phy" w ith their signups in the Mini classes , and Reno 's 11.1.. Cus ter to o k h is stand (again) fo r th ird in b oth th e TT an d hal f-mile Open Novice. I h ear he has th ird spo t reserved ! New b oo ts, h elm et s an d bikes lined up for practice, including Jim No se k's new twin th at h e broke in right by • co pp ing a 25 0 Amate ur trophy and Lady Libber Bobby Hun te r's new Hodak a th at took third in th e 125 Novic e half-mil e ma in . The Novi ce winners doubled their pleasure and th eir trophies by repeating th eir win s in bo th mains. • Results in Resul ts Section . Gold in them thar Dunes By John Grout VALENCIA, CAL.,JAN. 5 Gone, buried and forgotten was the old TT-type course that had been a motocross battleground for racers almost since Indian Dunes' beginning. In its place, for the field of 3 33 riders was a real motocross track a genuine whing-dinger of a tight, twisty a nd challenging circ uit th at would drive a wart hog up a banana tree . While initiating th e new twister, Maico riding Bill Payne collec ted a p air of 20 -minu te vict ori es to gain an ove rall win at Open Expert. Though pushed righ t to th e ragged edge in b oth o f th e lengt hy motos by Ron · Haase, Payne Bult aco bullet showed his hard-earned ra cing savvy in both cla sses , maintaining a narrow lead to the checkered. Close st runners-up to the top two were Pat Dailey an d David Byrd, two riders to wat ch for fu ture glory . Hal Strauss (Mai), scored a win in his first mota and a second in th e final , upending a larg e group o f 250cc Experts. Hal's main contention was supplied by Will Harper (CZ) and Mike Sixberry (Bul), who rode a good second in the firsi heat , only to have his handlebars snap during the running o f th e second. Hard luck award for th e day goes to Don Hansen, who was attempting to campaign one of the big Maicos against Open Experts for Sun Valley 's Revell's Raiders.After setting the day's fast time (1 ;15) in the first mota, Hansen faced - rn New track and new Number 1 g lC) r-O'l C'J >- l-< (';j ~ c: (';j ......, , The gra duate. H.R .A: s new Nume ro Un o, Mike Laney , on the TT t rack at Adelanto . one catastrophe after ano ther. While holding the lead, he lost h is saddle; then , during the final ro und , he went end-far-end while chas ing Payne o n th e backchute. Wow ! Brad Eyre [Hon}, down fro m Ridgecrest, talli ed wins in hath motos that involved Experts on the 125 cc machinery. Runners-up included, am o ng others, Jeff Haas e (Ha n) , Kevin Berger (Han) and Rob Westbrooke (Han) . Outstanding Novi ce rid es ca me from Tom Harper, IOOcc (Han) ; George Vien s, 125 (Han); Richard Titus. 125 (Han); Ronnie Cardoza, 250 (Han) ; Rick Roberts, 250 (lIo n ); and Kit Malone, Open (Mai) . All were the overall victors in their respective divisio ns. Sidehacks were out in force a ll the new International Cours e, with wins going to the team of Jim Stevens and Bob Sanner, Jr., wo rking o n a 750 cc Honda for the He avyweight vic to ry ; while Rick Lucch ese and Dennis Morgan (Yam) accounted for a win agai ns t th e Lightweight cla ss. And th e hacks again proved to be a gre a t cro wd pleaser. • Results in Results Sec tion. "Maly wins too much" By Hidden Images and Stu Sap icoff CARLSBAD, CAL.,JAN. 5 Who's 17 years o ld, has light brown hair (and is no t th e AMA ref), rides fire-engine red , up piped, gas-suspended Hondas, rides WFO with a smart head, and is the current 125 National Champ? Hard one? Nope, it's good 01' Marty Smith of San Diego. Marty S. made one of his rar e appearances today at an Al\1C race, going fo r a pi ece of that $500 guaran te ed purse set-up for the fa st Pro rid ers . . Although Marty rode his milder, stock-looking ' 75 Honda : h e was still the dominant force in the 125 Pro class. But he h ad h is share of problems, like Bill y Urb an and a new comer, Ifi-y ear-old John Smith. The two Smiths aren ' t related , but the only thing you can really relate b etween thesetwo is the fact that they're both faast. Bu t le t's get on to what was gain ' on . In typical Urban st yl e, Billy grabbed th e holesho t on th e rest of the 125 Pros, dosely fo llo wed b y the red and white Honda of John Smith, with Marty riding third. J ohn held h im off for a few laps , then Marty d ecided to p ass. John seized a ' lap later, leaving the two fro nt runners to bat tle. Urban gassed it , whil e Mar ty seeme d to be "cro isin ' along." !IIarty final ly caugh t up and passed Billy in the back sec ti o n of h umps . Soon Marty stoppe d on to p of the wall an d Mart y's mom very q u ie tiy watched him try to fi x his bike . Urb an was very close behind wh en he go t go ing again. Af te r th at, Mar t y began to stre tch his lead agai n . Until ... about two lap s before the ch eckered, Mart y stopped again, this time o n th e uphill , and Urban caugh t an d p assed Smith . Again Marty got it togeth er , but h e had to pa ss Billy . With o ne lap to go , th e two wer e side-by-sid e, a nd Mrs. Smith looked like my sister givin g a sigh of rel ief at the end of a so ap-opera , as her son won. In the second m alo, Marty got the best of Urban after abo u t five laps. Mrs. Smith's so n h ad his problems fix ed up and stretched the lead to half-a-lap a t the end of the race. Bruce Baron and h is Orange County Cycles Yamaha grabbed the st art of th e 250 Pro class, but dropped his lead to Bob St em (CZ). The Bike Shop rider remained in front , with Gary Ogden second o n hi s Ya m a h a WestMonoshoeker. Baron fell hack to fo ur th when Eddie Cole passed him for third, riding for Steve 's Bultaco . The seco nd mota was instan t replay, Baron crash ed in to the wide-sweeper berm, doing a Gerrit Wolsink repl ica; which dropped h im to a fifth in the mota. Bruce took fo urth overall, while Rick Salmon to o k his Mik e 's Racing Center Maico to a fifth . Coast Moto Cycle rider Peter Maly go t o ut of the box first of the 500 Pros, followed closely by Richard Franklin (Yam) . Peter got tired of it and pulled ahead of Rich, who was leading Jeff Foland on his quick KTM . After 20 ' minutes Jeff began to catch Rich, which inspired Rich to gas it to catch Pete Maly. Richard was almo st o n the famed Motocross Action test rider until his brak e leve r jammed against the engine just two laps from the finish. Bummer. Th at was it for Franklin, when he was doi n' fin e. Pete o nce aga in pulled the st ring on th e quic k pac k in the las t mota . Jeff Foland too k it easy in sec o nd pl ace with _ Jeff Bro wn in g mo to ring aro und almost last on the first lap . Jeff steadil y drove his w ay up to th ird. By this time Foland decided to ma ke his move and ca ugh t up to Maly. Pete was barely ab le to hold him off. Marty Smith and a h ost of others were ch eering Jeff o n, bec ause "Maly win s too mu ch, " as o ne of the observers saw it. J eff was ab o ut to get him, when the brake rod le t go an d he was left without rear an ch or. Th is slowed Jeff down to a strong sec o nd . Maly won again. The sun h ad se t wh en the last Op en Junior cro ssed the finis h line. I had lots of fun , taking a seven th in my class, not bad, even with a broken b ack hub. When I got home, I immediately sat down and beg an to zing away on this typewriter like I was Marr y Sm ith. Ding ! Return ! AMC st y le! • Results in Results Section. _ 25

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