Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ELocal hotlinecont'd. -= s t Irwindale gets final race of Speedway Series IRWINDALE, CAL. Irwindale Raceway has been tabb ed to host the thi rd and final event in the U.S.-versus-the-World Speedway tour on Saturday night, March 8. High speed t raffic jam. Ron (31) Powell and Mike (1) Laney. Powell stops Laney at 395 By Phil Carpenter ADELANTO, CAL., FEB. 16 395 Cycle Park came alive Sunday when almost 200 entries from mini to mighty rolled onto the TT and half-mile courses. The ro ar o f th e four-strokes brought back memories of the good old days to some. But looking closer, there's now the 750 Yamahas and Nortons wh ipping it on. There's the trick frames, disc brakes, special forks and other goodies that this generation has. Gone are the 35 horsepower, 40-inch Triumphs; now it's the 750s coasting at 70 mph. The old 65 to oth rear sprockets have given way to 44 to oth sproc kets while tuners still lo ok for higher gearing. Ron Powell Triumph-mounted stopped Mike Laney 's winning streak, but it wasn't easy. The Hi-Desert h otshoes swa pped the lead three times in the TT Open Expert Main . Track rec ord holder Powell pulled ahead o f number o ne Laney in lap th re e when Laney m ad e a hard drive on the south corner, sliding off the groove. This gave Salinas ' Buddy Robinso n just the edge he needed to wrap up second. Powell took first in half-mile action ahead of Yamaha-mounted Dan McWhorter. Earl Rol off grabbed double wins for San Diego in the 500 Expert Mains. Yamahas dominated the 250 Expert classes with Frank Adamo putting Bakersfield in the winner's circle and Craig Armstrong of Santa Ana boogying with the brass on the half-mile. After intermission, the wind de cided to go fast too ! The TT mains were kept at five laps, but the half-mile m ain s were cut to two because of h igh winds. Norm 's Motorcycle Haven won the "Shop Participation" awar d wi th his cre w. • Results in Results Section. FlaTTrack By Tom Blattler CORONA, CAL. , FE B. 12 Mike .Myers of Crestline, riding a fast K & N 360 Yamaha, returned to Corona Raceway for the first time in ' over a year and captured 20 the Open Expert short track over a fine field of riders. Myers, who is n ow an AMA Pro Expert, took the lead in the six-lap feature and stretched o ut to take the easy win. His o nly competition came from Bultaco-mounted Peter Grant, who has turned in to one of the fmest riders at Corona Raceway thus far in the 1975 season, and Terry Griner, who is one of the best short trackers a t Corona. A rider who has worked very hard at Co rona Raceway for the past t wo years scored one of the bi ggest evenings of his care er , as Bultaco-mounted Mark Butler captured both the 250 Novice short track and half-mile main events. Butler, who has finished seco n d and third many times in the 250 class, defeated Mark Baldwin on th e half-mile and Tom Tierman in the short track feature. Frank Turnbiola (Yam ) fmished third in both mains. South Gate 's Mike Minnig rode his Yamaha to victory in the 125 Expert Half-mile. The 14-year-old was abou t. to score a double for the evening, as he led Mike Ti dwell in the 125 Expert short track, but Minnig b roke a chain in turn four. Tidwell went on to win the sh ort track main alon g with the 250 Expert h alf-mile feature. • Results in Resul ts Section. UJ ll: This series, which opened February 2 in the Houston Astrodome, pits six of th e top European speedway riders against six of 'Am erica 's best. Harry Oxley will stage the second race at his popular Oran ge Coun ty Fairgrounds facility on Friday night, March 7 foll owed the next night on the lo nger Irwindale oval . Included will be New Zealand's Ivan Mauger an d Barry Briggs, Denmark's Ole Olsen , cu rr en t World Champion Anders Michanek and two mo re still to be confirmed. Battling for the United States will be 1974 National Champ Steve Bast, 1973 National Champ Mike Bast, 1972 Cham p io n Rick Woods, "Wild Bill" Cody, Sonny Nutter and 1974 runner-up to the National title, Jeff Sexton. The 1975 season of SRA sanctioned weekly sp eed way _ events opens Thursday night, April 16 at Irwindale and Friday night, April 17 at Cos ta Mesa. • c( a: o > UJ Z a: c( a:I Ken Zahrt puts his Trans-AMA experience to good use. AME $600 purse at DeAnza By Barney Drake RNERSIDE, CAL., FE B. 16 AME again pu t on a $ 60 0 purs e motocros s, and Ken Zahrt (Hus) seeing the pot o f gold at the end o f the rainb ow, grabbed the hole x o i5 a: :J a:I Z Xscaping with the Hilltoppers By John Burdick TRABUCO CAN YO N, CAL., FEB. 15- 16 Mother Nature, the Hilltoppers M.C., and Escape Country entered into a three-way partnership to provide an ideal weekend of heads-up GP racing. The newly developed 5.3 mile co urs e was groomed for this event and a recent ligh t rain made for yummy traction and no dust. Excitement ran high on a cool, sunny morning as the Open class bi kes paraded to the start of wh at p rove d to be a ~ spectators' delight. Manuel Fiu bres wen t the distance in the Junior/ Expert class with a st yle th at should be seen ra t he r than described. Fiubres lite rall y dived off th e optional "cliff, " whi ch was the fast way in to a reall y neat san dwash . With Charles Bec k 's Maic o and Jim Corp 's Kawasaki hot o n his heels, Fiubres remained W FO 'th ro ugh ou t for the big bike Junior/Expert win. Open Novice F. Tait and Beginner Russ Kaatz, also blitzed the challenging course to win their classes and riders interviewed both days expressed great satisfaction with the fun provided. Sin ce many of the en trants ri de mo to cross regularly , the hour-an d-a-h alf races were a new experienc e, what with p it sto ps , hills, rocks, a dead engine Ie Mans start, and all that good stuff. The tre mendous j o b done by the International Raci ng Radio Crew kept the we ekend fun and safe, and riders were ask ing for a repeat performance as soon as possible. • Results in Results Section. :t o ., They call this "taking the plunge:' Mama! Manuel Fiubres becomes a blur as gravity takes over on Escape Country's dropaway. shot again st th e 25 0 Experts. He held his advan ta ge wire to wire . Rick Salmon (Mai) followed in second with Bill Payne (CZ) close behind him. Payne zeroed in and p assed Salmon only to break a shock bolt, blow the other shock, and if th at weren 't enough, add a loose swingarm bolt. Understandably Payne slowed, leaving the way clear for Salmon. However, as the moto grew older, Payne caught his second wind and re-passed Salmon and came within spitting distance of Zahrt. First m oto . resul ts were : Zahrt, Payne, Salm on . In the second moto Payne had everything sorted o ut, leading fr o m start to finish , Behind h im was an extraordinary battle for second. Salmon, Zahrt, McAfee (Bul) an d Topham (Mai) were all close en ough to put a sheet .,over them. Zahrt had his han ds fu ll with Salmon on his case. Toph am passed McAfee an d inc he d up closer to Salmon. Un de r all the pressure Salmon was do ing fine, b ut his gearbox didn't know it and went out to lunch! Topham seized his opportunity and took over second. Payne took first, Zahrt second, Topham third. The overall results were Zahrt, Payne, Topham. , Yes, it's in credib le - Bill Payne rode both 250 and 500 Experts al ong with J eff Wright (CZ) wh o didn't fare so well . Payne had the co urse wired an d also th e throt tl e. Randy Berkley (Mai) came fro m beh ind in both m o tos to almost catch the lead ers . If h e ha d m ad e his move a few m inutes ea rlier, he migh t have won. He netted sec on d o verall. Consistent Floy d Burk, J r. (Bul) tookthird overal l. Ray Lopez (Ho n) was th e man to beat in the 125 Expert clas s. He had th e lead in th is th e first m oto, Dave Williams (Ho n ) was close behin d and after about halfway through, swi tch ed his throttle to W.F .O. and passed Lopez. J im Hale on a stock suspension Elsinore held down third. In the final minutes Lopez made his move, but co uldn ' t quite get to Williams. In the second m o to Lopez again nabbed the early lead ; h o wever , Don Draz (Hon) was , occupying second. In the first moto Draz lost his rear brakes, which isn't exac tl y the hottest set-up on DeAnza, known for its downhills. Dave Williams was in third when he blew his head gasket. J im Hale motored by Draz, taking the second. Results: Lopez, Hale , • Draz, Overall results the same. I

• Cover