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/125982
.- Pacific Coast Regional Championship TT l-< 0.. ~ Edd ie Mulder taking the checkered. New western regional AMA TJ Champ ion Edd ie Mulde r. back t o his winning ways. By Maureen Lee GARDENA, CAL., MAR. 23 The Ascot TT track was hard and slippery, but Eddie Mulder (Tri) had a very happy Sunday on it. He set fast time of the day with a 51.09 over Gene (Yam ) Romero 's 51. 17 . Eddie won his heat, again with the fast est time of th e four, and th en went on to take the region al cha mpio nship main. 14 It w a s l on g , e njoy able Sunday af te rn oo n o f raci ng. The fans really got . - ,1. ' .~ • r • ,... "'I their money 's worth, except fo r o ne thing. Th ey didn 't ge t to see Kenny Roberts race. Going out for Time Trials , Ro berts rode o nly a few ya rds befo re ret urn ing to his pit . Mech an ics swa rmed o ver the Yamaha but it was no go. Pit ru m o r says it w a s ei the r a p ist on or valve • "'J • " ~ t I ' I . I I , •• . ..... ,' J m a lfun c t io n . b u t i t w a s a disappoin t me n t to fan s who had h op ed to sec Roberts go agai nst the Ascot regulars. Shaggy starts and to o many crashes plag ue d th e Novice p relim in aries with th ree of the five heat s having to be re-started, so me more than once. Eddie Lawso n (Yam) and Ted Davidson (Yam ) showed that t hey were goi ng to make th ings interesting in the main. Lawson go t t he lead again afte r the t h ird re-st ar t o nly to lose it to Davidso n on th e left tu m goi ng o nto the back straight. Ou t of five Novi ce heats, fo ur wins went to Northe rn ride rs. Triumph-mo unted Don Carl yle won th e fir st heat for juni ors with Rex Hailey (Yam) challeng ing hard. Second he at the two Y a m a h a s o f Don Fra ue nberge r and Chuck Miller mad e the tr ansfer and Steve Ek lund (Hon) and Bu d Smi th (Tri) mad e it in the ne x t. Fou r th heat ·it was Charlie Soderstrom (Yam) and Ron Tobey (Tri) going at each other for the first co uple of lap s, then Soderstrom wrapped it up with a nice lea d. Ea rl Roloff (Yam ) got by Frank Adamo (Yam) in th e last heat altho ugh Adamo tri ed very hard not to ' Iet that happen. It was time for th e Experts to rumble t o th e line, again with only two transferring. Eddie Mulder (Tri went into th e lead right o ff and didn 't lose it, with Eddie' Wirth (11·0) and Ron Powell (Tri ) behin d. On th e wh it e flag lap , Powell got by Wirt h and in to th e dir ect tr ansfer spo t. Bo b Sanders (Yam) was th e early leader of th e sec o nd heat , then Ric k Hoc kin g (Yam). carry ing nu mber I ,- . • .' , >" • 0 f I I .... , ,. - 13 reli nquished by Dave Aldana, moved in to the lead. Nex t it was Gene Ro mero (Ya m) movi ng up to sec o nd as San ders went wide. John Hateley (Nor), really moving, got up to t hird. Frank Gillesp ie (H·D) crashed very , ha rd in the next hea t. Danny Hoc kie (Yam) hit the hay o n the tum a fte r the I jump while Paul Bostro m and Tom White o n their Harley s to o k first and second. Sal Pelu so on a 400 Mon oshock Yamaha d id a nice j ob for a fourth behind Pat McCa ul (Tri). Winner of th e Feb ruary TT, Terry Dors ch (Tri) ha d it all t ucked in during the last heat, but th ere was to be no catching J ohn Gennai (H. D) and their heat was th e second quickest . Agai n th e northern rid ers were in full fo rce in th e Junior semi . Salinas ' Cliff Farrell (Tri) too k th e lead, follo wed by Brad Hurst (Tri) from Eugene, Oregon, an d Mik e Thom sen (Suz). Hurst went very high on e t ime but held on to his second. Suddenly Cliff Farrell fell off. Now it was Hurst, with J im Wright (Yam) , Pat Guthrie (BSA) and Thomsen trying for th at seco nd an d fin al transfer position. In th at heavy company, Wright finally m ade a m ist ak e and Guthrie got under him, leaving Wright as first alternate. Eddie Wirth (H.D) led th e Expert semi drag race to turn o ne. Right with him were Bo b Sanders (Yam ), Chuck Jo yner (Tri) and Alex j org en sen (BSA) all wan ting one o f those fo ur transfers. But up t hrough the pack ca me a determin edj o hn Hateley o n his Norton. Lit tle J ohn came fro m back aro un d sixth to thi rd. passing Bob Sanders ,.,oJ '~ ~j ' , ; ,'~.:. ," a ~; ~' /w': ..... .".•. " ....... ~