Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

INorth ~ t (Continued fr om page 3 1) was Bruce Harris in fo r second overall wh ich pu ts him in an exce llen t spo t if Sward falt ers at the next two go-ro unds. This is th e first year that an o rga nized attempt has b een made to see wh o is Kin g of th e Idah o Cross Cou ntry sce ne. In th e p ast there have been so cal led state cha mpionship races but no uniform sanctioning. This year the Id ah o Mo torcyclist Associat ion has co -ordinated three eve nts from No rt h . Central and South Id ah o so that the highest scores of th e three area races will prove to all dou bt er s that they are th e Number On e in their respective 125. 250 and Open classes. Vulture 75 had Ray Hale 's sandwashes an d win d carved bike tr aps as the main fare for th e riders. Th e second event. which will be held in southeast Idaho will be rolling hills and ro cky sage brush. while the third race will be the Northern Id aho event May I I and will be mountain logs and bo gs. Th e only man in the past who could win under all of these different conditions was Billy Uhl , but unfortunately there was no organization in the past to give him that credit . The banner fell to let them try th eir luck at getting a quick line to the smoke bomb but the wind chiseled landscape meant there wasn 't any "easy way" to be found. Things smoothed out a bit after the smoke and t he Vulture course glided down into a snaky sandwash before bounding up a sage brush road to Check On e. By this time Sward wa s b eginning to settle into his sure lead as th e other contenders slugged it out over the backs of gullies toward th e sandwash t ha t led to Che ck Two. Bruce Harris. who is good for a first overall an ytime on either a MX co urse or a hare scr ambles, began gassing it for the eventual second overall spot across the h igh and knobby plateaus cha sin g Dan Muller. More sandwashery and a de sert road brought the riders in to the start- finish area an d Sward was out in fron t to stay . Dan Muller. the serious challenger in the top three. en ded up third overall and first 12 5 Expert. Now all of th e top riders had the latest LTR rear susp ension (except Muller) . they all had snappy racing jerseys (except Mull er) . and all had leathers or Bar bour suits (excep t Muller. who prefers co vera lls) . an d every on e knows t ha t l\lull er' s 175 pounds is too mu ch for a stock 125cc in a loose sand wash. We all know yo u ca n' t co mpete with the big bore bikes un der suc h condi tions'T; . Everyone kno ws th is excep t Muller , wh o puts o n his coveralls with a b ig grin and wastes the opposition . Fo urth overall and firs t 250 Expert was Ron Dillon , fifth was Uta h 's Joel Qui nn on an Ossa . The Utah Bultaco riders , spear h ead ed by Preston Cerber s, failed to mak e a threat as Ger bers crashed hard at the recent Ram s-Il\tA event two weeks be fo re. Following Quinn was another blazing 125 rider. • Bud Sparks. Results in Resul ts Section. 200 eager scratchers at Sears SONOMA. CAL. . APR. 13 The AFM's northern chapter opened its 1975 season at Sears Point with over 200 riders and 1300 watchers. 42 The morning practice sessio ns were chaotic due to the track condi tion and the large number of riders. A car event the previous day had left a little oil and a lot of grease sweep on the track. which was also a bit da mp in tum six becaus e th e underground sp ring the re was coming through the asphal r, AFM cham pion Rudy Galindo zeroes in on anoth er competitor, The raci ng st arted with the sidecars event. won in convincing style by th e McNeal{Kerly team . Th ey had nearl y a half lap lead over the second pl ace ch air of Bender and Koop, The next event was the " featherweigh t " race for the 50 -100 GP classes an d the 125 and 200 Production classes. Last year's big winner. Ed Un in i, go t boxed in at the st art and co uld manage only a third behind Yamaha O>erm ak and Rick riders John Kochevar. Allen Kiehl took the 12 5 Production class with a fourth overall. and Kim Clark was hotly pursued by Vir ginia Aldrich for second in class. with Kim in fron t by a co uple 0 f bi ke lengths at the fla g. The 350 Production class had to be flagged o ff in two waves. with t he newer riders given th e rear posit io ns . Bob TIge rt too k his usu al place at the fro n t o f the pac k. with Jed Hargett an d Dennis Rodgers arguing fo r second. Den nis fell near the end. b ut re-moun te d to take fifth. letting Kim Cardin an d Martin Siegel by into th ird and fou rth p laces. respec tively. Tom my Bright h ustle d h is ven erable Bridgesto ne into sixth to be the only non -Yam ah a in the top 20. The lightweigh t race combined the 125 and 200 GP classes with the 25 0 Production class. Dave Garou tte took firs t wi th his 25 0 Ossa. even though he was riding with a broken fin ger from a pract ice crash. TIp McP artland was sec ond on a 250 Bultaco to m ake it a Sp an ish one-two. In 125 GP . Randy Mamola, who is looking more like a shrunken Kenny Roberts every rac e, won his first time out on this difficult track. Last y ear 's 125 GP ch am p. Jeff Leggitt. could not catch the fast youngster. The 350-500-open GP race was won by AFM Number On e Rudy Galindo on his 350 Yamaha. but not by much. Larry Legarra, also on a 3 50 . stuck very cl ose and actually led across th e fin ish line for two laps. but Galindo rep assed on the last lap to take th e win. The heavyweight Production race . for th e 500. 750 and Open class es. produced a coup le o f surprises - Jim Lipanovich didn't win the 500 class and Face in the crowd - Mike Parriot moving up through Heavyweight Production t raffic. Ed Un ini didn't win th e 750 class. J im drop ped out early in th e race leaving the class win to Dwigh t Vibe (Suz) with Gerald Elkin se cond. In the 750 class. Mar ti n Siegel was cla ss winner with a seco n d overall behind Op en class winner Mike Parriott. Bob TIgert match ed his 350 Production class win with a goin g aw ay vic tory in the normally close 250 GP race. Jack Bak er held second for most of therace but was slightly over-geared and lost his pl ace to Bruce Ta ylor toward the end of the event. • Results in Resu lts' Section. B.O.S.S. MX By Sallee Hilton DIXON. CAL.. APR. 13 The blowing wind and dust failed to deter 330 riders from participa ting in this B.O.S .S. :-'IX at Argyll Park . Phil Crane to o k the big money in the 125 Expert class . After finishing behind Chuck Lopeman (Ho n) in t he first moto, Crane put his Honda bet ween Lopeman an d the checkered flag the second go-ar o und , giving him the first overall. Mike Preston (Ho n) started out as a definite co nten der for the 120% payback. but he crashed while running first in the first moto winding up in fifth. He ad de d a third in th e second moto to take third overall. In th e first 2 50 Expert moto it was Bill Swartz (Yam ). Alex Jorgensen (C· A), an d Rodney Pogue (Yam) finishing on e, two and three. Swartz en countered difficulties in the second rnoto, finishing 13th an d out of the money. Jorgensen. who ho lds a black plate in the scrambles world. ca me in for a win an d cashe d in for first overall. Bill Johnson (YZ) was second this time but his ninth in the first moto was no help. Pogue fo u nd himself in third again and too k home th e second pla ce mo ney for the day , cashi ng in on his first ride as an Ex pert. • Results in Results Section.

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