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/125987
Local hotline - r o a: .J ;) Z r o -, Tony Murphy and his 750 Laverda were the big winners in the four stroke GP class. The start of th e 250 GP race which No. 73 Harry Klinzman won. Laverda beats 'Duck in Willow Springs showdown By Irving J. Berlitz, Jr. ROSAMOND, CAL., APR. 2 7 Interest in CMC's new 4-stroke GP class picked right up when last minute entries found Cook Neilson (Du e) , Tony Murphy (Lav), Miles Rossteu scher (BMW), and Mike Hishiki on a KR 750 Honda all sitting on the grid. Neilson, who proved he owns th e fast est 16 750 production bike in the known world by easil y winning the 750 clas s at Daytona, led for two lap s. It was th en that Murphy demonstrated the sterling st yl e that in the past put him on several factory road racing teams. Slicing through th e twis ty Willow Sp rin gs co urse in a manner later described by Neil son as " sm o oth as glass," Murphy just went aro un d the m ore -power ful Ducati. At th e end o f the rac e, it was Murphy 's 75 0 SFC Laverda in fr on t by 20 len gths. Acc ordi ng to Team Han sen personnel , t he onl y wo r k do ne to make th e winning motorcycle faster was polishing the cy lin der head , a radical departure fro m the en ormous e ffo rt an d time expended upon th e second-place Ducati by i ts owner and operator. Hishiki was third, Rosste usche r fourth . An other new CMC racing clas s, Super Cafe , found Lance Weil 's Laverda 1000 winn ing . The cla ss is for no n-beginne rs on Ca fe m achin es. Weil burst into the lead entering th e firs t comer, wi th Marc J oh n son (Due) , and To ny Murphy , this time on a Su zuki Rotary , right beh ind. Jeff St eele (Ho n 750) ba ttle d up from a poor st art into fifth, th en third, t hen seco n d as J ohnson faded. Weil an d St eele left Murphy behind in third as they spe d up th e pa ce. At th e halfway mark, St eele close d on Weil , th en passed a few laps later., Weil, who later remarked, " Whene ver an yo ne ge ts by me, I alwa ys pull out an extra seco n d a lap, " did just t ha t and re gained th e lead. As hard as Steele tried, as well as he did in gaining ground in turns one and nine, he never passed Weil again . It was the first time Weil had set wheel on Willow 's hillside tra ck in 12 years ; Steele 's second ra ce on the co urse. " I w ou ldn 't be surprised if, even no t feeling in the groove , I took som e of the right lin es fro m experi ence alone," said Weil after winning. "I rode in Europe for seven years ." Harry KIin zmann won 250 GP af ter Bob Endicott, trying to work up from a terribl e start, crash ed . Dick Fuller and Kent Rockwell took second an d third, while back in th e pack friends Gary Moore and Chu ck Strohmen ger m atched Yamahasand wits, trading their own lead lap a fter lap until Chuck retired. They weren 't in the hunt, but havin g someone to ra ce with is wh at racin g is all abo ut. Art Friedman and hi s new Can-Am were beaten by J ohn Chermak's very fast Yamaha in 200 GP, so Ar t final ly geared hi s bike up . Th en he went out an d ran away from Chermak in t he 200 Production race. In beati ng probabl y the fastestY am ah a campaigning t he class , Art 's Can -Am en d uro sco re d its th ird st raigh t 200 Prod uc tion win - every prod uction class rac e it has been in. Killer DKW devas ta te d t he 125s for the 16 th co nsecu tive tim e . Rider J ohn Ulrich said, " \ wish I had a Can -Am '" Co ok Neilson tro unced 750 Produ ction after Murp hy stayed o n his rotar y , wiggles and all, to beat the 500s . Lee Fleming an n ih ilate d th e Op en class with a second o verall be h ind Neilso n, in fro n t of Murph y . (All th ree clas ses wer e run to gether. ] Lee de served it. He 's a n ice guy of the kind th ere are to o few o f th ese days. • Results in Resu lt s Section. announcer's stand wi th one lap remaining. Smith kept his cool, lit his scooter and still kept the lead with Croft finishing second. In m oto two com pet it ion , Tommy Croft led most of th e 12 lap even t with Sm it h , J eff Jennings (Suz ) and Bill Grossi (Suz ) hot o n his kn o bb ies , With one-half lap to go, Marty Smith slid past Tommy Croft on an o ff-cam ber downhill section of the tr ac k. Bill Grossi, who was in th ird, co mp le tely "lunch ed" h is rear wheel assem bly a fter coming off a jump. Third place went to Bob Hannah after only his secon d ride o n Suzuki. Danny LaPorte cam e from th e middle o f th e pac k to win the first 250 Pro moto, T on y DiStefano (Suz ) and Bill Grossi (Suz ) were one an d two off the st art. Grossi took the opening lead and LaPo rte passed Tony "0" on the downhill for second position. Bob Hannah (Hus) proceeded to pass DiStefano as he tried a berm sh ot on a · chai n lin k fen ce an d lost the battle: Results moto one: La Po rte, Grossi, Hannah . Team Suz uki of DiStefano and Grossi st arted fine in m oto two until DiStefan o pulled o ff with bike problems and Grossi ove rsh o t a tum. Bob St em (CZ) and Bob Hannah moved into sec o nd an d third re spec ti vely . LaPorte too k firs t pl ace for the day with so me on- the-gas raci ng. The Migh ty Maico of Gaylon Mosier ou tran th e en tire field of 50 0 Pros. Off the line , Billy Ru bley (Mai), Gary Sernics (Kaw), Tony DiSt efan o (Suz) an d Mosier were side -by-side go ing in to tum one. Mosier took th e lead an d gradual ly pulled away fro m second place Semics, and Rubl ey wh o was in third. DiStefano was o u t with bi ke p ro blems. Mosier won moto two with Semics fin ish ing a very fast second . On th e whole , p ut great weather, fantast ic rid er s and CMC toge ther and you ge t th e be st racin g a person co uld ask for. Results in Results Section. Smith and Croft: On the gas By Mike Klinger CARLSBAD, CAL., APR. 29 WFO was the word o f the day as Pros such as Marty Sm ith, Tom Croft, Dan LaPorte, Gaylon Mosier, Tony DiStefano, Bill Grossi, Bill Ru bley , Gary Sem ics and a host of other diced-it-out under sunny skies at Carlsbad, California. To start the racing day , the 125 Pros were off and running as Marty Smith (Ho n ) led from the first tum to the last. Smith was about 10 seconds ahead of Tommy Croft [Ho n] , a solid second, until Smith pulled a " Gerri t Wolsink maneuver" by unloading in front of the Marty Smith rode two very'good races t o win the 125 Pros. a: w C) z J ~ w ~ i ~~~~~~~~:!...-.--.-..:~~~~~:::'::::