Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Local hotlinecont'd. him a t th e time a nd it was Schmid wh o was in sec o nd when it coun ted - a t th e fini sh . Mike J ohnston (Pen) led t he 25 0s in to the pits, havi ng passed Den n is Greene (H- D) when the latter pitted ea rly. J o hnston's rea r ti re went flat ; he dropped out , leaving the class win an d third overal l to' Green 's San ta Ana Harl ey-sp onsored entry. John Dy ks tra recen tly bought a 400 Mono and it carried him t o fir st Amateu r, fourth overa ll. Phil Stumbo (250 CZ ) was 10 th at th e end of t he firs t loop , moving up to fifth at t he fin ish, second 25 0 Expert. Results in Resul ts Section . Greyhounds MC Dual Hare Scrambles By Jim Bissner PONDEROSA, CAL., MA Y 4 As the winner o f more than 19 first overalls (Ponderosa wise) Monte Lee co uldn ' t quite do it today and gave the reins to . a newcomer named Gary St ammen. Lee go t a very poor start and was left in the pack as St ammen, Mark a nd T o m Widick and Bill Childers were left t o co n te nd for the lead. As they all ca me to the " Ston e House" at the end o f t he start run Mark and Bill con verged on Gary and t he whole b u nc h ne arly bo ug ht it righ t there . Bill Childers , who so aked h is cast o ff a wee k ago, had been talk ing all mo rnin g abou t h is new Suzuki RMI 25 and ho w fas t it was . He also sa id t here ar e o nlv four in the U.S. J ust ' b e fo re t he first check on a re des igne d co urse, Lee ca ug h t up t he front runners but hi s bike quit o n h im as it had in th e start and he traced the p rob lem to t he p lug wire . Wit h Monte u nable to catch h im , Gary St ammen muscle d in fo r first overall on h is Ya maha and th e father /so n team of Wid ic k eased in a pair of Yamah as fo r first a nd second Heavyweight, alt ho ug h Mark's a Ligh tw eigh t. Bill Childers t ailed this d uo closely to ca p tu re fourth in front, fi rst 12 5. So me tal k at the Po nd erosa Inn aime d at Lee see me d to p oi nt th at perhaps th e change d co u rse with its new lines spooked h im and th at m ay be he would n ' t "do 'em in" a ny more. However, that was defini tely n o t t he case in th e se co nd race. The Ponderosa co nsists of three times aro u nd an eig ht mile loo p which has a little of everything a nd a lo t o f sand whoops. Lee m ade the full 24 miles in 34 m inutes. Fast . He was a full three minutes a hea d of second place Bill Childers wh o was try in g p retty hard, agai n st a heavy wind, to kee p a head o f Dave Wilson o n a Pursan g, In this race Gary Stammen b roke just befo re home c hec k o u t o n th e dry la ke . Mon te Lee a nd Bill Childers would Sandy whoopers made passing at ti me s very difficu lt. 20 like t o politely ex te nd a fo rmal invitation to any rno t ocro sser to co m e o u t and beat th em WFO in a special race. Also, in order to k e e p the ho tshoes he re an d the o thers less speedy, t he Gre yh ounds have in tr o d uce d a co nsolation ca tegory . Beginning at their ne x t race o n June I, the riders in race numb er t w o won't ne ces sarily have t o d ice wi th the fast guys th at lead th e first ra ce. • Results in Results Sectio n. Tim Hart rides again! By Mike Klinger GARDENA, CALIF., MAY 14 National personality and Team Yamaha rider Tim Hart was at full for ce in Cl\lC's night motocross at Ascot. Hart, after being absent from Ascot fo r three years , was present with three factory m achines, enabling him to compete in all professional classes. In all three 125 Pro motes, it wa s a four man see-saw battle for the lead between Dave Pessy (Hon ), Jeff Jennings ( Bul), Mark Tyer (Yam) and TIm Hart (Yam ). After win nin g the first moto handil y , Pessy go t th e hole shot an d the lead in moto two. Hart had a go o d st art and a second place ride un til he saw J ennings "bom b" passed him in mid ai r o ff the spectator ju m p . Tyer th en moved into third wi th J ennings right on Pessy's fen d er. Pessy took th e n ag with Jennings and Tyer t o follow. Moto three went again to Pess y with J ennings comi ng off a last place st art to finish sec ond o nly " fly in g dirt clods" be hi n d Pes sy. Dave Pessy , on h is V R, won the first moto o f the 250 Pro s wi th TIm Har t closing fas t. Pessy had real decen t cro ss-ups while raci ng in an d o ut o f th e ponds . Cr o ss-u ps, wh ee lies and .. Fal ta Flops " are Jum pin ' J o e J o hn ston's (Oss) c up-o f. tea. When J ohnst on to ok th e lead in m o to t wo, it was a sigh t for so re eyes and ears. He performed every im agin abl e st un t on h is ultra tri ck Maic o-Oss a m ach in e . Pessy and Hart tried to ca tch Joe , b ut J o e too k th e win and ca me right back to sweep m oto three als o. Bill Rubley (Mai ) wins and wins and wins ! He won all three 5 0 0 Pro ra ces with so m e real down t o ea rth (not h ing fancy ) racing . Jumpin ' J o e put p re ssure on Ru bl e y, b u t this see ms to m a ke Rubl e y sc oot eve n fas ter. • Results In Resu lts Se ction. World Championship Hillclimb By Ann A. Powell SUNNYMEAD, CAL , r.IAY 10-11 Th e World Champion hillclimbers in the light, me dium and he avy bi ke classe s have been found , and each one is S I 000 richer because of the search. In a co mpetition that spanned two perfect days of actio n , the to p rid er s in the co un try co mpe ted for th e h on or and the money offered this weekend at DeAnza - Cycle Park in So u the rn California. With over $5 0 0 0 in the purse, riders came from the far northern reaches of the st a te , from Washington and Oregon, from Utah and from as far away as Michigan. When the dust final ly settled after the last run on Sunday. J ames Mo ck , sp on so r of this cham pi o nship, handed o u t top money to Doug Hall (250 class), Vince Bertolucci (50 0 cla ss ) an d Jim True (Open class). Hundreds of specta tors tu rne d out on a perfect Sunday (Mo ther's Da y, yet!) to watch the ex citement. The hill was ex t re m ely fast , and with S 1000 as top Ron True found it wise to d ismount once h is bike had broken the timing lights at the top of the hill . He flew a measured 45 feet .. . without the bike. The bike decides that it can "go it alone" and continues in its fl ight for a full 100 feet after cresting the hill. Both bike and ride r were able t o make a second run! :.: u o ::; ::; o I- prize, th e riders went all out to set fast time in each class. The bikes had to battle a hill burned dry under a hot sun . They had to plow through dust th at go t as much as two feet d eep . Then they had to navigate a do g-leg turn in m id -eourse, pick up speed and power ov er a stee p, ro ck hard finish to break the timin g ligh ts. The crest of th e hill fo rmed a launchin g pad with a jump that sen t m an y o f t he bikes from 50 to 100 feet beyond t he fin ish line . . . ride rless in m ost cases. In th e smal l bike class, fro m 0-250cc, th e fast tim e ove r the hill was set by Doug Hall., His run was m ad e in 12.3 2 seconds , just ah ead of se co nd place win ner. Wes Evans, with a run of 12. 50. When yo u realize that only fou r of the 24 bikes e n t e re d in t h is class even went ove r the top, y o u ge t an id ea of how rough the hill really was. By th e time th e next class, bi kes be t wee n 25 1 and 5 0 1cc s, came to t he line. it was easy to gue ss what was in st ore for late r in the day. Vin ce Bertolucci shaved ne arly a full second off the time set by t he smaller class in making his win n in g run in 11.55 secon ds. lli s closest co m petito r was Man uel Caruso wi th a n 11.6 i run. Th e slowest winnin g time in th is class was se t by Lee Dugas with a 12.0 2 run. Bu t , it was in the heavyweigh t class, bikes from 5 0 I to ? size , that the really fast times were set. J im True o f San J ose finally c u t out the com p e tition . Ridi ng his super Harley, True , who already carries the AMA n umbe r one plate, flew ov er the cre st with a breath-taking time of only 10.01 seconds. His closest competition came from brother Ron. Ron Tr ue, riding the fastest Norton to be found in hillclimb competition, roared up the hill. The clocks stopped at 10 .09 and the red flag came out at the top of the hill. Ron hadn't be at his b ro t her's time, but he did take the re cord for the longest free-flight of the day . The bik e flew a measured 100 feet beyond the crest , without the rider. Th e rider new a m easured 45 feet beyond the c re st, without the bike. Both bike and rider were b ack on the line in tirne » fo r th e secon d run, but a few spectators were see n m aking a fast dash for the lit tle blue room . Fast est times o f the d ay were set in r the fir st round . That m eant tha t the riders were ail o u t to beat the mark when they came to t he line a second ' time. Th e only winning rider t o better hi s tim e on a second run was fo urth place Neal Mac kel, wh o m an aged to shave .05 seconds off his firs t run. Sunday was the big event, b ut n o one has to ap olo gize for wha t we nt on Saturday. The sportsman class brought o u t more than 100 competito rs, an d ' gave th e cro wd a full dose o f exci te men t. The two hills were sid e by side and ; the Sa tu rday hill turned out to be even , tougher th an th e one run on Sunday The times we re c ons iderably slower, and none o f th e bikes we re burning an ything but pump gas. Th e smallest bike to m a ke it over the top was Craig Mock's 360 stock Yam ah a. He posted a winning time o f 19.3 8 seconds. Two bikes in th e 400 class, Roger Kiefer (Yam) and Kerry Peterson (Mai) managed to crest the hill. They p osted times of 15.26 and 19. 76 t o take fi rst and second place. Kiefer's fast time held until the Open class when Ron True and his Norton came to the lin e. The n ew fast time of the day, and the time that took the top prize, was 14 .99 sec on ds. An extra attraction o n Saturday turned out to be t he rider who finished dead last in the . Open class. riarry Christopher entered his bike, a classic 194 I Harley .. . showroom stoek. This bi ke, with its rigid frame , foot clutch

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