Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

CycieNew5 orth AFM RR: Klinzman wins, crashes at Sears By Jo hn Ulrich SEARS POINT, CAL., MAY 25 Harry Klinzman n went faster than ever to easily win 250 GP today, lead ing wire to wire. But the I fi-year-old high schoo l drop-o ut, th ou gh t by so many to be the hottest AMA Novice prospect in a long time, crashed heavily in the 350-75 0 GP ra ce, poss ibly b reaking an arm. - • ... 28 Ear ly report s on Harry 's injuries are sketchy. He refused transportati on by the amb ul ance but co mp lained o f he ad and arm pains, and was taken to a lo cal hospita l by his father, former European GP race r Alfred K1inzmann. The cra sh, thou ght to have been ca used by oil on the rear tire of Harry's TZ 35 0 as he trailed Pat Hennen 's factory 750Suzuki in the series o f fas t esses here , may ruin th e youngst er 's chances . for a fac tory Kawasaki ride in the Laguna Seca AMA No vice race th is Au gust. K1in zm ann's vict ory in 25 0 GP was never in doub t. He led in to t he first tu m and out of th e last . The on ly qu estion was wh o would be secon d. J ack Baker (Yam) pulled away from the pack wh ile still a good distanc e behind Harry, keeping t he pos ition of seco nd until the bumps of the deteriorated Sears Po int ta rmac jarred open his b ike's gas cap. A wave of gasoline washe d ove r Baker' s machi ne, and he retired for fea r of crashing. Rud y Galindo (Ya m), A FM Number One, fought h is way from 18th on the grid int o third by the t hird lap on his virtu ally brakeless T Z. When Baker quit , Galindo inh eri ted second, keeping ahead of Ricardo Colindres ' superior m achine by braking later into turns ! Galindo's Yamaha b ro ke its cra nkshaft, Karl Cleeton (Yam) moved up into t h ird fro m a start well back in th e pack, only to cras h . Dain Ginge re Ili (Yam 250) wailed into th e lead of the combined 250 Production / I25 GP race, holding it fo r th ree lap s before his arch-rival Wally Karpyn ec (Suz 250 ) got by . Dain, no t ex pe cting Karpynec to ca tch up in his first race here , h ad been "cooling it for the first couple of lap s." On ce Karpynec passed, the "coo ling it " left in a hurry. Gingere lli co ntrolled th e lead at the south end of the track, Karpynec a t the north end . The finish lin e be in g at the south en d , Gin gereIli wo n the hard-fo ugh t race. Randy Mamola (factory Yam 125 ) won the 125 GP -ra ce , stay ing in fro nt of Bob Harrington 's (Yam ) late charge thanks to his (Mam ola' s) 'sm all size and fast motor. Rudy Galindo (slow Yam 125 ) picked up 10 lengths and third entering one tum th e first lap, only to seize mid-curve. Jerry Elkin (50 0 Hon ) wo n Open Production overall, actuall y having motor on second-place Martin Seigel (750 Kaw ), and using it to good advantage in th eir extended back -and-forth stab-and-sla m-the-door crowd p leaser . J imm y Deehan, rid ing an old ex perimental Yamaha 360 GP bike p ut to gether by the factory to run the Al\IA 250 class in the event the Kawasaki Bigho rns of a few years ago dev eloped i n to a thr e at , wo n th e ' ''Superstreet /Ca fe '' cla ss (they do th ings differently at AF M No rth races) . Deeha n beat Pat Hen ne n's " Ron Grant St reet-racer" Suzu ki GT 750 . Hennen won 3 50-750 GP on his factory 750 Su zuki after fo llow ing a deter mined Harry K1inzm ann (Yam 350 ) on the open ing laps. Hennen, out to get used to the lay -down suspension on h is brand-new race r, easily pa ssed Harry Klin zm an (73 ) and Pat Hennen (8 0 ) lead the pa ck in th e comb ine d 350n50 GP race . 750 Production acti on with Martin Se igal setting up t o m ake his m ove . Klinzman we nt d own- hard in the 350n50 GP race and will p robably m iss a fa ctory Kawas ak i ride at Lagu na Seca. doesn't give and fall s d own, it create s " pile-up of 20 bi kes and riders. This was the firs t attempt to get the 250 Expert rac e going at the la t est B.O.S.S. MX. Fo rtunately n o seri ous bodily harm a one an d the bikes were all capable of restarting. (After a quicki e ru ptured gas tank ch ange for Kevin Henry 's Bultaco.) The second start was much safer, sin ce a good many of the bikes didn't get off the line at all. An over-eager rider, determined to get the h ole shot, hung up on the rubber band. Fin ally, after th e third start, the race was on. Mike Jennings (CA) lo st his h ole shot to Clo yse Holland (Hus) wh o hung in for four laps being hotly pursued by Ch arl es Halc omb (Hus). When Hal com b go t by, Kevin Henry took up th e chase for the nex t four laps . Hollan d was then challenged and overta ken by his brother-in-law Floy d Davis (Bul) . Meanwhil e J en nings h ad dropped out of sight. At th e ch eckered flag it was Halcomb, Henry, Davis, Hollan d and ' Charlie Marsh all (Mon), wh o had worked his way up from an 18th pl ace start. In the first two "fizzle" starts Marshall had bee n in seco nd place. The 19 rid ers who had m an aged to finish the first moto tackled th e second with much gusto in spite of rising temperatures and sunburns. Jennings again go t the ho le shot but Halc omb took over the le ad in the second lap and stayed out front ' til the drop of the checkered flag. Henry , moving steadily up , was runnin g in second, but crashed in t he las t lap and valiantly pushed the rest of the way , only to finish in 13th position ge t ting paid for eighth overall. Davis took over secon d for the m o to and sec on d place cash . Don Sandretto (Bu l), wh o h ad tou gh breaks in the first moto with a last place start an d only worked up t o l Oth, finished in better shape th is time coming in third, an d sixth place money. Cloyse Holland, ru nning his 125 Husky, had better luck in this class, winning the first m oto in spite of a fifth place start. Pat Wilso n (Hon) led the early laps but crashed and fin ished fifth. Ho lland's lead was taken away by 13·ye ar-old J im Lesniewski (Ho n ) then re gaine d when Lesn iewski turned up m issin g in th e whi te flag lap . Jim Watson (Hon) came up from a bad start to capture third. Th e second m oto bel onge d to Wilson who h ad everything under con trol all th e way while Wats on and Holland battled i t out for second, which wen t to Wa tson , giving Holland third fo r the m oto but firs t place money for the day . • Seven high MX SUS AN ViLLE , CAL., AP R. 26 Seven high schools carne to do battle on the Susanville fairgrounds. Nevada Union High School had mor e entries than host Harry on the back section on t he course. It was while seco nd overa ll, first 350 that yo ung K1inzman n slid , highsid ed , and h it the Armco b arr ier in th e same fast righ t h ander (T um Ten) whe re Bob Tigert broke h is pel vis at t he last Sears Poi nt race. " There's not as much sensation," said Hennen abo ut the suspension on his bike . "You can 't te ll when it starts to slide . It goes over t he bumps good, but it's a lit tl e different in the turns." • Results in Re sult s Section. Halcomb hauls By Sallee Hilton PLYMOUTH, CAL. , MA Y I I When 25 Expe rt rid ers on 25 0cc machines charge off the starti ng line , roar down a wide straightaway an d funnel into a tight, single lan e tum, something's gotta give! When th e six th guy through this turn Lassen or favored Pro ctor Hug . Burney, Durh am , Surprise Valley and Loyalton made up the rest o f the field. The IOOcc acti on started with Ran dy Mic key o f Hug jump in g into a soli d first. However, his solidarity became quite sh aky wh en J ason Lam oure aux of Lasse n p u t on th e p re ssu re . After swapping mista kes and lead changes Mickey managed to pull out the first m o to win with Mike Wale sch of Lassen slipping in for th ird. Th e second m oto replay was even more ex citing as Lamoureau x pulled out all stop s an d relegated Mickey to sec ond wi th Walesc h again third. Jeff In th e l 25cc division, " Holeshot" Kleve of Lassen was 10 y ards ahead into the grandstand straightaway, buildin g up a quarter lap le ad onl y to see it evap ora te as funny sounds started com ing from the Elsi's in temals. Ran dy Pearson of Burney proved that sch ool size is of n o con sequenc e as lit tle Burney High

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