Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NorCal Speedway No rm (21 Den n y . well on hi s way t o a double at Ca l Ex po. He 's go t this sc ratch fie ld beat o ff t he start, al re ady. Tr affic in the patte rn and Bill (Tl Sande rs off th e t rack as the 125 Nov ices get it on . th ro ugh the pack and was in third after only a few lap s. Eddie was in the lead as he passed Roberts and McKenzie o n different laps b u t in the same spot each time, c utting th em off as th ey entered the turn s down th e back straight. Brown wasted no time and jetted out to a co m m an d ing lead as Ro be rts , Mc Kenzie and Bo swell fough t out for second in the best ra ci ng ac tio n of the n igh t. Each lap they would change positions b ut wouldn 't fal l m o re than a bike length apart from each other. Boswell seemed to catc h on fir e as he tri ed unsuccessfully to pass both Tim and Ch al ma down the front ch u te . Finally after several laps, Kenny took a co m m an d ing lead over the other two and fin ished t he mota behind Bro wn in seco nd. Rober ts drop ped off th e pace after th e th ree rider duel allowing Mc Ke nzi e in to thi rd. Ken Spratt took a hard earned victory in the Open/J unior Expert class . Sp ratt o n his "Strictly Dirt " Husky led th e firs t moto wire-to -wire over Delrio Becker, the only Op en Expert ride r e n te re d . Charlie Sexton t o ok th ird. Mike G ild ersl eeve took t he lead in round t wo fo llowed b y Vic Krill and Sexton. Ken Spratt was in t h ird , b ut kill ed hi s engi ne in a ti ght comer and star te d afte r th e field in las t pl ace. Ken really go t on the gas and passed th e entir e ficld in a bo u t fo ur laps to ta ke th e lead fo llo wed very closely by Delno Becker with Vic Krill han gin g o n in th ird . Deln o see m ed ca n te n t t o stay in th e n umber two spot until t he m o t a was almost ove r. He passed Spratt like he was standing still in th e tigh t " S " t um and took the wi n over Ken and Krill. • Result s in Results Sectio n. King Carillo returns By W. H. Spe nce r F R EMONT , CA L., AP R. 3 0 Steve Carrill o, the ncw Kin g o f Frem ont pu t together his first short tr ack win of th e year. The 10 lap Exp ert feature was all th e lfi-year-o ld ' s o wn way . Rick Del acy brought t he Dist rict No . One p late home a wi nne r in the 250cc Expert Main . He will have go o d stiff competi ti on fro m J im my Merte rns and the Faria b oys and very shortl y from li t tle Randy Mamola wh o led th e m ain bri efl y . Randy is sti ll try in g to figure a u t h ow t o ge t all t hat HP to the gro u nd to wo rk wh ils t only weighi ng in at abo ut 80 p oun d s. (I sho uld be so lucky . ) Wit h 20 m ain even ts a nigh t, it would see m th at some would n a t be very cl ose but ab ou t 18 of the 20 we re con tested at th e chec ke re d and m an y with less than a hike len gt h . Vinc e Amaral slipped by Ron Day and a sligh tly falteri ng Mike Del acy for th e 250 Ju nior Main , In th e 80 Expert mini clas s, Ligh tning Lar ry Kru semann n o sed o ut Doug Chandler in a race-long fight. Li t tle Dou g co uld n ' t ge t h is Ind ian thro ugh th e first c om er well , b ut then c ould n' t ge t by Lightning who won h is fir st Ex pert short track. Mike Harr in gt on j o in ed the Sp ortsman ranks t his we ek and immediately won the 100 No vice Main ove r Fran k Garcia and Rod Shrum but n ot without a fight. Harrin gton had to w ork m igh ty hard fo r th e win and passed fro m the m id d le o f th e pack to take th e lead an d the win on th e last co m er. Chris Dinner beat ou t Randy Mamola in th e 125 Ex p e rt Main but only after Rand y bl ew up th e Yamaha world sp ecial, while Gary Spin az ze won the 125 J u n io r portion of the com bin a tion , With only t hree m e n going fr om each 25 0 Novi ce he a t , t he m ain was su re to be a bso lu te d yn am ite an d it was quite a sho w fo r Kevin Fr en c h who outfoxed Ric k Siote. Fre nc h t o o k the II & J Bultaco to the o u tsid e and ke p t a go od high lin e to be a t th e right pl ace a t the right time, wh en Ric k m ad e a slight mis t ak e. Steve Oort t ook th ird and was at himse lf and his su rprised performance. • 'Social Security' wins By W. H. Spencer FRE~IONT. CAL.• MA Y 2 Duane "Social Secu rit y" Sp en ce su rp rised a lar ge field of 25 0 Experts in the main w hen he carne off the back row to pass the lot an d take a very special first pl ace t ro p h y and a m igh ty six points toward the top Black Plat e. Spen ce passed early leade r J eff Eide o n th e outside o f the ri gh t hander aft e r th e jump . Spenc e cou ldn ' t du plic at e th e effort in the 65 0 Mai n , as Ric k O tto made it tw o in a row wit h Spence beatin g out Scot t Pearson on th e Ro n True Norton. The Exper t classes, as well as all the class es seem to be growin g and with over 320 riders in attendance the thought of sc rambles d ying m ay not be true. The other Exp ert surprise fo r the night was th e 500 Ex pert Mai n when Dave Go odwin rode away with the win o n a 35 0 X L Hon da . Min ib ike r Ada m Sabedra. J r. won the ope ni ng 60 Novice Main d o in g c ons id e ra bly better than dad wh o missed the tr ophy lin e this we ek. Little Bob Agn ess won seco n d fo r h is fi rs t ever tr op h y . Chris Din ner crashed hard in th e 125 J un io r an d was advised n o t t o ride th e 250 Main but he di d and it was obvious th at the cras h wasn 't t hat bad as he wo n a close battle o ver Ronnie Day and Ro ger Paulson . • Res ults in Resul t s Sec ti on. Christian & Denny take top honors at Expo By Sneaky Pete SAC RA.\ I E NTO , CAL., MAY 9 Wh cn th is even ing's racin g was over, Alan Christi an an d Norman Denny h ad left n o doub t as to wh y th ey were th e to p riders in Northern Californi a Speedway last ye ar . Denny lined up w ith Paul Orlandi, Rich ~l a cMurray a nd Dale Stetler in the Sc ra tc h Main, From start to fin ish it was No rm an leading all four laps for the win wi th Or landi, MacMurray and St etler filling in the two three four spots. Aft e r his last lap, fourth co rner charge in his Handicap Semi to barely earn the last transfer sp ot to the Handieap Main , Alan Chris tian p ulled o ff a n o t he r spectacular move to win b y less th an a wheel le ngth ove r a ve ry surprised Mark Ec kles . Third we nt to Rich MacMurray who no w (in cl ud ing San J ose ) has been in seven of the ei ght m ain eve n ts in Northern California this year. Bill Ojal a led wire to wi re to win the Division Two Main even t a head of las t wee k's win ner. Ch arley Mo rse. Up from the 3 0 to fin ish th ird was Steve 1\loo re aboard an A.J .S i-po we red m achine. Aft er bein g away from speedway for a year. J o e Hen ry m ade h is re turn las t wee k. In what ap peare d to be a very in noce nt spill las t wee k, J o e suffe re d a br o ken wrist th at will keep h im o ut fo r th e re st of th e season . On e o f th e n icest gu ys in th e s p o rt , he will be m issed by man y . His injury was a res ult of someo ne having n o t hin g b etter to d o than loosen th e screws in his machine 's throttle. • Results SCRATC H MAIN : 1. N o r m an De nn y . 2. Pa ul O rland i. 3 . R ich MacMurray . 4 . D ale S tet le r. HAN DIC A P MAI N : 1. A lan Ch rist ia n. 2 . Ma rk Eckles. 3 . Rich MacMurray. S C RATCH CO N S : 1. Alan Ch ristian. 2 . Jo hn Cun ni n gha m . 3 . R o n Lon g. 4 . F rank Coo k. HAN DICAP CON S : 1. De nn is Rob in son . 2 . Ro n M cGi ll . 3. Ron Long. D IV TWO MAIN : 1. B ill O j al a . 2 . Charley Morse . 3 . Steve Moo re. JR S PEEDWAY M AI N : 1. B r ian Th o mpson. 2 . Steve Luce ro . 3. Eric Watts. Denny cops double By W. H. Spencer SAN J OSE, CAL., MAY 1 Pro fessional Spe edway rac ing got un derway on a co ld , foggy evening after a o ne week postp onment du e to wet weather . Th e m an of th e ni ght was No rm Den n y wh o c op ped a double win , th e Han d icap and Scratch Main. This is very rare and on ly one other man has eve r done th at up North. Denn y had it his own way in t he Seratch bu t worked from fo u rt h and the 4 0 t o win t he big b ucks and the bonus m on ey . The six m an Han dicap Main had fou r ride rs o n the 40 an d two on the ze ro. Rathe r unusual but so is the op eration and the trac k. The su rfa ce was a little hump y in the first come r b u t not serious. It m ade fo r su pe r tra ction an d very spectac ul a r get o ff s on ce a rider go t th a t trac tion. Off th e st art it was Joh n Van ce and Dennis Robin son leadin g in to th e come r wi th Ric h I\IcMurray in hot pursuit. NorCai No. On e Alan Christi an and Frank Co ok fell in t he fir st com er. Den ny worke d his way a ro und riders to take the lead on the fo ur th lap wh ile Van ce wo rked his wa y backwards an d ~ IcJllurray foun d a sp ot to rest in . Alan Christian towed Ro binson past Van ce at th e chec kered . The Sc ra tc h l\lain p itted Christian wit h Paul Orlandi, Dale Stetler and Denn y . Den ny had no problem from the git-go , On the last lap , both S tetler and Christian are side b y side and d riving for th e chec kered. As they exi t the last tum , Stetler tries a shot underneath wh ile Ch ristian grabs a big handfu l fro m th e wal l and th e tw o m eet abou t 10 fee t before the start gate . S te tle r got t he worst, as Christi an bo u nce d hi m in to th e startin g gate, star ting st and, flags, fire e xtin guisher , bag o f m arkin g lim e and so me fas t fleeing officials. Th e force of t he impac t ac tually explode d the extinguisher and that in to the bag of lime m ad e it cross be tween the Keyst on e Kop s and a great circ u s finale with th e m an bei ng bl o wn o ut of a c ann o n . It was the fin al eve nt o f the nigh t but the nearly 15 0 0 people di d not budge un til Stetler got up and a little sh akily , walked back into the p it . • Res ults in Resul ts Se ction . Alan Christian 'doubles' at Expo By Sneaky Pete SA C RA MENTO, CALI F., MAY 16 T he " Biggest Little City In The World" was well represen ted w hen the riders for to nigh t's Scr at ch Main Event drew for starting positio ns with all four riders bei ng Reno resid e nts. Alan Ch ristian dr ew the pole positi on and fro m start to finish never lo o ked ba ck in lead in g Rich MacMurray, J ohn Cunnin gh am an d Bar clay Trehal ac ro ss th e finish line. MacM urray was m aking hi s elev enth out of a possib le twel ve m ain even t st art s in No rth ern Califo rnia's three week old season. Cunningh am ro de wi t h n ear abandon all n ight. With Christi an , MacMu rray an d Cunningham back on the forty , ze ro starter Sam Vanderho ff and te n yarder J ohn Vance wo uld have to go so me to ho ld off the Ren o trio. Five very fas t laps and it was Christian, Vance, Cunningham , Ma c Mur ray an d Vanderhoff (in order) at the c hec ke red . This was Christ ian 's second straight Handicap Main Event win here. Ron Long had earned a start in t h is eve n t . b u t was taken to the hospital earlie r after su fferi ng a bro ken co llarbone in his scrat ch he at. Division T wo Main Even t honors wen t t o Dan McCon nell b y a wheel length over J o hn Cook with third go ing to Bob Bell ino. Cook was a th ird division rider las t week. Thirty-yarde r Brian Thompson w on his sec o nd straigh t Junior Spee dway Main with the t wo-three spo ts goi n g to Eric Wat ts and Steve Lucero. With a lit tle coachin g (? ) from Bru ce F landers, yo u ng Thompson do esn't do too b ad a j o b with the tr ophy tootsie eit he r. • Results SC R A T C H MAIN : 1. Al an Christian. 2 . Ric h MacM urray . 3 . Joh n Cunn ing ham. 4 . Barclay Trehal. HAN DICAP M A IN : 1. Alan Cnrlst lan. 2 . Jo hn V ance. 3. John Cunn in gham. SCR ATCH CO NS : 1. Jerry Baugh. 2 . Kenny Eggers. 3. D ale Stetler. 4 . Paul Orlandi. H A N DI CA P CONS: 1. G eorge carter. 2 . Denn is Rob inson. 3 . Charley Morse. OIV TWO MAI N : 1. Dan McConnell. 2 . John Cook. 3. Bob Bell ino. JUN IOR M AIN : 1. Bria n Th om p son . 2. Er ic Wa tts . 3. Steve Lucero . 31

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