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/125994
~; I: Cycle News North . ~ seco nd an d Cooper a close th ird. Rippenkroeger was the overall winner with Mo rris ' m isfo rt une giving Becker sec o nd overall ahea d o f Cooper. Mitch DeV au ghn (Yam) and Rick Su tton also won th eir Ex pert classes with two moto sweeps . Mitch wo n the 125 clas s over Kim Ada mson (Yam) and Dou g Hoffler (Pen). Sutton had an easy time in winn ing the op en div ision o n his Maico over Ken Sp rat t an d Mit ch DeV au ghn (on a CZ th is tim e ). Credit sho uld be given to Sp ra tt as th is was h is first ra ce as an Expe rt an d he looked ext re mely quick. • Resu lt s in Results Section. t Kenyon/Yother set record laps ... By W. H. Spencer FREMONT, CAL., MAY I I AI Kenyon set a goo d pace from the go of the Open marathon Mother's Day show and kept it going with partner/owner Cecil Rick Sutton had Open Expert all to h imself at Live Oak . Yother to traverse the o ne and one-half mile combination tr ack 70 t imes for an absolute: record. The team was never headed and only one other team , from Selb y Motors o n a tri ck Maico, co uld keep up with the torrid pace . Scott first half as Pete Scarlett and Scott Austin led th e Central American behind Ken yon rid ing a Can -Am with Rich Lokke, Th e Can -Am didn't last long, and j ust abou t th e th ree-q ua rter point in the race, the Austin Maico disappeared leaving the rider fro m the South all by his lonesome. He st opped on ce for a drink and gas an d o nce more for water. Two older gen ts, Bob Vickery and "Doc " Spencer kept Dave Lincoln and Matt Rambo honest fo r third while Steve George and Steve Heckle nursed a low tire in for fifth . returned to Tex Collingwood dominate the 125 class again with his YZ , beating th e field by a lap. Jim Sisco and Boyd Henderson co llec ted another second with Ken Stevens and Jeff Calvert holding on for th ird over Andy Russell. Rick Delong so ld all his trick Hondas, bought Yamaha and still wins . Th e minibiker class is on the rise agai n an d Sam Nava took the second trophy over killer Mike Kelly who is keeping hi s dad busy while Dad recovers fro m a case of the "ISDT bit me" disease. • Resu lts in Results Section . Dietz takes two at Chico dust bowl By Rex Backman CHICO, CAL., MA Y 24 Magoo crashed again , this time crip pling his bike . Brown ca me to a sudden stop with a blown engine. Jim Lesn iewski (Ho n ) an d David Wood (Yam ) had been running secon d an d third all along b ut suddenly Don Davis (Suz ) was be twee n them moving up from his previous six th. The rest o f the race was Lesniewski, Davis and Wood. Th e second moto hnle-sho t was Lesniewsk i's and he held on to it all the way for another win . Magoo had a bad star t and found himself chasing th e pa ck . Before the race was o ver he was challenging Lesniewski taking a close second at the finish and fourth overall. Kevin Henry and Arnold Plant (Ho n ) had their turns in second p lace but DN Fed with broken eq uipment. Davi d Wood finished third again ·fo r second place pay and Don Davi s took home third pl ace cash after finishing fo urth for the mo to , Lesniewski, again on the line for the 250 run , disappoin ted his new fans . He's not a 250 su per hero yet. But Larry Rippenkroeger (Kaw) added a few credits. He took fir st ove rall m oney with a fifth an d a fir st fin ish . . Kevin Henry (Bul) fared better in the 250 class than he had in the 125, holding first all the way through the first mo to , and working up to fifth after a bad first lap in the second run. The experts of the future , the Pee Wees (0·7 years old) class ran their two motos back to back d uring intermission. The tiny racers try hard bu t are disappointed easily, . so there is a 100 percent payback of trophies. The class is fairly new and still small with three to six riders usually on hand to vie for the brass and the glory. This week the glory went to Robby Warren (Hon) seven years old, first place for his second an d first finishes . Dennis . Schmidt (Hon) six years old, took second. He had overtaken Warre n in the first round but couldn't quite get around him in the sec ond. • Results in Res ults Section. .".. .. Close combat 0-36 Live Oak MX By Rex Backman LIVE OAK, CALIF., MAY 31 1.... . 40 Larry Rippenkroeger of Rio Linda was th e victor here tonight in the very competitive 250 Expert class. Gary Morris led the Expert riders Jerry Gatton lead s this group in early eve ning 125 Amateu r action. down the back straight followed by Delno Becker and Rippenkroeger, The three rider group remained very close as they held their positions for the o pen ing minutes of the moto. Gary Cooper (Kaw) was putting pressure on Larry as he moved up to fourth . Less than ten seconds separated th e fo ur frontrunn ers as they rode in a pre cision-type style, fo llo wing eac h o ther aro und the tigh t Live Oak co urse. Morris (Mai) falt ered as he en te red th e back str aigh t, giving the lead to Bec ker who was riding his firs t race on a new CZ. Larry Rippenkroeger was pl aying it sa fe in sec o nd with Morris hanging o n in third . Larry took the lead from Delno when th e two riders entered the ba ck sect ion of the co urse . Morris sq ueezed by Beck er in the final moments o f th e race to get second behind Larr y . Moto two was just as close as the first with the same people fighting it out. Gary Morris took th e lead followed by Rippenkroeger, Gary Cooper and De lrio Becker. Morris was doing a good job of holding off Larry as the riders pulled aw ay from the rest of the pack. Th en Rippenkroeger dove un der Morris wh en the y entered the infield portion o f the cou rse. Each lap , Larry would have a little lead over Morris but the next lap Morris would close up right on his rear knobby. As he followed Larry through the: " S" turns o n the back portion of th e co urse , Gary 's chain parted co mpan y. Th is let Deln o Beck er in Davis p icked up former factory wrench Guenter Gmelin and th e two held pace to take second. John Gennai teamed with AI Wood a lap ba ck in third while these first three were another four laps ahead of the rest of the 2 I -rnan field . Kenyon took the start from Bob Scally with Davis third over Paul Schwafel on the ne ato Pop Kenyon Honda. Joe Headley held off Gennai for a lap. Gennai and Woods challenged for secon d a number of t imes but just abo u t every time they would get close, the Bul would need fuel or something and it would go by the ways ide. Ernie Mo yano nearly h ad a heart failure when on the last lap partner Mike Pan zica signaled for gas some 100 yards from the gas truck. Ernie took a gas can in hot pursuit but had to give it to someone else to make the distance . Their half lap advantage disappeared with fourth to fifth fini sh behind Mark an d Bob Jensen on another one of those new 360 Buls. The star of the 250 event, Alberto Gar cia -Rossi fro m EI Salvador, is in this co un try at the University o f San . Francisco and thought that since he likes to ride h is 250 Elsinore in South American MX, he might try the two hour marathon bit. He does pretty good at it and set back some old timers in winning with a 68 lap finish mark, two lap s ahead of second p lace Mar is Grasis /Wayne Schatz. The go ing was h ot and heavy in the The first races of Cycleland's season were conducted on a sem i-cushion tr ack. The reasoning behind th is was for better spectator ap peal and rider safety. Not all the riders liked th e new surface and strived to have the track returned to its old hard p acked condi tio n. A petition was given to th e promoter showing the numbers o f racers who wan ted the old surface. Being a nice guy , Mr. Sudberry decided to grant the riders ' demand. This week everybody was happy as the hardpack was back. But with this change a light p owder remained on the track whi ch created heavy d ust as soon as a rid er 's K 70 or Eagle treaded by. Efforts were made to contain the thick d ust, but the track dried out wit h in tw o races after it was watered . Steve Dietz does not mind riding in dust as he wo n both 360 Expert Main events tonigh t. Lo well Moural jumped off the line into the lead in the Scratch Main fo llowed by Dietz an d Dick (Ya m) Turner. Bouncing along on th e rough trac k, Steve wo uld close on Lowell's Bultaco in the corners but get ou t-h orsepowere d do wn the str aights. As the race neare d its end, Steve starte d to ma ke his move as he ch oppe d down Moural 's lea d. Coming d o wn the back straigh t Steve set up right behind Lowell an d rode around the o utside of Moura! as Lowell stuck to the insi de . Dick Turner finished in third far back fro m the two riders. Dietz did not waste any time in the Handicap race as he was leading before the first lap was complete, having disposed of John Evans , Cliff Jorgenson and a few more. Moural was also on the throttle as he settled into second place followed once again by Dick Turner, Moural was closing a little on Steve as the two started lapping the slower riders, but th is is where Lowell los t valuable time (and the race ) as he got san d wiche d in between two riders coming down the fro nt straight. Brad Sanders (Bul) was the early leade r of the 200 Han dicap. Trailing Brad were Ken Gray, and Jeff and Dan ny Fowler (no rel ation) . Brad con tin ued to lead as he and Ken Gray p ulled away from the d ueling Fowlers. Ken took the lead as he passed by Sanders do wn the ba ck straigh t, then lengthened his lead while Jeff and Dan fou gh t over third. Each lap one would pass the other. Finally, Jeff passed Dan fo r goo d to take third behind winner Gray and Sanders. • . Results in Results Section.