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/125995
-:; 11I:I iCycle ews orth In Archie's tradition lives on! r--- en """'" By An n Carr LOD!, CAL., l\-lAY 31 Four hundred plus riders from all parts of California and the Northwest zinged their way around a wide-grooved but slippery course ... Alan Barbie leads Steve Sizelove up the hill early in the 350 Prod race. Behind them came the multitude. AFM road race: Weekend warriors flock to Sears The Lougee/Gipe hack, slightly sideways. By Lane Camp bell SONOMA, CALIF., JUNE 15 Suppose they gave a road race and everybody and his brother came. Can you handle 270 riders? (AFM barely could) They started 47 in 26 the 350 Production class, all in one wave. And everybody survived. Worst injury reported for the day was a pair of broken fingers, One rider, 'J im Boyer, landed hard enough between turns three and four to forget everything that had happened to him during practice. Then one of the side hacks laid oil in tum seven just before the new rider practice, and - you guessed it - nine bikes down at once, including one of the "instructors", With a long and somewhat complex double practice session out of the way , the Lightweight race (125 GP, 200 GP and 250 Prod) started things off right. Randy Mamola led everybody up the hill with Dain Gingerelli (250 Prod Yamaha) and Tom Chew (200 GP Suzuki) tucked in behind. For Gingerelli, this was good fortune after bad, since an hour earlier, he wam 't sure he'd make the start. He had thrown his 250 away in practice, broken a shifter, and just finished buttoning it up during lunch break. Mike Baeder hustled up into second during the next lap, only to be displaced by Dan Spisak, who swooped Mamola also and held him at bay for three laps. On the next to last lap, Spisak overcooked it momentarily and dropped about a half-dozen places. Mamola took it over again and finished with Baeder p ressuring him right to the end. Wally Karpynec finished third overall a short distance b ack for first 250 Production, Gingerelli was another distance back. Tom Chew had' slipped considerably in the overall order, but still took the 200 GP clas s. Harry Klinzmann ran away with 350 Peace. Vance Breese, on the Thumper. GP while Jack Baker slipped into second after playing tag with (254, no name listed) and Rudy Galindo ou t lasted a place-swapping duel against Mike Baeder for third. Baeder and Galindo were at it again in 25 0 GP , though this time they had fourth and fifth up for grabs. Again, Galindo got the toss. Meanwhile , Klinzmann had to scratch, as Jack Baker passed him about mid-race and went WFO in an effort to stay ahead. He had power on most of the straights, but the pressure got to him when he fell in tum four. More races within races as Martin Siegel blew everybody away on a slippin' slidin' 750 Kaw with street bars, and Gerald Elkin hung in for second Heavyweight Production, first 500. The sidehack race turned into a parade of walking wounded, though Lougee/Gipe and Murray/Coleman kept a dice alive for most of the race . The Gorsch/Murray BMW outfit was black-flagged after it again dribbled oil the length o f tum eleven, effectively forcing cancellation of the Cafe class race, as shadows were lengthening. The fact that the 40-plus Cafe entrants didn't brew up a revolt says ' something about the magnetic effect of Sears Point as a riders' course. Much of the success of the circuit this season can be laid to the "run-what-you-brung" ch ara cter of the entry. A 500 BSA sin gle was second in 500 GP , with Vance Breese up. Faced with a cho ice of co nvert ed drag strips and door-slammer spe ed bo wls, Sears is one of the few places left where riders race , not ban kro lls. • Results in Results Se ction. tonight to compete for 81 trophies and numerous contingency awards in an 80 even t program which lasted approximately six and one-half hours. Spectators did their share to carry on the Archie Clark tradition as they consumed ove r $1000 worth of food and all th e beer available - all in the name of M.O.R.E . The Stockton Scramblers, Port Stockton, Stockton, and Lodi Motorcycle Clubs will donate over $2000 to Russ Sanford's group in this 10th annual event honoring Archie Clar k, a bike mechanic who died 10 years ago while on his way to Lodi to work a benefit race for mentally retarded ch ild ren . The most outstanding race of the evening was a special one in which plate racers may co m pe te on their choice motor. John "Elbows" Hlebo and Kim Jorgensen broke away from the 11 other plate riders and staged a wheel to wheel run for the Jorgy's Motorcycle Shop $50 check. Kim had selected a 250 Can-Am in th is race, and the choice was a superb one as Kim chased "Elbows" for eight laps before gassing it on .th e sweeper and going by when Hlebo made one slight bobble. "Elbows" gained revenge in the 500 Expert Main, as he held off Kim for the full 10 laps. Behind these two were Mike VanLienden, Duane Yarrow, and Ray Huff who struggled to catch up with the front runners, but ended up fighting off each other. Junior action this evening featured excellent rides by Lodi Me' president Dennis Kritzer (350) and Red Needham (250). Dennis diced the full time with Hayward's James Mahoney before slip ping by at the tree tum on the white flag lap for the win. Needham, meanwhile, had to work his way from fourth to first in the feature. The infamous tree t um makes or breaks at Lodi and familiarity was the key as Red nailed several riders at that point. Shane Me Farren muscled his way into second on the last lap and relegated Kip Culver and Gary Gallagher to the las t two spots. The 125 and 250 Novice classes claimed 69 competitors between them ; consequently , heat races for the three transfe r spots were keen. Local riders dominated the 125 event as Ken Burton took both heat and Main honors aboard a Yamaha. Modesto's Bruce Sanders was the only non-local to crack the trophy list , a second place fmish over Stockton's Jamie Noreen, Roy Hudson, and Brian Johnson - all aboard Suzukis. Mini racers were forced to transfer in so me classes as 78 riders filled almost every class. Competition was the stiffest in the 80 Novice section where diminutive Yammy rider Marvin Lewis j umped o ut front for an uncontested win but pack riders exchanged positions often. John Rabideau (Hon) gained second when the third man attempted an outside pass before the jump and could not ma ke the course . Tracy Hays in his first race eve r followed a strong heat ride with a solid Main third ahead of Modesto's Steve Hawkins. Special event winners were Patty Thompson in the powder puff race, a "no ca rdholders allowed" event, and Dennis Kritzer in the club ch allenge race, presidents versus referees on 60cc machines. To those riders who competed, people wh o watched, businesses who