Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News North Minis featured at Lodi By Ann Carr ...... 00 >-, ;:j LODl, CAL., JUr\E 13 The Lod i Motorcycle Club overcame the Frid ay the 13th jinx tonight to p resen t one of their best events in several years. Th e track was in good co n dition and a new staging procedure sped the program to a reason abl e length . Experts Fred Merkel and Chris Carr rode from rare penalty line positions as both were triggered by unexpected changes in the starting procedure fr om the heat to the main. Freddie was able to scoot his Kiser Brothers Honda to a win anyway with relatively new Expert Randy Haner hanging on for a hard-earned second in the 80 ranks. Chris, however, could only work his way around the six Novices and was unable to catch Junior Mike Johnson 's fly ing Yamaha in. Modesto's Mike Wilson earned his first Novi ce trophy over Bobby Agness. The Mini Open Expert-junior Main provided hot act io n betwee n Junior Shawn Callahan and Expert John Jones. Shawn was able to hold o ff th e chargin g J ones for th e win . The 200 Novices man y t imes feature a runaway fo r o ne rider o r ano the r. but Skip Lewis an d Rick Rose ch allenged the entire event wi th Lewi s the winne r. Ski p cha rged out fron t wh ile Rose charged fr om the penal ty line fo r th e second pl ace finis h. The 250 race was a ren ewe d d uel for the one and two men in th e current black p lat e chal lenge: David Burto n and Kim J or gensen. J orgy had already won the 500 Main but to gain gro und on Burton he needed to defeat Dave in the 25 0 race. Superstition won o u t, however , as Kim held off th e Gri n go for seve n lap s bu t bo bbled at the tr ee on the last tri p and Burto n sk at ed un derneat h fo r th e vic t ory, Martinez 's Dennis Davis - in his fi rst ride sin ce turning sp ortsman from th e Mini Ex pe rt ran ks - gave notice that mini riders adjust quickly to th e larger program s as he pr omptly won his 125 Novice heat and then foll owed wit h a Main win. • T-Car MX By Bobbie Joe Hershman CARSON CITY, NEV.;JUNE 15 - T-Car Moto-X of Carson City, Nevada had its first warm sunshine day of racing after suffering its first five races of snow - rain wind and free zin g temperatures. Fo urt een-year-ol d Ro bby Hadloc k, o nly fo ur m onths out o f the Min i clas s, rode hi s first moto as a 125 Junior. He won the firs t moto an d fell in t he second mo to . This gave hi m second overall beh ind Tony Co bb of Ely, Nevada. Conrad Stetzer, fo rm er high-point lead er fo r the 250 Novice class, high pointed himself from No vice to Junior. Conrad had nearly a 100 yard lead o n the 25 0 Junior class when he fell , givin g Matt Hansen of Reno first place . • Results in Results Section . la ter ~I y e rs had dropped ba ck to th ird, the ap p aren t vic tim of a crash . Grew er co n t inu ed h is do minatio n of the race all the way to the flag. Myers agai n rocketed to the lea d in m o t o t wo on his quick YZ . On his tail were Steve Scoffone (Ilio n) and Kevin Rockwell (Bul) . Charlie Halcomb (Hus), who had lost his chain in the first moto moved in to sec ond. Halcomb slo wly started to wh ittle awa y at Myers' lead and by t he halfwa y po int he had closed in to abou t th ree seconds. Johnson and Gr ewer were now up in t hird and fourth , still too far back to do any damage to th e st rea king Myers. Halcomb trie d , but aft er taking off his goggles early in the race, he fell victim to small ro cks and dust being thrown up by Myers' rear wheel. • Results in Results Section. Old Timers National MAMMOTH, CAL. , JUNE 14 -15 On the rough Mammoth Mountain Motocross course, 109 Old Timer racers turned out for th e Old Timers Championships from as far a w ay as Edmonton , Canada, Washington, Oregon and all over Cali fornia. Many goo d battles oc curred o n Saturday 's T eam Ra ce Day . but the So ut hern California chap te r prevailed, again winnin g the p erpetual tro phy wh ich is presented "to th e fastest ol d men around." (Inscrip tion on th e tr ophy . ) The team sco ring is based o n the top five fin ish ers o f each class so numbers are not impo rtan t. The str on g Wash ingt o n Chapter came in second, th e Sierra chapter from Northern Califo rn ia was third with the Or egon cl ub fo urth . Sun day was the day fo r the o ld ti mers to battle it o u t for the individ ual cham pions hip s. Very strong co mp eti ti on in th e No vice class wit h two 125 Hon das the bigge r bikes. Larry smoking McConnell fro m Auburn, Californi a earned the overall firs t. Very consist en t riding by Vern Standi fo rd on his Can -Am fr om Compet iti on Cy cle in San Pedro, gave him th e overall win in the Am at eu r class. In the Ex pe rt cla ss Don Rak e, Presid ent of t he Mammoth Motorcy cle Club grand slammed on his Husky, In the Mas ters class, J ohn Marone y fr om Ch atsworth was on his way to an easy first o n his Maic o when b ike pro blems in his third moto forced h im down a lap. He ca me back t o man age a second behind Rich ar d Po ulin o n a • Can -Am fro m Sea lah, Washingto n. NorCal SpeedWay I I I I I' •• I I I I I I I I I. I I I I I 36 Z f- Speedway comes of age in Northern & Central California Joh n Cunn ingham and Jerry Baugh win Napa openers It was a very slick racing surface that greeted the Nor Cal Spe edway riders for th e season ope ner at the Napa Town and Country fro n t followed by Chri s'Grew er (Hus) and Bill J"hnson (YZM). Several laps Wide-eyed desperado - Max Koemans , as he captu red a mat ch race from Bob Hettrick at Hanfo rd. a: By Steve Cast illo - -~ One of th e originals. Bruce Haserot, before he fell and broke his foot. Z By Sneaky Pete BRENTWOOD, CAL., JUN E 15 Je rry Baugh (leading) and Marty Benck (trailing) split a pair of Handicap Mains in Nort h speedwa y. et Sandhill MX Bob Myers, a newc omer to the 250 Pro class picked up his first win at Sandhill Ranch today. Moto one found Myers o ut "Lean closer, Geo rge, I'll tell yo u my speed secret." An unneeded boost at Cal Expo . NAPA, CAL.,J UN E 14 Fairgrounds. Always noted for its ro ugh spo ts in seasons p ast , this te n th-mile oval gave many of th e riders pro blem s with longer straights and tigh ter t urns tha n in any o f the previous yea rs . et z Z UJ .J e The red flag ca me o ut on the firs t lap of th e Scrat ch Main after a t um three tangle that ended wit h all four sta rte rs on the ground. On the restart, it was Reno's John Cunningham taking the lead exiti ng turn two and leadin g the rest of the four lap s. Sec o nd an d th ird went to Alan Christian and Rich MacMurray with No rm an Denny, st ill so mewhat wobbly from the first lap spill, fo ur t h . Handicap Main ti me and with Jerry Baugh, George Carter and Dennis Robinson on th e 20 and the Reno tri o o f Chr ist i a n , C unn ing ham and MacMurray o n th e 40, it was a qu est ion of ca n the short-yardage riders ho ld o ff th e Reno charge? Rich MacMurray moved up to cha llenge Baugh for the lead - and- with - Baugh -re fusin g -to move fro m th e short (p o le) way aro und , Mac went to th e outside only to fall victim to the slick surface lon g en ough for Cunningham and Chri stian to get by. Gary Miller has been moving back and forth between th e first and second division this year and next Saturday night co uld find him in th e first division here afte r a fine ride from his 20 yard spot to win the Division T wo ' Bigee ' ahead of Curt Simpson and Dan McConnell. An d now th e Speedway fans in Napa h a ve been t urned o n to Junior Sp eedway. Ste ve Lu cer o wowed a fin e o peni ng night crowd, winning the Junior Main with the remaining o rder o f fin ish being Brian Thomp son, J on Haan,

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