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/126001
Body Eng lish person ified - Jeff Fowler on t he Ch ico Cycleland har d pan . The Min i-b ikers are turnin g fas ter times each we ek. In the 80cc Handicap ra ce . J e ff Valentine (Ya m) jumped into the lead and led all the way. Exp e rt Troy Cummings (Yam ) worked har d to overcome his 60 yard han dic ap, b u t was un able to m o ve through th e o ther ride rs until the las t several laps. settlin g fo r a seco n d pl ace . The 2 0 0cc Handicap Main was a cro wd ple aser with lots of ac tio n and position swa p p ing. Jeff Fowler (Bul) worked his way through th e pac k fro m his 30 y ar d handicap and fini shed be h in d Dave Ko istenen ( Bul). An other win for Dave m o ves him ba c k to the 10 y ar d line. Maurice Me rrill (Bul ) was th e o nly Novice to keep ahead of the J u n ior and Expert riders and c ros sed the line ahead of Jim Hubbard (Yam ) and Dave Na kao (Bu l) to win the 250cc Handicap Main . In the 3 6 0cc Han d icap , J o h n Gran t (Yam) ca me off of his 60 y ar d line handicap and fought his way through th e pack, for first p lace. Jeff Fowler (Yam ), on h is first 360cc ride o f the season , followed Joh n th ro ugh for se co nd and Bob Ryan (Yam) p icked up thi rd . In the Ma tch Race , Mike i\lcKee (Ya m) and Dan Fowler (Yam) b at tled through six lap s of handleb ar to handlebar raci ng. Dan managed to sq ueez e under Mike in the next to las t • lap for the win . Results in Results Section Medford on the fourth By Lynne Diltz i\IEDFORD, ORE.• J ULY 4 The July Fourth race a t the Mcdford Spee d way short track saw a slew o f rid ers, sp ar ks from h ot shoes and a fantasti c disp lay o f l i gh tn in g f or the ev en in g ' s en te rtainment. Practice was free from 30 any m ajor u p se t as riders were ca utio us on a ve ry slick. rough tr ack th at gro oved qu ickly , m ak ing p ass n ' ca tch with o ut err or, a n ear m iracle. Riders used to wor king th eir way to first , fou nd themselves held to las t be cause the re st o f the p ack go t th e gro ove first . There were 25 in th e Kids class an d Tiny John Miller won his heat on a m in i. That lit tle guy fair ly flew t o th e chee rs from th e crow d when th ey realized a m in i was ro m ping some h ot hu ndreds. Rick Pont endoed and had h is wind kn oc ked ou t. . Medford 's T ony Spe c k sh owed h is heels to Co o s Bay's (Ph il Harless. Th e A Main s were tr oublesome ; it t o o k fou r tries to get the 10 0s around the tr ac k once and twice to start the 250s. On tu m three, T on y Spe ck, Reg Ayer s and J eff Co ok dese rted o ve r the edge and all three had to sit it o u t while the res t stag ge red a rest art. 'The Op en A had an awful tim e. It too k five (yes. we all cou n ted! ) tries to ge t th em ou t. Then T om Pap p as ' spool c rac ked an d began spi ttin ' spo kes as he tried to slid e it o ff the trac k. Ro n Hu rd clip ped Pappas' bike an d en ded in a heap wi th wh at we lat e r learned was a c rac ked wrist. Mike Derr y be rry d id so me dam fan cy rid in g to save the ne ck of a tipsy spec tato r w h o was o n h is way to give advice to Pap p as an d lI u rd. i\[ike thre w his bo dy side ways taking the bi ke with h im and ju st ca ught th e guy's foot in ste ad o f cen te r-p u nc h ing hi m . Hu rd was assis te d o ff th e tra ck and Pap p as' bi ke was de fini tely a bas ket case. The race was re st arted and Fran k Hurd led the pac k foll owed by Jo h n Schau ble. Bo b Hansen and Greg Wilson . • NOBCAL SP:BB~AY Bast shut out By W. H. Spence r San Jose , California Ju ly 10, 1975 Whe n former U.S. Spe edway Champ Mike Bast co m es to to wn . every bo dy ge ts up for the o ccas io n. T on igh t, the riders wer e real ly up. In the Handicap heat s every bo dy m ade it to the Sem i and j ust abo u t all the go o d guys we n t to the Main whil e the Sc ra tch eve n t s were p u re D fo r d y na mi te . At th e en d of t he Main s, Bas t h ad n 't won a o ne while Norm Denny to ok th e Handicap an d Rich i\laci\lurray th e Scr at ch by a few feet over Bas t. In th e Han di cap Semis George Carter and Alan Ch rist ian had qu ite a duel for the first spot with o ld m an Ge orge taking the win . Bast foll o wed in third with traffic proble ms tha t left Paul Or landi an d MacMu rray out of the p ictu re. In th e second Semi J e rry Bowers hel d back Denny with Cliff Ball th e las t man t o th e Main . In th e Main Bowers too k th e p a in t go ing under Ball in th e first tum while Denny held o ff Bast co m ing o ff t he 50 y ard line. Denny m ad e sho r t work o f Bal i a n th e n ext lap w ith excellen t lin es an d fee t-hanging slides wh ile Bast j us t co uld n 't or didn' t wan t t o figh t th e traffi c. On lap three Ch ristian broke free : and as Denny go t by Bowers, Ch ris tian pu lled up beh ind t h e Yother Automotive m ach in e. It was to spell doo m for " Kam ikaze" and Alan hooked up goi ng for the chec kere d with Ala n attem p ting the p ass on th e o u tsid e and ge t ti ng jus t to o far sideways so that Bowers got him hard. Den n y took the win while Ball moved u nder th e crashers alo n g with Car ter still in fr ont o f Bast. In the Scratch Mai n Macl\[urra y was h o t from not having m ad e the Handicap and he just got the dr op o n the crew and ran away with it. Bast was fourth af te r the first lap . promptly go t Denny and Dale Stetler o n th e sec o nd , then went righ t to work on the bi g roller. i\lac Murray hel d a close line and d esp ite Bast's great abili ry to h ook it o u t wide, MacMu rray beat him by a fe w in ches. The cro wd gave the racers a sta n d ing ova tio n. Al Wood to o k ho me the lion 's share o f the Divisio n Two Main which sported an extra $ 105 fro m th e cro wd . Woo d and Wayne Reedy p ut on th e p itched ba ttle un til Ree dy crashe d leavin g J e re Wolfe in seco nd ove r Kirk Ta rd iff. In J un ior ac tio n Bria n Tho mpson slipped it by Eric Watts fo r the win with St eve Lu cer o hold ing o ff Ron Kirby a nd a co uple o f Sou the rn bo y s. Mik e Bloom an d J ay Gian e tti, were havin g th eir pro blems at the back. • SRO at Cal Expo, Napa By Sneaky Pete Sacramento, Californ ia Ju ly 11, 1975 The largest cro wd o f th e 75 sea so n (possibly ex ceed ed only by th e turn out fo r las t year's qu alifying round here) filled ever y avai lable se at lon g before the fi rs t event ro lle d o u t at 8 ; 15 . i\lan y late arrivals were o bserved wa t ching the evening 's p rogram from ou ts ide the p it fen ce . On e nam e th at was lar gel y responsible fo r th e turn out was th at o f t wo-time Nat ion al Ch amp ion Mike Bast . Prior to this eve ning 's Sc ra tc h i\lain. th e only Nor Cal rid er to ever win a Scr a t c h Xl a i n ag a inst So uth lan d c o m p e titio n. Norman Den n y , was sitt ing o n h is m achin e in th e pi ts an d app eared to be st ari n g in to space. When as ked wha t he was thinking a bo u t , 1':a r m a n re plied, "J ust trying to concen trate. " An d co nc en tra te he di d ! When th e tapes went up Norman p ulle d off one of his bes t hole sho ts ever to lead wi~e - to- wi rc for th e win . Alan Chris tian and Mi ke Bas t we re ho o ked up in a real battle for se con d unt il th c former U. S. Ch amp we nt in to a near vertical wh eel st and an d had to sh u t off. This let Christi an in fo r th e nu mber tw o spo t , third went to Mike Bast an d a d istan t fou rt h was Paul Orl andi . Cli ff Ball received an ad d itio nal ten yar d s afte r his first Handicap Main win o f the seaso n four wee ks ago and fro m tha t mar ker led all five lap s fo r win n umber two. Up from th e thi rty to finish second was Fra nk Co ok who ha s bee n o u t of Spee d way racing he re fo r seve ral wee ks. Th ird spo t went to Mik e Bas t who st arted o n the six ty as a result o f a " roll er " on the in iti al sta rt . II UJ -J UJ ~ UJ .., UJ J: f- o ~ l.- =-__...J Alan Wo o d gets pu nched by the halfhidden ride r go ing down, we nt on to win San Jose Div. Two Main anyhow. Newcomer AI Wo od fo llo wed up h is win a t San J o se with a win in the Divis i on T wo Main in his firs t ap peara nc e at Cal Expo. This win. aboard th e same ill so u nding m ach in e he rode a t San J o se , aga in p ro ved th a t in th e ' Secon d Divisio n, any th ing can (and ofte n d ocs ) h appen . Alan Chris tia n and Mi ke Bast put on a fa ntast ic show in the Mat ch race with Mr. Bast winning the ini t ial two -Iapper, 'Then Christ ian really wrung out th e J oh n Fish er ESO in ta kin g the nex t t wo win s for the victorv. Lan ce Kin g did it to 'e m in the Jun io r ranks for the thi rd straight wee k wi th the p lace /shoe sp ots go ing to Eric Wa tts an d Ron Kirby . Th e " Little Gh ost" is s te pp ing o ut o f the J unio r Divisi on next wee k and is go in g i\latch racing . llis firs t op pone n t will be Alan Chri sti an . Lan ce will star t o n the Scrat ch lin e and Alan 's m ar ker will be deci de d b y fan ap p lause. Th is co uld fin d Alan o n th e thirty. fo rty , fifty o r out by th e m en 's ro om . Napa, Californ ia July 12, 1975 Th e S cr at c h Ma i n rid ers we re announ ced and while Mike Bas t, Dale St etl e r an d Dennis Robin son dr ew a fin e ap p lause. Rich i\lci\ lurray fell vic tim to a minute lo ng cho rus of boos and cat calls. 111is o ral th rash in g came as a result of an inciden t earlier in the p rogram . :>lacMurray canno t be sing led o ut as th e o nly rid er tha t. on occasion . ge ts o vere ager , and wr ist slapping is n ot th e so lu tio n. On to the racin g. Rich Maci\lurray ga ted firs t fro m the pole an d led th e four lap d ista nce to become the third Nevada rid e r in five wee ks to win a Sc ra tc h Main here . [Alan Chri st i an a n d J oh n Cunningh am acco u nt fo r the o the r four wins a t t wo eac h}, Xlinus the usu al ga therin g o f short y ar dage rid ers, the start in g field for tonigh t' s Handica p Main had Dan i\kConnell on th e ze ro . Ron Me Gill on the ten , th e t wenty an d th irt y vacan t. No rm an Den n y . J o hn Cunningham a nd Rich i\laci\ lurray o n th e fo rt y and the visito r from Van Nu ys, i\li ke Bast on the fif ty . l\kConnell led brie fly be fo re :>laci\lurray an d Bast cam e up to challe n ge fo r th e le ad. Maclvlurray went down, and Bast a n d Cu nn ingham m o ved Norm Denny (leading ), Paul Orlandi (left), Alan Christian (right) form a blocking we dge off Cal Expo Sc ratch start. Mike Bast (trailin g) passed all but Denny.