Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; Da ". II: up a ro u nd ~ ~ IcConn d l to fin ish one /t wo . (third) tu rne d in a very cre d ita ble ride in h is firs t Division One start. Th o u gh a n o n -winner a t Cal Ex p o o r Napa. !\like Cann on 's show ing t o da te has h im st art ing o n the twe nty and h e m ay h ave earned so me m o re yardage by win nin g the D-:? Main, Final ly sh elvin g th e AJ S powered m ach ine he ro d e th e past two seasons, Steve Mo ore finis hed secon d aboard o ne of th e " o th er m arque " with J o hn Cook third . Is th e re any stop ping Lan ce Kin g? The I I-y ear -ol d wh iz won hi s third Ju n io r Main in th ree s tar ts. Ton igh t his " fo llowers " we re (in orde r) Brian Th omp s o n , Ji m my Si z em o re . South lan d er J ay Giane tti, Steve Lucero an d Don Kirb y. • Results in Results Sec tion ~ IcConn e ll E >n eC'l ..... >n -' '" ::l bO ::l -c Reno riders sweep By Sneaky Pete Sacramento, Califo rnia July 18 SRA (No rth) 19 74 , Alan one -twa-t hree w in hi s fourth h igh point rid er fo r Christ ian , led a Nevada sweep to Scra tch Main of the sea so n. Bar clay T re hal led for the greater part an d was being pressu red by J o hn Cun nin gha m un til Christi an m ad e a n ow-or-n ev er m o ve o n th e last la p . The ou tsid e line p ro ved the quick way a ro und as Ch ristian passed both front-ru n ner s for t he vic t o ry in a finish so close th at a blan ke t would have co ve red the Ren o trio . With the J .A. P. he h as been ri d ing earlie r this year ou t wi th m ech an ical ai ls. ~ like Fari a to ok a rid e on an ESO an d en d ed his evenin g by winning th e Handicap Main af te r win n ing h is heal and semi in al m ost runaw ay fas h io n . ~ lart y Ben e k ca m e up fro m the th ir ty to finish se cond with th e sho w spot go ing to fi fty -yard er J o h n Cun ningh am . A regu lar he re last year, J im He rshey m ad e th e m ost o f h is first ap pearance o f the 75 sea so n by win n in g t onigh r 's Division Two Main . A fo rmer sp ortsman rid er who o nl y reeen tly started riding Speedwa y, Du an e Yarr o w wo r ked h is way th rough tra ffi c from th e tw en ty to fini s h s e cond a h ead of Denn is Il ar tsh orn . One of th e littlest o f th e little guys, Steve Lucero earned th e right to m ee t th e troph y to o tsic by wi nnin g h is second J u ni o r Main at Cal Exp o ah ead o f Jim m y Sizem o re and Lan ce Kin g. 11,e Nation al J unio r Ch am p h ad earlier wo n hi s Match Race with Alan Ch ristian afte r the latte r was " ch ee re d " bac k to the fif ty . Lan ce started o n th e scr at ch lin e and at the e nd o f th e fo ur laps . hi s m ar gin was less than a bi ke length . Napa, Califo rn ia July 19, 1975 Th ree of Reno's " o ve r the hill gan g wer e o n the line for to n igh t 's Scrat ch Main . Cu rr en t o verall po in t leader Rich 1\ladlurray gated very quic kly and led fo r th e fir st lap until J oh n Cun ningham go t by . This pair pu t o n o ne of the most excitin g battles eve r witn essed he re with Cunnin gh am th e win ne r by a wheel len gth. Sh owing no afte r-e ffec ts from the bro ken wrist th at sidel ine d him for several wee ks ear lier th is season . Ro n 1\IcGill pu t in five very rap id lap s to win th e Han di cap Featu re ahead o f Clif f Ball and Alan Ch risti an. With fa n d o na tio ns agai n bri n gin g the wi n m oney wa y above th e n o r m al Division T wo p ay off. J oh n Co ok won h is se co nd D-2 Main in thre e s tar ts h ere ,..... with th e t wo /th ree spo ts go in g t o Dave Cooper and Ca l Expo Handicap Main winner , Mike Fari a. Incl u d in g hi s fan fatten ed win m on e y a t San J o se o n Th u rsday n igh t , Coo k 's earnin gs fo r t he three n ights o f raci n g were o n a p ar wit h th e h igh est p aid First Division rider. Qu o te : " If th ey ever s ta rt puttin g up extra b uck s for second an d th ir d , th in gs could really ge t hairy ou t there . " • Resu lts in Resu lts Sectio n z ;: o cr III W .J et o DESERT PEOPLE (Contin ued f ro m pa.~e 9) the process o nly ended u p ta kin g a so il sa m ple. Givin g th e Am ateur cla ss a second tr y the follo wi n g week end. Kevin go t a bad st art af t e r nu merous kicks. So m ehow, th ro ugh the blinding d ust , he wor ked h is way up to fourth ov erall by t he bo mb an d th ir d o verall b y t he p its. In h is excitement. Kevin did no t le t h is dad t o p hi s gas ta nk o ff. a nd ra n o ut o f gas be fore th e fin ish . N ot o nly was he o u t of gas, b u t he had go tten tw o flats an d bro ke n the re ar sho cks. Makin g th e bes t o u t o f a bad sit ua t io n , as he had done so m an y t im es befo re . he took o ff hi s helmet and p us he d h is bike t o th e fin ish . Kevin sti ll reach ed th e fin ish line at :? 8 th overa ll, first :?50 Am a teur. T h ese first t w o Amat eu r ri d es were n othing co m pa re d t o t he ba d lu ck of h is th ird t ry. Kevin cras hed har d o n the way to th e bo m b . Standing up . he no t iced some th in g st icking out of h is leg. whi ch hap pe ned to be a bro ken bone. 111is ca used him to fa ll ba ck down in what Kevin desc ribed as " Hurti n g more th an an yth in g I'd ev er don e," Lu c kily a spe ctat o r saw h im d o hi s sp ec tac ular cras h . and help go t to h im quickly. This put an end to h is ra ci ng c aree r fo r ab o u t six m o nths. Barst ow to Ve ga s h as also given Ke vin hi s share of d esert b lue s. Kevin was able t o finish o n h is DT-I wit ho u t too m an y proble ms . lI is :?50 Su zu ki was not as co o pera tive. Wh ile run nin g fifth o verall ab oard it . Kevin had to stop and fix an ele ctrical shor t , but at least he fin ished. Finishing was not th e cas e in the ' i 3 B t o V , as th e p ri mary c hain broke o n his Bul. Th in gs be gan to 10 0 k up for Kevin in ·i 3. Fir st he me t Sue . the n he go t so m e help fro m a sh o p , Coast ~ I o tor Cycles (C1\IC) . This was t he co m binatio n he ne ed ed, a co mpe t it ive bi ke an d a m o ral suppo rt in g girl frie nd . He was ab le to ge t in a few good ri d e s b etwee n try in g to so rt th e :? 50 CZ o u t fo r th e d ese rt. T he n bad lu c k struck him again. a nd his bike was stole n o u t of h is garage. N o t ab le to go rig h t o u t and b uy an o t he r bike, Kev in star ted lo o king aro u n d fo r a sponso r. 11, e we ek before he go t a good o ffer fo r a rid e o n a Bul , C1\ IC loaned him an old e x-Iac to ry ·3 6 0 CZ. His first ride o n t he 360 was at the Bad ger s Hare Scramb les. Jim Wo tring had a slight lead o n Kevin. but finally every thi ng wen t rig h t and Hasten passed hi m . ne ver t o lo se the lead agai n. Kevin had finally d o n e what he had worked for. for so lo ng. a nd th is was n ot to be h is las t overall win. C~ IC go t Kevin a good de a l on a 4 00 CZ. whi ch he rode t o several m or e ove ra lls a nd sp ent seve ra l ni gh t s a we ek wor kin g o n it in Co st a Mesa , Ke vin really di d no t star t winnin g co n siste ntly until th e CZ fac to ry built him a super fas t , five speed 400 . On ce th is new bi ke wa s sor ted o u t . Kevin bec ame a lmost u nbeat ab le. An exa m p le o f this was at a O RA r ace in wh ich Kevin w as runni n g fi rst ove ra ll when h is thrott le ca b le bro ke. Wan t in g to co n tin ue o n. he wr a pped th e th ro ttle aro und hi s leg an d worked it by m oving h is leg in a nd o u t. Goi ng up a h ill, the fro nt en d sta rted to co m e o ve r o n Kevin so he tri ed to p u t hi s leg a lit. thu s giving th e 4 0 0 m o re power. Flipping t he bike over o n h im . he b roke the rear se ctio n of f o f t he bike . "Wh en I too k the bik e d o wn to th e fa c t orv m ec h an ics. in st e ad o f j us t we ldi n g {t back on, they rep laced the wh ole fra m e. I co u ld n 't believe it. 111ey p u t n e w pistons in t ha t th in g fas ter than I can wear o u t a ring .,. Even though Ke vin did win a few bu cks ra ci n g la st year. it ce rt a in ly w as no t eno u gh to live a ll . Kevin is a carpe n ter . and up until a fe w m onths ago. Su e was also wo r k in g. Being a carp e n ter . Ke vin so me t ime s is o ut of wo rk, b u t la zy he " no t. In stead of j ust waiting around th e h ouse for w or k . he will go o ut and h us t le some . TIle m oney he has won ra cing wen t toward t hei r house in Hacien da Hei gh ts. Kevin is :?1, an d Sue is 18 . Bo th neve r lived awav from home unti l thev go t married las t February and t he y are d oing j ust fine. Wit h no plans o f kid s in the near futu re , th eir dog Su zky (nam ed afte r Kevi n 's o ld Su zu ki) . is th eir only depende nt. If the" treat the ir first c h ild like the y t reat Su z ky, it is su re to be spoile d . Kevin ta ke s Su zky eve ry whe re. includ in g work a nd th e d ese rt every wee ke nd. Su zky eve n has her o w n room . When in t he desert Su zk y co llec t s roc ks, w h ile Kevin is ou t ra c in g a n d Sue is waiting fo r him at the fin ish line. Sometimes whe n th e y ge t back to t he " an . Su zky has it half fu ll o f ro ck s fro m Lu ce rn , Ma y be she 's just t ry in g to hel p Kev in w in by e limin at in g so m e o f t he ro ck s. Su zk y d oes not lo o k an y th ing like Kevin . bu t she does have some of t he sa me c ha rac te r ist ics a s Ke vin , su ch as crash ing. Su z ky fell o ff the roo f o f a n Al p ha Be ta s to re Kevin wa s work in g o n and bro ke he r leg. Kevin could n ot have fo u nd a be tte r wife to fit h is life style. Su e loves desert ra c ing as m u ch , if no t m o re th a n Kevin. Eve n before me eting Ke vin . Sue sp en t al most eve r;' wee ken d in th e d ese rt with her fam ily. 'Her bro the r. Danny Phill ips is a 250 Ama teur a nd her sis te r Bo nnie was un fo rtu natel y killed in a dune bu ggy acc ide nt at th e last Bars tow to Vegas. Su e has done a littl e racing hersel f, and says Kevin won't let he r ra ce because he is afra id sh e will beat him . Asking Kevin which race was the hardest for h im, " The Pr o spect or s race last ye a r. The course was neat a nd t he b ike ran fine. it wa s just th at I was try in g to catc h Mitch Mayes, I go t up beside him righ t after the bom b . He was on th e m arked co urse an d 1 was o ff the trail where it was roughe r , t rying to stay o u t o f hi s d us t . I thought I was go ing to pass h im , b u t he ju st p u lled aw ay from m e. He is th e sm oothest rid er I've ever see n ." Kevin t ook seco nd overall th at week en d . He was still riding h is shop spo nso re d , basicall y stock fo ur speed 400 CZ. Kevin is a m ember of t he Rimrunners ~ I C. It is n o t a very lar ge cl u b, averag in g only abo u t three o r fo u r rider s a we e kend. Su e was a m em ber o f th e Rove rs 1\IC un til she m e t Ke vin , the n she became w hat sh e ca lls a " Ro vi ng Rirn runner ". Kevin an d Sue can b e see n almost eve ry weekend ridin g fro m ca m p sit e t o cam psite vis itin g. Kevin used to party q ui te heavily, u ntil hi s spons orsh ip fro m CZ. But he sti ll get s a b uzz n ow an d the n. Kevin and Sue 's wed ding was o ne o f those t imes. The ir wedd in g was on a Saturd ay a nd af ter t he recep tion th ey stopped by t h e Ba r s t ow t o Ve g a s tr o p hy p resentat io n before going to a ORA race Sundav . n am e d " Has t e n's Honeymoo n ", wh ich he won . Kevin lik es to p lay po ke r , and he plays it well. I k no w ; Su e took five bucks fro m m e . an d Ke vin ab o u t fi fteen m ore from a co u p le of our frie nds, t he n igh t I interv ie wed him. If he had not crashed in the Mint 4 0 0 a nd bro ken th e upper part o f his back, he m ight have enjo yed Vegas as h e usu all y d o es afte rward s. " I felt like the shoc ks o n m y CZ were not work in g p ro pe rly . so I slo wed d own . I was o n ly go in g abou t 3 0 when I c ra sh ed. I did ge t to ride in a heli copte r. T he co urse w as so ro ugh, a new tire wo uld o n ly last a co u p le o f lo o ps. " Kevin an d Sue are no longer just anothe r co up le in th e desert. In fact, t he y co uld well j ust be t he fas tes t pair in th e de se rt , wit h Kevin an d his CZ beco m in g th e fas test th in g since T om Bro oks and h is OK \\'. Now wh en Ke vin co me s flyin g th rough th e pits of a desert race , no bo dy asks , " Who is th at guy? " . " 31

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