Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

So Cal riders top first round! I; Can-Am Amateur MX Series By Jeff Peck CARLS BAD , CAL. , AUG. 3 1 Th e first qualifying round fo r the Can -Am Amateur Mo tocross series go t underway t od ay with a pack of hot 125 Expe rts charging the first co rner of th e tou gh Carlsb ad GP cou rse. When th e dust had settled on th e first m oto Dennis Curtis (Hon ) had scored a decisive win ove r second Tes sit o re [Hon] , p lace rid er J ohn On the track nex t were th e 25 0 Expert and they did n ot wan t to be sh own up by their little brothers. Ran dy Bums (Yam) came on strong in th e opening laps to take a commanding lead an d h eld it for m ost of the ra ce . It looke d like it w as going to be an easy win for th e San Diego rid er, but Mike McGowen , who h ad been running second fo r m ost o f the race , m ade a hard charge in t he closing laps. He pas sed t he lead er on the big downhill in the las t lap an d then stu ffe d hi m into the be rm un de rn ea th the bridge j us t before the finish lin e to tak e th e win. Af ter watching all o f this ac ti on the Op en Expe r ts were h ot to get on the tr ack, in fact they were so anxious that a few of th em ran in to each other. As ride rs ' were separating themselves from the pil e , Ken Frost m ad e the most o f it and gra bbed th e lead with Chuck Pettigrew right on his fender . It was a battle for th e top three places , with most o f the ac tio n going on behind the leader. Kris Mor gan charge d in to second po sition for a few lap s, but a consistent rid e by Pettigrew brough t him in for the . secon d spo t at th e flag behind Frost. Chip Ho well ro de to th ird. Ro und t w o of the 125 Ex p erts go t underway m uch the same way as the first race, lots o f handlebar banging in the first co m er. Gary Racca grabbed the lead wi th J oe Santich and Dennis Curtis righ t be h ind. Befo re the firs t lap had fini sh ed Cu rt is was once again out in front and o nce again to stay . This left all of the battling fo r position back in th e pac k, Racca hel d down hi s second position un til Scott Karl came out of the p ac k to take co nt ro l. Ed Davis and John Te ssito re battled fo r a sh or t ti me over th ird , b u t Butch Darling moved in and grabbed it at t he finish le avin g Tessitore in fo urth . J eff Mathews was o n top o ut o f th e first co m er in the sec o n d 250 Expert mo to, but Allen Coo ke powe red hi s big Bultaco righ t by to take ove r the lead an d held o n des pite th e p ressu re put on him by Ma the ws and Bums. Bums h ad led the first moto and cam e ch arging out o f th e pack to take ove r sec o nd posit ion at th e en d o f th e second race . Mathew s h eld on to th ird. After letting Fros t lead for th e first lap of th e Open Ex pe rts , Chip Howell pulle d by him an d too k o ff like a bullet. How ell moved o ut to an easy lead and never was challen ged. Fros t was hold ing down a co ns istent sec o nd ahead o f Pett igrew , bu t he kill ed his mo to r in a co rn er and Pe t ti grew made the most o f it taki ng over second and holdi ng it until the finish . Fro st go t h im self back to gether for thire!. Je ff Mathews and Dean Stafford lead the 250 Expe rts around the fi rst tu m at Carlsbad. Chip Howell came on strong in the last two motos of the Open Experts'to take home the first place tr oph y. The gene ral idea behind block passing is t o take out th e other guy not you rself. At the start of th e third ro und Curti s had the 125 ove ral l in the bag. He came o u t of the ga te in thi rd and did not real ly charge very hard to get the lead . In the m eantim e , J ohn Tessit ore was hot to get th at second over all and he charged hard for th at firs t positi on and took it for the entire moto , Curtis ro de to a sm oo th second place , with Gary Racca taking t hird wh en Bu tch Darlin g cras hed. It was a three way batt le fo r th e lead in th e last moto of th e 25 0 Ex perts. Allen Cooke, Jeff Mathews and Todd Sn yder wer e all in th ere battlin g for the lead spo t. All o f a su d den Co oke and To d d dropped b ack off the pac e leavin g Math ews to ride to an easy win . Dean Staffo rd pulled in for a surprise second and To dd Sny der p ulle d in fo r third . When the ga te went do wn o n the las t moto for t he Op en Experts Chip Howell jumped into a early lead th at he stre tc hed o u t to a co m fortable win . As was th e case m ost o f the da y second place was th e battlegroun d and Petti grew and Euge ne To m provided m ost of the ac tio n. Tom was holding seco nd an d loo ked li ke h e was go ing to have it at th e fin ish, b ut Petti gre w was riding a fas t co nsi stent p ace and fin ally moved o n by after ba ttl ing for th e position for a few laps. From that point on the lea de rs h eld their positi ons to th e fin ish . For th e re cord it was Ho well, Petti gre w and To m. Dennis Curtis blitze d th e first tw o motos of th e 125 Expe rts and then kicked back for a secon d in t he last round to top that clasS. Next week the Can -Am Am ateur serie s m oved to Spillway Park in San ta Mari a. Pop ular Cycling magazin e and Dirt Bike Promotions did an excellen t job o f running th e motos off and ge tting • everyo ne on th e ro ad by six p .m . Results 12 5 E XPE RT : 1. Den nis Curtis (H on ). 2. John Te ssit o re (Hon). 3. Gary Po t t s ( H o n ) . 2 50 E X PE RTS: 1. De an St a ffo rd (CZ). 2 . M i ke Mc G owen ( Bul ). 3 . T odd Sny der (C - A) . O P E N E XPER TS : 1. C h ip H owell ( Hus). 2 . Ch u ck Petti grew (Ma i) . 3. Ken Frost (S u z) . -15

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