Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

s. C. O.R.E. ' s 'AC-Delco World Championship' By Jim Stewa rt RIVERSIDE, CAL. , SEPT. 6-7 Run ning the dune buggies, jeeps and trucks in th e first six races on Saturday , turn ed th e once rela-' tive1y smoo th course in to a series of unseen holes, dug by the wheel spin of the over-powered : four-wh e el ed ve hicles. After four hours of four-wheelers berserking Riding Sassaman's factory Harley, Jay Springsteen grabbed another handful of points to inch closer to Roberts. Dorsch and Ed Wirth less than a h alf bik e len gth ap art. Semis The Semis proved no less exci ting as both were decided in the fmall aps. Rick Hoc kin g (Yam ) took the first Semi wi th second place going to Phil McDonald (H-D) by a hair over Mike Kidd. Steve Baker rode th e wheels off his Yamaha TZ750 t o net a fou rth and the highest placing on an y multi in the event. Ed Wirth fin ally nipped Billy Eves (H-D) for th e win in the second Semi after the pair h ad w aged a race long duel. Trophy Race Rick y Campbell, on the TC/FC Harley , swooped th e lead aw ay from Steve Droste on lap three of th e Trophy Ra ce. In tum, Mike Kidd, after co m ing from next to last on the opening lap , swooped Campbell for the lead with a drafting pass on th e b ac1'straight three laps from the flag. Campbell pressured and prodded Kidd, bu t co uld not get by. National "The track is perfect, " was Rex Beau champ 's on ly remark prior to the Nati onal and y ou co uld tell th at the sen tence was mean t to end with "for m e to win this one. " Rex was looking for a finish that he mi ght have h ad at Indy h ad not engine bothers stopped his , charge ; Keener was looking for revenge ; Gary Scott wan ted to pad h is p oin ts total; Chuck Palmgren hoped to h ave his hi gh strung engine last 25 laps while everyone else h ad his own th oughts of glory. The double ro w starting grid h ad Beauchamp choosing th e insid e pole wi th Lawwill, Sp ringst een, Keener , Gary Scott, Pal mgren , Dave Sehl, Tom Berry , Aldana and Hank Scott in fr ont. On e large mass of multi col or lea th ers an d helm ets charged in to " tum one wi th Dave Sehl ta king the lead comi ng out o f tum two and th e pos itions beh in d changing at a diz zying pace as a single dra ft- an d -slin gsh o t 19 riders long s cooted to ward tum three on th e opening lap. Chuck Palmgren em erged from th e pack to settle into seco n d fo llowed, on the third lap, by Keener, Beauchamp , Springsteen, Morehead and Gary Scott. Last year 's winner, Hank Sc ott, h ad already cal led it a day . Palmgren 's bike lasted another two laps and th en ex pire d hal fw ay down the back straigh t causing Chuck a few gray hairs as he quickl y sa t up and sign aled the onco mi ng riders of hi s problem. Meanwhile , jus t ahead of th e drama, Keen er was o ver takin g Sehl for th e lead wi th Be au ch amp a n d Springs teen swappin g places. On e lap later The Springer bumped Sehl while Aldana, Lawwill, Berry . Scott an d Dou Sehl fought over six th place. Keen er began to stretch his lead by the 10th lap while the battle between Springsteen and Beauchamp began to g e t r e all y heavy . Ste ve Morehead, refusing to believe that his Triumph isn ' t every bit as go o d as a Harley , co n tin u ed to stay wi thi n bike lengths of the battle. At th e halfway mark Mar k Williams had disappeared from the action ; Mert w as c ha rging and closing the gap be twee n h im s elf a nd the leadin g q uartet ; Doug Sehl was slowing down ch ec kin g for what appeared to be an e1ectrics problem and Gary Scott was having to fight tooth and nail to keep his position . Other battles strung out behind. Beauchamp took second for good on lap 16 as Springsteen slipped off the groove coming out of tum four. Morehead went into third. Springsteen immedi ately "r e p a s s e d Steve with Lawwill bumping Morehead to fifth a lap later. Dave Aldana sped merrily along by himself in sixth on lap 20 allowing later that he mi gh t have be en a Ii ttle too ca u t ious in th e early laps with his machine runnin g so good. Gary Scott found h ims elf pres sured by Phil McDonald an d , in dee d passed in th e closing lap s, by the Oklahoma rider. Steve Morehead took the hard luck awar d. His race deflated with a flat tire while running sixth with only two and a half laps to go, Three laps to go and Bea ucham p was charging as Keen er appeared to be slowing. Two laps and the gap h ad narrowed t o 100 y ards: One lap and it wa s 50 w ith Audre y Beauchamp screaming " Go! Go !n 'and wav ing Rex on wi th emphatic motions. Ou t o f tum fo ur on the last lap Corky had 30, th en 20 yards. It was en o ugh as th e checkers flu t tered, Sp rings teen came on in third wi th Lawwill fo urth and Aldana fifth . Corky 's p roblem was later di agnosed as lack of tread as th e tr ack had chewed up his and almos t everyone else 's rear tires to shreds. " O. K., now you get to write th e story you wer e goi ng to write las t w e ek, " sa i d Co rky's wrench Nic k Deli gianis, "And boy do I feel gre at . " • it around the small course, it was time for th e bikes to race about 20 minutes to decide starting positions for the finale on Sunday . Following the pace truck into the first tum, th e bikes were let loose. At first it looked like it was going to be quite a battle between the best of two worlds, Rex Staten o f motocross fame and Mitch Mayes of desert glory . Mayes led for most of th e first lap until Staten flew past him on the back stretch. That is how the re st of the race went. At first they were flying over the jumps side by side, then Staten moved out to a short lead and did not give and inch to Maye s for the rest of the race . Running in third most of th e race and j ust m aking his 400 KTM do things a normal person should not, was th e abn o rmal rider J ack Johnson. Johnson was riding to his full est, trying to keep ahead of Kawasaki 's Gary Semics, but it was t o no avail as Semics got by him. J ohns on soon b e c a me the main in gredient fo r a Kawasaki sandwich , as Bryan Brecker had been pushing Semics most of the race and finished fifth , beh in d Johnson. N eil MacDanna ld from Keyes, California and his Noguchi Yamaha led fr om start to finish in the 25 0 class. Mike Maze, one of several Las Veg as riders at Riverside this weekend, kept second place the whole race. Baja 500 winner Larry Roeseler, passed St eve Holl aday, Mar c Knudsen, and Andy K irker, while trying to m ake up p ositi on s. Unfortunately, the race ended before h e had a chance to catch any more of the 250 riders, so he claimed thi rd. . Bobby J ones and his very fast Elsin ore blew the other 125s away , fin ishing well up with the bigger bikes. So now the stage was set fo r the finale on Sunday, with " Roc ke t Rex," Mitch Mayes, Gary Semics, and J ack Johnson on the front row. When th e flag dropped Rex rocketed in to the lead, with Mayes, Semics , A.C. Bakken and Gary J ones in hot pursuit. Staten st ar te d pulling away fast, with May es doing the same on MacDannald, wh o was third. St aten kept h is big le ad over May es , as Mac Dannald dropped o u t , letting Semics move into a distant th ird. Stat en looked to have the wi n wired, until the las t lap wh en his CZ bro ke, Staten tr ied t o keep moving, but th at was all Mayes needed as he h ad been closing th e gap on Rex the last few laps. May es t o o k the lead on th e 12th lap o f th e 12 lap race , and the ch ec kere d flag firs t. Mitch fl ew to fi rst ove rall. A.c. rode hard and consistent to finish third. Semics dropped out while in third, and Jack Johnson did the same while running third well in to the race. Bakken battled several laps with Gary J ones, each passing and re-passing each other in their own type of terrain. It was great t o see two number ones in their respective fields going at it on a co urse where neith er had the advantage. Jones started dropping back toward the end of the race, finishing second 250 at 1 I th overall. A real battle shaped up between AI Baker on his giant 470 four-stroke Ho nda, Mark Mason and his 400 KTM . Bryan Brecker and his bo x stock 400 Kaw, and Kevin Hasten and hi s fa ctory de ser t CZ . Hasten missed practice Saturday, and was almost a minute behind on the start Saturday. Because of h is poor finish Saturday , Hasten was put near the back of th e pack for the start on Sunday. Hasten started working his way up slo wly, passing Mike Maze, B o b by Jones, lim Davidson, Steve Ho lla day, G a r y J o n es and Larry Ro eseler_ Hasten got by Baker once, but was rep as sed by him w he n they got caugh t up in traffic. Meanwhile, Bryan Brecker, who crashed at th e start, came from last to do battle wi th Hasten. Firs t he got by Hasten who was dueling with Sco tt Har den, then passed Harden. Brecker then went af ter Baker but was unable to catch him. Baker kept them all following as he fi n i shed fourth overall. Mark Mason, upholding the Las Vegas name, repassed Brec ker to finish fifth OA , while Brecker did not let an yone else by for sixth . Bobby Jones was ninth overall and first 125. He was th e only rider to win his class both days . He also beat the fITSt 250 rider, Steve Holladay, who was 10th overall. Consisten t Mike Maze and the only Bultaco entered, finished 12th overall, third 250, just ahead of desert ace Andy Kir ker, on his new Hus ky . Following Kirker was the second 125 , lim Davidson , who through most of th e race was righ t on Bobby Jones' rear fen der. With Roeseler out, Bruce Ogilvie tried to uphold th e Harley image by finishing 15th ov erall. fifth class 21. Resul ts 1. Mitc h Mayes (Hus) . 2 . Re x Sta ten (eZ) . 3. A .C. Bakken (Hus). 4 . A I Ba ker ( H o n). 5 . Mark M a so n (Pen) . 6. Brya n Brecker (}

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