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/126010
af ter riding all but one mile o f the race on a flat tire. For th e firs t time ever in an ODRA even t, th e Am ateur class was wo n by a 200 class en try. Ted Cole (Yam) , from unheard-of Lester, Wash ington, too k first Amateur and 11 th over all. Cole, a co n sistent 200 class troph y finishe r , cam e in two pl aces ahead of Bill Ballister (first 250 Am ate u r) an d two more places ah ead of Bill Ballist er (fITS t Op en Am at eur). Ken Holmes (Ho n ) and Dan Dillion (Pen), tw o o f th e m ost consiste nt h igh finishers, won t he 25 0 and 200 Expert clas ses; and he aded bac k to Washington with t wo more trop hies. Wash ington ' provided five of the 13 class winners, a n d e n ded up with much of th e hardware. • Results in Results Sec tion . AMA Pro half-mile By Lynne Diltz ROSEBURG, ORE., SEPT. 13-14 Thunder, lightning, and the roar of bi g bikes . . . that was the scene a t th e D ouglas County Fairgrounds half-mile and it was just like some s cene from a movie. Approximately 40 Novi ces were on hand to try for some final poin ts in th eir battle for the Junior class . As ligh tning began to snap o ver th e: near m ountains, th e time trials began. Sonny Burres set th e tr ack record th is past sum m er , with a time of 23.59 (da y ti me racing) and firs t thing Charl ie Brown did was to break that record with a 22 .56. l\li k e Br anum turn ed 22.90, Pat Marinacci stopped the light a t 22.9 2 and Diane Cox mad e 22.99 . Th e fastest Junior was Ste ve Ek lund wi th 22.8 0. Rep or ts began to filt er fro m th e inco ming crowd , of th un dersh o wers to the north , eas t, so u th and west so the official s decided to reserve the program and let the Exp erts ou t fITSt . As th e National Anthem was pl ayed, it began to sprinkle and vehicl es drove the track to keep it dry . Exp er ts took a couple of exp erim ent al lap s a s the shower decreased and starter Wes Word flagged o ff the first heat. Charlie Brown was o ff , leaving Chuck J o yner to play follow-the-leader. The next ra ce was all Randy Scott 's with Mark Williams close behind while Ike Reed and Mike Bran am had a close b attle for third and fourth . As the Juniors readied for their heats, the full force of the storm broke. Racing was cancelled until' the following day, Sunday, at one p .m. That thunderstorm had dumped a half inch of' rain, and it was slick-city on Sunday. Practice was cautious, to say the least. The' fifth Novice he at recorded ' the only bad upset of the afternoon when Rick Oliver, Dick Asa and Bob Thorpe flipped, bumped and flopped in tum two. Thorpe went airborne, his body cartwheeled along the fence and came to rest between th e fence and a Best Yamaha rider at Whiskeytown got not this (sigh ...) but a pair of funky Yamaha leathers. by a jock jin x and his bike failed just a quarter 0 f a mile aw ay fro m th e finish. Ballister and Nichols both p assed a st rugglin g Smith wh o gamely tri ed to push his way to the finish . A third pl ace troph y was little consolati on for a gre at race by Smith and Demaris, but ' to ease th e hurt they were allowed to keep th eir joc k. • Results in Results Section. ODRA Jockstrap 100 By Ron Sather CHRISTMAS VALLEY, ORE., AUG . 30 Armbands, vests, cycles or coats are o ft en foun d as the batons for t wo m an team cross-co un try races. But this race h ad something else - 36 a jockstrap was ex changed by th e teams at th e end of each lap . Fo ur 25-m ile laps with a jockstrap change in the pi ts, meant plen ty o f action both for ri~r a nd spe c tator. Qu ic k .chan ges often me ant gaining several place s ou t of the pits. The race started, following extensiveins tructio ns during th e riders ' meeting as to the p rope r wearing of the garment. Bob St robel o n a Hu sky scampered th rough a mi le of sagebru sh to lead at th e ro ck ridge, star t of th e loop trail. He led for 22 m iles be fore being passed by Tom Rob inson. Ro binson led as th e firs t joc k changed "hands." Th e ch anging of joc ks proved a chal lenge at first, bu t goo d pit crews pushed, pulled an d y anked to provide qu ick changes. Robinson 's partner was first ou t o f the pits with a one minute lea d . He was passed after 10 mil es by Dwain e Smi th (Bul) . Sm ith, followed clo sely by Strobel 's partner Bill Balister (Hus), led at the halfway point. Dale Demaris (CZ) took over Smith 's jock and left with a five minute lead th at he maintained through the end of the third lap. On ce again Smith pushed h imself in to his jockstrap and flew out of th e pits with a sizable lead . He kept a distance between himself and Ballister in second, and Gary Nicols wh o was running t hird on a Husky . Vic tory ap peared 'certain for the Smith-Demaris team as Smith cam e into the last mile . But as lu ck would have it , Smith was hit Christmas Valley , 75 Cross-country By Bob Strobel CHRISTMAS VALLEY, ORE.. AUG. 3 1 ~ The . secon d day of raci ng at Christmas Valley was an individual cros s-co untry, with th ree 25-m ile lap s. The course was ro ugh, with en o ugh ro cks, ruts , h ills, an d sagebrush to test an y rider 's en d urance. Grant Hutkins proved the ru gged course co uld be tamed, but only to th e tune of one lap an d three miles. He set a terr ific p ace fr om th e start on his 400 Husky , and h ad th e fast est lap time fo r th e two day s o f raci ng. He was first to th e rock hill start o f th e lo op s, but was followed cl osel y b y Tom Ro binson on h is Yamah a. They ba tt led for th e le ad throughout the first lap an d co ming in to th e pits it was Hu tk ins by a spo ke . Hutkins had to gas an d Ro bin son to ok the lead by seconds. Hutkins, pushing to regain his lead , sp illed th ree miles out o n the second lap, an d h ad to call it quits. Robinson took a co mm an di ng lead an d sailed through the final tw o laps . Kendall Kuskie (Hus ) ended th e race in secon d pl ace , a familiar spot th at he would like to imp ro ve o n. In th e last race o n August 3rd a t Prin e vill e , Oregon , Kuskie fin ished as runner-up to Larry Martin. Dale Damaris (CZ ) took thi rd Charlie Bro wn broke the t rac k record th e night Rosebu rg w as rain ed out, came .back and blew th em away ne xt day. Oregon Expe rt Don Dodge tri ed this Kaw triple, cou ld n ' t get it t o hook up on the Rosebu rg oval, rode his Tri umph instead.