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
t" ~ QJ ..0 o .... u o Hoffman held off a hard charging Bell Kawasaki man Robert Stock d ale in th e 250 Main. These two escaped the fi el d in a close bat tl e but Ran dy st ayed o ut fro n t all th e way. Lodi MC Presi d en t Dennis Kri tz er literally fl ew away from th e open troops on his Kiser Bro th er s Honda. Lo d i MC will host t wo d a y events on the 12th an d 26th of Oc to ber. Dry weather will m ean the re gul ar class " C" cou rse wh ile rain will p res ent th e mo tocross ty p e rough scrambles over the banks an d through the pits. Rid er s sh o uld tel ep hone ah ead for info near race da y . • Results in Results Section. North's National. Qualifier at Cal Expo By Stephen J. Rooney . J r. SACRAMENTO, CAL., SEPT. 20 Rich MacMurray capped a fantastic 1975 NorCal season, by winn in g a run off with National Champion Steve Bast , for first . 40 place in the fourth National Qualifying Round at Cal Expo. MacMurray and Bas t had both ended the regu lar program with 11 points. As they lined up for the · start Bast had drawn the pole. When the gate went up Steve was just a bit too eager an d pulled a small wheelie off the line. MacMurray seized the advantage to get in the turn first and ne ver lo o ked back as lie led Bast all the wa y . The Qualifier victory was just one in a string that MacMurray has been working on over the past months. He is the High Point Rider for SRA "North" for 1975. The Wine Cup at Napa returned to MacMurray after he had lost it to John Cunningham in 1974. He had a perfect score to cap t u r e t h e Cal Expo Championship September 12. Four riders tied for third with 10 points; Rick Woods, Alan Christian, John Cunningham and Larry Sh aw. In the runoff, former National Champion Woods drew the pole po siti on and le ft no doubt in anyone 's m ind that he is a definite ch allen ger to take the . National TItle back. Shaw was able to hold Christian for seco n d . Although a rut developed in the west tum, causing some of the riders a problem, th e track was in good sh ape and allowed riding on the outside as well as on the pole. One ride th at brought the fans to their feet in vol ved Bru ce Penhall and Dubb Ferrell. Ferrell led the en tire race un til the last co rner when Penhall went to the outside and let it all hang out coming out o f th e turn , ca tc hi ng Dubb a t the fin ish line by less th an a wheel. Ferrell had been do ing well in his first two races, winning bo t h o f them and looking like he wa s the man to beat . In his third race Dubb lin ed up agai nst the wall and bec ame ove reager to make the turn . \Vhen the tape went up so did Dubb's bike and he wa s unable t o compete in the race. Scott Sivad ge only p icked up 5 p oin ts, allo win g Steve Bast to move to within one point of him. Sivad ge has 40 points, Bast 39 . Hot on th eir heel s are Bill Co d y , Bruce Penhall and Larry Sh aw wi th 38 each , as o f th is writin g. In th e J un ior Speedway eve n ts , little J im Sizemore , the youn gest and smallest of th e J u ni or riders, wo n the Main . Jim to o k a lesso n fro m t he bi g guys and foun d ou t yo u can go ar ound the ou ts ide so metimes. He took th e measure o f Steve Lucero wh o fin ished second. Ro n Kir b y and Kell y Moran made up the balance of the field. Lo cal favo rites Brian Thompson, wh o m any tho ugh t a ci nch to win, and Lance Kin g were out o f t h e gam e. Thomp son 's machine bro ke do wn and Kin g was trying to o • hard and crashed. We've hea rd of stomping the competition. but th is is taking it too lite rally '.Steve Lewotsky inadverte ntly vaults over Grant Salyers as Craig Schafer (background) checks to see if his hea d's still on . Speedway Central in all he ats. Dan Hu ckans and Max Koemans took two from th e 30 ya rd line. Mark Smith and Mike Gr os s were winner s fr om the 30 ' a n d 2 0 respectively. In scratc h racing , ve tera ns agai n dominat ed as the he ats went to J ac k Mart i n . M ax K o e m a n s , and Dan Huckans . Th ir d d iv isio n honors went to Selma's Dan nv Dea n fo r th e second week in a ro w. ' The Handicap Main saw only two regular main event co n te nde rs. Th ey fought ea ch o t her from th e 30 , do dg ing ho les and fall en rid ers to ge t up fron t . Jack Martin won it, wi th Dan lI uckan s chasing. But Dan Hu c kan s could no t qui te ge t by Louis Lindwall an d wo und up third. In the Scratch Main, Mar tin and Hu c k an s f a c ed Ron H ar din , fast bec o m ing a regula r , and Doug Skiles who was in h is first Scratch Main. Martin got a terrific hole sho t and it lo o ked li ke a runaway un til he go t squirrell y just long enough to shorten his lead. Huckans began pic kin g o ff his op po sit ion one b y one. lIuckans got everyone but Martin a nd "Smilin ' ., J a ck ch alk ed up an other win . • HA NFORD, CAL., SEPT. 12 Results: " It's not nice to foo l Mother Nature " and Han ford fans can testify to that. L a s t 'w e e k Mo t he r Nature Ltn e wau, D a n H uc jcan s, Cougar Tom Williams dives under Califomia Grizzly Wally Jarma as the Colorado team won its first match of the season. III > et o ll: "' ::;'-- ---':..- --.J du mped a rain th at concen trated on th e Hanfor d race tr ac k and left it un d er wa ter fo r two days. Track crews fr an tically p u mped the ar ea and bro ug ht in 'fill di rt in an effort to make a racing su rface, b ut the re su lt was a very un p redictable, hol e-in fest ed race tra ck, Crashes were numerous, bu t m ost of th e riders bi t the bull et and fo ught it o ut. Ex perience paid off as the veteran ride rs moved up into the Main s, wh ile th e newer men were d iggin g ou t o f t he holes and off the fen ce. Surprisingly enough , the program went o ff without any tr ips to the hospi tal a nd the racing was fierce! y ca n tested. The handicap program wa s furio us wi th high yard age me n m ovin g thro ugh H A N DI CAP M AIN : SC RA T C H M AIN: Hu c ka ns. Ron Hardi n Jack Jac k Martin, L o uis Martin . Dan Speedway Team Racing: Cougars shock Grizzlies By ~ike Davis COLO. SPR INGS, COLO., SEPT. 19 After a disapp ointing rain out last week fans braved th e nippy 40 degree fall air to see "the Colorado Cougars win th eir first match. Two defeat s in Col orad o's open ing series at the han d s o f th e So uthe rn California Sh ar ks we re al l bu t fo rgo t ten to night as th e Cou gars do wned th e Golden St ate Grizzlies in spe ctatular fash ion. The Gri zzlies, for the m o st p art, are a Northern California bas ed team. In the fir st he at of th e m atch tw o hi ghl y ra ted , Gri zzlies , Ron Mc Gill and Jerry Bowers faced two o f th e best Cougars, Finley Wall ac e an d Tom Williams. All .local hopes were o n " Fly ing " Finley who was co mi ng i n off a g reat 15 point m aximum agai nst the Sharks two weeks previousl y . It j us t wa sn 't t o be however as " Roc ke t" Ron McGill bl asted his way aro u nd Rains Racewa y to win he at one. f inl ey finished se cond and Jerry Bowers finish ed third . Th is m ad e th e initial sco re 4- to 2 Gri zzlies an d it was an up h ill battle fo r t he Cougars th e rest o f th e eve n ing . It wa sn't un til h eat 10 th at Co ugars Wallace and Williams t ea m. aga in to score a five point heat giving th e ir te am a narro w 3 1 to 29 lead . This was th e first time the Cougars have ever led in any match. Their lead was shor t lived however as the Grizzlies fo ugh t back to score 4 to 2 in heat I I knotting th in gs up at 3 3 all. In he at 12 Finley Wallace and Co le Brig g s o f the Co ugar s faced John McDonnell an d Wally Jarman of the Gri zzlie s. Wallace raced his he art 'o ut to score a three but Jarman and McDonnell we re ri ght be h ind giving the m a co m bined total of three points also. Going in t o the 15th an d final heat th e match had turned into a real c liffhan ger t ied at 36 points. Rick Op perman and St eve Gaus s were t he m en o f the ho ur fo r t he Co ugar s as they came in first a nd third respectively in the fi nal heat givin g th em 4 poin ts. Sandwiched in between was a h ar d trying J erry Bowers. Final score 40 to 3 8 Cougars ! It couldn 't have be en m uc h closer. 'Things went well for the Colorado boys in the Ch ampion o f th e Even ing racing also as three of t he m q ualified for th e ' f i nal to o nly o ne Californian . Rep r esent i n g C o lorado we re Rick Opperman , Finley Walla ce, and J o hn Peat. Ron McGill rode fo r Californ ia . .. Flying" Finle y was just too much fo r the field as he wal ked off with t he Cha m pion of the Evening honors. He led fr om start t o fin ish to pic k up hi s firs t Cham pio n of the Eve ning vic tory .