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/126013
BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOUR SO UTHERN CALIFORNIA Moreno Valley M.e. at DeAnza By Skeet SUNNYMEAD, CAL., OCT. 5 Doug Couzene (Suz) didn't let a large 125 Junior field b other him on his way to the checkers. In-the first moto Jeff Austin (Yam) took the win, hut Couzene got the overall. In the 125 Beginner race, it was Mike Dickherber (Suz), who everyone thought was cherry picking w inning all t hree motos. He was transferred to Novice for the coming weeks. Scooting o n in for the second was J ohn Petrey (Yam) hanging it all out to stay ahead of Short Legs (Yam) who j ust couldn't seem _to co me down the hills fast enough . Floyd Burk, Jr. (Ya m) beat the 125 Expert all three mo to s, even t hough he was last off the line each time. Butch Baker (Yam) taking a second just couldn't keep up the pace to stay ahead. The next biggest race of the day was in the 250 Beginner ranks. Mark Dunaher (ass) took firsts in the first and third motos, Mike Robinson (Bul) taking first the other ti me. The two battled it out all day, neither one giving the other an inch. • Halford wins Rockinstraw GP By Joe Bronson GLOBE , ARIZ., SEPT. 21 J im Halford won the second annual Rockinstraw Gran d Prix, sponsored by the Gila High Riders M.C. and the Globe-Miami Civitan Club. The ra ce blossomed from about 110 entries last year to nearly 300. This year's course held almost ever y imaginable type of riding situation. There was a super fast section , where a hot shoe could hit 100 mph, also twisty rock jeep trails. wide open sandwashes, sweeping fire road , boulder downhills, and even a water-and-mud creek to go up. Five 20-mile loops made up the race and many riders became part of the 40% attrition rate by trying to make three loops before pitting and running out of gas. John Fox of Phoenix (400 Yam) ran away from the live engine, row-by-row start and continued to stretch his lead with each lap . Trailing behind h im were Jim Halford of Phoenix (500 Yam), and Gene Durham of Albuquerque (125 H u s ) . Fox held his co m fo rta ble position until the last 20 miles where he and his lead parted company due to "misfortune." Halford slipped past to steal first overall, leaving second finish to Durham. Fox salv aged th ird. Local Yamaha and Ho nda dealers offered contingency mo ney to the first three overall _ finishers, if they were riding either Honda or Yamaha. The clear breezy day m ade for good riding weather and the free suds at the finish helped the saddle sores seem smaller. • Whetstone proves he's ready By Elaine Jones CORONA, CAL., OCT. 8 Cliff Whetstone, riding for the first time as an Amateur, proved he was equal to the task by winning both the short track and half-mile. Cliff led the sh or t track fro m start to finish leaving Bob Early and J e ff Allison behind to fight for the second spot. The half-mile was a replay only this time Jeff Allison got his second with John De Bruyn third. It took one lap for Tom McCreery to get aro und Steve Karsten on the 100 Novice short track and he never looked back. Not satisfied with just a single, McCreery led the -I25s from start to finish . Th e real race _was behind him though . Tom Cates held off Jeff Cary until lap four when Jeff made his move, got by and stayed for second. Tom held on for third. Jim Allison is following in big brother's footsteps. Tom Worfolk tried to give him an education and it worked pretty good. The 750 Open Expert half-mile saw Worfolk out in fro nt all the way until lap seven when J im decided to show what he had learned. Bob Graves looked very good finishing third . Patric k Dobbins came a step closer to earning h is transfer to Amateur by wi nning both Open Novices goes. There were all kinds o f 250 Novices on hand, and they man aged to divide the weal th up fairly with no rider winning more than one class. Mike Tidwell again hit for five completely dominating the 125 Expert classes. Danny Perkins is the one rider m ost like to beat him in t he 125 class and don 't discount Greg Zehner as the 250 mo st likely to succeed. • Results ran last week. VALENCIA, CAL. , OCT. 3 DEALERS .. 00 C\I 1-0 QJ ..c o ... u o u.s. NATIONAL 7leedwuy HAMPIONSHIPS Harriot, Hansen & Jones win AME night MX By Denise Beardshear DATSUN L.A. COLISEUM Saturday November 1st · 8p.m . Tic ket locations Tickelron • Walllchs Music Ci ty · Li berty Ag encies. M utual A gencies · Spo rts Ar ena Box Office International Speed way · P.O. Box 3334 · San Cl em ent e , Cali fornia 92672 · (714) 492-9933 (213) 147-7111 Reserve Seats $1 .50 & $6.50 • Gener al Seats $5.5 0· Ch il d ren $3.00 le ss on any Heket (12 & Und er ) In the 125 and 250 Beginner classes, the object was not to win Friday night . . . but to fin ish third ! That was the catch to scoring a pair of ticke ts to the Champion Spark Plug Classic at Ontario. The winners seemed to put in an honest third-p lace ride. Of course, who would give up a second-place finish just for $20 tickets? Meanwhile, in the 250 Expert class, Ken Zahrt had problems with his Maico. In the first moto, Ken was smokin' the pack until he pulled off on the third lap. J e ff Harriott, aboard a Cole Bros.' RM, came throu~h for the win, with Ernie Hendricks (Mai) and Dale TittIemer (Suz) not far behind. Zahrt managed to get his bike ru nning to finish fourth. Zahrt came bac k t o lead the second m o to. Harriot tried to cut Ken off at the finish , but j ust couldn't get by. Jeff still held onto first overall with a -1-2 score. Don Hansen (Mai) was unchallenged in the 500 Expert class. Riding for California Moto Sport, he won both motos by a good margin. _ Mike Pillar aboard a C&H Honda grabbed the first 125 Expert hole shot. Bobby Jones (Hon) was hot on his rear tire all the way, finally passing Pillar on the fourth lap. Then Craig Egerman moved in and challenged Pillar, but Pillar got a second wind and pulled away again. The be st dice was between Jim Hale (FMF) and Egerman. Hale would move in but never quite get by. In the second m oto , Hale got by them all to win, for a second overall , be hind J o nes. Egerman held third. This could give Hale the extra poin ts he needs to pass Pillar (in No . One position) in AME 125 Expert point standings. Penny Miller jumped into th e first m o to Powder Puff lead, wi th Rox An ne Daugherty (Hon) trying to pass. In the second m o to, - the positions were _ reversed, but Miller pushed a little too hard and caught Rox Anne's rear wheel -j u st enough t o flip Penny. She bounced (Continued on page 35) 8" TRAVEL FORKS by TH ESE FEATURES MAKE BETOR MOTO-X FORKS THE FINEST AVAILABLE • TRUE 8" T RAVEL + REBOU ND . '21.5 LBS . TOTAL WEI GHT • FORGED AV IONA L 40 ALUMINUM CROWNS • SUP ER TOUGH 35MM CHROME MOL Y STANC HION TUBES .34" OVE RAL L L ENGTH ADJUSTABLE • UNI VERSAL SPINDLE • DOUB LE 3 LI P SEALS IN EACH SLI DE R • VENTED TUB E CAPS WITH FIL T ER • HEATT REAT ED FRONT A XLE • SUPERIOR DAMP ENING • REBUILDABLE BETOR AMERICA CORP, P.O. BOX 32B LEWISTOWN, PA. 17044 213-860·4040 213-924-2111 Distributed by Sammy Tanner Distributing 27