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/126015
The 100 Am/Ex race, with Warren (11) Reid taking the lead and Jeff Blix on the inside. (Continued fr om page 7) The 17th Annual Hopetown happenings Flash es of ac tion fro m tw o supe r days fro m scribbles in th is rep o rt er 's notebook the happy news th at thi s great race is • 42 n o longer in imm edia te danger of ha ve you ever extinc tion . . . but thought of how much work it takes? Saturday th e flag dro p ped in th e zo ne marked Hard Hat Area and away th e first rac e went, th e 100cc ti ddl ers . . . K eith Ni ch ols o n 's monoshock Hodaka received att en tio n from bike wa tchers (for info see Nick) and Keith really kept his cool, espe ciall y mudhole . . . Dirt Digger s in th at co nfesse d off-t he -rec o rd it had a good bottom this year because they kept Fast Char lie an d his tractor out of it on rac e preparat ion days ! .. . Jim Holley re ally hauled in tha t cla ss, was lapping the drag end by lap th ree . . . one Honda rider going ba nzai an d the only it em of corr ect racin g clothing he was wearing was his helme t . .. Troy Bates' bi k e was a bit too big for him b ut he did well .. . and Desert Donkey Fred Hatch (Hon ) was flat h avin g a ball besides wearing t he wild est jumper out th ere . . . not so many club colo rs in evidence th is year . . . are th ey o n the way out ? Chris Hackman and J er ry Little we re bat tl ing fo r second in the 125 No vice, Div, 1 when th ey fell in th e haybale s at the finish lin e bu t Chris go t un tan gled and up firs t, pushing over the line for Triumph-mounted seco nd . . . u suall y Dave Destler was on an almost brakeless Deek an d m ad e fri ends wi th the same haybales . .. That id ea of funnelling the riders th ro ugh slowly w as a b oo n for the scorers no t to mention th e added help of havin g dir ty numb er pl at es squirted clean by helpers with pump ex tingui shers . . . and th e wheelies Howard Hooper was doi ng out of the gulley were ver y st yl ish for a No vice! J ohn Ha teley's 125 Mon tesa sounded grea t bu t it seized to eveyon e's disappointment . . . an d how ab o u t Grip st ers Larry Bird and J im Bearu p on th ose Tri umph Cu bs in the 200 class? They go t lo ts of at t en tio n fro m the spec tat ors and District 37 Prez Ron Hall o n a fast Husky said he had a hard go to catch Larry . . . did de ser t rider ' Hall know th at Bird o nce held a Distr ict 37 num ber one mot ocros s plat e? Aha .. . Gu y havin g most? Prospec tor Ear l Wilso n o n a st ree t 'Saki with a bicycle flag waving o n it and suspens ion th at in th e ro ugh lo o ked and sounded God-aw ful . . .. Ah, th at 25 0 Expert class! One KTM rider kept bli tzing badly fro m the backrow des pite Dirt Digger effort s to keep him fai r h is arr o ganc e got him Rusty San de rso n did disqualifie d th e hairiest flip in t he h aybale tunnel with his b ike landing o utside th e co urse and Ru st y o n it bu t no dam age was done. J ohn Hat ele y was not hav ing a good day , as h is second tri p out o n a Montesa got hi m a whi skered plug, an angry tr ip back for a ne w o ne but his tru ck was loc ked and he didn't have the key, a neighbor gave hi m a plug . . . it was put in an d J ohn sho t back in to ac t io n. Th en wh ile ch arging down at the mudhole he spun out .. . he finished but not where he usu ally does, just "one of those days " th at h appens to all race rs . .. an d J ohn Rice and his Gre eves had flo at bowl tr ouble on the line, got knock ed down by a pl ayful Rick Marquis an d th en fell off aga in fo r real in th e start . .. and the o bvio us disap pointment o f Go leta's But ch Lin den whe n he go t a flat tire an d had to retire .. . Kim Kimball (Mon) ca me in looking the wo rse fo r wear clo thing-wise and ad mitted to parki ng and wa tc hi ng for a co u ple o f lap s ... the course was, m ost definitely , t he rou ghest ever this yea r . . . in man y places ju st pu re bed ro ck . The da y was over and it was pa rty tim e fo r man y people but not fo r Dirt Diggers who had to replace h ay bales and string fencing while there was still daylight. Before one rider left the starting line the next morning this is only part of what the club had to deal with: - a. one blownout and gushing water main in Western Town; b. one Heal th Department official threatening to shu t down t he concession stand because of not enough trash barrels (th ey 'd bee n stolen)? c. some unknown sq ui d wearing a cl ub T-sh irt telling the sheriff it 's OK and thereby getting many extra van s o f hi s bud die s in to th e alrea dy st uffed pits; d. replacement of hay bales burn t th e night be fore an d a search for ripped off yellow flags for the tu m peo ple . . . we co uld Jl:O on! Off went the 350s . . . our attention was de fin itely ca ug ht by John Fra n klin who jus t blew the doors off the rest of th e class. In build and style he lo o ks a lo t like Gre eves factory man Bry an Wad e . . . Rick Marqu is had a fourth place o n lap on e (befo re he go t t o th e mudhol e) m ad e an unschedul ed stop an d was observed motoring through th e goo mo re co nse rvatively o n successive laps . . . Gary Pessault rode th e whole race wit h to uring gear o n his Honda incl uding a bed roll ... . After his w in in the Senior Division, George Walker took a lo t of goo d-na tured teasin g fro m Don Kemp over the PA as " Han dso me Ge orge, th e Deser t Darling." It 's usually dad Carl Pfet zing p itting for son Robert, a 125 rider, bu t today roles were chan ged with Rob ert push ing Dad's bike up to th e line for th e 500 Novice go . . . for Carl the biggest hand of the da y, his left handlebar go t bro ken on th e start and w ith nothing to hold onto on that side but the cro ss bar (and no clutch ) he finished the bloomin ' race! Far out ! Bob Donohue had Mickey Mouse ears place wh ile Dennis firm ly in Montgomery sported wav ing an te nna e, the cro wd loved it. Eric Wienberg's Maico fussed and pouted but finally (p he w) cam e to life after be ing dropped on the lin e ... and rider No . 18 2 had his whole fam ily out in m at ching jer seys. The women still co n tin ue to upgrad e their riding . .. Su e Fish flat did it to 'e m . .. I still say she reminds me of a 16 year o ld Dave Aldana (nu, in riding sty le stupi d, not in falling o ffl ) . .. and Dian e Connoll y go t her o wn private sho we r fr om the water truck dri ver when she fm ished her race . . . and Janene Turton and Cherry Stockton were a p leasure to watch. Mike Van Deusen had suc h a th ing going for the haybales at the finish line for a couple of laps th e Diggers .are considering sending him a bill . . . an d Jim Bearup in the 500 Novice and "T-Bone" Grigsby in the 50 0 Expert provided again that scrambles riders can st ill h ack it with the desert and brigade . .. and a new m otocross Yamaha TT 500 looked real good. The performances turned in by m ot o-joumalists who were out proving th at .y o u ca n 't write abo ut it if you don 't do it , or at least not very w ell . .. Br y on Farns w ort h of Motorcyclist cam paigned two Moto Vill as, one of which was a proto in the Open class .. . impressive! . . . and for sheer enthusiasm I'll go for George Elliot o f Popular Cycling who 1 swear, looked to be in every class! . . . but Modem Cycle's Rick Seiman will be aw fu lly hard to live with for the next ye ar . . . Super Hunky won Division 1 of the 500 Novice on a Suzuki! The st art o f th e Op en class . . . the pure sound of ureal" motorcycles runn ing! Rick Zimmerman 's massive Harle y surging off the line with much horsepo wer over the other bikes but Terry Dorsch darting effortlessly from the other side of line one and zapping in to tum one first ... unfortunately a Kamikaze took Zimmerman out and wi th a few ouches he m an aged to make a few tours around the course but where . else would y ou see an yone ride a bike like th at but at Hopetown , a course that favors 125s. And how abo u t that Matchless-Typhoon Rickman? Got y ou where you lived, it did ! Preston Petty, running on three hours sleep , o nly survived three laps but for this writer the weekend ended supreme. Jim Wilson on Mike Haney 's Triumph won the Open. He was way ahead of past winner Gene Smith an d showed again t he brilliance he alw ays had, if yo u had a chance to see the co mplete square-off he 'd do at the finish line you ' d h ave seen wh at rid ing is all abou t, not one o t her rid er did it like J im .. . And fo r cream o n top of the stra wbe rr ies? Well, John Rice, he proved he 's th e fas te st 4 0-year-old aro und by win ning the Old Timer s class on a Grce ves. Rul e Britannia ! Maureen Lee