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 progression of the infamous Hope town mudhole ... from 100 Nov ice . . . to 250 Nov ice ... e ow • • By Dale Brown CORRIGANVILLE, CAL. , NOV. 1-2 Dropping the "Last Roundup" title, the Di rt Diggers carried on with their 17th Grand Prix at the scenic former mOVIe lot known as Hopetown, remembered as C orriganville. It had appeared that Hopetown was lost to racers due to the problems in dealing with Bob Hope's organization, but this year the Diggers negotiated another race, dealing with another man in Hope's forces. Hopetwon is always a popu lar event , with over 1400 riders participating this time and another 729 who had their entries return ed . One guy paid the S100 price for a post entry on Saturday and the Dirt Diggers gave the money to the San Gabriel Valley M.C. legal fund . Saturday 6 The 100 Novices started out the day's racing and much to everyone's surprise . a rider on a minibike took the lead and started pulling away from the pack. The rider's name was Jim Holley, a very successful mini Expert. Pity the poor guys who put lots of money into building sleeved-down Elsinores and then came to Hopetown to get blown off by a four-stroke Honda mini. Leading the chase. after the flying Holley were J on Williams (Hon) and John Welchel (Suz) . In the 100 Amateur/Expert ra ce, however, Warre n Reid showed up on o ne of the afore me ntioned Elsinores and was in th e p rocess of buildi ng a big lead when he got a flat front tire and a sick motor. Pete Hillebrecht (Ho n) got past Reid to win, but War re n hu ng in for second. In the first division of 125 Novices . Scott Spence won, but the dra ma ca m e at the finish with Jerry Little (Yam ) and Chri s Hackman (Yam) dueling it out fo r second. The battle at the flag wa s so close th at the y co llided a nd went d own . with Little b ein g the first to drag his bike across the line. Darryl Lumbattis won the other division . Reid came back to lead the 125 Amate urs and Experts fro m start to finish. Strange things were going on behind him tho ugh. Fred J oehnck (Hon) was down a lap only to appear right o n Re id's tail. In what must have appeared to be the classic battle of the day, Reid and Joehnck were less than a second apart the whole way . If Reid had made one mistake, missed a shift. or picked the wrong line through a tu m, Joehnck was right there to unlap himself. He never did, though. Almost un noticed in the pack of lapped riders, Bill Glore (Hus) moved up from 40 seconds behind the leader to only nine at the finish, good for second place. Steve Scott took an enduro-equipped Bultaco, complete with lights, to an early lead in the 126-200 Combined class, with Garry Conner (Hu s) in second. It wasn't long before Jim O'Neal (C-A) and Jeff Kaplan (Hus) were in the midst of the battle fo r the lead. Out of that scrappy pack, Kaplan emerged to win, O'Neal took second and Scott was third. A pile-up of large proportions marred the 250 Amateur start. One discou raged racer , missing a foot peg as a result, had to be talked into continuing and he too k off as t he leaders were close to the finish. Thad Friday (Bu l) was the wire- to-wire leader. Will Harper (Mai) picked up t he lead o n th e secon d lap, wo rki ng his way up fro m a third row start. The sizzling p ace he set earned hi m the 250 Expert win in runaway fash ion. Allan Cooke (BuI) clung to second, oblivious to the drama that was unfolding behind him on the last lap. Larry Roeseler (Hus), just back from Baja , Jef Harriot (Suz) and Cordis Brooks (Bul), also up from Baja, were close together in third through fifth. In the twisty back section, Harriot bumped Roeseler while trying to pass him through a tum . In the confusion, both Harriot and Brooks got by Larry. Broo ks had moved up after a horrendous start. Oh yeah, my nomination goes to Harriot if there's ever a " Roger DeCoster dressaIike contest." The only thing missing was the "DeCoster" across the seat of his leathers. Sunday An abundance of Rokons highlighted the 350 Combined race. But it was motocrosser John Franklin on a KTM who prevailed. Tony Rogers, on an FMF-prepared Maico was second. The highest placing Roko n was ridden by fourth-place Mark Durand, who was listed as a Novice. The Diggers added a Senior Division along with the Old Ti mers, probably to Fred Joehnck , down a lap in 125 Expert action, gets by Rick Grant,