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/126016
Cotney undefeated at Action Raceway By Gary Kirkpatrick RE D DIN G, CAL. , OCT. 19 Rand y Cotney [Ind) came ou t on to p overall to hold his reco rd as the o nly unde feated rider at Act ion Raceway. Five will get you ten the Masked Marvel with th e flag is not Brad Lackey. mota . The ridiculously slick off ca mber, and rut lined dropaways were his playground a nd a t the finish he h ad built up a lead of over 60 seconds. George Gardner again finished second with Tad Richards winding up th ird over al l. Both 250 Pro m o t o s were won wire to wi re by Danny Brown of Auburn Motor Sports riding a Bultaco Pursang. Dan Brown is a rider with style and real savvy in the m ud as witnessed at Hangtown this year where h e won both motos in the 250 Amateur/Expert class. Rich Brinkley came o ut to win both 500 Pro m o t os in a surprisingly small field of 12 bikes. Rich's 400 Yamaha p roved to be more' tractable in mud than Dan Brechts new RM 370 and that proved t o be the deciding factor in the dice fo r t he ove ral l, wh ich occurred in mo ta number two. • Sunnyvale hosts drenching MX . By Steve Castillo SUNNYVALE, CAL., OCT. 26 Su nnyvale didn 't do much to live up to its name today. The weather was compared to the Hangtown drenching earlier th is yea r but not 30 quite as cold. The mud did however, play a m ajor role in determining the winners in mo st of the races. Mike Middleton on a new 250 Lofano and Sons Suzuki definitely had the hot line through the mud. He won both 250 Pro motos, but only aft er fighting to get there. Randy Nielsen (Mo no) pulled the holeshot followed by Dave Robison (CZ) . Steve Scoffone (M-V ) pushed hard and looked fast but crash ed going around the tower. Mike Middleton had worked ul' to inherit the lea d. Ru d y Leon (Pe n ) worked his way up through the glop in to seco n d and they finished th at way. Middleton didn 't m ess around in th e second mota a nd b lasted away from the line with a fine st art. Scoffone was running in second an d Bill Roush (Ya m) was holding third. Rudy Leon came up to ch allen ge Bill Roush fo r third, got by , and was now coming up on Scoffo ne . Scoffo ne's bike had problems and Leon took over sec ond. Middle ton copped the o verall bu cks, Rudy Leon too k second and Randy Nielsen third. Lee Ro bson, riding a new Su zu ki fro m Lo fano an d Sons m ade it two wins fo r t he new sh op b y do mi n at in g th e 250 Inte rm edi ate class. Second was a battle al l the wa y be twe en Da ve Austin (Hus) ' and J ohn Sullivan (C-A) . Au st in held on longer and finished ahead of Sullivan . John Sullivan pulled a fan t asti c holeshot and rocketed a way o n h is Can-Am. Robson was back in third, b u t afte r a sh ort battle with Olund, got by. Lee thought he had it m ade b u t Su zu ki rider Dick Ridley had pl ans of his own. Ridley and Robson swapped ba ck and forth with Robson co m in g out short. Ridley worked past Sullivan and in th e process Robson also got by . Ridley won , Robson took second and Sullivan third. Overall it was Robson first in line for th e troph y , Dick Ridley second and John Sullivan nailing down third. • Results in Results Section. Cotney took t he firs t mota of the Mini Intermediat es, but in the second, Do n Bra mlett (Ya m) ca m e al ive. Bramlett , way o u t in fron t o f the pack, was la pping the gan g whe n a slo we r rider crashed in front of him up o n t he huge firs t tu m wall berm. Cotney regain ed th e lead and a good 30 seco nd cu shio n. Bramlett had to really ge t o n th e gas to work his wa y th rough the pack. li e was o nly three seco nd s be hi nd Co t ney wh en th e che ckere d fell. The third m o to saw Bramlett literall y blo w every bo d y away' It should only ta ke o ne m ore race to dest roy Cotney's title. In the Mini J un io r cl ass, there we re two st andouts. Robin Heath (Ya m) , a young lady, p ulled three co nsecu tive h o leshots, on ly to fall ba ck during the moto but still finish ed well. Only five pee-wees signed up. So Bobby Mo ore o n a MR 50 Honda, de cided to go after the big bore minis and pro ce eded to win the second and third motos! If he hadn't sign ed up in the pee-we e cl ass, he would of taken first brass away from the big ' boys ! Lance Lollar (Car) was the " lI o t Dog " in the 12 5 Junior class. He won the first mota, but di dn't get such a go o d st art in the second. Denny Cordona (Ho n ) was the second moto leader with Evan Humphrey (Ha n) and Paul Laine (Su z) in pursuit. Halfway through the moto , Cordona faded back, Laine moved up, and Humphrey t est ed the soil (hel m et first) . Back in traffic, Loll ar was working up at a good pace. Cordona caught a second win and J im Siler, 250 Jr. winner, WFO at Action Raceway . m oved bac k to seco nd be hin d Lain e. However, Lo llar p ick ed 'em both o ff and th at 's how th e y fini sh ed. J ac k J acks on (Kaw) topped the first mo to of the 250 J un iors fo llo wed by ~like Elliot (Yam ), Ken Go urle y (S uz) and J im Siler (lI us) . In the second m o to, Siler must of heard so me one in the grandstands yelling WFO. Wlien the starting gat e dropped , he smo ked everyone to the lead b y 20 yards. Dan Frisbie (CZ ) used his tr ick line (way o u tside aga inst th e wall berm) to drop in to second from 13 th ! O n the last la p Jackson moved up t o t ake the lead. Jus t a few min utes beforehand, ~I i k e Finley (Bul) was bombing d own t he fron t straight whe n so meone in the bleache rs yelled "Bonzai!" Finley flew t h ro ug h the pac k and plugged in to fo urt h . On th e las t lap, o ver th e m ountain ous ju mp in th e st re tch 50 fee t before t he fly in g flagm an , Fin ley dove int o second like he was slid ing in at ho me pl at e ! Fr isb ie was fir st o u t of th e gat e in the t hi rd m oto but Finley herzerked it to take over the lead . lIe tangled with a lapped rid er, an d this set him back. He worked hi s wa y bac k up to t ake the lead from Frisb ie with no time to spare. Siler fini shed third wi th Gourle y right behind. Siler ended up with first overall, Gourle y second, an d Frisbie third. Ken Gourley hasn't pi cked up a first overall yet in this six race high pain t series but he is far ahead in th e points lead . Consistency must be th e ans wer. • Marathon madness strikes Fremont By W. H. Spencer FREMONT, CAL., OCT. 12 Three days of rain prior to the first o f many winter Marathons left the Fremont track in great shape. National numbers, Expert