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/126017
i Local hotline ~ t l!"l l' O'l ...... l!"l C'I I-< II) ..0 a II) > o Z Everything is rela tiv e at the min icyde races. Parents handle the organizational chores and speeds are sca led down to the under-16-year-olds abil ities. NMA Fall National We think that's Ric k Collins, number 69, winning the 83cc Modified Beginner class at Corona NMA Nationals. By Rex Reese Jeff Ward may be the only 14-year-old with a factory ride and his own product line . CO RO NA, CAL., NOV. 9 Jeff Ward copped another Nation al Minicycle Associati on ti tle in a hair-raising Expert final at Corona Raceway, where the NMA held their finals. Over 300 riders signed up for this modem version of the Childrens' Crusade an d brought their anxious paren ts along, which 14 added a hyper-enthusiastic atmosphere to the event. Everything went off alm ost exactly on ti me . Co nsidering th at there were I 7 classes which included everything from 3-year-old Pee Wees to th e volatile Mini Experts, it must be said that the efforts that made it all possible were nothing short of miraculous. A big blow for girls lib was str uck by Tracy Evan s as she took he r Don Vesco Yamaha monoshock YZ 80 to win not only the girls class , bu t she also led the 0-83 Modified Novi ce class final mo to from wire to wire to take t he top spot there , too. In the pits were all the shops, teams, and privateers who had come to this event to get a chance at the NMA Fall National title. Some of the young riders mu st h ave ric h daddies and mu ch o des ire because t he en try list read like a travelogue of the we stern U.S. So me o f these kids had co me fro m places like Beatty, Nevada and Yuma, Arizona j ust to have some practice on Saturday and take their chances in Sunday 's qualifier motos, not knowing for sure if they wo uld make it to the fmal even t fo r the big marbles. Nobody had b ikes any m ore trick or as prep ared as the ones Jeff Ward h ad . Already th e winner o f many NMA titles, I4-year-old Jeff h ad co me loaded for bear. How man y other kids have their own products line and racing team? No t many. He rode double d ut y , first in the 0-83 Modified Expert class with his factory red, forward mounted, oil coolered XR-75, an d then the 0-110 Modified Experts, which was a cakewalk as J eff rocketed around on hi s $2,000 CR 100 Elsinore which sports a han d-buil t, radial-finned engine, gas suspension on both ends, and a custom-built frame . In th e O·I 10 Modified Expe rt class, Ward cre amed everybody and every th ing else without ever looking bac k or even breathing hard . He took all th ree motos in one clean sweep fo r th e overall win . Edd ie Glover (Yam) was his clos est co mpetitor for two out of th e three motos , good enough for second overall; Dan Trent (Ho n ) rode a cons iste nt five-t hree-three for a soli d third. In the 0-83 Modified Experts, J eff's home grounds, it may have been pre-ordained by fate that he should win, but not without a fight. In the first qualifier, Jerry Bagby (Yam) , who had co me all the way from Yuma to do battle with Jeff, only man aged to pul l second against him, with Mark Go lde n (Yam) third. Th e seco nd qual ifier had eve rybody in absolu te hysteria as Jerry grabbed the ho leshot with Jim Holley (Hon) in second and Jeff third. It was real ly tight in the clinches at first, then things opened up as Jerry spun out in a tu m, which put Jim in th e lead and J eff breathing down his little neck. In third was Steve Shippy Ueff's teammate) who was in tum ' ma king it very hard on Ward. Jim led Jeff aroun d t he track by a ha ir un til he go t by . Then th e lead changed agai n as Jeff was repassed on the th ird lap. J im loo ked like a sure winner, but then J eff started real ly berserking it, taking every lin e possible to get the lead. Spectators had a simultaneous cardiac arrest as Jeff dove under J im in th e last tum before the flag. Both rider s drag raced to th e finish with J e ff o u t front by a wheel . In th e final, it was hysteria ti me again as the three racers gassed it ,arou nd the track with J erry man aging to hold everyone else off, J eff trying to m ake it to the fro nt, and Steve getting caugh t in the middle. But on the last lap , J eff di d the old banzai-in-the-comer trick and hel d it open for the wi n and the .Nation al FaIl Title one mo re time. J erry got the close seco nd. With all that racing, the re were few falls . ~ The most serious injury was sus ta ined by Mar k Golden . He was ta ken awa y in th e am bulance with bo th arms in splin ts. • . Resul ts in Resul ts Section. Minnig's double finishes Corona ST By Elaine Jones CORONA, CAL., OCT. 23 MikeMinni g remained cool under pre ssure, winning both the 250 Expert short track and half mile for the finale o f the short tra ck raci ng until spring. In short track , J e ff Springman alm os t pulled it off as he led Mike for th ree lap s before Minnig got around him. When the hal f mile ro lled around Min nig was ready for Springm an and although Jeff led , it was only for one lap, and then it was Mike 's all t he way. Cliff Whetstone continued to settle in as a very winning 250cc Amateur. He brought ho me another short track win. Pryor Campbell got the lead off the line but whe n they ca me aro und for lap two, Cliff was all by him sel f. Pry or held off a strong chal lenge fro m Bob Eary to hang on to seco nd. Th e 750 Expert was a survival of the fittest and after two laps of the 10· lap main Steve Fo rtune proved he was the fittest and that wasn't easy , with Dan McWhorter chasing Fortune fro m lap three on. Around lap seven th e strain started to take its to ll o n a lot of t he field but Steve just kept cranking it on and it was all his. Murray Hoffman wo n th e 500 Exper t go and t he only gu y he had to get aro un d was Don Frauenberger, which is like trying to get through the front four o f the L.A . Rams. Murray did it and with him we nt Rex Hailey, an old racing buddy of Do n 's . They finished the race in th at order. In t he Open Expert short track it was Rex Ha iley and he had his han ds full wit h Kei th Moss. Rex led th e firs t lap and then Keith got by to lead the next fo ur before Rex co u ld find a hole, ta ke his best shot, get past an d win. In th e Op en Nov ice short tra ck it was Patrick Dobbins fro m th e sta rt to al most fini sh bu t he made the mistake of go ing h igh in tum four , a definite no no, an d J ohn Carroll took full advantage of the sit u ation and wo n. . • 'I J