Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

, Frenzy in silhouette, the 125 Experts leave the line in a "Mud-o-Cross" that wasn't muddy. Ridgerunners' dry Mud-O-Cross By Gerry Reagan WATSONVILLE, CAL., DEC . 14 The track' may not have been muddy but the actio n was far fro m dry at the Ridgerunners Third Annual Mud-a-Cross. . 14 Op en Expert Gary Murphy (Hus) took the first mota wire to wire , John Swan (Suz) led off the second moto wi th Charles Longmire (Suz) hot on his tail and Murphy running third. At the halfway point, Swan bobbled going into a tum. Longmire j umped past and be gan to stretch out a lead , but wa s soon being pursued by Murphy who had go t ten by Swan a few turns later. Murphy, with two laps to go , ou tbraked Ch arles and got by on the inside. They were side by side on th e downhill but Longmire to ok the outside line and Murphy pulled in to the lead. Gary began to stretch it out on the last lap but at the turn by the eu calyptus tree he got into a soft berm and killed his motor. He began to push his bike towards the downhill, hoping to start it before Longmire could catch him, but just as it fired Longmire shot by. Murphy gassed it down the front straight and over the jump but couldn't catch Charles wh o crossed the finish line with a smile so wide his ears had to mov e out of the way. The win gave Longmire the first overall money for the day. Eric Harvey to ok both motos of the 125 Expert class but not without a fight. In the first moto Mike Marquez (Hus) got the holeshot with Harvey (Yam ) running second. Harvey disposed of Marquez early and be gan to build up a good lead. Back in fifth was Bob Grossi (Hus) , chec kin g out the co mpetitio n. Towards the end of the race Grossi began to move up, pi cking off about a ride r a lap until, wi t h one lap to go , he was running second. He began to chop aw ay at Harve y 's lead but ran out o f time. In the second moto Steve Scaffone (Han) took the lead in the early going with Harv ey holding down second. Gro ssi wa s back in about seventh . By the middle o f the ra ce Harvey had gotten the lead but Scaffone wasn 't letting him get away_ Grossi moved up into third, pursued by Steve Kusanovich (Hus) an d Mar q uez. Harvey and Scaffone mo ved away fro m the o t hers a little and Marquez got by Ku san ovich . On th e las t tum Scaffone moved u p ~ next to Harv ey but Eric man aged to hold him off. Marquez w as righ t on Gr ossi 's tailpipe at th e finish lin e but Grossi held on for t hird an d a seco nd overall. • Muddy! Muddy! Muddy! By Sue Sykes PUYALLUP, WAS H., DEC . 7 The rain didn 't seem to limit th e entry list but the co ndi tions held finish ers to about 30 % for Puyallup Racew ay Motocross. Honda aces Gary Racca an d Ed Davis split a pair to co me up with first and second 12 5 Pro. Racing was fender to fender and when these two get on the track - wat ch out ! Davis held the front position all of moto one and Racca cinc hed first overall w ith the lead and win second rnoto. With th e first two positions taken care of, the scramble was for th e next two p ay ing spots. George Gardner (Hon ) wi th a four/three, worked h is way up in moto o ne - an d gaine d positions from a mid pa ck start as riders fell or dropped out. He got a little closer to the leaders second time out and kept up the fast pace set by Davis an d Racca. The 250 Pro class was a duel between Ri ck Weidman (Hon) and Mit ch Simmons. Yamaha-mounted Weid man proved to be th e holeshot king both times and was well o n his way up th e tower jump when many o f th e riders were still rounding the turn. In mota one leader Weidman was pressed fo r five laps by Simmons from all directions. Mitch slipped unde r him on th e big st arter turn. Simmons set up a good lead and Weidman held on to his second for the remaining five laps. When they shot out aga in Weidman was fast at it - claimed the lead - and rode WFO . Simmons checked o ut the mud depth in the starter tum - reports are - one grip deep and slippery. Mit ch yanked that Yamaha o ut of the slop and was off like a strea k. With th e co nditi o ns taking their toll Mit ch pulled up the ba ck - seventh - out of th e or igina l field of 1 7. By lap four Simmons was in secon d. Weidman had a gian t lead but o n the next lap mech an ical failure put him ou t fo r the mota - an d Simmons took over for the win. • Grants Pass indoor benefit By Lynne Diltz GRANTS PASS, ORE., D EC. 6 Th e Southern Oregon Motorcycle Ass ociation hosted an other Saturd ay night of short- track racin g at J osephine County Fairgrounds and all the proceeds from th e race will go to the United Fund. Eigh ty rid ers literally p acked the sm all p it are a in th e co vere d arena and the racing was h igh on action. Southern Oregon lumber mills are always staging competition events, like basketball gam es, water bal l fights and tug-a -war, but tonight it was a motorcycle duel. Hotshoe Fra n k Word, riding for Southern Oregon Plywood, had things well in hand and was all set up for a win. Rounding tum four he pulled it too far and sp un out giving Rogue Vall ey Plywo od's entry J oe Gileder the win. Carlos Uribe, r ep resen t ing S outhwest Forest Industries, crossed sec ond and Diamond Industries Don Scholer third . Loc al · favorite Mark Detwiler took some hard knocks but came o u t wi thout a scratch and with several wins. Detwiler won th e 200 TD a fter holding off the wil d ch arge of Todd Puett. Seven A Main riders charged off the line and Puett go t his reve nge by sm acking De twiler. He recovered and p assed four riders before coming up on Puett; whom he pas sed clean ly , tempting though it must have be en to do otherwise. Detwiler took the wh ite flag with Lee Gifford o nly three bik e lengths in front and began to close , got inside Gifford in turns three-four and won th at Main by less th an a wheel width. Detwiler had oth er problems - he got a 250 B Main positi on and a holeshot , with Tony Speck close behind. From outta ' the pack cam e a blur - one Brett Howard wh o passed Spe ck like he was loafing. Howard tried outside and inside but Detwiler kept the door closed. More th an halfway through the race, Karl Ulri ch downed it, co mi ng ou t of tum two an d th e race w as hal ted . J eff Cook was sid elin ed after los ing th e end of a fin ger in a bike 's electric starter and Fra n k Word rode Co ok's bikes. Word walked aw ay with a 125 TD an d A Main ; and a 250 TD . Another Grants Pass h otshoe , J eff Campbell, threw rooster tails in to the stands even rode a 125 heat on his sister's 80 cc Yamaha. N ow we h ave seen everything! He won, by the wa y, but Laurie wouldn 't le t him ride it in the TD or Main. There were IOOs allover the pl ace in A to D Main. Craig Hill did some snappy riding to attain a TD win and got the holeshot in th e A. Behind him, Susi e Word go t wiped o u t by Ken Copeland and two laps later, Copeland went down all by himself in th e same spot. Meanwhile, b ack to the beginning, Bill Davis had go ne around the o u tside of Robby Sp eck into second and went into three-four under Hill, com ing out in first. • 01' Timers special purse MX By Sue Sy kes KENT, WASH ., DEC. 14 Old Timers split a special $100 purse at Seattle International Raceway - presented as appreciation for flag duties at th e Puyallup Trans-AMA . The e ager riders run their three divisions as one race but always award trophies /money for their different riding levels. The t urno ut was good an d riders represen ting Oregon and Washi ngton Old Timers were on hand for the action. The Oregon reps brought along their younger counter-parts and it was a pleasure to watch Chuck and Ron Sun and Rick Burgett turn it on. "Smiley" Burgett stole the show all day with his super rides in 125 and Open Pro dicing. Moto o ne of the 125 class saw Marv in Sykes (Hon) grab the holeshot and keep up the fast p ace till the brake pedal folded under the fo ot peg midway into the race. Burgett (Yam) took over and rode it out to the flag . Sykes took the lead second time out - followed by Lee Voss (Suz) and Burgett. Midway through the mo to the bottom fell out of Sykes' transmotion - Voss took over -

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