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/126026
i NORTHERN DATELI E ~ way past Speck and went down. Jay Collins and Vic Lilya made it upright through the bog but couldn't muster the speed to stay ahead of the two mud-puppies coming on fast. There were two divisions of 125 J unio rs with separate trophies for each. Yoncalla riders came close to a clean sweep for the second half as Jim Thrope, Rudy San Martin and Jeff Ortiz placed one, three and four. Half of the first division didn't m ak e it across the ' small section of b lack-topped car track th at m ust be crossed. Kyle McCaslin and John Roberts split the lead with a 2-1; 1-2 . The name of Joe Sandgathe was on the sheets for the first time - besides a second in the 125 Experts, he totaled firs t in the 25 0 Experts . Marvin Devoogal was a 250 Junior w inner; his first time out this year. Craig Praus finished the Pro races with a 2·1, giving him some cash to take home. Skeet Rise, who yell s his way aro und tracks, could barely o pen his mouth for t he mud and fin ished a one-three and in second. Steve Williams led most of the last moto until Praus slipped and slid by. Williams scored three-two for third. Don Durrant did an endo over the front jump and literally • b uried himself in the mud . Res ults in Res ults Section. Ii Action City riots By W, H, Spencer SAN JO SE, CAL., DE C. 20 What should have been a qu iet night of raci ng turned out to be j ust another typical night of ind o or riots desp ite the Xmas seasori, and low turnout o f riders . Fro nt wheelin' Tom Odekirk was o ne tired d ude after racing two classes-at Marysvil le. 18 in for some tigh tening on the third lap. Bob Geffert led from the third through tenth lap but in the exchange of riders, Castlehano banzaied by and led the rest of the distance. Geffert and partner Vince Zumpana came close to taking back the lead at several points but the stops for rider change or gas were ill-timed, Open class was big time with lots of riders, some unknown because o f strange numbers, and some plain strangers. Ron Grant and the Hatton tribe showed up with some new IT Yamahas and did quite well. Hatton is an Expert scrambler. Ronnie is hardly the type but the ex-pavement scratcher looked pretty good for an old man. Rod Spencer was the man to chase at the early part riding a new 250 Hodaka. He set the crowd afire from the first lap with super neatly controlled slides. The Morrell brothers chased him the first few laps but disappeared in a blaze of nothing. Young Spe ncer put a lap on everyone except a hastily teamed Terry Gough and Gary Vanderpool on one of those seldom-seen tricko ISDT Yammies. Rod succumbed to the normal ills with part breakage that left him without brakes but the potential in the new 250 is something to contend with. Quite fast and smooth. ISDT rider Gough took over second on the fourth lap when Wayne Morrell demised a motor. Gary Vanderpool lost spark on his old Husky four laps later whilerunning' fourth and when Gough wanted some rel ief, Vanderpool got on and stayed there to win after Spencer stopped. The surpriser was the Andy Ahlgren/Jim Harding team that worked up to a nice second on the 45th lap only to finish six th be hind the old reliable Koss/Hart Yamaha. The usual dumb th ing o f no gas in the ta nk took away a • very fine sec ond effort. Results in Results Section. Fairgrounds stadium MX By Lynne Diltz ROSEBURG, ORE., DEC. 21 Roseburg riders did it again completely dominated the second running of stadium motocross at the Douglas Cou nty Fairgrounds. Despite the rain and cold and mud, they came up winners in all but two of the ten classes. The 100cc Kids class was the first off the line and Joe Diltz started out as though he really didn't want to get his new RM 100 dirty. But after Robbie Speck and his RM threw mud all over Diltz, the race was on. Speck had a good lead until he got sucked into the ooze on the south berm. Diltz wallowed his With only two m ore shows after tonight the high poin t battles for overall, big trophy, and individual classes are super intense. The co mpletion of the n igh t 's racing left t he overall in a tie between Mini racer Fred Merkel and Rod Spencer. On the last lap of the 360 Expert Main, John Gennai put the move on John Tavis, bu t John rejected the Nationally-rated Bultaco rider by turning his fro nt wheel in, ca using them to crash a course marker with such intensity that the 75 pound concrete block was broken in two. Both appeared to be OK although Tavis' leg was part of what broke the marker. The win went to Greg Ferguson with Rick Delacy taking second over Jim Mahoney and a surprised Don Mciver. Fred Merkel still amazes everyone and won the SO Expert Main to keep the kids class in the limeligh t. Could you imagine a 12 year old coming out to get the big brass at the end of the year with Gennai, Tavis and Delacy sitting on the sidelines? Could be but just maybe Rod Spencer will have something to say about that. Rod kept up his 125 Expert Stadium muddy-cross : "You havin ' f un?" " Yeah, I am, how 'bout you ?" domination with another win, this time over Mal Maciel. Spencer has been beaten twice on this track in something like 15 starts for a record that may stand for some time. Brad Spencer broke the ice with his firs t win in the 125 Novice class after tro phy ing every race sin ce the start. Len Castro hasn't trophied in three weeks but still holds a one point lead over Tom Reynolds while Mickey Krusemann won both ends of tonight's battle. Dave Roch a took another 360 Jun ior win and moves to wi thin a p oin t of leader Paul Glade who has been second-placing everyone out of business . except Rocha. • Jodry takes two classes By Sallee Hilton HELVETIA PA RK , CAL. , DEC. 21 After a nasty crash in practice left him bruised and bleeding, Brian J odr y went on to win both the 250 and Op en Expert classes fo r the top money of the day. J odry on his usual Mon tesa chased down Mark Hilton (Suz) in the first 250 moto, taking over the lead in the third lap . Den nis Brand (Hus) also got by Hilto n, w ho had lost his sh ift lever an d raced wi th the lead ers as lo ng as possible in third gear !,n)y. The IlI'St lap of the second moto saw Hilton, J o dry and Cloyse Holland, J r. (Hus) dicing for t he lead which ultimately went to J odry . J od ry stayed in fro n t fo r the rest o f the race. Ho lland went down an d Hilt o n moved in to second, this ti me losing par t of his exhaust system. Wilson took Hilton in the third lap and main rained his sec ond place . Phil Cran e (Suz) moved into third in the fift h lap to fini sh in that p osit ion, fo llowed by Hilton, Brand and the other 21 ri ders of t he pack. On a borrowed Bultaco, Jodry took another overall win in the Open class. who rides Bill Carnes (Bul), infrequently, led nearly the entire first moto, but dropped out in the white flag lap after los ing his chain . K en Sisler (CZ) and Jodry had been fighting it out behind Carnes with Buzz Presser (Mai) hot on their heels. and took up the fight now for the lead with Carnes out of the picture. The two took their turns leading, but Jodry was there when it counted giving Sisler second. Presser finished third, so close that he collided with J odry after crossing the' finish line. The second moto win went to Perry Klassen (CZ) who had it sewed up all the way. Jodry, Presser and Danny Mancino (Hus) had their turns in second place b ut the finish we nt down Klassen, Mancino, Presser and Jodry. _ Eleven-year-o ld "j ammin ' J immy " Robertson had all eyes upon him in his second moto . He was the only Mini Expert so rode his SOcc Yamaha in the 100 Novice class. He got the holeshot in the first round, and was holding his own against the "big boys" until the excitement of the race got to him and he crashed a couple of times. Each time he picked himself and his bike up, and picked off a few of the 100s to work himself up to an 11 th place finish in sp ite of the time he spent on t he ground. By the second moto , all the spectators were aware' of his gutsy performance, and were rooting for him. The cheering section seemed to help. Again he got the holeshot and this time .. . no crashes! He led the pack for a time, two of the big guys finally getting around him. Both were In termediate riders, Jimmy did a good job of keeping up with them, and flat out-running all t he 100 Novices in t his second moto , to the deligh t of all his new fans! (An d to the ecs tatic joy of his proud Pop!) • Res ults in Result s Section.