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/126027
Stars suffer at Lockhart By DeWitt Henderson LOCKHART, TEX., DEC. 28 Kent Howerton and DeWitt Knox showed up at So uthwest Motocross Park in ho pes of thrilling the locals and pic king up a lit tle easy cash, but their bikes , would n't cooperate . Howerton "took an easy wi n in the first moto of the 125 Expert class, with only Henry Evans (Ho n ) in sight. Evans put on a real fine ride, foll o~ed by an Bobby Bullock (Yam) . improving Segui n 's Spencer Clauss (Yam) was fourth despite a crash. The second moto lo o ked to b e an instant replay of the fi rst, as Ken t Howerton go t ano ther holeshot, Hen ry Evans was again in second, with Clauss in third this time and Bull ock in fo urth . But Ho werto n 's superfast 12 5 Husky caug h t a rin g in a port, no dou b t due t o some sligh t port w ork (sligh t?). Evan s went on to win . w ith Clauss occasio nally m ovin g u p a bit. Evans' 2-1 was good for first ove rall, which has eluded 'Hen ry for q uite a while . Clauss' 4-2 took second p lace cash , an d Bob by Bullo ck was third on a co ns istent 3-3 sco re. Team Hus ky 's Ken t Howert on dropped to fo urth overall du e to a 1-7 score; but just wait un til n ex t Sunday . . . Gary Bigley (Yam ) of Au stin took the 250-0pen Expert class on his 250 Mon o wi th ou t winnin g a m o t o , but his 2-2 placings were all he needed. DeWitt Kn o x (Yam), who has returned fro m ra cing in several Trans-Ams and the American Motocross Finals, ju mped to an early lead in the fi rst heat, and ap peared to " have it sewn u p u n t il his bike broke down. This left Gary Bigley in the lead, follo wed by a closing Robert Re ynolds (KT M). R eyn ol ds got by Bigley with less than a quarter of a lap to go and took th e moto win . T he second moto wa s a m irror image o f th e first as far as DeWitt Kn o x's start, but th e res t of th e hea t wa s co m p letely diffe rent. Kn ox 's Ya m aha di d n ' t break th is ti me , and he wen t o n to w in convincing ly . Gary Bigley and Robert Reynold s were at it again , an d Reynolds nearly p ulled th e sam e tr ick o n th e las t lap , bu t Bigley j ust held him off. Bigley 's 2-2 was go od for fi rs t overall, followed by Reyn ol ds w ith a 1-3. San An tonio 's Kevin Hort on (36 0 Hus ) wit h • a 3-4 , and DeWitt Kn o x's 7-1. RiQ racing to Johnson By Mark Know les HOUSTON, TEX., J AN . 4 Over 200 riders we re greete d with a chill y 35 degree morning and excellent track preparati on s as Rio Bravo hosted its first race of the year. Glen 'Te x ' Joh nson was untou ch able in winning the closely packed 125 Expert cla ss. The first moto started with Dave Martin and Bo Ko ch battling for the lead as Johnson bogged in last place. Within three laps Joh nson wa s in th ird pl ace and closing fast on second place Ko ch as Martin trie d desperately to p u ll away . Bu t J ohnson passe d both with ease to b uild up a ten secon d lead before the race ended, with Martin " ging Koch for second. Koch n ever ed showed fo r the st ar t of the second m oto as Terry Strothers pu lled the ho leshot o nly to be passed by Johnson in the fourth tum on hi s way to vict o ry . Stro th ers stayed on the gas hard as Martin and King Tieken we re wi thin three bik e len gths . the whole race, Martin edged his , way "'pas t Stro th ers in to second only to be re-passed on the last lap . Mar tin (2 , 3) secured secon d place ca sh as Strothers ' (5 , 2 ) stron g second moto performance edged Kin g Tieken (4, 4 ) for third. T he usual gang of the 250 Ex pe r t pack hit the fir st tum in a blast of dirt and dust but b y th e second turn an unusual figu re in yellow had a solid lead. Bob Koch turned from th e 125 Expert class to the 250 class aboar d a new RM Su zuki with style and speed no t usually seen on a larg er bike. Ko ch had o nly him sel f to race as he pulled away a t an amazing p ace to win the first moto by over 15 seconds. Randy Ch oate p ulled a similar performance , but behin d Ko ch in second pl ace. The start o f the second moto had th e spectators linin g the fe nces hoping for a re peat of Ko ch's per form an ce bu t Steve Schramm wa s th e figure th at ca me bl ast in g through th e first tum in fr ont. Coate was running a st rong seco nd as Koch w as slo wed by tra ffic in eig hth. Sc hra m m began moto rin g away as Ch oate m at ched his pace with Bill Green trailing in third. By the thi rd lap Koch had p assed so me o f Ho uston's bes t talent t o move in to third ahead of Gr een. The m o t o ended wi th Schramm ou t front with Ch oate, Ko ch, an d Green holdin g p ositio n. Ch oate 's consistency (2, 2) collecte d fir st p lace cash ,as Ko ch ( I , 3) secured second. Schramm 's (7- 1) disappointing first moto performance he ld him to third followed by Bill Green (6 , 4 ) in fourth. " • Sass snows 125 State Championship RM-370 $.3Z5 I I I Don't be t aken - to the Valley RM-.OO RM-Z50 RM-370 $749 $.Z.O $.3Z0 Total/ Ou t th e Door Prices ANAHEIM SUZUKI WORKS 740 N. Anaheim Blvd. (Nort h of Lincoln) Anaheim, California 9 2805 714·772-3080 IL....-- _ eye it . try it . buy it By Mark Paulsen Street Bikes '75 TM 250 . .. . .... .. . . • .$ 649 ' 7 5 GT 38 0 . . . . .. . • . . •..•$ 899 1 ~ 7 5 GT 550 ,. . • . .$1 149 CASTLE ROCK, CO LO. , NOV. 23 Even though the track was covered by snow in some places and muddy everywhe re else, thi s was destined to be a day o f ho t racing. Albert Firestine went into the race leading the p o in t st andings by a large margin . Bu t the riders in positions two th rough five were close and needed po in ts to fo rtify t heir p osit ions or m o ve up in the sta ndings. This was the last 125 Pro p oin t race of the ye ar an d offered double p oin ts. Gary Dun can wo n th e ho lesh ot in the moto of th e 125 State fi rst Ch ampionship o n his new RM-1 2 5.' By th e second lap , Bru ce Sass (Y am) was hound in g - Gary , while Stacy Smith fough t to kee p AI Firesti ne (Ya m) out of third place . At the st art, the clutch on Ar lo Englund's Kawasa ki wen t away, giving him a te rr ib le start. Nobody noticed h im mo ving through the pack until he began closing on the leaders. By the fifth lap, Duncan an d Sass had a I5-sec ond lead on the rest of the pack. After a long duel, Sass got th e lead. Meanwhile , Arl o had moved up an d made his way p as t Mike Rust (Hu s) an d Firestine, and wa s challe nging St acy Smith. He d isp atched Smith wi th ease. Before many spectators had realized what had happened, Arlo was challenging Duncan fo r second. After a sh or t d ice, Arlo went by and pulled away . By this ti me the white flag was o ut. Alro had no ho p e of catching th e fl ying Sass . Bru ce Sass took the lead at the st art of the fi al mo to , foll owed closely by n AI Firest in e and Gary Duncan . By the second lap Firestine had turned ove r second place to Dun can , and t hird to Mike Loeffler (Ho n ). Arlo Englu nd go t a better st art t his time. On the third lap he blew by Loeffler an d set his sights on Duncan. Arlo got by Duncan quick ly , and Loeffler fo ught with Firestine for fo urth place. Thinking o f th e overall win , Arlo went WF O after Sass. Sp ectators ch eered wildly as Arl o closed Sass ' 25-seco nd lead down to 15 seconds, t hen 10 . It was then that Ar lo 's chain broke, p u tting him out and Sass to o k a deserved win . Gary Dun can fm is.hed sec o nd ; followed . by•• Al Firestin e: - - - - -- ----- - - - -- - - . . 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