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/126029
UJ Z UJ UJ a: e III Z Z UJ o Is th is a Hillclimb at Saddle back. or a crash course in modified Kung Fu7 Great day for a climb By Ann Powell ORANGE, CAL. ,JAN. 25 It was a great day for a hillclimb, the Matterhorn was smo oth and fast, and 'the riders were inspired by the fact that they we re off to a new year. Many sported new number plates showing that they had topped their classes in 1975. The big upset came in the 400 8 stock class. This class has been th e private domain of Kerry Peterson, and his bright ye llow Maico, for o ver two years. But riding down fro m up north, on a super ho t Yamaha, was Ge orge Tidwell. Tidwell is not a newcomer to hillclimbing, but this was his first go at gathering points in t he Saddleback Hillclimbers ' Association co m pet it io n . He go t off to a bi g lead and to ok ou t the undefeated Peterson. Peters on is one heavy co mp etitor , and sho we d his stuff by m akin g a 'co mebac k in th e 4 00 modifie d class . Still on his Maico , he no t o nly wen t on to . defeat Tidwell . he ende d first in the class, George Sauer. al wa s a favorit e wi th th e cro wd, has not be en noted as being a top contender, but something must have inspired hi m today. Sauer entered several classes but made his best showing in the 5 0 0 stock class where he to o k his stock Yamaha right into second place be hind Carl Collier. When more than 60 of the 99 entries topped the 'Horn in the first ro und of co m peti tio n, it became obvious that this was go ing to be a long event. The starting block wa s moved up on the hill but many riders continued to go over the top. Rider af ter rider went over and the start w as moved h igher. Finally, from the th ird mo ve up point , the field had been narrowed co nsiderab ly . . It was down to three riders; Kerry Peterson, winner of the 400 modified, Dick De Rosa, winner of the 650 modified, and Neal Mackel , win ner of the 6 50 modified and Op en class. Peterson pulled up to the sta rting log with a perfect sh owing. Both De Rosa and Mackel carried one miss from earlier starts. Mackel and Peterson had the adv antage . Each had t wo chanc es t o top the hill fr om th is p o int. De Ro sa had · only o ne . Peterson w as th e first to run and he hreeze d ov er the cre st . th ro wing a rooste r tail halfw ay back down the hill. De Rosa was o ut whe n he sto pped at the 296 fo o t mark . Ridin g in th e 65 0 st oc k class. ~I acke l went o u t a t the 288 foot mar k. T he only thing left between Pet erson and th e to award wa s Mac ' s ride in th e Open class on the super Trium ph. The Tri pulled away fr om the log we ll, but something happened. T he bik e began to fishtail, Mac 's ' lo ng legs flew o utward, his fee t came off the p egs, and the ride was ' over at the 32 I foot mark. The big win wen t to Kerry Peterson. • Balentine boogies to third ORA victory By Dale Brown RED MOUNTAIN, CA L., FE B. I Bob Balen tine remains undefeated in 1976 by winning his third poin t run of the year, leading all th e way, in ORA 's 6 6-mile triple hare scrambles. Balen tine (400 KTM) led from the smokebomb, but he spun out on a ridge on the first loop. Seeing T im Bowman (4 0 0 Yam) ch arg ing a t him, Bob picked up the still-running bike an d split. He never had a pro blem o r a challe nge af t er th at . Am at eur Randy Martin (4 0 0 Ya m) foll owed Balentin e to the bo mb b ut d rop ped ba ck to fourt h befo re he fo und a ro c k waitin fo r him and an abru t