Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I NORnERN DATEUNE ~ "Santa Cruz ESquirrel" at NorCal MX By Steve Castillo LIVERMORE, CAL. , MA R. 7 You couldn't have aske d for a better day of racing than was presented by the riders at today's second NorC al Motocross. The track was watere d much better than th e last ra ce and the riders really hooked up to it. Dave My then (Bul) a regular rider fro m this' area has been biding his time in the 2 50 Pro class and today it paid off for him. Dave won both 3 0-m in ute motos handily and looked strong and smooth throughout. Chris Grewer (Hus) was one of the hard chargers in both races. Chris worked up from sixth in the fi st race to second at the finish , n ot far r behind Mythen. Phil Crane (Suz) was also keeping close with Grewer. Mythen pulled the start at the drop of the gate in the seco nd moto and he was long go ne for th e rest of the race. Holding down second fo r most of the race wa s Duffy Collin (Hus), running third was Phil Crane with Chris Gre wer riding his tail. Crane and Grewer started their charge like they had done in t he first race, came upon Duffy and within a matter of moments were by th e Husky rider. Soon Crane and Grewer were ca tching up with My then but the flag came out and that was it. Ra y Arndt riding one of . the many Suzukis from Lofano and Sons picked up another Wjn in the 500 Intermedi ate class. Ray and Larry Lacey (another Suzuki rider) had 'so me tight racing . going in both motos. Gary Murphy (Hus) alias the " Santa Cruz Squirrel" notched a win in the 500 Pro column, winning the first moto by leading most of the race. Gary had a few problems from Pat Brown (Bul) and Parry Klassen (CZ). Klassen did a fine job of come from behind riding in the second moto , w orking his way by both Pat Bro wn and Gary Murphy. Klassen won that moto which gave him fourth overall. Brown finished second to Murphy, while just back from Floridaan d riding t he most co nsistently of anybody was Charley Halcomb (Hus) wh o picked up a strong third place finish, . Beto Rossi, a foreign exchange student from South America who has been r iding the Pro class and been doing fairly well had his 125 Honda stolen today. There is a $I 00 reward offered for the , return of the bike and information should be directed to Lofano and Sons Suzuki -shop in San Jose. • Results in Results Section. Salinas madder By Burt Dinner SALINAS, CAL. ; FEB . 29 What started ' out as a drizzle, turned into the heaviest rain storm of the year. What was billed as a rough scramble turned into the 22 biggest mud run in the history of Monterey County. Everyone .tried it at least once, including the Mini pee wees, who were held up by their fathers, but even the Open Experts needed training wheels. It was decided to cancel the Min i mains after the Sportsman mains finally ' en ded. We still don't know fo r sure if we lost any riders or bikes, but we haven't seen ou t starter and lap checker since the final events. , In the most exciting race of t he da y it was Stan Eubanks, of Salinas out sliding Rock y Robinson, also of Salin as, in the Novice 250. It was listed as the Open Junior class, but co uld have been re -named the " Robic heaux Handicap." . Three '''Why are spectators so ind iff e re nt - can 't they see we're racing?" - Livermore, NorCaI MX Robicheauxs, Bob, Bobby, and Kenny went against four others and with those odds, Bobby co uld only finish second to Ron Day. Ricky Graham of Pacific Gro ve must have found a dry rut fmishing ahead of Steve Eklund, for a win in the Open Expert class. If the rains goeth, we try again March 28. • Results in Results Section. Bird flies to' first win By Chuck Iken ALBANY, ORE., MAR. I With his brand new 100cc Yamaha and on a newly laid 'out MX course, Bryan ' Bird of Aurora, Oregon came out of the Mini class and won the IOOcc class at Asbury Race Park. Bryan easily won the first moto o n a we t, smuddy (sandy mud) course, wet down the preceding day by the Great ~ater Truck in the sky. In the second mo to Bird really had to flap his wings and t urn his tail in to the wind as he was last off in th e scr atch. By the checkered flag he ~aced to third place behind Jeff Landrum (Suz). and Steve Pless (Su z) . In the third moto again he had to fly from the ba ck of th e pa ck. In the final lap he was in th ird and just 200 fee t fr om th e fin ish overtook second place Steve Pless fo r the overall win. In the 250 class Dave Fryer (Ya m) showed the small but re ad y-to-race crowd at the tr ack why he was there by winning handily and taking first place trophy home . Or maybe I sh o uld say keeping the t rophy in Albany, Oregon. The Mini class got to break in the new track. The Juniors and Experts to ok the starting flag together but were sco red separately. Robby Watilo (Yam) and -?- Lambert (Yam) dueled it .out, The first moto had Watilo chasing an d staying close to Lambert through the first half pf the race. Then trouble. As they began to lap a Junior rider, Lambert slowed slightly and he aded for the inside line, Watilo choose to go outside. Wat ilo won the battle o f wi ts as Lambert bumped the lappee and was slowed while Watilo kept his throttle open and went on to win the' moto . The second moto reversed things with Watilo taking the lead but falling ' later, Lambert going o n to win. The third moto saw a stronger Watilo getting the • win and the first overall . Results in 'Resul ts Section. Cantaloupi takes two at B.O.S.S. MX By Sallee Hilton DIXON , CAL. , FEB. 22 The 125 and 250 , Experts took a back seat again to the yo ung Yamah a rider , - Don Cantaloup i, who sho wed th em the way to go - fast! Pat Richter, another co nsiste n t winner, took top money in t he Open class on his K T~1. Dave Wood (Yam ) blasted off ahead of Cantaloupi in the first run and led two taps before Don cam e around him to take over . Wood hun/! in there for the second. Dave Coupe (Yam ) had been movin ' on after a slo w start and worked up to third . The second moto win went to Robert Norton (Hon ) who had lo st a chain the first t im e around and finished sixth. Can taloupi had started near t he back of th e pack, and in his hurry to catch Norton, crashed in th e third lap . After a quick remount he covered the distance doing double time, and at the checkered flag was right on Norton's tail. No rt o n later remarked, "Man, he is fast ! I heard him coming ' and go t nervous!" Coupe finished third again. Cantaloupi took th e lead right away in the first 250 moto and never gave it up, although Richter, after a bad start, had moved up to second and was closing in . Brian Jodry (Mon ) had also had a bad start and was working his wa y throughthe pack, finishing third. T he second ro und started out looking like Cantaloupi would do it again. But this time Jodry didn't have any trouble with his start and didn 't have much distance to cover . T he race was on ! Richter again pulled up from behind, joining the fun, an d the three ri ders p ut on a great show, p assin g and being pa ssed. It wa s any bo dy's race until just before the wh ite flag came ou t an d Richter. in second at th at point. dro ppe d o u t w ith bike trouble. Jodry to ok the win , Cantaloupi second and Renny Bruns (Hus) had moved in to iliird. •

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