Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

track, and waited for a showdown with Dana. As Dan a passed, Steve res orted to some Russian riding tactics, but was , pulled over by a flagman and disqualified. In the meantime, Dana closed the gap that Nelson had created, which wasn't good enough as he edged him out for the checkered by only one bike length. • ~ Keith Dysart had his hands fulIall day as he won the 250 Expert in two . hair-raising motos, In the first, desert ace Andy Kirker proved that he could go fast and turn corners as he hung onto Keith's tail for second. Steve Subith wasn't far behind in third. Then it was Steve's turn to give Keith a run in the second mota as each lap he got closer, and closer to the leader. Two laps from the end, things got really hairy for Keith as he had to stop for a nlinor adjustment. When he got going again, he ' and Steve were at it neck and neck; and it stayed that way almost to the very end. Finally, Steve got a break and moved ahead of Keith to win the mota. Keith had 'seco nd , which was go~ en o ugh for the overall; while Andy, w ho must 've gotten himself psyched by all those sharp corners, pulled in for third. Results in Results Section. • .J Huntington Beacl1 sets the pace for S.A.M. HSMX:. Excitement in the pits at the Chaparral Coyote Enduro. What can we say. the pictures were over-exposed. Chaparrals coyote e nduro By Larry Langley LUCERNE VALLEY , MARCH 7 The Chaparrals M/C had gone to great - lengths to layout an interesting enduro. The second loop extended up into the San Bernardino mountains. Two weeks before the enduro, the BLM refused the Chaparrals permission to cross over to the National 10 Forest ' lan d (o r" which permission had already be en obtained for use ). The club had to hastily lay in another desert l oop, mu ch to everybody's disap pointment. Maybe it was a blessin g in disguise a s the loop cau gh t considerable snow. The alternati ve second loop was also the C loop. While the A and B riders rode the first loop, the C's were tackling th e second at 18 MPH average . The loop was a good challenge for the Criders without killing them, being lo ng (aro und 50 miles) with a variety of terrain to . make the Cs wo rk at enduro ridin g. J .R. Dutchess on a 175 Honda lost just two points to lead the Cs in . Dave . Phelan lost three points to come insecondC on a 250 KTM. First Open C was Mike Baker down at eleventh overall . Special mention should go to one who shall forever be known as Dick " Blazin g Saddles" Bain ; a good friend of one of the Chaparrals who had been talking for a long time on how easy endures were and he could handle them on his 90 Suzuki. They' finally got Dick to enter and up til the time he started he was supremely confident the course was a snap. Five hours and some odd minutes later ' he staggered in to the fini sh totally wasted. They had to pry his hands off the handlebars; they wer e in a death grip . Dick had lost a total of 41 7 p ain ts but had indeed finished. Cowboy boots and all. So Blazing Saddles , . show up at the trophy pre sentation and pick up yo ur award , yo u earned it. , Meanwhile on the first loop, the first check caug h t some A and B riders lat e, as it was located af te r a sparsley mar ked rock field. Mu ch to the rider's surprise it was also a tie-breaker whi ch ended up decidi ng the enduro. The loop was no t overly difficult , but kept yo u moving right along to main tai n th e average. On e check was lo cated at the top o f a sand hill after running in sa nd d un e ty pe terrain. Af ter t he sand loosened up the small bikes had a chore ge tting up to the chec k. Man y pushed. After the ch eck the co urse wen t down a ste ep sand hill which psyched out some of the B riders. One wa s ju st sitting there contemplating how he was going to make it down when Mike Hannon upshifted to th ird and went over the edge WFO. About 50 feet down, he hit fourth gear 'and was gone. The last check was ma nned by District 37 Number One Reggie Krong . Reggie's check was one minute off. Tsk, tsk, Asked to explain , Reggie replied that how did we know he -didn't do it on purpose to see if we were on o ur toes. Sure Reggie . . . The second loop was all 24 MPH fo r As and Bs and this gave the riders fi ts . It seems 'going to the five mile check a portion of the course was cut and most riders ended up with a greater speedometer error than was actual. The second and fourth checks were the o nes most riders were off on, and both were protested. However, a re check by the Chaparrals showed an err o r of less than .0 5 so both ch ecks remain. ' Mike Hannon and Tom Spurlock bu rned the fo urt h check by a minute, leaving them in a tie for first. The third loop was strictly " A rider" , laid out by Team Honda 's J ay Tullis and only 27 miles long. As it turned ou t, it wasn 't too awful tough but . it was ch allen gin g with two 30 MPH averages in the loop. One sneaky check just before a tough section caugh t the gamblers who rode too early. Then the next check was bails-out. The last check was a timekeepers check just five miles from the finish with a 3 0 MPH average race in. When all was done, and protests resolved, Windsor Tank sponsored Tom Spurlock (Hus) had wo n his third enduro in six months, be ating out Bult aco rep . Mike Hannon at the tie bre aker. AAA Cycle owner John Townsend beat Ron fry (4 00 Yam) fo r th ird with old Billy Goat himself, Dan McKinney fifth on his 250 KTM. First 175 was Gordon Dicks on at 16th overal l wit h fou r str o ke m ounted J erry Counts second 175 whi ch , p uts him int o the lead for the 175 pl at e. The B ri ders ch am pions hip was decide d at the tiebreaker also as fo ur ri de rs lost t hree points. Che ckpoint Gary Chase edged Mon te Mo n tagu e fo r first. Chuck Miller (250 Yam ) an d Mike Weber (25 0 Pen) wrapped up third and fo urth respectively. Un fo rt u nately there was on e seri ous injury when Kurt Hathaway crashed and ruptured a kidney. His handlebars got him when the bike ca me down on hi m . Em ergency surgery was necessary an d one kidne y was removed at St . Mary 's Desert Hospital in App le Valley . I'm sure Kurt would appreciate a card. The addr ess is 18300 Highway 18 , Apple Valle y, CA 9230 7. Phone (714) 242-2311. • Settin' Up & movin' out · at Rawhide MX By Rex Reese ELSINORE, CAL., MAR. 7 The day was bright, the crowd light, put the racing was tight as Keith Dysart, Steve Subith, and Andy Kirker battled it out in the 250 Experts to make it a Husqvama hit parade in both motos. The 125· Experts saw competition which took o n the proportions of a small war as Steve Schilling's (Han) luck went out the window in his efforts to win, while Nels on Whitehall (Yam) mo tored his way into the money. The 250 Novices engaged in some really lme racing as Dave Helme (Su z) dominated both motos in such sty le that he won't b e a Novice m uch lo nger . Steve Sehilling (Han) got the ho leshot in the IITSt 125 Expert mo ta to . lead early in the race, the n fade d back to third as Nelson Whitehall (Yam) an d Dana .Nelson (Yam) clashed for IITSt, with Nelso n coming o ut on top. In the second mota, Dana got the lead with Whitehall and Schilling close behind; but he fell on the fourth lap and was quickly passed by Nelson. Dana q uickly remounted, only to tangle handlebars with Steve which sent both riders down. Dana got back up again with the begrudging assistance of Sehilling, who was very moody about their encounter, Steve got himself restarted, circled the By John Bethea EAST IRVINE, CAL, MAR. 6 A rec ord turn out of 199 high school motocross racers comprised 21 separate classes for the opening round of the Spring Semester schedule of Seholastic Association of Motorsports (SAM) High School Motocross at Orange County International Raceway. Hun tingt o n Beach High School , one , of the top team contenders during the Fall Semester rounds here, got off strong for the 1976 season with a balanced attack that nearly doubled any other team effort with an unofficial points total of 24 . Leading efforts for the squad were turned ' in by Mike McCleary, Joh n Brinker, John Le Fevre and David Pruitt. McCleary -be gan t he Huntington Beach charge in the fifth· race of the n igh t (125cc Beginner Division II) as he used a first an d second in his two motos to win. Brinker also used a 1-2 showing to take the 125cc Beginner Division VI. Le Fevre swept both rounds and teamed with Jeff Frost (third) and Tim JJnderwood (fourth) to totally dominate the 250cc Beginner Divisio n III. . The final race of the evening provided the icing for Huntington Beach as David Pruitt won the IITSt mota and settled for second "in the final to still achieve the overall honors in the Open Beginners. • CMCnlghtMX By Tom Blattler IRWINDALE, CAL., MAR. 5 Curren t CMC Pro point leader Val Tamietti extended his margin at Irwindale Raceway, as the versatile Track 'N Travel- sponsored rider captured both the 250cc and 500cc Pro classes. Ta rnie t t i had so me very tough co mpetition in t he 250cc divi sion. Val di d no t win any of the t hree m o tos bu t claimed the overall pain t honors. The final mota was to be the deciding factor for the top money overall and going in, Dave had three points foll owed by Tamietti with five and Vidic with six. At the drop of the gate, Chapin took a surprising lead over Tarnietti leaving Carlson and Vidic to battle in the middle of the pack. As Vidic and

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