Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western hotline Robertson smokes at the Dunes By Ted Titmas VALENCIA, CA L., MARCH 7 C R C redesi gned the S h a d o w Glen track, inco rporating a numb e r of n e w t u rns and se ven wate r crossings, which p rovided plenty of mud, making for a truly de manding course. The 250 Pro race was an ab solute breeze for Greg Robertson (C A) . In both . motos Robertson rocketed in to the lead , not to be seen again by an y of the riders, Tony Rogers showed up with ' his FMF prepared Maico, and w ith a second in both motes, his biggest co ncern was from ever-present Doug Renno (Mail. Renno, after a ' short ab sen ce fro m racing, made up for los t time by taking third overall. Three seven lap motos were a bit g ruel ing fo r most ride r s in the sportsman classes. However, one of the least affe cted was this year 's Hangtown winner, Mark Durand (Hus) as he easil y too k t h ree wins, riding all three motos with a bent fo rk , allowing very little front wheel travel. 250 Begin ner Dave Cornell (!Caw), riding in his last race as a Beginner, near ly lapped all the ri ders in both motos. Second and third p lace we n t to Don Godbey (Suz) and Dennis Reiter (Yam) . Dan Dawson (KT M) grabbed the holeshot in t he first 500 Pro mota , but Dave Haugh (Mai) put pressure on Dawson right from the stan and ,after a few laps managed to take over . The second mota J im Jackson (Hus) gra bbed the ho leshot, follo wed by Haugh an d Dawson. On the t hird lap J ackson fell allowing Ha ugh and Dawson t o take first and second, which is where Haugh and Dawson finished overall for the day . Happy days at Hawthorne High Hawthorne High School students were exposed t o the fi.ne art of fast flying o n two wheels. 18 HAWfHORNE, CAL., FEB. 26 Two thousand four hundred stud ents and facu lty members c r o wded the H awthorne High S cho ol grands tands as a m o t orcycl e .as- .. se rn bly, sponsored by ' t he HH S Mot o rcycle Clu b and Studen t Co uncil roare d on the footb all field belo w. Do n Ke m p, f r om Torque Engineering, d id a great job of anno uncing and exp lained the various aspects of motorcycling t o th e st udents. Many top ri de rs were on hand to demonstrate their p articular sport. Demons tr at ing trials riding was the skilled Deb b ie Evans who did her b alancin g act and proceeded to ride over anything in sight. Showing the fine act of sp eedway racing in an exhibition race were two top sp eedwa y riders Scott Sivage an d Billy Gra y. Their dus t di d n't settle for five minutes but t he students lo ved every minute o f it . Fla t t rack was b rilliant ly d emons t r ated by an exhibition race between Bob Bell, Keith I a i a and Steve Miller. Exh ib it ing motocross were students Mitch Shoo k , Dave Kribak and ' Brett Wade . · Enduro riding was done by Mark Dedes and Doug Clark. Following the assembly 15 lo cal mo to rc y cle dealers a n d p ar t s distributors were on hand to display their merchandise along with all the assembly p articipants and their motorcycles to answer questions. The average high school assembly costs well over $ 150 but the motorcycle assembly , which the studen ts agree is the bes t ever, co st no more than a few phone calls. If you W-dJ1t a motorcycle assembly at your school you can start by showing t h is article to your stu den t activities advisor or student council. Good luck. _ Climbers gear up By Ann A. Powe ll SUNNYMEAD, CAL. , MAR, 14 hill I' bi The thing that rna kres I c i rn m g e xci t ing is t hat t he re are alwa y s s om e surp r ise s. Today's dra g clim b a t De Anz a C y cl e P a rk h a d m ore than its sh are , all but o ne providing an added touch o f ex citement to t he crowd. The lone unpleasant surprise came I ' th d y -hen y ou ng Scott ~ll~e:~ooke a nasty spill ' o n his min i bike. He hit a ru t in the o th erwise smooth nin , veered sharply into an em ban kmen t and flew high into th e air. Th e landing left Scott prone on th e ground, the wind knocked au t o f him. Scott was rushed off to a nearb y hospital and he returned an hour later with n o mo re da mage th an a broken wrist and so me bruises. He was on hand to pick up his min i-parti cip at ion trophy and received cheers fro m th e cro wd at th e end of the cli mb. There was a' second surprise brewing in th e m ini class . Yo ung Doug Ph elp s man aged to top th e hill on his Su zu ki. T his is th e fi rst time it has been to p ped by a m ini bike in competi tion. Tom Turner, wh ose Ho nda has been dominatin g the 1'25 class, had som e extra bi kes with hi m today. One was a new 250 Yamaha he used to wipe out the Sto ck 25 0 cl ass. He entered a third bike, a modi fied 36 0 Yamaha, wo n t hat class , jumped to th e 450 Modified class and fin ish ed second. AI . • George Sau er . who usually m an ages to finish in the to p five o f his class, walk ed away with the 5 0 0 St o ck win . Then Ran dy Hudnall. lon g t ime hillcl imber but r are ly a winn er. sho wed his stuff by tak in g th e 650 Stock clas s. The 6,50 Modified class was do m ina ted b y Ro n Sa ffel fo r several year s. Then Saffel seemed to find it almost impossible t o win . To day he fairl y flew o ver the hill leavin g all co mers in th e dust . It loo ks like he has set o ut t o reclaim his nu m b er o ne pl at e. The Op en class bi ke s 'are highl y modifie d and wi th five climbs held so far in 1976, five di fferent riders have managed to claim fi rst pl ace in this class. Today the honors went to Ron Standeven, mounted on a highl y modified Ho nda, th e sa me bi ke th at walked off _ with top h on or s at th e 1975 Widowmaker. St an deven also won th e overall troph y, beating all 10 3 entries in the clim b . Feelings are runnin g high at th e cli m bs and riders are getting read y for the two biggest hillcli mb s held; the April I I Widowmaker in Utah, and the !\lay 23 Wo rld Championship at De An za Cycle Par k. - Old YImers MX By Dal Cala is T RA BUCO CAN YO N , CA L., MAR. 14 Master m oto o ne starte d with out M arvin Olson , w ho h ad h elp ed b d I ' bik I wor k o n every 0 y e se s 1 e a I m orning long , b u t t hen c ouldn ' t get his own 400 Maico to fire on the line. He borrowed his so n's 450 bu t it wo uldn't spark either. Seems when Marvin greased his po in ts cam, he tho ught he was p ou rin g m ar t ini s , over did it and go t grease all over th e poin ts , Marv came back stro ng in the last two mo t o s for two wins and second o verall. Chuck Strauss won the first mota with Norb Bro....rn in ' hot p ursuit. In the second mota , Strauss got the hol esho t agai n, with Marvin in second. On th e last lap th ey both flew off the big ju mp on the last tum but when Chuck tried to put on his brakes, guess wh at - no brakes - th e brake rod had sheared off, However , "coo l he ad" Chuck kept 'e r steady and rode off into the weeds, 'elect in g not to try to make the last tum - smart thinking Chuck . In the third m o t o, " Gobs ' 0 Grease" Marvin go t the first -sho t and stayed there for the final win. . Joltin' J im Warden won the firs t two Expert mo te s, but ca ugh t a bad start in the third, got tired a few laps later an d took a snooze on the soft par t of the track before resu ming to catch up fo r fo urth, res u lting in second ove rall fo r the day. Norm Elled ge pu sh ed his wheezy CZ to a secon d, th ird an d firs t for th e grand overall win for the class. Amateur Hutch " move hi m up " Hu tc hinson to ok ano ther gran d slam for the day . Will somebo d y t ie an an chor to that dude? In th e tough No vice class sup er fas t Chuck Hart grand sla m med his Maico around for t he top win of the day. Chuck, yo u know where th at kin d of riding ....i ll get you! Norm Blackmer on his hankin ' Kaw asaki 4 0 0 firmly nailed down second overall. A slipping clutch kep t Norm Stephens ou t o f the main fr ay last week, but when the b ike is going so is No rm, with a strong re turn this week and th ird overall. _ 1 ' 1 1 , • • , • • 1. ' 1' "

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