Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Morris Mags Win Daytona! Johnny Day. Kerschbaum plunged into the first tum ahead of the field in the first round and left Craig Johnson and Day to fight it out for the runner-up spot , eventually won by Johnson. In the second moto, young Day . blasted out of the gate with t he holeshot of the day. But Kerschbaum worked his way past him, as did Johnson. Johnson and Day were mounted on new Yarnahas, but . Johnson had trouble keeping his upright, while Day zipped into second overall behind - t he Honda of Kerschbaum, In the middleclass clash, ' Greg Prestage and Gary Bowman dueled with their new Yamahas. Prestage rode a flawless sweep as Bowman struggled into t he lead several ti mes, o nly to lose it on tu rn s t hat his new bike couldn't handle . In the second mo to , Bo wman dumped his new machine and p ut some ba ttle scars o n him and the shiny n ew yellow blaster. Bowman's DNF adde d .cash to Mike Patrick's an d Craig .J o hnson '~ rides, as they zi pped in behind Prestage's wake. In the Open Expert class , Tony McGugan ' gave 'em the 01' 2·1 to win over a small big- bore field. • Res ults in Results Section. Records take a at tumble Whitney Hillclimb By Diane Polley WHITNEY, TEX., MARCH 7 The Texas Hillclimbers Association members seemed to know before the climb at Lake Whitney started that things were going to be different. Boy, were they ever right! There was a co n tin uo us mist until about two o'clock when things really let loose. The last few riders in the Exhibition class had to run in a fairly heavy downpour. For the first time in four years, the climb had to be ca lled and when y ou're running in sand and wh ite rock it's sort of hard to be rained out. The hill was in perfect shape before the d elu ge and ri der s set the fastest times ever recorded at Whitney. Mike Polley in th e Mini set a 9 .93 time for first on a YZ 80 Yamaha an d t hen turned aro und and set a 9.90 in t he 125 Street class fo r a first there also . He also ended the day wi th a third in the 100 class , on his 80. . The o ld hill record of b.67, set by Mike Jones, was broken eleven times. The first rider to do it was Thurman West on a 250 Bultaco with a ti me of 6.51. This was the first time he had won in this class and needl ess to say he was very happy. Thurman was followed by Will Alford (350 Bul); Cleve Martin (360 Bul) , Henry Polley (650 Tri), Mike Jones (1000 Tri) and Gary Gunn (400 Yam) , all of whom broke the record. Gary Chandler led the pack at the end of the day with a 6.25 up and over the 240 foot hill . He was riding a 750 Triumph in the 1500 class for top time record and he also broke the record in the 500 class on a Yamaha with a 6 .6 I. New fast times were set in all the ' classes and from all indications it will be ' a long time before they tumble. Nearly all 138 entrants topped the hill and most of them went faster ·th an they ever believed possible. The next climb at Whitney will be March 2 I. • Results in Results Section. Bowman rocks 'em at Thunder Valley By Jack B. Harwood STILLWATER, OK., MA RCH 7 " Slick When Wet"and "Watch for , Fal ling Rocks" signs should have been posted at the ope ning of the Thunder Valley co urse . on the old - Blood Sweat and Gear s locat io n. But rain, mud and flyi ng ro cks that poked holes in riders and bikes , di d n't slow flyers Gary Bowman, Craig Johnson, and Greg Prestage, all on new Morris Mags came in 1, 2, 3, & 4 at Daytona this year With a.track record like that, is it any wo nder t hat more people are switch ing to Morris Mags than any ot her wheel in the wor ld? Isn' t it .about t ime you stepped up to the best wheels for you r 'street bike? The more you know abo ut wheels, the more you 'll want Morris Mags. MDRRI§ MAIi§ . are available for all major street cycles. Accept no substitu tes. Write fo r free information Morris Industries 3853 So. Main St. , Dept . CN-12 Santa Ana, CA 92707 Yamahas. Craig J o h nso n really chunked the field in the first 125 moto before the rain made it heavy going. Johnny Day and Johnson left everybody at the gate, but Day could only ho ld second for two laps. Terry Bridges and Bowman caught Day, but Johnson stayed out of reach to the flag . In the second moto, Gary ' Bowman shot out front and put enough mud between himself and the field that all he worried about. was finishing, Craig Johnson, Terry Bridges and John Day survived in that order, putting Johnson at the head of the pay line. Johnson and Bowman. armed with a brace of new Yamahas, battled it out in the middleclass, But they trailed Greg Prestage in the first m o to un ti l midway through the last lap. Bowman had gotten off several laps back and was playing catch up . Bobby McDaniel, who was on Prestage 's knobby ail th e way, avo ided Prestage as he went down. By the time he had it fired up , the speeding Bow man had slipped into second. In t he final 250 moto Prestage jumped out front but faded to third in the rush p ut o n by Bobby McDan iel. McDaniel led until the transmission o n his Bultaco gave up. The D N F put him out of t he money . Bo wman took th lea e and held it ahead o f Bridges and Prestage. Bowman's first . plus second overall in the 125cc class. earned the biggest stack of bucks. In the big bore Expert class, only Tony McGuggan survived to struggle in for top money. • Results in Results Section. PARlIERIHlP. .AOI/AB/I ._ ~ Maico Floating Brake Re duces wneet-no p d u r in More actones are swl tcmng Facts: to f loat ing brakes! The 1974 and 1975 500cc World Champ ions used float in9 brakes on their mach ines. Popular Cyding test said: "The Maico f loati ng brake kit really made a d ifference, an d we can 't understand why all dirt bikes aren't fitted with ffoatinq • •GPROF.rs 'liDOto 'IOOO lotlllnYlstment W or phone today 312/862-6667 r.ite 11114 S. Harlem-368 Worth, Illinois 60482 brakes !" $64.50 Send no money, we ship COD FREE FREIGHT AND CATALOG on orders before Mav 15. ' 76 ~ I I I I ------- ... -Aaen Eng ineering .~ 0 '· *'/>\ I I A little push power helps Troy Bullock (100 Kaw ) at the Whitney climb. b raking MOTORCYCLE INSURANCE > W .J .J !? w Z

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