Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

heard by the riders. who found both the co urse and the co m p et it ion a challen ge. Results in Results Se ction. • Balentine's back KENT HOWERTON Thi s youn g Texan cont inues to fini sh upf ront in th e AMA Superc ross Series ; where, after four event s, he's ranked second in th e overall point standings. His sec ret .. . cons isten cy. Hi s factory prepared Husqvarna 250 gets lasting eng ine protect ion, the kin d of lasting protecti on it takes to finish in the money time after time, from Pennzo il 2-Stroke Motorcycle Oil. Take a ti p from Kent Howerton and Team Husqvarna, whatever you ride, ' wherever you go, Pennzoil is worth asking for. CALIFORNIA CITY. CAL., APR 17 Bob Balentine (400 KTM) returned from a layoff to easily win DRA's 93-mile Greasewood D erby triple hare scrambles, ta king home $225 in prize money. Bill Conroy . making his firs t D RA st art in '76. took a new 400 Mota Villa into the lead at the smokebo rnb with Balen tine a few feet be hind. Conroy stayed in fron t until th e cou rse hit a twisty fireroad when he m issed a tum crashing hard. inj uring h is arm . Tom Kelly (125 Ya m) m oved into seco nd , less than a min ute behind Balen tin e. At t he end o f th e firs t lo op , Balen tin e and Kelly were t h roug h th e pits and past the bomb before third-pl ace Ki m McKean (400 Hus) came into the pits. Monty Lee (250 Suz) was in four th and leading the Amateur co n tin gen t. . By the end a f the second loop, Balentine had increased h is lead over -Kelly. who was way in front of third. Third h ad been taken by Lee, but Jamie Avels (4 0 0 Yam) was up there to allenge. McKean was now in fifth with Morgan Malocco o n the m ove afte r a medio cre start . While Balentine had an uneventful third lo op , p ositions behind him were undergoing radical cha nge. Lee killed his engine in a pit stop and it never start ed again. Kelly cra shed trying to avo id a slower rider, got up. tried to free a st u ck carb slide , go t dirt into it and th en fouled a plug a few miles later. After h e got that fixed, his front brake cabl e snagged and another cras h resulted. 1IlaJocco, riding Way ne Garrett 's 500 Yamaha thumper fo r the first time in his life . moved past McKean and started racing with Avels, The p air m oved up to second a nd third on Kelly's mishap s. About tw o miles fr om the finish, the y ~were abo u t de ad even on a fifth-gear trail. Coming up to so me bad bumps. Malocco was unsure of h is suspension and ba cked off. Ave ls d idn't and to ok second. Behind Malocco came Kelly, in fo r fo urth and first small-bo re even after .:all the third-loop hassles. 3d Neal Cr an e (25 0 Yam) took over th e :> Am at eu r lead and held it t o finish fifth, b and fir st 250. Gus Paull (4 0 0 Yam) ha d one of his best rides finishin g sixth a nd first Seni or Ex p ert. Doug Pa sson (25 0 Yam ) had run se cond in the 25 0 n Amat eu r class all day. Jeff Lambson ( 125 Yam ) an d Lee Wilson III ( 175 Hus ) completed th e t op three sm all -bore JlLxp er t s a t eighth and n in th. T ony £ Harris (30 0 Yam) was th e first Open Amat eur, finish ing at t en th . McKean , slowed b y a rear flat . finishe d II th, an d JDe an Miller (Ya m) t o ok first 25 0 - EXpert at 12th. u£ Novice Ron Smith (25 0 Yam) had a "poor start , but still showed up in third :> ~o ng his peers on th e first loop. But when he st opped for gas on the second ro op , his cre w shoc ked him by telling him he was firs t. At th e end of the th ird lo op he was st ill in th e lead and won ove r Paul In gels (4 0 0 Yam) and Ron ald 'd olp h (4 0 0 Hus }, Steve Grenke (125 y am ) tr iumphed over the sm all-b ores , while Michelle Griffin ( 175 Hus ) won over the truckload of bad lu ck suffered this ye ar an d took the Novi ce Powder Fuff class. a'' liT h e Beginner ra ce tu rne d out t o be a , [am ily affair. The Pr it che tt family to be . exact . Willis Pritchett (400 Ya m) took ~ tile lead on the first loo p , while hi s 13-year-o ld son Darren (1 25 Yam ) was :> in second. T he elder Pritchett dropped liack with problems of some sort and Darren won h andil y . Willis fin ished ,fou rt h , th e last Beginner t o make all th ree loops. Gar y Co rn (4 0 0 Yam ) an d Mike Gain es (3 6 0 lIus) we re sand wiched in for second and th ird . • Results in Results Se ct io n. .- s. 0..

• Cover