Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126047
It was a good day at Barren Fork By J ack B. Harwood TALEQUAH, OK., MAY 2 A decision by the promoter to award AMA points only to the Amateur class put most of the faste r racers back to running for trophies and points. T he decision was a favorable one for the brothers' day. [I'hir teen-year-o ld John Day blasted to a double sweep of the 125cc class while his older brother took an impressive first in the second mota. Nick Sunday faded to a fifth after taking the first mota. Mike Fransein put t ogether one of his better rides with a 3-4 and third overall. In the thinned-out Expert class, Joe Burke took his Maico from a bad start to first place with a lot of hard work. It ent 'fo r nothing when his ch ain broke after getting the holeshot in the final mota. Chip Stewart's double seconds earned the top bucks. The minibike results were predictable as Jeff Baehler handicapped himself with a bad st art, then worked his way to the front in a four-lap event. Baehler took a sweep with a flag-to-flag performance in the second mo t a . Open Amateur Mike Eng len led a three bike ra ce for the first mota flag, only to get off midway through the last lap , Rob McQuary swep t the event writh a follow-up win in the second mota after taking advantage of En glen 's splash in a soft berm. • Chuck Sun under the lights in Austin "" USTIN , TEX. , APRIL 23 For those in attend ance who had ever seen a night motocross before, this last Friday night in Austin was a special and uniq ue evening. People came from as far aw ay as Odessa and Corpus Christi as a contingent of almost 200 riders attended the in augural "Capitol City Night Motocross. " And everyone, including promoter Lee Biggart , was pleasantly surprised by the extremely well lit and well prepared three-quarter mile serpentine which co n t ain e d within its compact area, plenty of turns (of course), five jumps, a long sweeper, a good uphill with a 30 foot drop away and good loamy traction everywhere. Spectator viewing was superb as all parts of th e track co uld be seen fr om th e hill-side bleach ers. Mu ch o f th e evening's excitemen t came from the speedy Chuck Sun, an Oregon rid er wh o enj oy ed co nsidera ble suc cess in the Trans -AMA Support class this last fall. He rode an Austin Sportcycles tuned Husky to a clean sweep of the 125 Experts, but it wasn't as easy as it ma y sound. Ricky Blackwell had a good lead in the first mota until crashing and David Daniels st ayed close all night. Dan iels was even tuall y sec ond on a Yamaha and Blackwell was third on a Woods Honda sponsor.ed Elsinore. Roger Brown won the first mota of the 250-0pen Expert class with Sun close all the way. Su n won the second mota, re legating Roger Brown to se co nd ov erall. In a rare m o t o cro ss outing, road-rasher Gary Parker rode consistently to a third o verall w ith Kevin Horton in fourth. In the Open Am ateur class Scott Elliott (Hus ) and Mike West (Yam) slugged it out in the first mota, Mike's wild style prevailing to the finish. In the second moro, however, West crashed ea rly , allowing Elliott to mo tor easily to the overall victory. West did put on a spectacular charge through the pack, and at the finish line , wh ile attempting . to p ass one mo re rider, he brough t the entire place to its collec tive feet as he launched himself off of his bike in an amazing 50 foot endo. Somehow he got up and walked away from it, but many agreed that it had been one of the all time great crash and burns. The racing was spirited and fun all through the program, and everyne who attended had a delightful evening, except maybe for Mike West who is sure to have a headache Sa turday mo rnin g. Hope to see you next Friday night and every Friday night. • Results in Results Section. Brooks at Pleasure Isle By Mark Know les PORT A RTHUR, TEX., MAY 2 The quick 125 Amateur class sorted out to be a one man show as Craig Schrader debuted his new Honda by sweeping both motos for first place. Chris Serres (Han ) challenged briefly but faded from Schrader's rapid pace to finish second. Keith Ritchie (Yam) and Carlos Lange (Yam) battled for third pl ace but Ritchie received the nod at the ch eckered flag leaving fourth place to Lan ge . . Shane Book (Suz ) merged victor of the 250 Amateur class after th e leaders o f both motos cras hed o u t of co n ten tio n leaving his way clear for victory. Charles Terrell (Ya m ) ran strong all day to re ceive second place with James Sims (Hus) edging Guy Romine (Bul) in a close battle for third. When he 's hot, he's hot; and Joe Wright (Su z) was hot today . J oe' shook off all recent mechanical problems and put on his race face to co llect top cash in the small Combined Expert class by sweeping b oth motos with brilliant rides that were marred only by Terry Guidry (Yam ), leading for one lap only to drop out. Joe went on unchallenged the rest of the day with Gerald Hoffpauir (Suz) main taining position to ' take home seco nd. • Results in Results Section. Hill gremlins at work at Whitney By Diane Polley WHITNEY, TEX., MA Y 2 The Texas Hillclimbers Association took advantage of the recent rains again and had th e Lake Whitney Cycle Ranch hill rebuilt. The bottom is steeper, the flat at 100 feet is shorter and the top h as been built up and the rock ledges covered . All this co m b in ed to give a very different and surprising event. Last month the hill measured 23 0 feet, it had grown 20 feet, so th e times were slower but t he hill w as faster. The gremlins of the hill were at work again . First the ele ctric clock broke and stop watches had to be used after the 100 class. Then they went to work on the bikes. . The clutch went out on Tom Hairston's IOOOcc Triumph on his first try in the 1500 class and that ended the da y for him. Even th ough Henry Polley only has high gear in his 750 Triumph it started ju mping o ut of gear again after seve ral tries to fix it since ' the Widowmaker. J ack Wilso n a t Big 0 Triumph sure will like it when these two show up to get their bikes fixed. Walter Humphries still had not go t all the bugs out o f his new 800 T riumph, but he did get a third in the 1500 class and a first in the Exhibition. The only two big bikes re ally having m uch luck were Gary Chandler · and Mike Jo nes. On his first run in the 15 0 0 , T he act ion was hot and heavy at Austin Motocross Park. class Mike on a 1000 Triumph zo o m ed o ver the hill in 7.4 seconds, just one tenth of a second slower than Cleve Martin 's 7. 3 on a 360 Bultaco Bandit. On his next run in the 1500 and both runs in the Exhibition class Mike whee lied off the line and did not co m ple te the runs. There were those grem lin s again. Mike made up fo r it in the money class though by setting the fastest time o f the day with a 7.1 second time for first pl ace money . The overall trophy went to Gary Ch andler o n an 800cc Triumph with a 7.2 in the Exhibition cla ss. Fo r a while Clev e Martin was well on the way t o ge tting the big head. .He thought he was re all y going to show the . big boys up by setting top time o n a 360 Bultaco, which is nearly 10 ye ars old, but it d id not happen. He d id get first in the 500 class with his first really go od run in several clim bs. One newcomer is re ally sha king th in gs up in the 125 class. Tracy Davidson o n a new 12 5 Yamaha too k first pl ace with a time o f 9.1 seconds. After some deliberation Tracy decided to try th e money clas s an d took a fourth there to end a very successful day. Tracy has a good teacher in Tony Hudson who rides a 350 Honda sing le. Tony introdu ced Tracy to hillclimbing after a b ad spill on the motocross track. Hill climbin g is just as exciting and a lot sa fer. Only yo u can run over you. • Results in Results Sec t io n. Brown active at Austin MX By Greg Labbe AUSTIN,TEX., MAY 2 Sunday was one o f those days that was designed by some diabolical deity to test a race promoter down to his very soul. Promoter Lee Biggart, in an ill-fa ted attempt t o keep th e track as moist as possible on race day, started to work the track at eight o'clock that morning and promptly got his tract or stuck in the mud hole. It took the track crew ne arly th ree hours to extract the tractor from the deep, slimy bog and when they finall y retrieved it , practice was already an hour late in starting and the track still needed some prep. Another half ho ur wai t was in order as 247 anxio us motocrossers chomped at the bit to st art practice. Once things got started, though, the wait was soon forgotten as the track took o n its familiar loamy ap pearance and go o d, sandy berms sta rte d developing everywhere. The 125 Novi ces had to be split, as usual, with Bill Easterling winning the "A" div ision , an d Ottis Lance taking divisi on "B' on a shiny new Honda. Spe cial men tion must go to Suzuki mounted . (or dismounted) Mike Tan geman who shot over a four foot berm at abo ut 40 miles per hour, landed in a t ree some 15 feet off the ground, an d then crashed to the ground with his bike on top of him. Mike was not only uninjured but a fter taking just a few minutes to let the co bwebs clear from his brain, he rejoined the fray . When it came time for the Experts to ge t down to business, it was Roger Brown doing the most serious th rottle twisting as he swept the 250 and Open classes. Meanwhile, in the 125 class, Dick y Turnbo w as having a little right wrist work-out of his own at the ex pe nse of a fast field of expert tiddlers. Behind Dicky and his Yamaha were David Daniels (Yam) , Pat Adamson (Han) , Bobby Bul lock (Yam), and Ricky Blackwell (Han). The 250 Expert class saw three rookie Expert riders break into the top five positions. Mitch Mitchell, in his secnd ride as an Expert, took two very solid second place finishes on the way to seco nd overall and Doug Archer an Expert for less than six months ended up third. Veteran Gary Bigley was fourth and Chuck Loftin , also with less than six months experience behind him as an Expert, made it into the fifth and final pay slot. Results in Res ults Section. • 45