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/126050
Bru ce Sanders of Modesto sli the red into the 125 award as Junior Scott Rasmussen plus Novices Rich ard Arnaiz and Dave Busb y en d ed up tied fo r second. Bru ce crashed he ad-on with brother ' Brian while testin g motors during the week but his two wins and two seconds held up. • Fruzen leads Fremont points By \/\I.H. Spencer FREMONT, CAL., MAY 12 Ex -minibike taken a one five rounds short tr ack, z i o a ~ UJ Off one of Chico's sho rt stra ights, Dana' Pennebaker. Lowell Moural and Shane Scott set it up togeth er. OMRRA Benefit road race By J. K. Lacey PORTLAND, ORE., MAY 23 On a·day that dawned cloudy with sprinkles, the Oregon Motorcycle Road Race Association combined with the Kidney Association of . 28 Oregon to put on th e best atten d ed and finest road , ra ce ever seen in Ore gon. • With all the proceeds going to the K AO , this marked the first time ever they had been associated wi th a sport s even t of this type. Democr atic hopeful Jimmy Carter made a surprise visit to the PIR , facility Sunday mornin g, making a brief speech and sh aking h ands throughout the stands. Daughter Amy , seemed un concerned with all th e go in gs on until the first event rolled to t he line and Daddy fla gged the start. This even t staged the two 12 5 classes (sin gles and twins) together alo ng with the 250 singles, although scored se p ar at ely . Quenton Hogan, aboard his factory Can-Am, wasted little time setting sail , winning easily, but behind the fight was between M. Haskins (Yam twin) , L. Trukositz (Yam twin), and T. Findley (Kaw single) . Each took a tum leading until Findley and his Green Meany fin ally established themselves out front. The Turkositz Yamaha ate its own gears, and Haskins then went on to ' win his G P division. Renton', Washington's Bill White dominated , the Open Production, the same way he does at Seattle International Ra ceway and at the Canadian meetings riding his usua l Kaw 900. Second place Randy Booth, on a similar m achine, never really got close, while at times it looked like Gus Denzer (Du c 860) mi ght take over second. Ro cky Ph oenix put the first BMW into fourth . 50 0 Production riders Gene Brown ; Steve Pr att, Dan Thorsen , and Frank Bledsoe, all on o lder 3 50 Yamahas, showed what everyon e has . been say in g a bo u t the older 3 50 machines is true - they not only were . quicker b ut handle better ! T hese racers finished o ne , two, three, an d four, leaving the remaining positions to be had by the newer, slower '76 400s. Hogan again put his Can-Am out front in the 250 Produc tion Final and was headed for the one-lap flag when he threw it away rounding tum eight in front of the grandstands. Un h u rt, Quentin pushed to the pits while T . Lam bert (Yam) inherited the win, R. Hill (C-A) second. Next up with the clouds co m in g fast was the Open GP. Again Jim Dunn ' (Yam) headed the field and was first away while G. Brown (Yam) worked his smoking seven-fifty past Q. Hogan (Yam) and the visiting New Zealander Paul Mclachlan (Yam ). Dunn sp ed o ff to victory , Brown kept h is mach ine from seizing and co p p ed seco nd , Mclachla n got around Hogan, and the trio of Hogan , Burch ell , an d Ro ss finished in the exact order as they had in the 250 Main . J. Dawley (Yam ) was seventh . ' .Seco nd s before the staging of the afternoon's final event, the Open and 500 Ca fe, down ca me the rain in earnes t. Right awa y a few o f th e co mpe t ito rs he aded fo r th e pits but those that remained put on quite a show all aro u n d the 1.95 mile city-o wned track. Puddles were reported throughout the co u rse , turns four, five, and six claimed they were under a heavy thunderstorm and asked that a severe weather warning be broadcast, the telephone at the st art/finish watered out, a nd reports of crashes o r o ff -tra ck excursions were co m ing in on top of. one another. One such as Ken Hague (Rickman Kaw 1000) who bravely led most of the shortened nine-lap Main only to overshoot the end o f the front straight and unload. Gerry Gilles (Kaw 750) then bested Grandon Benson (Ka w 750) for first. • Race fans arrive iii style at Cycleland 'By Patty Piston CHICO , CAL. MAY 2 2 There is never a dull m oment at CycieIand's Saturday night motor" cycle races. This Saturd ay saw the arrival of a hel icopter on the scene delivering race fans from Vina. The $500 purse for the Semi Pro Expert class ha s been fatte ned by a $20 donation from H & H Cycle Sales of Chico and a $50 donation from Morrison Cycle Center in Yuba City . Currently in first pl ace in the ra ce for money is J im Hubbard. A long hard battle took place in the 2 50 c~ Novi ce Main . John Heernsberger, riding an Ossa, was first off the line followed by Paul Martin (Bul), and Jody Patterson in third on a Harley . The battle for first developed early in the ra ce and co n t inued through the. fin al lap with Martin gettin g b y Heemsberger on the chec kered flag lap . Patterson st ayed in th ere to pick up third. In the 200cc Junior Main Leon Fowler and Dave Koistinen got a little too close to the fence in the thi rd tum o n the second lap. Taking advantage of th e situat ion Dann y Fowler an d John Sudberry moved into first and second Fowler resp ectivel y . Koistinen an d re covered t o fin ish th ird and four th • Lodi ST finale By An n Carr Lam, CAL., MAY 22 Rider turn out was smal l but competition was tall tonight as 124 racers vied for those last sh ort , track trophies. With only tw o high pain t positions settled, racing was exc ep tional on an again slick course . Eighty class honors ended in a tie between Fred Merkel of Stockton a nd Doug Ch andler ·of Salinas . Fred laid off the last three races af te r fall ing hard here and at Fremont. Doug, Junior Gary Blodgett (San Jose ), an d Novice Aa ro n Hill ( Lo di ) m oved into the fr ay. Chandler ac ed out the others and m oved into the tie b y winning the last three Main s. Blodgett missed one weekend of racing while Hill, needing only a sec o nd to nigh r, was in neu tr al on the start ing line or the t ale might have been different. Tracy Ha ys rode a pressure p acked 100 Expert Main, wi n n ing handily, while b ac k in the pack Jeff Mason and Marv in Lewis - in his fir st Exp ert ride - held off Chandler. Doug's shutout gave Tracy the hi gh po int awar d. Lodi club members ca p tu red three of five sp or tsm an , hi gh pointers. Fre d Winters aboard the Bob He ath Honda wasn't reall y challenged as hi s four wins and one second overpowered an inconsistent 100 class . hero Mike Fruzen has point advantage aft er o f Wednesday night leading Experts Dave ' Faria and Ri ck Del acy . Fruzen is five . for five in the 12 5 Novice class on the . ex-Randy Mamola 125 Yamaha. Faria and Del ac y staged a heads-up battle in the 3 6 0 Expe rt Main while little brother Mike Faria won the 250 Expert portion. Grant Newell ca p tu re d his first ever win in the 80 Novice over Bryan Keltner while Grant 's brother Blair won the Expert ov er Tony Deatherage . Th e Faria brothers are still a team with Mik e winning the 250 and brother Dave taking third behind Rodger Slack on th e Duane Spence Yamaha. Delacy led the 3 6 0 Ex p ert Main for th e last ten laps after AI Kenyon led the first five . The White Plate kids really know their way around this ve ry fast and slick race facility. In the fourth ro u nd of the Sonny Kenyon spo nso re d Match series for $500 youngest son Mike h ad his hands full of Errol Longboya on the Fremont Cycle Center 3 50 XL. While Mike led the first lap , it was the last, despite a last ditch shot ' going into the first corner. Mike tried desperately to ge t unde r the Honda, but couldn't hold the lin e. Errol got off the comer to take the win by a g oodly ten feet. • Kit Carson Enduro By Mike Kinsella RAILROAD FL ATS, CAL., MA Y 23 It's hard to tell wh at th e St ockton M,C. had in mind when they laid ou t the arro ws for th e Kit Carson Enduro. If th ey wanted to provide a supe r difficult enduro , they su cceed ed bey ond a d oubt. T he ever present du st , which. foll ows District 36 enduro riders to every event, lo omed up right o u t o f the start an d obscu red visib ility to a few yards o n th e firer oads. There's not much you can d o except tighten up your gogg les an d pray for rain next fall. There were tw o minor bottlenecks within the first ten miles , caused by Demo cand idat e Jim my Carter (holdi ng flag) plays guest starter.