Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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r I Pesky's 213-884-0413 7045 Canoga Ave.. Canoga Park. CA 91306 No . of V entura Frwy . 2 """) m i le s .y, blk. So of Sherman Way ~=p~gaSUZUKI ~~ 1» ~ ~~) ) ~ ~ ~ ) )~ Incredible $avings Now t hrou gh July 4 , 1976 on all new Suzuki model s Pr iced at NEAR DEALER COST All parts & accessori es 10% discount Comp lete Parts·Sa les·Serv ice Depts. Dyno-tuning by appointmen t Call for exact out -t he-door-prices An older, grimmer Scott Autrey. The boyish grin gone; the desire remains. Autrey qualifies for Wembley By, w. H. Spence r SAN JOSE , CA L.,J UN E 3 SACRAMENTO, CAL. ,J UNE 4 The 32 race program at San J ose had five "back East" ty p es, two down South riders, plus Steve Gresham and Scott Autrey back from . England. The Fed erati on Intemationale Motocycliste released Autrey and Gresham from their team ch ores in England to fly ba ck fo r th e qu alifi er and take their chan ces. Steve Bast h ad enough points to try and qualify but elected not to. The first four ou t pitted Mike Rooney, top man up No rth , again st Ira Ad ams fro m ba ck Ea st alo ngside Jerry Bowers ' and J ohn McDonald. Rooney led Adams alI the way. Right on down the line the heats went. At the end of the first eight even ts , Autrey and Gresham were still undefeated, as were . Mike Caruso and Mike F aria. Faria had the bes t rac e of t h e night with Dennis Robinson. The two · go t a start with Dennis long gone but Fari a tied up and the two swapped the fr on t spot in every comer. The checkere d felI fo r Faria by about an in ch o r less. At the end o f th e third round Autrey . and Gresh am we re the only two stilI unde feated. In th e fourth round Den n is Robinson go t Gresham in a start that was unbelievable. Gresh am tried to get by but it was too late . Final at Cal-Expo Referee . Fred Sp en cer re lated at rider's meetin g that wh en en te ring the hole before the start , the rid ers must stop. This was to eli min ate an y " ro lle rs" that might have occu rred the night previous. With five rounds for e ach rider, a pe rfect score was to be 15 points and a t $20 a point, the money was lookin g very goo d. Mike Caruso led out th e first o ver Paul Orlandi while Mike Rooney did a magnificent job in the second even t ov er Steve Gresham. Robinson ac ed Finley Wall ace in t he third and Ken Eggers won the fou r th . That 's the firs t round down and y ou might note .th at Au trey hasn 't been mentioned. Lini ng up fo r event four was Au trey o n t he pole . Starter Kei th McConnell moti on ed everyone into the .hole and w aited while Scot t dropped th e h ammer al m ost im mediately and broke th e tape. Aro un d : goes th e troops, re d flag and eliminate Aut rey for the round. Scott didn 't like this idea, had a few words with the ref and found h imself exclude d from the entire program. No w things became very interesting be cause Autrey was chan gin g into racin g at t ire when the rider's meeting was in p rgress and didn't know the start procedure. After a sh o rt co nference wi th AMA racing director Bill Boyce, Au trey wa s restored an d the rest is history. After two rounds Caruso was the only man undefeated. He went down a notch when Autrey got him in event 12 while Scott went on to w in the next round and find himself in contention . The last two events would decide. Event 19 pitted Caruso against Robinson and Rooney where all were able to hang in despite Rooney falling in one round. Robinson took the hard win with Marty Benck holding the clo se line in sec ond after Caruso wen t wide while leading it. Denny Robinson was now leading at 12 points with the last round a thriller pitting Autrey, Rich MacMurray , Paul Orlandi and Steve Gresham. Che ckin g the score sheets Gresham had eight wh ile Au trey had nine. Being teammates of so rts, you can decide for yo urself who was picked to win knowing th at if Gresham won , it wo u ld mean nothing. Rich MacMurray had his ligh t workin g when Autrey led out and Gresh am se t up fo r blocking in fro n t of the ba d guy of Cal-Expo. Rich kn ew that Orlandi needed one point to n ecessitate a run off. Being th e ever lov ing hero that he really is, he mo ves over down th e b ack straight and lets Orlandi by for the point and a three way tie a t 12 alI. . Au trey wa s unbeaten as th ey lin e up. Robinson and Orlandi were p erh aps wo nder ing what it would be like to go off t o En gland for some jolly good rac ing. No matter be cause t he flag dropped an d Scott was on h is way back to m erry old GB , with him the wishes of thousands of Am ericans wh o hope he • can m ak e it to Poland. Results SAN JOSE TOP 16: 1. SCott Autrey 12 . 2• . M ike Rooney 11 . 3. Paul O rla nd i l l . 4 . Steve Gresham 11. 5. Denn is R o binson 1 0. 6. Mike F ar ia 10 . 7 . Rich MacMurray 10. 8 . Mike Caruso 10 . 9. Duane Yarrow 9. 10 . Jerr y Bowers 7. 11. Marty Ben ck 7 . 12. Finley Wallace 7 . 13. Ken Eggers 7. 14. Je rry Baugh 7. 15 . Cli ff Ba ll 7. 16. Randy Dav i s 6 . Alternate : Ron Long 6 . _ OVERALL AND QUALI FER TO WEMBLEY SEMI·FINALS: Scott A utrey 12 . Pau l O rlandi 12 . De nn is Rob inson 12. M ike Far ia 1 L M i ke caruso 11. St eve Gresham 10. K en Eg gers 9 . M i ke Rooney 8. M arty Ben ck B. R ic h MacMur ray 7 . F inley W all ace 7. Duane Y arr ow 5. C li ff Ba ll 3. Jer ry B au gh 3 . Jerr ¥ Bowe r 3. T immy Joe Shepard 2. Moto Cross Spoken Here Progressive Products, Inc ., is owned by professional American and Eu ropean moto cross race rs who use their special knowled ge to select pe riormance products you will take pride in selling. WORKS SUZUKI JERSEY This 100% aylon ;eney with rallan sleewes and padded elbows Is an exact replica of the bri l ht yellow jersey worn by the Su zuki factory motocross ri ders. 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Barranca Covina, CA 91722 . 213 -33 1-965 1 We Mall Orde r " So meday , Y ou 'U Own a Yamaha " 37