Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ENORTIERN DATELINE ~ E 1.0 r-- O'l Tom Hayne r (22) leads this gaggle of Sea rs Po int 350 Productio n racers with a ce rt ain aggressive flair. Must feel good. AFM SearsPoint: race it! By Elmo Buckweather VALLEJO, CAL.,JUNE 13 ' "When you think about it, road racing is the most ridiculous thing in the world," said Vance Breese, AFM 500cc GP Champion . Breese 26 " won his championship on a BSA single, and now campaigns a hybrid BSA/ESO 500. "The whole idea of going from this point (t he starting line) around the track as fast as you can back to the same poin t is stupid." "But, n continued Breese, "It feels good." Breese's own championship reveals a lot about club racing in California, and points out the ' differences m an y riders say they run into when they go race in Colorado or Texas. Breese rides an underdog machine, passing TZs and multi-cylinder machines with skill and determination, not horsepower. But when you look at the results, you don't get the whole story . Like that Breese was in fron t of the second-place Open GP rider. What this all means is that in AFM, man y riders are deadly serious about their own little class - overview be damned - and want those trophies, with or without what they represent. This isn 't a conventional race report. But then this wasn't a conventional race for the writer. After talking to Breese and watching riders lik e Tom Chew, riders who are faster than most on the track, yet care little about points or trophies, racing seems to be in a new perspec tive, Breese and Chew are examples - it . would seem - of riders who are looking fo r a good t im e , and ma ke no pretense of riding machines in the conven tional molds. Breese defies technology, and Chew is honest about his trickery, refusing to run for points in his races according to AFM North race director Bill Ralston. Enough. Dan Spis ak won his fourth recent 125 GP race, blowing away everyone in the class on his home track. Recent challengers to Spisak's post-Mamola 125 GP rule (Phillipp e deLespinay and J ohn Lassak ) were no t here . Even if th ey were, it is doubtful th at th ey co uld have beaten Spisa k at Sears . "W e fin ished the bik e a t four thi s morning," sai d Kei th Bon t ra ter of the TZ·250 he had prepared for Scott Pearson to ride. "Pearso n first saw the bike this morning befor e practi ce." Pearson proceeded to take the bike an d stu ff his wa y in to second 250 GP and first overall 35 0-50 0-Open GP . Mike Baeder (Yam ) easily be at Pear son in 25 0 GP , but Bacder is a seasoned MIA Expert. This was Pearson's first GP ride. (Scott is better known - and m ore f eared ' at this tim e - as a dirt track Jun ior. For n ow . . . Editor) Ed Unini (Hon 750) put aw ay Op en Production, overall with Paul Ritter (Duc 750) coming from behind to b eat Dennis Pegelow (Kaw 900 ) overall in that race. Steven Epstein (Yam 200) won with on e of the most determined 200 Production rides seen in a long time. , Epstein , who led the first few turns, was outbraked and passed by Dennis Warren (C-A 175), Roman Orenczu k (C-A 17 5 ), and John Ulrich (DKW 125 ). Those three d irt bikes went at it, ch ang ing th e lead time after time. • Jodry, Hall and Davis top Plymouth By Sallee Hilt on PLY MOUTH , CAL.,JUN E 6 Between Brian Jodry 's (Su z) holeshots and Darrell Shultz's (Bul) mid-I?ack st arts, were Pat Wilson (Hus) and Phil Crane (Su z) also wanting a piece of the 250 action. All four took their turns at leading the pack of 12 riders, often switching the lead several times in a lap. In the first moto it was Crane and J o dry, then J odry an d Crane followed across the finish line by Schultz, whose last lap hard charge brought him fro m fifth to thi rd , taking it away from Wilson who had hung in throughout the race. The second moto was quite a battle between J od ry and Wilson who stayed close and changed pl aces all th e way to the white flag wh en Wilso n seemed to be having ignition problems and dropped off th e pace . Shultz pulled in to second and again m ade a hard ch arge in th e last lap , ta king th e win away fro m J o dry. The 125 Expert race was d ominat ed bv AI Hall , Ch alma Roberts and Keith Comella, all o n Hon da s. In the first moto Roberts led all th e way with all th e action behind him . Phil Crane, o n a Su zuki again, dropped back to fo u rt h at the end of the race with mechanical tr ouble slowing him d own. AI Hall st ay ed in second and Cometta to ok third. Hall started out leading th e secon d moto followed b y Roberts and Cornetta. Cometta waited a few laps and then turned it on to take both riders in front of him. Now it was Hall's turn to wait fo r the right time, and he dogged Cometta until the last lap when he took over. Ove rall payoffs went to Hall first and Roberts second, but Cometta had picked up on the second moto pay . SVS has started paying ea ch moto as well as overall, giving more riders a chance for cash . • Results in Results Se ction. Semi Pro purse grows By Patty Pisto n CHICO, CAL.•J UNE 5 The purse for the Semi Pro race at Cyclel and Speedway continues to grow as donations roll in. The total is close to $700. Don ati on s inclu de $20 from H & H Cycle Sales, Chico ; $50 from Morrison 's Cycl e Center, Yuba City; $20 from Hubbard's Sporting Goods in Ch ico; $ 25 from Heath's Harley-Davidson, Chi co; as well as numerous donations from racing fans in Yuba City, Chi co , Gridley and Biggs. An annonymous don ation of $10 was put up for the rider placing 15th in this event. Steve Dietz (Chi co ) got the ho leshot on the 125 Experts. In second was Jim Hubbard followed by Lowell Moural and Dick Turner. Really putting th e pressure on, Hubbard 100 k o ver the lead in the fifth lap and Moural moved in to sec o nd. Dietz , now in third and under co nstan t pressure from Turn er, held Turner off until the ninth lap when Turner took over third. The fast p ace continued on into the 125 Junior Main . Establishing an early lead was Ge orge Irwin, and 'Dave Ry an second. The real battle was for third between Albert Grie go, Mike McA vo y and Dave Evers. Griego was able to hang onto third fo r seven laps bu t on th e [mal lap McAvo y and Evers coming out of the last turn full bore squeaked by him to fini sh third and fourth respectively . • _ Results in Results Section. McWhorter takes Tulare I By Cosm ic Cat and CO. TULARE, CAL. ,JUNE 5 With the track in better shape than the previ ous half mile, Expert T om Berry managed to better the tr ack record (25.86) set by Terry Dors ch last year by .0 2 seconds with a time of 25 .8 4. Berry 's goo d fortune didn 't hold lon g, as a fourth in hi s he at and a bl own engine in the Semi retired the ne w reco rd holder. Ba kersfield 's Frank Ad amo (Ya m) too k the main even t hol esh ot b ut it was sh ortlived as McWh orter got by in th e turn. Start ing lap two , sec o nd McWh orter was still leading but Ad am o , losin g power due to a bro ken rin g, left second and th ird t o Meyers and Davids on with Sam Matthews (H-D) holding down fourth . Lap four it was McWhorter stre t ching his lead, Davidson closing the gap o n Meyers and Triumph-m ounted Eric Gifford taking fourth from Matthews. Davidson took second in the first turn o f lap seven and Meyers then had to st art thinking about keeping th ird from charging Gifford. Meyers and Gifford diced fo r third through laps eight and nine, but it ended as Gifford crashed without inju ry in the fourth turn. McWhorter took the ch ec kered with a well cushio ned lead fo llowed by Davidson, Meyers, Randy Gibbs (Yam) and Matthews. The Novic e Main wa s a race with a twist ending. Bultaco-rnounted Eddie Lawson was th e lead man followed by Randy Mamola (Ya m) and Dave Luj an (Ya m) . Mamola be gan losing positi ons, first to Lujan , t he n to Scott Nels on (Yam ) on lap three. Mamol a kept o n falling bac k wi th wha t appeared to be

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