Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i~L~NJE ~ t '# Mike Rust (9) leads the SRAC 125 A class in the first moto. A DNF in the second tango cost him the win. Another Pay Day for Johnny! By Jack B. Harwood T ALEQUAH, OK., MAY 30 Johnny Day (Yam) celebrated his 14th birthday by sweeping both 125cc Expert motos at Barron Fork Motocross, making it three . 38 firsts in as many Sundays. Day missed his usual holeshot in both motos, In the first moto, Craig Johnson charged out front for a lap, then gave way to Greg Boone (Suz) for a lap. In the meantime, Day worked his way methodically through the pack and took over first in the fifth lap. Boone beat out Johnson for second. In the second moto, Paul Williams (Hon) squirted out front for a half lap before Day caught up. Craig Johnson hung onto second until he DNF'd, leaving the fight for second to Williams and Jimmy Bagwell. Bagwell, who suffered bad starts in both motos worked his way past Williams and stayed ahead of Williams and Boone to the flag. Boone 's 2·3 earned him second place in the pay line ahead of Bagwell with a 5·2 for theday. Gary Bowman, who is usually in the hunt, DNF'd in the first moto, and developed a bad habit of falling off while trying to catch Day in the second moto, Bowmanfinished out of the money, with a fourth place finish in the second moto. In the combined 250/0pen Expert clash, Gary Baehler (Bul) charged out of the gate in the first moto and wheeled to a steady win. Mike Patrick (Yam) stayed with Bachler most of the moto, bu t gave up second to Nick Sunday (Suz) who cranked out a fine ride from an eighth place start. John Burgher stayed with the front runners until he ate a portion of the first tum berm, winding up .back in the pack. In the second Open Expert moto, Chip Day jumped out front and held the lead for three laps before letting Gary Bowman by. Bowman stretched his lead to ' th e flag, putting together a first overall with a 3·1 score . Nick Sunday's 2·3 was good for second best. Gary Baehler, weakened by a bout with the flu, faded to fourth for a third overall. Chip Day kept the family money bags clinking with fourth place money after a 5·2. ' . Results in Results Section. Jones and • • raIn wInner on Whitney Hill By Diane Polley WHITNEY, TEX.,JUNE 6 The day started with the sun shining with its typical Texas brigh tness for the hiIlclimbers at Lake Whitney Cycle Ranch. The hill was in perfect condition for some fast times. In order to change the hill a little the starting line was moved up several feet. This casued some riders a lot of trouble, especially the dump the clutch and 11:0 artists. Just as the last riders in , the Exhibition class finished their rides the rain that had been threatening for a while finally came. It lasted just long enough to add some really good traction. Nearly every rider had a better second run and several of them really let it all hang out. One of the first to blow the top off was Mike Polley on his YZ80 in the Mini class . After having . bike trouble the first time on the second try he went over in 9.75 seconds to set a new Mini record on the 250 foot hill . Mike also took home second in the '10 0 class with a 9.68 second time on the same bike. A first in the 125 street class was also among his winnings. Thirteen year old Charlie Goodnight edged Mike out of first in the 100 class on a Kawasaki -wi th 9.1 I. He also showed the big boys how to do it when he beat everyone but Will Alford in the 250 class . Charlie piloted his Kawasaki over in 7.85 for a second. Mike and Charlie are good friends and they were both happ with these seconds and the fact that they had sort of stolen the show from the men. While the rest of the Exhibition class was running the Triumph riders did some changing and three of them came out running chains. Walter Humphries (800 Tri) tried his first and a 6.98 time was the best he could do. Polley was having some troubles and could not do any better. Gary Chandler on a 750 Triumph with a knobby finally set a 6.84 to take the lead, but Mike Jones and Tom Hairston still had a chance with their triples. J ones came to the line " an d with a good straight run set a 6.43 to take over. The last one with a chance to take the lead was Hairston and his chains. He gave it all he had but was five hundredths of a second slower with a 6.48 and Jones was the winner. All this tight competition among the Triumphs should give Jack Wilson at Big D Cycles s~mething to smile about. ' • SRACMX at lafayette By Action OZ LAFAYETTE, COLO., JUNE 13 Frustration and elation plus all the feelings in between. This is the only way I can describe the racing this day in Lafayette, Colorado. One of the toughest things a promoter or club has to do is open the gates race day morning. One of the biggest problems with the world's filthiest sport in Colorado is dust. Nobody likes it, least of all the spectators, and spectators, whether 'yo u like it or not, pay the bills. How do you keep them coming back - particularly if they have ", no family or friends racing. What , is there to keep them coming back? The first 125A moto got off with Ralph Stichter (Yam) serving notice he'd like to contest Al Firestine for the A points lead. Mike Rust won the first 125A moto by a gigantic lead. Rust (Hus) real ly put on a show for the first moto beating all the top riders. Stich ter was consistent enough for the first overall and Firestine picked up sec o nd. Rust ran in the second moto as he had in the first, but a DNF knocked him out of the money. The 250A riders came off the line in a bunch. After the half lap mark the quality was beg!nning to show. Shane Cannon (Kaw) and Gary Glasenapp (BuI) came into the first tum sweeper together, wheel to wheel, neither one giving an inch. Glasenapp was on the high side of the swing and Cannon's knobs used the Bul as a berm and the berm went down, losing about eight positions. Glasenapp began his drive, second by second was picked off and by the halfway poin t in the moto he was two seconds off the pace. The next lap he made his move past Cannon on the uphill straight. The next moto was dissimilar in that Glasenapp got out front and stayed there to pull away from the field. Cannon ran fast and consistently but the Kaw just labored in the handling department, The power was there though. Greg Alley finished third overall. The Open A class did a number on the gate so a restart had to be held for this class. Tom Rust (Bul) got a gigantic holeshot that was never lost to win the first Open A moto, Bob Moore (Yam) ran very consistently to take a third. Glasenapp (Bul) followed Rust and got close only to succumb to a flat tire. He is very used to this so he changed his riding style to compensate and managed a second in the first Open A moto, The second moto saw Glasenapp go to the lead only to again suffer a flat tire and was passed by Tom Rust who had been in second and Bob Moore who had been in third. The order at the end of the second moto was Tom Rust, Bob Moore, and Glasenapp.

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