Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• _._._._._._._._._._._~._._._._._._._._.- =Western hotline ~ t \D ._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. ::,----- second m oto G lo ve r go t th e holesh o t b u t with in half-a-Iap J ones pas se d Glover . se tting th e pace for t he e ntire race. G lo ver stayed ho t o n Bobby ' s tail unable to pass. Only a few feet before th e che cke red flag J ones st arted to pass a lapped rid er. The rider, instead o f sta yin g o n hi s lin e, tri ed to move n ea rl y cau sing Jones to lo se it t o Gl over. Bobby m anaged to keep his le ad over Gl over in secon d and lIIark Ga bmetta in third. • Results in Results Section . I '. . . . I'~ .--t CMC White Knuckler Finals By Tom Blattler IRWINDA LE, CAL.• JUNE 25 Irwindale Raceway 's largest CMC Night Motocross program of 1976 featur ed some of the finest racing seen all year in the final nice of > UJ ..J 0: o U ::; o I- (Above) Fran k Se rjean t gets a little o u t of shape off the jump at Irwindale. (Below) Steve Karste n lo cks it up at Co rona . Jones and Glover duel at the Dunes By Ted Titmas VALENCIA, CAL.,JUNE 25 In addition to some great racin g spectators are enjoying beautifully warm evenings at AME's Friday night mot ocross. T oni ght the increasing number of fans were first treated to 500 Pro action. Andy Jannings (lIIai) won a very close first moto over Cole Bros. rider Dave Hau gh (Mai) and Don Hansen (Mai) , who rides for Cal Moto Sports. In the second moto J annings again grabbed the holeshot and held a good strong lead until his bike st alled and Haugh moved into the lead. Only one b ike len gth apar t, Haugh and Hansen battled for the win . Haugh stretched out his lead and interest was directed to the fight fo r third between Skett Wyman (Yam ) an d Dave Hensch e (Mai) . These two fo ught an extremely ti ght race until Skett fell , giving Hensch e third . J ann ings, who now had moved up t o fifth after restarting from dead last , co n t in ued to move an d eventually p assed Hensche , winding up with a very .irnp re ssive third . Haugh went on to win the moto and first overall. J annings managed second overa ll, edgin g out Donny Hansen , With out question th e 125 Pro class was th e most excitin g. Jones was a bso lu te ly determined t o win on his home ground. He took the win in th e first moto with Glover the four-week " White Kn uckl er Series." Top J uniors received plenty of nice p rizes and the professionals went af te r a $500 purse. The Pro racing was the best seen this ye ar with some of the favo rites not fairing too well at the end of th e evening in overall standings. 125 Pro s Taylor and Denton, the D & G twins, were back at thei r ga me b ut there was plenty of competition from John Atwood, Mark Lawren ce , Eddie Clark, Dave Pess y, Dave Carlson, Lunde. Ernie Gonzalez . and y ou ng Doug Nicol. The first five-lap moto saw Taylor and Denton grab the lead in the first comer and pull away. The re al battle was for third between Atwo od, Lawrence. Pess y, Lunde , and Carlson. However. Lawrence dropped out early with engine trouble and Carlson was flat on the gas. Moto two found Denton leading Taylor into the firs t comer as Lawrence. Carlson, Atwood, Pessy, and Lunde again resumed their unreal fight for third . Denton went on to hold off Taylor and take the vic t o ry , b ut the cro wd was watching third , as Carlson was ch allenging aft er the "Molly Blue " jump and got into the far co m e r a little too hard and dropped his Ho nda. Entering the fi al m o t o , Taylor and n Denton were tied on points with three each , b ut the final five -Iap per was all Taylor. Carlso n took second in the fi al n round with t hird going to Atwood followed by Denton. In the overall standings. it was Taylor for th e win followed b y Denton , Atwood, Pessy , Lunde, and Ca rlson. The 250 Pros saw quite a bit of action, as Mark "Mad Man " Lawrence had his Suz uki really coo kin ". Lawrence and Vince "The Hooker" Van Hook ran away in the first moto from former Irwindale hotshoes Vidic, Tamietti, and Rubly. South Bay star Mike Stearns was also challenging Vidic, Tarnie tti, and Rubly . At the checkered flag. Lawrence took the win with Van Hook second. The second moto again found Lawrence in the lead with Vidic and Van Hook battling for second. " Ma d Man " pulled away as J eff and Vince were dicing for second. "The Hooker" tried to stuff a wheel under Vidic for se cond but Vidic didn 't move and Van Hook went over the handlebars. In the final five-lap m o t o "The Hooker," probably a lit tle peeved after his crash, came back strong t o score the victory over Steams , who rode se nsationally for his first time at Irwindale this . year. In the o verall, Lawrence was the victor with second to Vidic, third to Steams and fourth to Van Hook. The. 500 Pros tu rned o ut some super co m pe t it ion between Mike Bell, Luke Messer, Bill Rubly, a nd J oe J ohnst o n . Rubly grabbed the lead in the first m o t o however, entering the swi tchback turn, he went over the handleb ars. Bell and Messer then went for the lead with the four-stroke Honda o f Bell taking the win. In

• Cover