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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.i MORTIERN DATELINE ~ Visalia IT t By Cosm ic Cat & CO. VISALIA. CAL,JUNE 26 Lee Pritchard (Yam) is the man to reckon with nowadays in the 125cc Junior events. The Riverdale rider recently has been bagging first place quite frequently. with tonight being no exception. Pritchard followed Brett Butterfield (Ya m ) the first lap; but leaving tum one of lap two, Pritchard took charge.' Mike Ragan (Suz) battled with Butterfield for second. That due! ended with Ragan sliding out on lap four giving Butterfield second and Tim Pritchard (Yam) third. Logan G lover (Yam) took a comfortable win in the Mini Junior with a come-from-behind ' charge that looked almost effortless for the Bakersfield hot-foot: Following Glover were . Vic Wi ll iamson (Yam) and Cha d Bettencourt (Yam). Scott Crude (Yam) took the 100cc ' Junior Main after a five lap battle with -a very determined Richard Sing (Suz). Sing took second from Shannon Amaral (Suz) on lap two and from there on stayed with Crude, 'm a tch in g the leader's every move. Last lap tries for the lead failed and Crude took the win by a very slim margin. The fight for third was just as close with Mike Garrison (Yam) edging out Amaral Being persistent paid off with a 500cc Expert win for Kenny Welch (Suz). Welch trailed early leader Mike King (Suz) for three and a half laps with King closing the door every time Welch tried to pass. Not easily discouraged. Welch kept pressuring and snatched the lead on lap four. • Results in Results Se ction. Spence.racks'em ~ By Ann Carr Lam, CAL, JUNE 25 Heads-up racing (above) as Lee Pritcha rd (65Ylleads 't he Visalia 125 Jr. charge. (Below) 01' man Carroll Jackson shows 'em how. Dennis Spence of Los Gatos moved into a commanding position for top honors in 0-36 and for to p money over the Lod i high point season to night by rac ki ng t he 500 Experts for the fifth ti me in seven races. Dennis has been known for his good starting techniques but this eve ning he was fo rced to ride hard on a slick, dusty groove. Martinez yo ungster Dallas Davis grabbed second over Steve Brandt and Dennis Huff (Denny rode an experimen tal groove track frame designed by Ken Roberts). Ken also showed tonight to spectate before returning to Columbus for the National. In Novice ac tio n Lodi's Fred Winters insured his Junior points tonight as he took the Ron Heath Hondas to victories in the 100 and 200 Mains. The 100 was torn down tonight a nd also declared legal so that hassle is over for a while. Lodi Vice President Jim Laughlin was forced to get off the line three times in the 500 Novice feature as someone in the tree tum kept waving the red flag every time someone fell off, but Jim was able to sustain his drive and went on to win. • A night of firsts at Pioneer By Ann Carr OAKDALE, CAL., JUNE 26 This even ing was a nigh t for firsts as the short track season p ro gressed with a fine cushion. Lap times in the Expert ranks dropped a full second and racing was keen. New rmru racer Mark Key of Stockton took his first Main after finishing second several occasions.