Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126059
Neal Snarr (187) starred two weeks in a row at Fremont's popular night MX. That's Bill Johnson's front wheel, makin' sure it d on't co me easy. (Inset) This is NOT how Dick Turner doubled at Chico/Cycleland. Fremont Night MX roundup By Steve Castillo FREMONT, CAL. ,JULY 15 & 22 A new starting gate greeted th e CMC cro sse rs at Fremont raceway and it played a strong part in havin g th e races run m ore smoo thly. It also made th e riders work that much harder for th eir starts, th an with the old rubberb and. Round One, Ju ly 15 Scott Cowan (Mai) pulled out front at the start o f the first 500 Pro race with Charley Halcomb (Hus) n o t far behind and Wes Elrod pushing. Halcomb played with Cowan briefly an d soon sh ot by, leavin g Cowan and Elrod to bicker wit h each other. Elr od was too fast for Cowan tonight, and Ken Klassen (Bul) took third a fte r Co wan was dropped back to sixth. You cou ld n 't have asked fo r a be tter show than was provided by t he 250 Pros t on igh t. Nea l Snarr (Suz) newcomer to the class hole-shot th e rest of t he field. Follo wing Snarr was Bob Myers on a n ew Maico that wa s really hooking up with the ta cky Frem ont surface . Wes Elrod was running close behind on his Mota-Villa . A few seconds back another race was underway between Bill Johnson (Yam), Bob Terwilliger (Kaw) and Jerry Castillo (Man). Phil Crane (Suz) had worked up to seventh after a poor s ta rt and was pressuring Castillo. Coming around for the last lap Meyers was pushing Snarr like there was no tomorrow. Snarr with urgin g fro m the crowd was able to hold on to .the fin ish with Meyers taking second a fter a mixup with th e flag th at saw Bill Johnson pull off one lap to o soon. Wes Elro d fin ished third. CMC hon ch o Tim Ch ar les Halcomb pulled ou t fr on t in the start of the second 500 Pro ra ce, Scot t Cowan wasn 't far beh ind with Steve Scoffone (CZ) running third. Wes Elrod wa s on his way up from about fifth . Elrod shot past Cowan and took off a fter Halcomb, shaving his lead each lap. With two laps to go Wes Elrod got by, a well deserved win . Round two of the 250 Pro s found Bill Johnson taking the start with Neal Sn arr second, Bob Meye rs third an d Bruce Man zoni (CZ) fourth . Snarr pressed by Johnson . J erry Castillo moved his Montesa past Manzoni but was also looking out for Phil Crane who was pushing him hard and steady. Meyers h ad worked up to Sn arr but in th e m eantime so had Castillo. Castillo hassled brie fly with Meyers and then went b y. Heading for the flag aro u nd th e last tum it was Sn arr, Castillo (gain ing), and Meyers (gassing). Overall Nea l Sn arr p ick e d up his first win in t he 250 Pros. Round tw o, July 22 The 125 Pros wi th Neal Snarr (Yam) and J eff Watts aga in provided th e fireworks. Snarr and T roy Deherrera also on a YZ pull ed off the lin e third was Ken t Classen (Han) . Deherrera m ade several dri vin g a tt emp ts on Snarr but it looked lik e Snarr's b ike was just a little faster. Mota two found J eff Watts of San ta Cru z o n a Husky ou t front with Snarr second and Derherrera third. Watts h ad fin ished fourth in the first moto, but now was leading with apparent eas e. Sn arr pressured Watts all the way to th e flag and the crowd loved every minute of it. Overall Snarr got the win with Watts second and Troy Deherrrera third. 25 0 Junior action was also hot and heavy with the first d ivision riders providing th e action. In moto on e Paul Pearson on one of the new Harley-Davidsons dominat ed the action for most o f th e moto after he worked his way into first . Following Paul in for secon d was Ken Wallace and being been cleaning up ra the r well in this class th e last cou ple weeks. Round two found Pearson out of the fra y wi th bike problems. Mike Yam found out how it feels to lead an unruly pack of 250 Juniors all th e way to the finish. Mike Moore was up further this mota and finished second with third going to Mike Hurwitz (Mai) . Overall, Mike Yam got the first place trophy. Char ley Halcomb (Hus) was not too happy after his first moto bout with Wes Elrod in which Elrod ended up the winner, Halcomb a few feet behind. The same thing happened last week. At his best in the second mota , Charley ro cket ed away on his Husqvarna with Seott Cowan not too far back on a Maico, in third was Wes Elrod who wasn't as close as he would like to be. Bill Johnson and Phil Crane had most of people in t he Fremon t stan ds to their feet as they tra ded ' motos of the 250 Pros. Mota two was Johnson's race all the way . Phil Cran e go t a cru d dy start. Meantime Dan Geery (Ho n) and Bob Myers (Mai) were havin g a race o f th eir own. Crane's bid for the race brought him past Geery an d Myers, but the gap was too much; Crane had to se tt le for second behind Bill Johnson who picked up his first win under th e ligh ts, Third went t o Bob Myers who was abl e to keep Dan Geery at ba y. • Results in Results Se ction. McAvoy triples, Turner doubles By Patty Piston CHlCO,CAL.• JULY 17 Riding a Yamaha in the 125cc Juni or Main, Mike McAvoy got the hole shot. He held off a strong challenge by Dan Benson (Hon) for the win. Finishing a close third was . Suz . Thi s was iust a p revi ew of things to co me. The 250cc Junior even t was a repeat :performance. McAvoy (Ya m ) blasted out front and. cam e away with ano th er first. '" Mike had his hands full in the 2 50 Handicap . McAvoy again got an early lead which was soon hacked away by. Daryn Spies, Maurice Merrill, Mike Hal l, Dave Faria, Cliff Hy lton and Ken Gray . (Tom Cantrell , sandwiched between Hylton and Gray , downed it 20 feet before the finish}, Once the gap was closed, it was a hard fought battle to the finish. These riders reall y put on a show with McAvo y triumphant at the chec ke re d, Spies secon d and Merril third. Expert Dick Turner (Yam ), after some fine riding, ca me away No.1 Semi Pro. Although Ken Gray (Yam ) got the hole sh ot , Turner took over the lead th e first lap. It was a duel to the fmish with Gray co ming in a very close second. In th e 36 0 Expe rt scratch Gray got the hole sh o t again bu t Turner on ce more: took th e lead from him. Gray fell back to a fo ur th place finish while Chris ~ Sauer fi ished second by 25 yards. n . Turner a lso pi cked up a second in th 3 60 Handicap . Coming from behind (he ! has a 60 yard handicap) he finished a close second behind Sau er. • Results in Results Section. J A.M.A. Speedway ~ resumes at Cal-Expo By Greg Joyce SACRAM ENTO , CAL.,JULY g AMA Speedway action resumed this week after being mudded out last Friday. Mike Faria, in the first Division I Handicap Semi. stormed off the 40 yard line, and after dicing for the lead wit. Duane Yarrow and Rich MacMurray, took the win . The second Semi was halted after two laps when Mike Roonev found too mu ch traction