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/126061
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fr ay in 125 Interm ed iat e , wh ere D avid
J one s had to haul his CR 125 p ast
secon d m oto leader Randy !\Iars hall
(Suz) an d T ommy Land (H on ) to b ack
up hi s first-round win and ta ke th e
overall fro m Kev in l\Ic!\lillan (S uz, 3-4) ,
Todd Vandermolen (lion, 2-7 ), Lan d
(8-2), an d Marshall (9.3) .
Sen ior Mini cam e do wn to the wire,
as Alex 1I00ver (Yam) rode the race o f
his you ng life until the very last comer.
Firs t heat winne r Ton y Nielse n (Hon )
fell o n lap on e, cau gh t up , bu t was a
length be h ind in the fin ishin g tu m wh en
a m en tal mi st ake jerked ou t Hoover' s
fron t wh eel leav ing A lex an upset
se con d
•
Wise wins GNC
Qualifier
By Greg Labbe
SAN ANTONIO , TEX., AUG . 8
Today was the in augural event
for a new series to be called the
Grand National Championship.
Yes, that's right, an oth erseries b ut this one is different. For the first
time we hav e a series that will allow yo u
to qualify on a national basis without
leaving your favorite local track. In
Texas, seven lo cal tracks will be
participating, co vering just about all
geographical sections of the state so '
there will be a qualifying series in yo ur
area. The first of these tracks to get
their program
underway is San
An to ni o 's Cyclerarna. This series, in
larg e part from the imagination of Jerry
Surber, is de ceptively simple and will
culminate in a fmal race in the
Astrodome on March 20, 1977. The
'Dome has already been rented, all the
plans have been laid , so now it is just up
to the riders to participate in one of the
most exciting motocross happenings to
co me down the .road ye t. In November
all those who have qualified at the
various tracks in Texas will converge on
Houston 's Rio Brav o for a statewide
boiling down process.
Cyclerarna's regu lar se co nd S unday
program is the fir st step on 'the road to
the Astrodome, and that means that the
C.N.C . got off on the right foot today.
The day began with Bob Bowden, on
a recently purchased 360 Husky, taking ,
b oth motos of the Open Intermediate
class .
In th e 125 Intermediat e class Jeff
Fr azier holeshot the pack on a Honda,
followed clo sely b y Neill Cooper on a
Jim Weinert
knows a bargain '. ••
Suzuki as they moved away from the .
p ack. Cooper got by at about th e '
halfway p oint but then went down
allow ing Fraz ier b ack by for the first
moto win. In what was p robably th e
clo sest race all d ay , th e first six 125
In termediate riders stayed within a few
feet of each other until the halfway
mark, but still the first three of Scott
Zettner, Butch Maiden an d Ne ill Cooper
were wi th in inch es of each other all t he
way to the' checkers. Butch Maiden took
th e o verall vict ory with a 3-2 compar ed
to Neill Cooper's second place 2· 3.
Steve Wise is p resentl y in second
pl ace in 12 5 Nation al Championship
standings and he and Don Kudalski have
each wo n Natio n al m oto's th is y ear. No t
bad t alen t for a regular Sunday
motocro ss.' Steve came today to try and
get in so me goo d p ractice on the track
whi ch will b e ho sting th e six th race of
th e 125 Na tional Champ ionship series
this ne xt w eekend. He will be looking to
improve his st andin g on a tr ack which
he likes to ride and did very well on last
year, finishin g second behind Marty
Smith at the NationaL
As , exp ecte d , the start o f the 125
Expert first moto saw Wise in the lead
an d T eam Poland's Don Kudalski glued
to Stevie 's rear fender. They flew
around th e hilly Cyclerama circuit fo r
tw o lap s but on th e third lap Don ran
into the back of Wise, twisting his knee
as h e w ent down. He was out for the
da y bu t said he wo uld be ready for ne xt
week's Na tio nal. Steve went on to an
easy victory, slacking off the pace near
moto's end to keep h is FMF Honda
from seizing. David Daniels, closing fast
a t the end finished second. Wise again
shot into the lead at th e start of th e
second mota , but not feeling well, he
was unable to hold the pace. David
Dan iels on a Honda got by with abo ut
four laps to go and

