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/126065
Top competitors insist on Larry Tho mpson .. Los Altos, Ca. On Decembe r 25 , 19 75 , seventeen year ol d L ar r y T ho m pson received h is sp o nso rsh ip for the 1976 ISDT. A cer ti fic ate signed b y the Cla us fam ily (Mrs. " T iger" and Mr . "Splash" Claus) appeared un d e r th e Christmas tree w it h his nam e at th e to p . It wasn 't, however , a free gift. Ther e we re . certai n cond itions. five to be exac t, that had t o be met. Larry had t o maintain gr ad es o f " B " or b etter; h e h ad to graduat e; he had t o q ualify in th e T wo -Day series ; h e h ad t o b e able to change a tir e in four minutes ; and lastly , he had t o empty th e trash co m p ac tor regularly fori Mom. Larry 's dad, Ken Thompson, is , very proud to announce tha t Larry qualifi ed in all ca ses . Fellow KTM rid er Lar s Larsso n sa ys o f Larry , "You have. to be impressed: the kid never m ak e s any mistak es o n th e t rail. " That qu o te cam e afte r he 'd , p assed Larry wh o was on th e sid e of th e trail with hi s rear wh eel off changin g a fl at. T hree m inutes later , Larr y rep assed Lars. A t th e ne xt ch eck h e d id ano the r tire change with twelv e m in u tes t o sp a re! "Larry says tha t hi s drive t oward Six Days is to ge t th at US A helm e t," hi s father wro te , "bu t it 's obvious after trying to stay with h im th a t he j ust loves cro ss coun try riding !" to 'rid e trials is simple. li e likes to rid e motorcycles. a nd he views the tough Europe an riders as a cha llenge w h ich he must rne e t .> Dennis Vandecar .. Okemos, Mich. " I th in k t hat the IS DT is the ult im ate eve nt for a d ir t rid er . T o qualify is an honor: to finish is a b ig' ac hi eve men t; an d to win a G o ld - that 's wh at it's all ab out fo r t he individ ual !" T he " Bicy cle peddler fro m Lansing" De n n is Vande ca r has bee n in the bi cy cle b usi ness f o r fo urteen years and presently ow ns tw o store s. He 's m arried , a lso for fourt een y ears, to Diane, and th ey have tw o yo u ngste rs, David who 's twelve and eight year o ld J on . Although th e thirty-six year o ld Penton rider h as be en ridi ng m o to rcycles since th e age of se ven, it wasn ' t until th e last th ree years th a t h e " re ally go t se rio us ." P eo pl e w ho h ave b ee n ex t rernejy hel p ful t o h im ar e La rry Maiers, J ac k a nd T o m Pen t on and Da ne Leimb ach, all fro m Pe nto n Imports . Th ey, alo ng w ith all th e Pe n t on sup po rt peopl e , we re "a lwa ys read y t o give lots of valu able in fo rmation and h elp ." Plu s , Denny co ncl ud es, " No ne of it wo uld ' h ave b ee n p o ssible witho ut m y w ife's unders tanding and supp ort th ro ughout th e who le season." Ricky Weathersbee .. Sumter, S,C. Billy Uhl -- Boise, Id. One Two-Day th at will always remain pro minent in Billy Uh I's memory is th e 1976 Two Day s in Al abam a m eet where he acco m p lished a " mission impossib le" feat with all t he tension and dra ma of any episo d e o f th e T V show . At th e end o f -day one. it becam e ob vio us that his bike, a 175 cc Hercules , needed a top , end rebuild if it w as to finish th e second da y . Billy actually rep laced the e nti re cyli n der/p isto n assembly d uring th e fiftee n minute mainten an c e p er iod o n the m orning of t he seco nd d a y -- in fac t . it took h im only 13 1/2 m inute s to d o it . lie we nt o n to fi nish seco nd in clas s in A labama much to the deligh t of h is di sb e liev ing aud ie nce . Twenty-five yea r old Billy is married to a p retty girl he calls Deb . and they have a two yea r o ld son. Brec kc n . T hey reside in Bo ise where he , hi s brother Mike a nd fa ther Herb run a bike shop that's b ee n there for twent y -two years. H i s sp are l i me pastime s in cl ud e b a c kp a c k in g , c ro ss co u n t ry sk iing. idcn 1 ifyin g and c o llec t ing herbs a nd ' a n. in te res t in ..m t iq u cs. Prest o n Pe t r y . who helped Bill y ge t to Si x Day s in Eng land in 19 69 a nd wh o h a s helped sp o nsor h im in th e qu al ifiers e ver sinc e . hea d ed UhI's th ank -y ou list. Te d Lapadak is , Jac k Kri zm an , !I erb Uh l an d Pun ch Dcy o all helped hi m to . his first ISD T . For Hillv Uh l. t h e a ns we r to whv h e in vests all 't h e nece ssarv t ime a nd mo ney :\ m ach inist and part time student a t t h e Univ ersity ' o f South Carolina. t w e n t vv t h r e e y ea r o ld Ri ck y Weath ersbee spe n t the Two -Day se ries traveling with fello w south ea s tern rider Jeff Hill and Hill's parents. • " I would especi ally like to th ank ~ I r . a nd Mrs, Bob Hill wh o were a ve ry bi g hell' . ..th ey treated me as o ne o f th e fami ly, and I spen t m an y da y s and nigh ts at their home and using th ei r wo r kshop p reparing m y b ik e between even ts ," Ricky stated in h is repl y. A lso on th e Weathe rsb ee th an k -y o u lis t ar e Ray McC oy , owner o f Ra y 's Suzu k i Cycle Cen te r for support w ith the bike an d parts, R oge r Brown , Footh ills " H o nd a and . o f co urse , the Pen to n Im p o rt s gang. O u tsi de of m ot orcycl ing, Ric ky is invo lved with tenni s. b ask e tb all a nd water skiing . li e's also Maste r Maso n o f Claremont Lodge No . 64. His o nly problems w it h the T wo -Day series o u tsid e of a ten -st itch c h in wo und in a Ft. H o od c ras h. w ere mec hanical an d dropped him from Go ld to Silve r on ' t w o- o ccas io ns . CompetitionWheels and Rims Sun rims are rapidl y becom ing the cho ice of leadi ng U.S. and Euro pean champ ion s o f MotoCross, Enduro, ISDT and CrossCo u n t r y events - any p l a ce w here t he go i ng ge ts to ugh . A m e r ic a n made to e JTac t in g quality standards from the finest heat treat ed alloy to prope rly fit all compet it ion cyc les . Co m- Super Sun Rims are available Ir om: Torsten-Hallman Racing Addison, IL C olumbia. MD Webco, Inc. Venice, CA EI Cajon. CA Iron Horse Ho~ ston, TX Hi-Point Accessories Lorain. DH Sacramento, CA Amarillo, TX Moto-Cross Engineers Wilbraham. MA Ma!colm Smith RaCing Products Flal Track Sizes: H. J. Products _ Riverside, CA South Bend, IN KTM Canada, Ltd. . Kirkland, Duebec CLASS B MIJ MEMBER Gary Younkins -- Hubbard, Oh . Gary Younkins, a tw en ty year old self e mployed st one m aso n . rode h is fir st IS DT last year o n t he Isle of Ma n and ea rned a G old Med al . In this year's e vent , the ca p ab le O h io a n is part ~ f th e U n ited States' first " mixed " Wo rld Trophy Team, Gary will ride one o f two P e n t 0 115 o n th e six m a ll (o n five different motorcycle brands) team . Gary's pu rsuit of qualifying p oints in the Two-Day seri es was made m o re com ple x , not b y any. riding problems . but b y having to t ake o ver th e family business whe n his d ad broke h is ankle a nd ribs in an ac cid e n t. It m ad e his j ob o f ge lling to t he qualifie rs a lo t ro ugher. "I ri de fo r fu n an d fu lfi llm ent whethe r it's jus t lo ca l races or b ig ones," Gary says of h is reaso n fo r being i nv o lve d i n th e h i gh c o s t , no n-p ro fessio nal sport. He con tinued, " It's the grea test fee ling whe n yo u wi n . A lot o f t imes I a p p re ciate a tro p h y m o re th an m oney because if yo u wan t to rem e m be r a special race , yo u have a trop h y to lo o k at ; wi th m o ney you ca n ' t. If they started ' giving mo ney , I'm sure it would tu rn into a d og -eat -do g sport. Th en I w ould 't be raci ng for fu n a nd fulfillmen t ." Like man y o th e r rid ers. Gary o wes h is main than k y o u to the people a t Pe n to n Im p ort s. pletely mud- free design . Sphericall y drilled spo ke holes avoid weak spo ts found in dim pled o r punched rims; and provide for ea sier, lo nger lastin g tr uei ng . Spec ial Drive Pin holes are pr ovided in all rims as well as rim lock mounting holes to give you your choice of anti-slip sec urity. 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