Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. =Western hotline ~ t Bob Nolan's bruising crash (above) turned the Caldato/Neilson Ital-Jet into an instant winner. (Ins et! Em de : no-sweat victory in two classes. AFM RR: Caldato's Ital-Jet finally wins -without Caldato By John Ulrich O NTARIO , CA L., S EPT. 19 Coo k Neilson won his GP debut and made It al-] et factory rid er Mario Caldato's 50cc into a class winner for th e first time today. 14 When Caldato, 15, rides the new Ital-] et, his finish depends most upon how many people enter the race. But Ne ilso n passed the entire 50cc field except for usual winner Bob Nolan's Mota Villa - after getting away from the d ead-engine start last. It was plain to see why Neilson easi ly caught and passed ever y one of his co m p e t i t o rs ex cep t Garavogl iaEng ineering-sp onso red No lan . Where other riders shut off and went arou nd turns barely leaning , Neilson (Who usually races a 883cc Ducati in Open Superstreet] kept the gas on and dove in to t he corners. At one point in the race, Neilson was seen running down the front straight while sitting on the tail isect io n of the tin y motorcycle, trying to find a co mfo rtab le seating position. Ne ilso n was wen ahead of the 50cc pack, but far behind first place, when leader Nolan crashed heavily, late in the race. That left Neilson with first place. Mario Caldato and crew were ecstatic. "There's only two comers on the entire racetrack with one of these bikes, " said Neilson after the race. Fo r the first time in his racing career , Neilson had scraped the knee of his leathers. In more ser io u s racing, Mike Parriott ran away with Open Production on his Yoshimura R&D of America Kawasaki Z-l. Steve Mallonee was sec ond from the start on his Mr. Jags Triumph 870cc Trident, with Paul Ritter trailing for third overall an d first 750cc on his Ducat i Sport. Fourth in that race was Fred Koren, riding his Honda 5 50 surprisingly hard o n the OntarioShort Course "backwards." (This race was run co u nter-c loc kw ise in the style of the 1974 and 1975 Ontario Nationals, o pposite t h e usual direction of travel ) Korb 's Trading Post 's Dick Fuller won bot h 410 Production and 600 Sup er st reet on his Yamaha R5 35 0. Full er 's 410 win was easy, but th e Superstreet win took some work. It seems Fred Koren had o t her id eas than to just watch Fuller run away. Some racers spectating the duel p roclaimed it Fu ller 's hardest ride from the side lines. But Fuller pulled it off. The fastest bike in the 600ccdivision of Superstreet ended up an embarrassing 11th overall, sixth in class. A 500cc Yoshima Racing Service Honda CB400F charged off the grid from b ehind to reach the first turn ahead of 25 bikes of all sizes, second only to Steve Mallonee's 870cc Trident, which won Open Superstreet, Hampered by a r ider who ju st couldn't get it together with CR car b u reto r s and slicks, the b ike quickly faded in position, p assin g only o n the straights, and losing lots of ground in the infield. David Emde again won both 250cc and Open GP, never even having to push it in the 250 class , but challenged for a few laps in Open by AMA Expert Robert Wakefield. Wakefield and Emde traded the lead six times in t hree laps, with Emde finally pulling away. It was Emd e's first time on Gene Romero 's Don Vesco TZ750 . This time it wasn't Romero's spare, but rather his full-on AMA Heavyweight racer. The bike, according to Ernde , was both faster and better-handling t h an Romero's spare, which Ernde has ridden in several races lately. In the 250cc class , Emde bumped off the dead-engine start third, but almost instantly took the lead on his Mack Kambayashi T Z250 monoshocker - and left everyo n e else b ehind. Ernde made it look ea sy , always turning consistent times, always taking the same lines through the tunrs, always leadning over farther than anyone else on the track. • Results in Results Section. Saturday MX-a Trans-AMA sneak preview By Danny Raymond ORA NGE, CAL., SEPT. 18 This week's Saturday MX was highlight ed by a very large Pro turnout, du e to a $500 purse. The pits look ed like a preview o f the N o ve m be r T ran s-M IA. Fac t ory Kawasakis, Suzukis, Hondas, Can -Ams , even the Jones Islos, and Ossas were out in force. As the dust cleared after the start of t h e first 500 Pro rac e Jimmy Wein ert (Kaw) led ' the charge, leaving Gary Semics (Kaw), Luke Messer (Mai ) and Pierre Karsmakers (Hon) looking for the lead. As the pack spread ou t Gaylon Mo sier (Mai) Came fr om a poor st art to pressure Weinert and finally got by after Jimmy stalled. Messe r and Karsmakers go t a little too close and tangled up, sending them both to the sid eline. As the checkers ne ared, Weinert wa s making a hard charge on the leaders but had to settle into third behind Mosier and Sernics, " Dur in g t he second m ota Mosier got down to business and quickly holeshot his Factory Maico into a very lar ge, long lasting lead. Grossi ran second until both Semics and Weinert motored their big Green Machines past the " Sugar Bear ." "Radical" Rich Thorwaldson (Suz) held down a strong fifth, and fmally fourth after Grossi DNF 'ed. When the checkered flag was brought into sight Mosier . finished first, Semics second, Ron T urner picked up third, after Weinert dropped out During the 250 Pro action Mid-Valley's Factory Ossa rider, Greg Robertson , broke Bob Elliott's lon g string of wins. After placing seco nd in the first moto, behind Elliott, Robertson scored the second moto win after a 40 minute battle with Elliott, John Hateley (KTM) , Mike Runyard (C-A) an d even Gary Jones (AMMEX) . Results in Result s Section.

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