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/126068
; • • ~ t t.O r--- O"l ., ...... C\I ...... l-< 0 ..0 ... 0 U 0 Cliff Simpson (41 and Mike Tarter (31x) holeshot the Lake Whitney 250 Intermediates. Cliff held on for thi rd overall. GNC draws record number to Trick / Track • By Leota Jordon L UBB OCK, TEX., SEPT. 19 The second GNC Mo tocross Qualifier had to be stop ped sho rt because o f a sudde n 45 minute , down p ou r. T he co mpetition was grea t and th e race s we re fan tastic u n til th en. The record number of riders had no thing but compliments for the new addi tions to th e track. ' T he . ,125 EXl;'ert class was led b y Morris Ba ker (Hon) one of Texas' fastest 'and fi nest riders with J o e Jordan (Suz) in close pursuit, J o rd a n gives c re d it to his new tuner Dennis Brewster. and Donnie Westfall ( Pe n ) h o ldi ng a strong third. T he 250 Expert class kep t the spec ta t ors wa tch ing close with all the changing in positions tak in g place . Ju hn Po or (Kaw) led half the race but John T er ry ( Pen) came fro m the m idd le o f the pac k to take firs t and held it while R ic Pe ll is (C-A ) an d G ary J o hnson (Bu l) • fou ght it out fo r second and third. Resul ts in Resul ts Sec ti on. • Definitely MX· at Lake Whitn~y By Dave Nielsen WHITNEY, TEX., SEPT. 12 The alway s dem andin g circuit at Whit ney was again th e stage for some super fin e m ot ocross racing, on a balmy Indian summer" day" ... ' " . th at saw a good turnou t of riders gass ing for tro phies, $7 00, and points in th e Grand National Ch am pio nship MX program. Young Pr o s Mit ch Mils o n, Louis Pre sley , Roger Brown, and Mel Ne wman were ou tstandi n g in 125 a nd 250 Exper t. wh ile ubiquitou s Wyman Priddy headed th e p ay lin e in th e O pen. David Greenh ill and chuck T aylor co n tinu ed to u p se t th e Japanese m achinery in 125 Novice actio n, go ing 1- 2 for class h onors aboard Husky and Penton, while J im Calv er t's qu ick riding and holeshot Hon da ea rned him a t hird ov erall. Win ning the 10 0 cc class a t Wh itn e y is fast becomin g a h ab it for Mark Loving (Y am), wh o too k charge after '. firs t·rou nd w inner Mike Walc o ll (Suz) wen t do wn in turn one of the final mot o. Loving pu lled by early le ader Guy A llen (Suz) an d took first at 2- 1 ove r Alle n (3-2) and Walcott, wh o cu t t h ro ugh th e pack fo r third, fin ishing 1-6 . I t w as David DiCorte 's d ay in the 125 In term edi at e class until he became another vic tim of a Whi tney killer sweeper a nd drop ped h is Yamaha in fron t of every bo dy just afte r the second m o to start. David J o nes , who had shadowed DiCorte in round o ne , flo gged his Ho nda the remaining eigh t la ps tu victory, while DiC orte rode a n amazing drive b ack to fourth place and second O A over J im Ewin g (Hon , 4-3) and Mike Hawthorne (Suz. 9-2) . Husqvarna-p o wer ed Bre t Combs had the trac k wi red again to sw eep Open In termed ia te, while R o nn ie and Jimmy Ho llo way took tw o firsts for Hadwick Su zuki in 250 Novice and Inte rm ed iate divisio ns . .Ar lin gt o n Suzu ki's Louis Presle y and Mel Ne wm an co n trolle d · t he 12 5 Experts, as expec ted. A nother Zuke loo k th ird in both ten- tappers with Mik e Hullett a t the rc in s. Newman als o won th e first round o f 250 Expert in a spirited bo ut wi th Mil ch Milso n (llus ), Roger Bro wn (C.A), a nd Wyman Pr id d y ( Bul), wh o was eve-n tu ally fo rced to fade due to a busted fro n I wheel. Ne wman's lu ck ra n sh ort in th e seco nd mot o , h o wever, as Milson was n o t go ing fo r Mel 's attempt t o p ass o n th e third lap . The RM250 a nd Ne wman cartwheeled in th e sand, while Roger Brown re mained in fr ont the whole t ime, .ta kin g the win over Milson (3- 2), Mar tin Braz il ( Pen, 7-3 ), and Dave Perry (S uz, 6-4) . After throwing spokes everywhere ,in the 250, it was Prid dy 's tu rn' for a lit tl e heIp fro m Lady Lu ck in th e O p en class. Ro ger Brown (Pe n ) and Wy m an were running a cl ose 1-2 u n til lap three. wh en a loo se coi l wire killed Br own's motor and chances for first, Pr iddy c ru ised in ahead of fo r a I- I p ayo ff, Pennsyl vani a 's J ohn Ay ers (Mai, 3-2) , Darrell Ho llingshead [Hus, 5-3 ), a nd R an d y T arter [Suz, 4-4). It was Ro nn ie Warman (Yam) all the way in J u nior Min i races, an d a di re scrap in Sen ior Min i wen t t o T ony Nielsen (lion , 2- 1) over Distr ic t 2 0 n um ber o ne Buc ky Houst on ( Yam , 1-2) , with T ro y R ogers (Ya m ) third both ti m es. • Resul ts in Resu Its Se ction. Gold diggers mob Mosier Valley MX By Dave Nielsen A R LI NGT O N, T EX., AUG. 29 T he racing in No rt h Tex as this summer has bee n a week ly wo rk! out in sau na conditions, and today's mo tocross at l\losier Valley !\IX Park fo llo wed su it, with ove r 3 20 amateu r ty p es going fo r th e go ld an d Gato rad e. In every m oto , riders co u ld be seen a llestin g to th e heat as th ey p u lied o ff the p opu lar, bu I st ifling , Scott face gea r. Also on t ap were packe d startin g lin es, a Fa ther-Son minibik e eve n t. w at ermelon race. and free b eer kegs d o ....med in almost nothing flat, As u sual in .su rnm e r, th ough, th e re deeming social valu es of moto cross ar e super racin g and excelle nt bird watch ing. In additio n t o th e fun a nd games, m embers in the G rand Na tion al Championsh ip pro gram rac ke d u p qualifying p o ints in th eir quest to compe te in th e G NC Finals n ex t March in t he Astrodome. The T exas G NC M X Series is th e pilot p ro gram for t he n ew o rga nizatio n , wh ich is also run nin g in Lou isiana, Arkans as, Mississippi, an d Florida, wh ile o th e r states will be q u al ifying t he cream o f their crops in all e1asses during th e m o n th s preceedin g Marc h , 1977. For n o ap p ar en t reaso ns, th e 10 0cc . class almost t o a man h as j u mped in th e G ran d National pro gram, a nd is racin g with fervor no t seen befo re in th is class. In te n se riv alries have d eveloped, and with the vastly improved 100 Yamahas and Suzu kis, t hese dudes do so me serious stepp ing on t he vicious Mosier Vall ey co urse. This time out it was David San der s (Suz) ho ld in g point on the angry pack in both moots, an d Barry r.IcClish ( Ya m) dro pped his bid for second over:ill 10 Scott Tomlinson (Yam) o n th e last lap of t he fi al moto. n Some fine t alent is b eginnin g to emerge in the always crowded 125 Novice ranks, personified b y class divi sion winners Jimmy Whittcn ( Yam ) an d David G ree nhill, who saddles a rare 125 H usqvarna. No ca ke wa lks he re, th ough , as Ch uck T aylor and Mar ti n Talbot pushed to ru nn er up positio ns. Tal k ahou I fasl am a teu rs , and the 12 5 In te rmed iates co m e directly to mind. T hese youngsters hav e t he experience, gu ts , and skill t o win m oney classes in man y parts o f our lan d , b u I in the T exas MX ho tbed, go fo r tr ophi es and love it . In Division I, of roday 's 125 In t erm ed ia te class, Davey J unes did il ag ain for D-FW Hond a with a 1·1 sweep as con te n de rs Nick Cordov a a nd Bru ce Hallmark e nd ed flo orl" in the fin al, and Dan ny Flowers (Hon . ' 4- 2) look sec o nd overall. Divis ion .1I was a fu rio u s bout, wi th Waco 's Kevin McMill an cra sh ing h is Zu ki a nd lead 'o f the second heat 10 e nd u p secon d at 1-5 be hind class winner ;. I I I I 45

