Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I NORTHERN IIA'FEM s In the Mini classes Jim Cunningham from Pebble Beach demonstrated why he prefers the bumps and berms by grabbing both the 80 and Open Expert Mains. In the 80 class' Jim's strongest challenge came from new Expert Scott Nugent who pressured most of the way and then dropped out with mechanical trouble. Diminutive Cory Cantaloupi (Yes, there's another one.) inherited second while several racers challenged for third, Jeff Mason nipped Mike Wilson at the line for the spot. Cunningham struggled for the Open win with Salinas ace Gary Johnson and was able to slip by near the end for the first. t t.O r0') ,....; Big bike Expert competition saw the return of some berm types and the continuation of Can-Am's domination in the 250 class. MX'er Don Cantaloupi had a pretty good day -as he tied Oakdale's Rod Greener for the 125 Main victory after so me controversial claims and disclaims of tire cutting. Don then proceeded to blitz the tro o ps - on a 125 - in the King of the Pond race. Don jumped to the front - and kept waiting for Jorgy to show but Alex cautiously worked his way from a back row start an d could not get there in ti me. Jorgy did lead the near Can-Am sweep of the 250 Expert Main as he jumped out from the start and was never headed. Friend Mike Jennings on another Jorgy's machine held second while Bill Rose, Allen Yarrow, and Kim Jorgensen hassled over third an d fourth. Rose and Yarrow ended up in the payoff spots in that order. Jorgy's win put him within five points of brother Kim in the battIe for the VRA Gold Plate. • Real dirt! Real trees (note shadel! MX NorCaI style at Ridgerunners. starring the 125 Novices. Ridgerunners -MX season finale By Gerry Reagan WATSONVILLE, CAL., ocr. 3 The Ridgerunners Motorcycle Club of Santa Cruz wrapped up their third season of motocross racing with a perfect day. Rains the week before had left thetrack soft and tacky, making for-excellent traction and very little dust. The weather cleared by race day and the temperatures were in the high 70's as riders co mp eted for first pl ace cash and trophies. The 125 Expert clash saw both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in the most vivid way. In rnoto one Jim Lesniewski (Hus) got the holeshot. Kelly Hardman (Ho n) moved to a good second with Jeff Watts (Hus) third and Kent Classen (KTM) fourth . On lap three Classen moved into third and began to ch ase Hardman while Watts main tained a solid fourth . Then, a co up le of laps later, Hardman went down , allowing Watts and Classen to get by. He got going again in ninth pla ce and was able to work his way ba ck up by the end o f the moto to sixth. In the se cond motoit was Watts with the lead but Hardman soon moved by to tak e over. Watts wasn 't going to let him get away though and rode right on Hardman's ba ck fender, almost getting by a co up le of times but not able to gra b the lead. Meanwhile J im Lesniewski, who was running third, su ffere d part of the ago ny that was to co m e down in this race when his engine quit and he had to drop out. Classen, who had fini shed second in moto one, had trouble and lost four places, putting him in seventh while his brother Kipp Classen (Hon) moved into third. With one lap to go it was still lIardman in the lead but on the way into the back section he hit a bump the wrong way and did a great end-o, riding ab ou t ten yards on his fron t wheel be fo re he crashed. Watts, who was right behind him almost hit Hardman's bike but managed to get by to take an easy win. Hardman was back up and on his wa in a flash , bein assed only by Watts and Kipp Classen who moved into second. . Watts took first overall by virtue of his third and first place moto finishes and Hardman 's persistence had netted him a fourth for the day. Kipp Classen finished second overall and his brother Kent, who had moved back up to fourth in the second moto, finished third overall. In other action, Shawn McConn (Yam) had to fight for the overall win in 125 Amateur after taking the first moto by storm. He got off the line in terrible shape in the second moto and had to work up from way back in the pack, moving into the third on the last lap . The whole 125 Amateur race was a seesaw battle as Mike Sch alow (lIon) and Scott >French (Hon) b attled back and forth for second in mo to one; and Miki Sanders (Hon) and Rob Stuart (Hus) fought for second in moto two. Bob Galliett (Hon) ran off wit h the second moto but had done poorly in moto one. Consistency paid off for Dal e Pirlo (Yam) who finished the motos six and five for second overall. Scott Caldwell had some bad lu ck in division one of the 125 Novi ce race . He rode his Suzuki to a first in moto one an d got the holeshot in moto two but lost his fuel line at the end of the first lap. Jon Miller (Ho n ) put in a good ride to take first overall, 1-4. In the second division Open Novice ra ce Budd y Latham (Suz) had some bad luck in the first moto when his bike st alled while he was running second. He go t it going again after dropping to eighth place and was able to hang on until the end of the moto. Mike Callaway rode his Maico to an easy win in that moto but for moto two it was Latham in the lead and Callaway back in fourth. Latham continued to lead while Callaway fo ught his way up into second. With one lap to go Callaway managed to get by to take the win and the overall with Latham holding onto second. Steve Garcia rode a smooth race, finishing fourth and fifth in the motos for a second overall. The Ridgerunners, who are one of the very few ' motorcycle clubs that hold motocross races in northern California, will be taking a few months off since the winter rains make their track almost unridable, They will be back in April and will spend the winter devising new ways to improve their already tremendous track. • California State IT Championships Sandhill Ranch MX By Cosmic Cat & Co. By T, Houser Two hundfed and twenty riders, the top talent of District 35, 36, 37, and 38 met head on Satur day night at the Tulare County Fair- TULARE, CAL., BRENlWOOD, CAL., OCT. 3 It was the last weekend of the six-week high point series. T here -was great excitement in the I\Iini Division _with Dave Nicodemo going into Sunday's competition only one-half a point ahead of Frank Hastings. But Hastings beat out Nicodemo, winning both motos to win the RD60 Yamaha, donated by Lafayette Sportcycles. Tom Worth was way out front in points in the 100 Division in the series, winning the Kenny Roberts MX bike frame, donated by Concord Yamaha. Dave Houser was second. The winner in th e 12 5 class was Roger :\Ieek, with Mike Brown second. Mark Lane was the overall winner in the 250 Division and David Leat in the 125 Intermediate class. High point winner in the Open Junior class was Greg Douglas, and John Dotson took -top honors in the Old Timer; Gary Jacques was first in the Vets category. Jacques won a $30 merchandise order from Dam Cycle as did John Dotson.J & H Cycle, Concord, donated a $30 merchandise order also. Other prizes were donated by Cycle City, Concord Honda, Kawasaki West, I Dirt Factory, Infinity Paint, Hap Jones _ I Diablo Kawasaki, and Walnut Creek Honda. • Rough trackin' returns to Pioneer By Ann Carr OAKDALE, CAL., ocr. 3 Racers came out of the woodwork on this sunny afternoon in the Central Valley as rough scramblin' returned to the Pioneer Arena. ocr. 2 gro unds for the Second Annual California State IT Champ ion ships. Each district was asked to send its top 12 riders in each of the seven respec tive classes to decide who was the state's best. District 35 had revenge fever after losing the overall title to 0-36 last year. The 0 -35 hotshoe did have the home track advantage but no one expected a total 0-35 dominance. Example: Of seven events, 0-35 took five firsts, including the top three places in four events. " Heavy rains the day before made track condition a little trying, especially the front straight. "Tulare's always good," remarked Scott Dinkins, D·35's top tracker, "But tonight it's just too muddy, guys are getting into tank-slappers down the straight. " Bakersfield's Rob Ely (Yam) started the 0-35 tidal wave with a green flag holeshot of the Mini Main with Mike Vital (Yam) and a top small bore from ' Stockto n , Tracy Hays (Yam) foll owing. Ely aboard his "Orange Power" Yamaha proceeded to stretch his lead to the checkers while Vital held down second. Ten year old Robert Land (Yam) made it a 0-35 sweep when he outpowered Hays through the right-hander of lap three for third. 0-35 continued to flex it s muscles by sweeping the ne xt eve nt, the 100cc Main. Tulare 's Mike Garrison (Yam) was in the top spot after a hard fo ught battle with Danny King (Yam) and Richard Sing (Suz). Gary Clark (Yam) took an early lead in the 125cc bout but it wasn't enough to stop D-37's Number One man, Mike Tidwell (Yam) . Tidwell reeled Clark in on the back straight of lap two and sped on to be the 125cc State Champ. Clark, meanwhile, had his hands full with

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