Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Clark replaces Shick as Yamaha Nat'l Racing Manager By Charles Morey Rcitt Tibblin (left) has won nearly every S.C.O.R.E. event once and this year's Parker 400 ,w as no exception. Bob Balentine (right) rode his second S.C.O.R.E. event and, w ith Tom Kelly, finished second bike and first 250. _ behi nd him was Bob Rutten , tak ing his turn o n Bruce Ogi lvie's 250cc Ha rley -Davi dson . . Race action shifted back to th e A rizona side a nd much of the ac tion was in the pits . T he lead ing Husky h ad its clutch changed in fo ur m inutes and five seconds. Roeseler then set out on the final leg . a rerun of the first loop . Maze and Bun ry set out on ly to ha ve problems a nd drop ou t of th e ra ce . The Kelly/B al ent ine KTM had its rea r shoc ks replaced . O ut on the co urse , Kelly was passed by Ogilvie . who was destined to d ro p out ne!ir C heck ' One with co untersha ft problems. Roe seler enco untere d a lot of traffic suc h as stragglers fro m th e four-wheel classes , play vehicles a nd kids o n m ini bikes . T he co u rse was che wed up by the ca rs, a nd thus Roesele r wa s about two m inutes off his first loo p t im e, en d ing u p with a 47 .22 mph average fo r t he entire rac e . At the fin ish ther e was a lot of hand sha king, assorted smi les, donat ed b ubb ly, cham p ag ne sho wers for nearby spectators a nd lining up for the traditiona l " W e wonn itl" pi ctu res . Tib blin st aye d unt il the following d ay, wh ile Roeseler left a bo ut an hour after fini sh in g to ri de a nd win the Soboba G rand P rix . Their time was five m inu tes fas te r than the first buggy , driven by Ivan Stew art . T he second place buggy was d ri ven by Bud Feldkamp a nd Ma lcolm Sm ith . T he latter a lso raced a t So boba , fini shing seco nd . Kell y was the seco nd rider to fin ish . He and Ba lent ine a lso went through the champagne a nd pi ctures ro utine as the Class 21 (250) winners , Class 2 1 finishers proliferated. T h e ne xt bik e to fin ish was that of R ick Finger and Rick Secor (250 Hus). T he two San Diego-a rea riders ea rned seco nd in cla ss. Marc Kn udsen a nd Max Switzer (250 KT M) fini shed 12 mi n ut es later. J oe J ones a nd Todd Ma rtella (H us) fini sh ed beh ind the win ners in Class 22 . T he Cla ss 20 wa r produced som e inter est ing ba ttl es. St eve Rion ( 125 Yam) sta rt ed first - a nd led th em into th e firs t A rizona fin ish. Carl Cra n ke ( 125 Pen ) sta rted ne a r the en d and made up a lot of time . Mit ch Payton ( H us) was a lso among th e lea ders. Rion's pa rtner SCOtt Pfeiffer and C r anke's pan ner Eric J enson both dropped o ut on the C a liforn ia sid e. J eff Ka pl an took ove r o n the H usky a nd was th e first rider in tha t class to Bruce Lewellyn (pictured) and Jack Froelich easily won the sparselycontested Class 38. com plete th e Ca lifornia loo p. T hey we re the last e ntry to fi nish the com plete race in under eight hours, win ni ng by 25 minutes ove r P aul Eddy and Ron Laffranchi (Yam). O n ly two bikes ent ered the C lass 38 , fo r rid ers 38 yea rs of ag e or older. Jack Fr oelich and Bru ce Lew ell yn (Yam) won eas ily with an ela psed tim e of eigh t ho urs , fo u r minu t es. L arry Nicholson and J ohn Wa t kins (Hus) were ot he r co m pe ti to rs in that class to fin ish . ' In th e money de partm ent , Roeseler an d T ibblin won $2 ,365 fo r th e overall vict ory, T he tro ph y pr esent a tion was held at th e Coo rs di stributor a nd free bee r wa s p ro vid ed to t he people sta ndi ng a ro und in th e wa rm (around 90 degrees) afternoon. The local radio st a ti o n c a r r ie d ra c e report s th roug ho ut ra ce da y a s well as broadcasting th e awa rds ce re mony . • Results ClASS 22: 1. Larry Roeseler/RoMTibb lln (Hus) -nhr: 02.34 min; 2. Joe JonesITodd Manella lHusl, 7:41.01. 3. Steve s.zekulaiJohn Fero (Yaml 8:0722. 4. Pete Kinney 8:28.27. 5. Ron Bishop/M ike Harper (Suzl 8:43.29. 6. Rayman RosoiI harIes Rynn (HuoI 9:05.45. C 7. Denby Daily/Jay DrendofM (Yam!. 9:21.12. 8. Donald l ew is/Clyde Reese C Hus). 9:23.27. W inner averaged 4722 mph. ClASS 21: 1. Tom Kelly/Bob Balentine (KTM), 7:17.02. 2. Rick Finger/Ric Secor IHusl. 7:22.08. 3. Marc Knudsen/Max Sw itzer IKTMI. 7:37.25. 4:. Max Edd y/Charl es Barney IM ail. 7:4 4 .11. 5. A.C. Bakk en/M ark Blackw ell ' (Suzl. 7:49.19. 6. Robert Massey/Dave Hopk ins. 7:53.29. 7. Leroy Kyger/M el Chapman (Yam), 7:56.25. 8. Mike Purdy/Fred Hensen IKTM!. 7:58.48. 9. Mike McNamara/Phil Stumbo IBull. 8:26.18. 10. David Riker/M ark Riker (Suzl. 8:34.58. W inner averaged 46.79 mph. CLASS 20: 1. Mitch Payton/Jeff Kaplan (Husl. 7:59.20; 2. Paul Eddy/Ron LaMranchi IYam). 8:24.45. 3. Leonard Sikorski/Kevin Davis. 8:26 .06. 4. Rod Ahlstro ml Rex Frehener, 8:29.1 2. 5. Rolan d M cFaddon/Mi ke Mattock (Yaml . 8:29.42. 6. Kirk Kon tilis/A lec Pett erso n (Yam l. 8:33.02. 7. Dan Wineba rger/Frank Gould. 8:37.44. 8. James M eans Sr./James M eans Jr .• 9:12.54. 9. Eric Spaeth/Ed Rod ine lHusl. 9:41.09. 10. Michele Griffi n/Ralph Griffi n (Husl. 9:41.34. Wi nner ageraged 42.66 mph. CLASS 38: 1. Jack Froelich/Bruce Lewellyn {Yaml. 8:04.29. 2. Larry Nicholson /Jo hn Wa tkins IHusl . 9:16.05. Wi nner averaged 42.21 mph. " It's more of a logistics job than anyt hi n g else ," Ken Cla r k modestly descri bed his positi on as N ational Racing Manager for Yama h a Motor Co r p o r a tio n , U.S.A. He the n adm itted , " It 's a big job , though. You've got to cover a lot of ground. " R ep lacing fo rmer NRM P e te Schick , C lark is responsib le fo r the firm's entire m o tor racing program in c1uding motocross, the A MA Grand Na tion al/Camel P ro circui t, the In tern ationa l Six Days Trial program a nd snowmobile racing as well. " T he wa y it 's set u p now . . . (with specia li sts working on in d ivid u a l programs ) .. . it 's rea lly the bes t system," Clark co nti n ued, ' explaining how he coo rd ina te s a team of moto rcycle ex pert s. Kel Car ruthers works on Kenny Rob erts road racing machinery whil e Ba be D eMay a n d Nick De ligianis tune t he factory d irt tra ck bikes. Ed Scheidler , Motocross Super. visor , oversees t h r ee to p notch m echa nics -- Keith McCarty, Larry Carpenter and Jim Fell. And Bill St ewa rt is receiving help from former MX wre nch Do n D udek in the Six Da ys p rogram . Ya ma ha is expanding co m p a ny ra ci ng interes ts thi s yea r , and has m a de at least one major policy chance to faci litate the growth. In the past , divis ions of Yamaha have not crossed ea ch ot hers' bou nd aries -. fo r examp ie , American Yamaha MX riders have n ot been allowed to race in the Canadian 50 0cc G P , the territory of Yamaha Motor Ca n a d a . I n 1977 , however , Yamaha Motor Co rporation, U. S. A. will send Pierre Karsmakers to . Europe to contest in World Cham pionship competiti on. Pierre will be accom p anied by Ed Scheidler. . " Pierre is primarily a developm ent rider , a nd whe re's the best place to do developm ent if not in Europe?" Clark offered . The ISDT effort has been expanded to in clude six riders in p lace of the previous three-man team . When q uestioned about a ru mor tha t he wou ld be m ore com munica tive than his predecessor , Cl ark decl ined comment. T o suggest tha t he wou ld , he felt , wo uld infer uni ntend ed criticism of Schick. Still , after talking with Yamaha's new National Racing Manager, we can't help but feel that dealing with their rac in g dep artment will be an enjoyable assignment in 1977 . • 9

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