Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

!IF Phil Wonder of Wichita Falls won the Rocky Top 250 class. Mitchell and .Edgeworth sell Mosier Valley By Dave Neilson Pr obabl y no tra ck in Midd le . Am erica has had th e success m onth after month for th e last three yea rs of Mosier Va lley MX Pa rk . just nort h of A rli ngton . Texas. As of M arch I . co -promo te rs D e Va ug h n Mi tc he ll and Da lc Edgeworth have sold promotion rights to David W al sh of Dall as. h imself a fa ther of two young racers. T he Mi tch ell-Edgewo rt h demented d uo tu rned fro m rid ing to race orga nizing back in '73. a nd m ade vast im proveme nts to Mosier's MX course . spari ng no effort o r exp"nse to hu ild t he m ost popular t rack serving Nort h Texas. H avin g m any of th e area 's best riders as personal fr ien d s d id n't hu rt ei the r , a nd th ey later fo rme d and spo nso red "Tea m W asted " to . first of a ll. have some g ri ns. a nd th en clea n hou se a t races- from H ou st on to Missouri spo rt ing a foot -h igh , red " W FO " o n th eir chests an d throrrl cs to m at ch. Eve r y fir st , thi rd , a n d fifth Su nday. Mosier Vall ey d raws rid e rs from a fo u r-sta te (a nd so met im es m o re) area . because of th e cas ua l at mosp he re, fri endl y and efficie nt t r a ck o ff icia ls . d epen d a b ili t y o f ru n ning and payin g off as sc hed u led . " It 's where th e co m peti tion is." But proba b ly m or e th an a nythi ng else . th e id eal d irt . terrain , a nd p repara tion m ak e th e course a t Mosier a joy fo r th e "rea l" rnot ocrosser to race on , ra in or shi ne . New promoter David W al sh has kept the track crew in tact a nd WFO will live on, h ut th e two crazies th at sta rte d it a ll ca n hardly be imi tated. mu ch less duplicated . • Batson dominates Experts at Rio Bravo By L. J. Dupl ichan HOUSTON , TX , MAR . 13 Ba rt Ba tson walked off with most of the ma rbles in Su nday's R io Bravo Expert act ion . As a wa rm up, he put fou rt h place 44 money in his leathers in the 250 Expert class aboard his new Maico. A few minutes later , he straddled his big orange ta nk Penton and rode to an easy first place in both motos in t he O pen Expert competition . Ba tson took the lead early and held off 17 hopefuls for the win . But Bat son wasn 't finished yet . He p icked up a n a dd itiona l SI 75 in t he specia l Ri o Bra vo Cash Dash feat uri ng the to p two fin ishers in eac h Experr class . Aga in he chose his Pe n to n to d o t he job and again he got the ho le shot. Sh aun Kell y (on a 125cc) was a close scco nd , but Ke ll ey's littl e Suz uki dev eloped a n engi ne ailment m id -wa y throug h th e race ending t he cha lleng e and leaving Bat son a ll a lon e up fro nt. T he u nd isput e d King of the Ama te urs on t his wa rm afternoon was Reid King . H e got the a drena line flowing by rid ing two p e rfecr rn ot os on a Suzuki in the 125cc Am ateur class. Moments lat er. he kicked a Suzuki 250 to life and th e race fo r seco nd pl ace was o n in th e 250 Amateur Division as King co m p letely domin at ed th at class by riding two mor", pe rfect rnoros. Resu lts in Re sults Secti on . First Texas climb of '77 - top time goes to Alford By Diane Polley WHITNEY , TX , MAR . 6 The 1977 Texas Hillclimbers season started off at : Lake Whitney Cycle Ranch . The climbers were greet ed with a reworked hill , a 1976 Champ ionsh ip Series presentatio n a nd th e a n no uncem ent of a n AM A Qual ifier Hillcl im b at Miner al W ells on Ma y 22 . Because of th e p lanne d q ual ifie r some class cha nges were m ade . A 175 class was added, the 350 class was cha nged 10 370 a nd th e o pe n cl ass was divid ed int o a 750 a nd a n Open class . The name of th e street classes was a lso changed to Enduro to be tter define th em . With many six -seco nd ti mes falling in the sma lle r clas ses it was expecte d that one of the Triumphs would hit th e fives; but that was not in th e ca rds . Will Alford on , a 250 a nd a 370 Bultaco captu red top time with rid es of 6.38 seconds . H e set ide ntica l times on both bik es and no o ne co uld d o any better. W ill is one of th e m ost co nsiste nt rid ers around a nd th is is just o ne more pie ce of evidence to prove it. Several rider s fro m th e frozen north came down to soa k up some of the T exas sunshi ne . Pat Farris and Da ve Burnham of Nebraska were the most successfu l. Pat pu t the wh ammy on the 100 cla ss and no on e could get close to him . In the 125 class, one of th e most competitive , he had a litt le more trouble. Less than three tenths of a second sepa ra ted the winners. Pat took his bike over in 7.68 seconds and thought that he had things sewed up in this class. Then Tracy Da vidson on a Yamaha tu rned the wick on and toppled Pat with a time of 7.56 seconds. Dave Burham and Steve Hopkins of Kansas took care of the 175 class with first and third places. Da ve also took home a trophy in the 370 class. A ra sh of different fac es wer e in th e 500 class. At the end of the fir st run Stan H ickey on a new 500 Yamaha th umper a nd Tony Hudson also on a Thumper thought that they , had everyth ing wrapped up. H enry Polley had different id eas because he had barely missed crashing at the 100 foot mark when his Yamaha 2-stroke landed cr oss ways and th en wanted to lay down. Henry th oug ht things over on his second try and then preceded to do it to 'em with a nearly flawless ride . Results in Resu lts Section. By E. W right McDonald wins sparsely attended Ft. Hood ST EL PASO , T X. FE B. 27 By Craig Randall Pete Tanner takes two at EI Paso Pet e T anner ( Pe n) easily won both motos in th e Open Expert a t the newly o rga n ized Star Track Motocross Park. His teamm at e Mike Sa tterfi eld ( Pe n) ca me in seco nd both m otos. Chu ck Vice ra n th ird in his fir st Expert race until he broke down , givi ng Billy Greer third overa ll. The 250 Expert a ctio n had Pete Tanner up front all th e time while the rest of the pa ck shuffled back and forth . Fred Froemel (P en ) took second t he first mota but crashed out of the money in the second . Maby Mci n tyre (Ya m) took second overall with a 4-2 over Mike Sa tterfield with 3-3. Since Sta r Track pa ys money on th e . percent~ge of Expert riders in each cla ss, the 125 Expert paid th e most money with over ha lf th e Experts of ' th e d ay in th at class. Sco tt Logston (Ya m ) won th e first m ot a with a big m argin over Dennis Patton (Ya m) wh ile Morris Baker (Han) , who cras he d whil e leading, ca me in third . Bak er led th e seco nd mota from st a rt 10 fin ish . Logston ca me in seco nd (good eno ugh fo r t he overal l win), workin g his way u p throug h th e pac k after being kn ocked off th e track by a firs t turn crash in vol vin g Dennis Patton . Patton (Y am ) also ha d to pl ay ca tc h- u p from last place and to ok th ird for thi rd overa ll. There was-a good tu rn o ut of ou t-ofto wn rid ers, som e as far a way as Marfa and Midl and , T ex as. • Results in Results Sect ion . Kris Howell goes for two, second time out at Lafayette By Linda Donelson LA FAY ETTE . CO . MAR . 13 Kri s Howell , in his seco nd at tempt a t 250 Novice , took overall first plac e in a great mud ra ce . Melting snow proved to be a problem for som e . As th e first mot a left the lin e in t he 250 Novic e class it was Ma rk Behnfeldt o u t in front with Howell two b ike len gths back. Int o the fir st t ight ess es H ow ell was push ing h ard an d gai ni ng o n Behnfeldt. As they sta rted o n th e long back stra ig hta wa y app ro ach ing the horsesh oe hill, H owell turn ed h is Suzuki full thro ttle a nd passed to take the lead , Behnfeldt agai n pu sh ed as they went into th e next series of turns. Howell co nti n ue d to charge and held o nt o hi s lead . On the next st ra ig h ta way it wa s Su zuki against Suzuki a s both' riders diced for position. T hey wer e side by side until th e last lap , with 25 feet to go to the checkered nag , when a lapped rider popped up in front of them. Behnfeldt took th e outside, How e ll the inside on ly to hit the tires and lay it down . With th e rest of th e pa ck far ba ck . H owe ll was able to hol d on to second . Between moros, How ell assured report('rs that they cou ld bet on his overall win . He wa s no thing but determ ined. Howell ca m e back strong in the seco nd mota 10 dominat e all th e wa y. Results in Results Section, FORT HO OD . T X . MA R . 6 T he Fort Hood Dirt Riders th ough t t hat the o n ly AMA sa nc tioned Ama te u r sho rt track in T ex as wou ld be a big drawing card . So th ey gave a n ift y sho rt track . but nobody ca me . Even with a lack of ent ries . th e racing was sti ll tight. In the comb ined Expert cl as s. Jun ior AMA Pro d irtr r a ck er Dave M cDona ld ca m e back from being blitzed in his heat to 'win th e Expert m ain event i n style . Roger Merriu , an upcom ing sports ma n shorttracker , rode his 250 fo ur-stroke Champ Honda to a w('11 deserved second place , not lett ing up the pressure o n McDonald's Ya maha at all . Steve Purdu e cam e d own from Dall as to dem on strat e that he is a highly skilled tra ck racer. He swep t the m ini a nd 125 cla sses , th en staged a n interes ti ng race- long du el wit h J ohn W illiamson 's Can -Am in th e 250 class before m oving int o second place fo r ke eps. Bu r ym a n P ar ton ro de a n exceptiona lly smooth race from sta rt to finis h to win th e 250 class. T he tra ck was ver y smoot h . but as in the last race here. it was very slic k. Recomm en d ed tires for r id ers pla nn ing 10 at te nd future races a re K~ 70s, a t least o n th e rea r. Results in Resul ts Section . Firestine captures 125 Expert at Berthoud By linda Donelson BERTHO UD , CO, MAR . 6 With 81 Experts on hand. lot of dust , a nd m any su rp rises. it was d estined to he inrcresring at th e Valley Dirt Rid ers MX . Nineteen were on th e lin,' , clutches locked . thrott les ni cking . a nd fum es fill ing th e ai r. As a huge cloud of du st went up . ou t ca me J ay Rice (Town & Co unt ry Su z) 10 once agai n get th e holesh ot. Mik e Loeffl er ( Rice's rid ing partner ) was in second . AI Fir est ine. o n the ne w Vickery Yam ah a . was holding third . Far into th e second la p . Ric e sudd enly pulled up wit h a n at tire. to let Loeffler a nd Firest in e past. Firestine. finding extra horses in th e Yamaha , new by Loeffler in to th e lead . As t he checkere d lap a p p ro ached Firestine continued 10 build his lead a nd take fir st with Loeffler and RiC(, in pursu it. Second rno to th is tim e saw Firest ine with the holesh o t , R i"e on his rear knobby. Boo St ich te r in t hird a nd Loeffl er in fourth. Turn a fte r turn t hey jockeyed for posit ion . Firestin e never slo wed in hi s c hase for the overall win . Loeffl er . trying to make his bid for t hird . had his bra ke leve r sna p without even re al izing it. At the c hec ke re d it was Firestine , R ice. Loeffler. C hris Howell. a 125 Novice. for the fir st tim e ever rod e his dad's 250 Suzuki a nd did so w,,11 in th e 250 Novice class, (1st & 8th) th at his father gave him the bike. . Some classes were limited to 00(' moto be cause of th e dust conditions. Results in Resu lts Section.

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