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/126256
Western hotline (Above) Joe Steffan and Scott Polson looked like twins circulating around Elsinore's IT scrambles. Steffan (23) won two 250 Expert motos; a DNF in one round cost him the w in to Charlie Summers. (Right) Elden Peterson watches in dismay as his trusty Bul skips off to jo in the space program. 26 (Yam) and Tim Lunde had th e four through six slots. 'W a nke t bumped Lett to take over third place, wh ich he held until the last inches of the race when his chain broke and he had to run the bike across the finish line . The final points and money went to Taylor, Gibson , Lunde, Lett a nd Bower. There were so many 250 Pros that two qualifying races and one consolation race had to be held to eliminate the mob and get it down to 24 racers . Rich Titus (Mai) got going first in the final heat of the 250's only to have his lead tak en from him by Wheelsmith's Va l Tamietti . Mike Bell (Ya m) was second with Titus third. Wes Sutton (CBM) got around Titus , as did Scott Gillman. Tamietti and Bell were going wheel to wheel in the turns and Bell passed Tami to take first . Gillman was busy working on Sutton, who eventually was moved back a notch. Steve Russell (Ma i) and Mike Palhegyi (H us) moved from wa y back in the pack to get to the fifth and sixth places. When the points wer e tallied the money went to Bell , Tamietti, Gillman , Sutton a nd R ussell . This was the last local race that Bell will be riding until J une. Starting with Hangtown, Mike will be on th e road for the Nationals. T he start at the new track is incredible. It is a wide open then shutdown-or-go-in-the-gully setup. When the O pen Pro's got go ing it looked for a second or two like more than on e was going over the side. Mark Van Camp (Mai) and Scott Gillman (Ya m) came around the first turn together with Gillma n taking over the lead on his way to the moto win . Tamietti, Luke Messer (Mai), Ma rk Rod man (Mai), . Bell and Dale Anderson (Mai) were next. Randy Blevins (Mai) and Scott Montgomery diced it for awh ile with Blevins retaining his posit ion. In th e mean time, Bell got by all bu t th e lea der , with Tamietti on his knobby. Messer , Anderson and Ble vin s followed them across the fin ish line . Blevins got an unreal holeshot in th e second moto but slid out in on e of th e s lick turns , giving the lead to Tamietti . Bell and Gillman wer e involved in a crash and were held back by the other riders. Bill Rubly (Mai) wa s riding second to Tam i. Montgom ery and R ich ee Collins (KT M) were next. Ru b ly DNFd in th e closing laps of t he race due to mechanical troubles. Bell worked his way through traffic to take over second , but he was unable to overcome Tamietti's lead . W hen the checkers went out the leaders were Tamietti, • Bell , C o ll in s , Mo ntgo mery and Dave Haugh. • Results in Resu lts Section. Elsinore TT: Summers was hot By Andi Gangewer ELSINO RE , CA ,MAR. 26 T he 250 Expert race was a close one.. J oe Steffen led every lap and lef t the b a ttl e for second to Du ane Ga llage r and C harlie Summers. Gallager kept the door closed on Summers until the final lap. Summers, on a b rand new Y Z Yamaha zigged when Gallager zagged and Summers followed Steffen in for second , lea ving Gallager and Dorothy Rowe third and fourth . Steffen had a big disappointment in the second round . One little wire came loose and he sat .this one out. Ga llager couldn't keep Summers in second for ' m ore than one lap . Summers took th e lead and Rowe and Ga llager swapped p laces . R owe followed Summers and Gallage r finished th ird. The final race went to Steffen. and was back in and swung right for the 250 Experts He'd fixed his bik e the swing of things, into first. Summers tried every tric k of the trade but Rowe kep t a tight grip ' on second and they finished in that order. Steffen's broken bik e cost him th e win by one point , and Charlie Summers was the one to reap the rewards . finis her was a n up and coming novice, Don Milam. • Results in Results Section. Bultaco-mounted Russell Sanford and James Spalding, aboard a Honda , wer e two d irect transfers from th e first heat of th e 250 Beginner/Novice class. Sanford is a Nov ice a nd Spalding a beginner. The second heat Dan Tanner (CZ) and Douglas Rem p , both Novices, joined the other two on the list for the main event. Clyde Peterson wins DeAnza hillclimb San Diego's Vin ce Skandunas, a beginner. led th e Semi a ll th e way . Bultaco-mounted Eddie Barry and Dan Tanner wer e deueling for second when Tanner ran out of umph and lost his th ird place to Wally Miyamura . Lonnie Esterlein was the final transfer to th e ma in. The Beginners had th e advantage of starting out in front of the Novi ces, a nd two out of the th ree Beginners ended u p in the top fou r positions. Ska ndunas had the lea d for the bu lk of the main event b ut the experience of Novice Remp proved an advantage. On lap three Remp romped past Skandunas to take the checkered and the main event first place trophy . Skandunas pulled off a second and a lso received a trophy. Third pla ce Widowmaker Fever is raging through Sout hern California , and the symptoms were abundantly evident at today's hillclimb . By Ann A, Powell SUNNY MEAD , CA , APR . 3 The old timers, (old in expe rie nce , not necessarily in age) feel that a good hillclimb bike is better if i~ is longer. One problem is having th e front end fly up in the air when a hill gets steep. To counteract this, swing arms are made longer. With the Widowmaker on ly two weeks away , those swing arms are longer and longer , som e taking the overall length of the bikes out to the SO-inch mark . For today's final run prior to the big Utah event , De Anza had pick ed a new ~iIl . No t only was th e hill stee p, it was