Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

----- - - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ... Western hotline (left) Intermediate Gary Baker (55s) mixes it up with Pro Andy Jannings in mid-air at Sprockets Park, (Above) Mark Gambetta won the 250 Pro class easily at the AME event. all capabl e of winn ing as was evidenced bv the duel Chris Ca n no n and Bobb v Garab edian h ad fo r second . The short tra ck sa w Garabedian come off th e line seco nd . but Cannon was finall y able to ge t by him on th e fourth lap and drag race him 10 the checkered nag o n the eig h t h. On the half m ile , Cann on didn't take a ny chances and got t he second immediately which reall y isn't saying a lot since the first t h ree in both races were so close you co uld throw a blan ket over them . Mike De bruyn too k on a ll comers in the 250 Novice/Ama teur goes a n d a lt ho ug h he won both , his biggest cha llenge ca m e from two Novices who made him work for every la p . On the sho rt tr ack it was Jim Case y and on th e half mil e Bob Callawa y. Darren Hulbert was the o nly other do ub le winner as he coll ected the gold in the Minis . • Results in Results Section. URA enduro: Good Time for Eubanks By Sue Senn RIDGECREST, CA , MAR . 2i URA 's "Good Time" famil y enduro was indeed a good time and especia lly so for 'C' riders Carol No ble (200cc) and Bria n Hurst 28 (lOOcc) , who had the perfect sco re o f zero points lost at a ll checks (including th e tie brea ker) over the 25 -mi le first loop . Considering the fact that at 10:00 a . m . Satu rday morni ng , the who le Ri dgecrest a rea was covere d with four inch es of snow . it was amazing that t he enduro was still schedu led for Sundav and even more amazing. th at at that time . riding co nd itio ns co u ld n't have been better . As th e sno w m eh ed it lc Ft t he co urse literall y du st free and the bit of moistu re th a t was left made for grea t tra ction , T he spee ds ranged fro m 13 to 19 mil es pe r hour a nd act ua lly. t his was a bi t slow co nsi dering the per fect co nd itio ns. b ut it was a well ma rked : sce nic co urse. m ad e interes t ing by wind ing under train tracks. pa ssin g by silver mines a nd zig zaggi ng u p a nd d own a few rocky hills wh ich hel ped m ak e it a good tim" keep er for th e serious a nd just plain fun for eve ryo ne else . T he n ca rne th e second loo p . T he on ly simil arity betw een t he two loops was th e g re at weather a nd a lt ho ug h I didn 't ride the seco nd loo p . I di d o bserve it from inside a four -wheel dri ve truck driven bv Medi cal a nd Rescue Coord ina to r Fre d H olc;,m b . who found that th e mo st inte resting po int fo r o bserva tion was a t a six mph sec tio n th rou gh a box canyon an d up a hum on gou s roc ky h ill whe re we wa tc he d riders tr y a nd do everyt hi ng imagina ble 10 cli m b th at unprinra b ly nast y hill. M a nv ride rs fo und tha t it wa s advantageous to wa lk beside the bi ke a nd ge ntly gas it u p and over the 100S(' rocks bu t . as in t he case of T om Du~ on . once a rid er lef t the main tr ail - he fo und t hat for even' inch he ga ine d u pwa rd . he lost mo re t ha n a foot dow nw ard . It was at t h is po int when Ne il Montgom er y (Ya m) a rri ved a t t he bottom of the hill . He m ade su re I recorded his numbe r (5 i A) t hen he proce ed ed up a nd o ver th e 10 0 St, roc ks and on 10 th e lOp when he hesit a ted on ly long eno ug h 10 look ba ck . give a friendl y nod , then he was go ne. (O ne in every cro wd . ) This report e r wa s exce p t io n a lly pleas ed when Lauric Ma ly. riding a CZ . made an allempt to c1imh th e hi ll. Especia lly since wom en d o not usually ride t he second loo p and a lso because she certa inly showed tha t she kn ows the tru e m e an in g of th e word "perseverance. " Although she worked her bik e a nd her sel f a bit ha rd a nd gai ned on lv a few feet a t a tim e . she st uc k wit h it and with in 20 m in utes sheha d cleared t he top . Whe- n Mr. Holcom b suggested to a sma ll hoy on a bi ke twice his si1.l' t hat he sho u (d ride back to ca mp in t hitruck . it brou ght a smile of reli ef on the lit t le guy's fact ' as he cJim lwd in with the fou r broken b ikes . whose ride rs were wa tc hing in ad rn irut ion as I-t-yea r -o ld Ma rk Vin ce llc m clea red the hill with case o n his I i5 Honda whi le he swe pt t he course . The -I2·mile loop . whi ch ha d a n a lterna te gas stop. had speeds ra ngi ng fro m six to 30 mph a nd a lt hough there was o nly th e o ne h ard uph ill t here were seve ra l downhills co vered with deep sand that created fu n a nd havoc for many but ironicall y. t hc hig).:est tim e keeping problem ca me fro m t he six mph sec t io n whr- rr- r ide rs wh o o the rwise zeroed till' co u rse foun d they had burnt this check badl y. . Althou gh zero is the num ber a ll e n d u ro rid ers st ri ve Io r , Er ic Lch amann 's loss of o ne minute a t the home c heck wasn 't too sha b by lu-cause it mad e h im t he third hc s: t irn e keeper . Number two we nt to Boh Keeven . ( H us ) who flies o ut fro m SI. Lou is , Mi ssou r i j us t to ri d e a n occasiona l end uro a nd was o nly 20 seco nds o ff on t h is o ne. Ro'b h ie Eu ban ks ( Ya m) clai m ed t he number o ne Spot hy b('i n~ o nly four secon ds a way fro m pe rfect io n . a nd ner -dless to say. for th ese th ree guys it's reall y true , Good T im es never scorned so good . • . Resu lts pe nding . Gambetta wins back to back at AME Sprockets ParkMX By Lee Taylor BAKERSFIELD . CA , APR. 3 The 250 Pros were off and running Sun day , with Mark Gam be tta (KTM) , riding for Yama ha of Go leta , as t hei r leader. Gamberta , who to ok ba ck -to ba ck wins , was rea lly n ying! In the fir st moto he had his wor k cu t out fo r him . For starte rs, Sprockets Pa rk had give n b irt h to a new ju m p the nig hi before . and it was a ch a lle nge! Ca mberra wa s runni ng third , doing a ll he cou ld to get by Phi l T ayl o r ( M a i). G a mb ct t a pu sh ed T a ylor re le ntl essly. and t he fir st cha nce he had , got by a nd m oved int o first. H e took o n the new j u m p with guSIO . roos ti ng it to th e to p and over. Tom Bu rgess (Ya m) was running t hird a nd kee p ing the hea t o n T aylor. Fin all y Bur gess got past a nd the positions held thro ug ho ut the moto . The seco nd ti m e ou t, G ambe tr a took t he ho lesho t a nd esta blished a b ig . lead . Taylor was running second with Burgess in th ir d . C rai g Osborn . on a KTM . was running fou rt h and the figt h fo r second was tight between a ll three riders. Burgess was clos ing fast on Taylor . go ing after him in the turns . H eading into th e hom e stre tc h , Burgess passed Taylor. C ambetr a , by now. ha d o pe ne d up a tr eme ndous lea d . H e was so far ahead his nearest competitor was out of sig h t. As th e white nag ca me o ut , Carnbert a was lapping rid er s a ll over the track. The final checkered waved Garnbeua home 10 a first o vera ll. Bu rgess took seco nd a nd third went to Tavlor. Aft er t he AME Satu rda y night Barbeque a nd a bit of partying. the 250 Juniors wer e ra ring to go! T he first m ot o saw a d uel between Dennis Stubbl efiel d (Suz) a nd J ohn Pasq u in i, rid ing a Ma ico fo r Bak er sfield Mu sic Co .. th a t wou ld n't qui t. T hey went into turns side by side a nd remained together unt il their approach tu rn for t he ju mp . P a squ in i go t by Stu b blefield . who was in tro u ble with a broken shift lever . Pasqu in i sta rt ed to lengthen h is lea d as Stu bblefield pu lled off the track. By the time Stubblefiel d was back in the race . Pau l Marcon i ( KT M) had tak en ove r second a nd was keeping th e pressure o n Pasqu ini . Goi ng into the wh ite nag lap, Ma rconi was clos ing fast but co u ldn't m ak e it bv before the checke red . . • When th e ga te went down for the sec o n d m ot o , Stubbl efield and Pasquini wer e at it agai n . Ne ck and neck a ll a ro u nd the track . barding for th e lead . They were a lo ngside ea ch other over the jumps, through every turn. Stubb lefield was in second as J im Klopman (Suz) m oved up to third. Stubblefield moved int o t he lead with Gu y Trowbridge (Yam) getting up to se cond . T ro wb ri dge a nd Pasqu in i were figh ting it o u t fo r th at po sition , hilling the stra igh taway side by sid e , u ntil the approac h tu rn se para te d them . Trowb rid ge too k second back aga in and Stubblefi eld . bv now had a

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