Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Western hotline ...... .... 1-0 0.. < TIm Lunde (35) and Ron Turner (15) got int o a good scrap in the 125 Pro class at CMC Saddleback. 0.37 at Perris is a IT motocross By Maureen Lee PERRIS , CA , APR 17 If the CH P didn't get you on the way over. (the R iverside Freeway was thick with Smokeys) then the holes in the track would . - Well.. .it wasn't quite that bad , but more than one rid er liken ed th e track to a TT motoc ro ss. It was especi a lly ha rd on the troops who a re Mark Ledbetter (Yam 141 stuffs it insi de the pack on his way to a 125 Amateur w in at the Perr is 0 -37 TT. 18 used to the carefu lly manicu red and bla ded tracks of Elsinore or Ascot. spoiled ones tha t they are: and to bring home th a t point a Suzuki mot ocross bike won the 250 Am a teu rExpert. There were two Experts left after Larry Bir d 's bike blew in practice so Rich ie Volk and J eff Springman were started behind the Amateurs. First mota it was Joe Steffen and Dorothy Rowe .. both on Yarna has , and Mark Cai n (Su z) b reaking off the line first. Steffen and Cain were side by side at ti mes wit h Jeff Sp ri ngman (Ya m) getting by Rowe . Up the h ill they started whe n Rowe got into the ruts th e wrong way and got off hard in a classic Flying W that ended u p wit h a fu ll be lly whopper la nding. O ut came t he red n ag . Doro th y. her arm in a big splint and m or e u pset a bout the possibility of m issing Ascot next week than the wa llop she too k, went off to th e hosp ital for X vra ys. But a p ho ne ca ll from San Diego as we wer e puttin g thi s piece toge the r assured us tha t no t hi ng was brok en . j us t a b it twea ked. After the restart it was Cain a nd his Suzuki out front, (he went on to win a ll th ree mot os), but a t the nag J eff Springma n was barely a ha lf a wheel ahead of St effen ; then Tommy Walton and J ay Bal es. Next mota they were rea lly making the dirt fly again . Cain out front . and Steffen and Springman hammering ou t second and third , but J eff fell down and finis hed wa y back although he wasn 't slow after he remounted and gave chase. R ichie Volk got thi rd and Wa lton another • fourth . Again the dirt new in the third mota a nd that ho le on the up hill nearly go t two more. Steffen had the lead for a bit b ut Ca in too k it away a nd ag ain Sp ringm a n and Steffen ha ssled for second with Steffen ge tti ng it. Rich ie Volk , go in g fu ll steam down th e stra ight sud den ly had his a rm in th e air as his bik e let go , so when the fl a g fell it wa s C a in . Ste ffen . Springman a nd Ba les. T he second Suzuki to win belonged to 250 No vice Allen Lowen. He got a third first moto while Yamaha riders Scott Polson and Rob Selvy took first a nd second . N ext two Lowen go t ou t fro nt and sta yed t he re , while T om Hugh es on a neat Ossa got a second with Polson on his tail. Last m ot a . it was Selvy second and Polson third. Behind , th e rest of the class really swa pped places a ro und a nd no on e else managed to get two of a nythin g in finis hing positions excep t Fred Parker who got a pa ir of fourths. Ea rl Pa rk er's clutch really d ra gged up tig ht on the starting line of the first O pe n Amateur m ot o . and too k him right th ro ugh the rubber band . T he Ligh tweights. who really know ho w to pu t on a scrambles. weren't go ing to let Parker gain a ny advantage from his trou b les a nd let the ga n~ go wh ile he was still tryin g to conta in his mot orcycle in the back ro w. Once the race sta rted it was clea r . tha t with a ll due respe ct to the rest of th e talent in th at cla ss. th e wh ole race was goi ng to be betw een Pat Dobbins (T ri) and Rich Kou ns (Ha n) . After wrapping u p the first one. Kouns upended his Hi -Per Kinetic Honda and slapped a heavi er n y wheel in it to give it more "thu m p" comi ng out of the co rners. Kouns took a ll three motos but Dobbins was al wa ys right th ere. Second mot a , they were bo th Flying a nd · th row ing high ro oster ta ils but each one was usi ng a tota lly d ifferent line around th e track . . .wh ich was fasci na t i ng to wa tc h . Dob bi ns' Trium ph was the bigger, faster b ike but wit h as loose as the track surface was . he co uldn't get a ll the po nies on. the gro u nd a nd the Hond a was dam near as fast and a hell of a lot more agile. Said Dob bins after, "It went right down to which of us made a mistake and where. " Wh en ever Kou ns m akes one of h is rare a ppea ra nces (rare because he doesn't want to tra nsfe r to Expe rt ) on a scra mbles track he 's usuall y upfront . T -Bone G rigsb y led the mai n just as he had his hea t with Rex Hailey sailing a lon g beh ind . both h avin g a tim e just sliding around the turns. T hat la te in t he day up fron t was the on ly p lace to be. . . riders in the pack lit erall y co u ld n't see a t hi ng for th e dust. Thi rd place ma n T om Hea rd managed to keep just a hea d of th e du st storm on wha t has to be th e best sou nding TT500 arou nd . The re's not roo m to write about every race, specia lly th e ones that became processions, but it was a nea t. ha ssle free day; th ere were ample Lightweigh ts a ro u nd doing wha t th ey were su pposed to be doing , all res plendent in th eir sharp new blue co lors a nd for th eir sa ke , we hope there's not a short track somew here to pull away riders next time they have a race. • Results MINI MOTa: 1. Darren Hulbert (Yam). 2. J im livi ngs to n (Yaml. 3. John Bales (Yaml. 125 AM MO Ta : 1. Mark Ledbetter IVam), 2. Steve Griffith (Yam l. 3. Jay Bales (Yaml. 125 EX M OTC: 1. Steve Polson (Vaml. 2. Charles Carroll (Yaml .3. Pete Hanes (Yam). 250 NOV M OTa : 1. Allen Lowen ISuz). 2. Scott Polson IVam). 3. Rob Selvy (Yam). 250 AM/EX MOTa: 1. Mark Cain ISuz), 2. Joe Steffen IVam). 3. JeH Springman IVam). OPEN NOV MOTO : 1. Dave Peters ITri), 2. Bob Bell ITri). . OPEN AM MOTO: 1. Rich Kouns IHon l. 2. Pat Dobbins (Tri), 3 . Earl Parker IYam) . 500 NOV MO Ta: 1. Dwayne Locke (Yam), 2. Bill de Michele (Yaml . 3. Rich Barns (Yaml. 125 NOV MAIN : 1. Garth Beavers IVaml . 2. Eddie Tafo va (Yaml. 3. Ben M eyet' (Yam). '5oo/0 PEN EX MAIN: 1. Don Grigs by (Vam). 2. Rex Hailey Vaml. 3. Tom Heard (Vam). ~ CMC $J.OOO MX: Bell twice, Reid once By Patti Trotter ORANGE, CA , APR . 17 CMC offered another of their $1 ,000 Purse races today and drew over 200 Pro riders. Rich Kimball and his Saddleback crew had done a fa ntastic jo b of set ting up th e track for today's ac tion . A whole new section had bee n added to th e back stretc h, giving th e riders a good long run . . . somethi ng they all seem 10 love . As the 500 Pro s went off th e line Scott Gillma n (Ya m ) was in co m mand . Mark Rod man (Ma i), Mike Bell (Ya m), Luke Messer (Mai) and Kenny Zahrt (Bul) had 'the next slots. W ithin th e first la p. Bell was a ble 10 displ ace Rodma n a nd take over second. Two laps lat er Bell pa ssed Gillm an for first. The lead of th e race was Bell' s 'til th e checkers came ou t. Ken ny Zahrt adva nced on e pos it ion putting Messer back to fift h. Messer, Val T a rnietti (Mai) and Da le Anderson (Mai) got a scramble going to see who would cross th e lin e first. Messer kept his ground . When th e race was over the leaders were Bell , Gillman. Rodman , Zahrt a nd Messer. In th e seco nd moro it was again Gillman who ca me a round the firs t tu rn to lea d ' the p a rade of trac kripping bikes. Bell again wasted no

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