Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

James Vincent, Chuck Cartledge and Charlie Hamill wormed their way up the sand hill praying their jetting was OK. Ken Miller had already crested the hill and got his card marked , followed by Craig Kinneman, both trying to make up some time on the front runners. After check three the course picked up the rolling section and the black boulder sandwash the Prospectors used. When the Novices and Begi nners reached the first big sand dune downhill , (the one you had to upshift to get down) , 250 ace Gary Covington took the lead from Dattola , who also let Steve Nickolson by. Turning right at the bottom of the giant dune, the course ridge-ran a white sandy hill blanketed with p~rple flowers laid out like rugs. The arr was so pungent and sweet one rider complained of gaining weight jus t breathing the stuff. The Amateur/Experts were nearing check fou r at the bottom of the giant sandy downhill, similar in texture and depth to the first, only three times as long a~d super off-camber at the top. Ba nzanng across the bott om , shooting the soft sandy knoll on the other side , Ogilvie and Edmonson were still goi ng at it as Chuck Pettigrew a nd Ed Zarp had their own d uel going . After check four there were some prob lems. Ogilvie, figuring the course had to be heading home, went in the direction he figured t he lost ribbon was in. Edmonson picked up the dirt road, turned around and met . Pettigrew and Zarp, After circling around like the fa-ga-we Indians, they all split for home. Back at 25th overall Novice Senior Open bike rider Charlie Reinhart had fast Beginner Isenhower trying to get by. Jeff Moeller was right behind " Ike" trying to close the gap on first place Trail Bike Paul Krause , who had gotten by at the big sandy uphill. Running first Heavyweight Beginner, Bob Gable didn't see pie plater Bob Benjamin slip by for first Heavy. As the Amateur/Expert began to pit , one thing was certain; either some of these racers were sleepers or the fast ~ys got lost. Ken Miller moved up 15 positions. Cra ig Kinn im a n went from 29th to 12th. Jim Br own dropped from 13th to 17t h , leaving Dean Hart (who came up from 22nd) , 15th, two bikes ahead of Brown . Ogilvie had suc h a lead over second place I 'g ot tired of counting. Gary Covington led th e Novices to replenishment row followed by Nic kolson, Waggener, (Boese who had moved up nine positions) , Sam Soule and Eric Dattola. T he one loopers peeled off. Taking the checkered for the overall win was Bob Benj am in , followed by first 250 rider Steve Isenhower. Next was Bob Gable at second Heavy, with Da ve Quintard in for third . First Trail Novice went to little Paul Krause. Dan Theel and Jeff Moeller filled the Trail Novice bill. Paul Palmer and Jim Crouch were the "C" bike Beginner finishers whil e Jim Price, Bria n Reynolds and Cris Koler did the Trail Begi n ner honors. The second loop was well underway with Ogilvie all by his lonesome. Run ning parallel with Bessemer Mine Roa d for about two mi les, the course shot off towards the Red Mountain . Circling around and coming back for check seven a dog leg brought the racers to within rock throwing dis tance of the pi ts - most of the thirsty type b ikes topped off here. Also , some of the riders lost the ribbon and wou nd up in some canyon causing several drop outs at this point. Running all alone as ' first Senior , Allen Johnson lost Earl Ro eseler an d Don Ogilvie somewhere so the only Senior he had to worry abou t was (Continued on page 48)- , Joe Rayle Jr. blasts through the ORA pits at t he 90-mile Greasewood Derby. Kelly demolishes DRA Greasewood Derby By Jerry Welton CALIFORN IA CITY, CA , APR. 17 . Tom Kelly (250 KTM) had little trouble WInning the DRA Greasewood Derby at California City. Phil Stumbo (400 KTM ) h as been a consistent front runner this seas on and today was no exception Stumbo led th e E:cpert and Amateu: field to the bomb WIth Kel~y tucked m closel y behind. Doug Wmchell (250 Yam) followed sorneone's pre-marked bomb line and fell into third shortly after the smoke. slightly a head of Amateur Shawn Underwood (390 Hus) and Mike Johnston (400 KTM) . Kelly passed Stumbo in the wash just a few mile past the bomb . Stumbo kep t him in sight until the seizure of his motor , which he reso urcefully saved. Kell y had clear sailing into the pits wh ile Stum bo carefully nursed his machine back up to racing speed. At this point Johnsto n got around Underwood and moved wit hin sight of Winchell . Through the pits it was clearly Kelly with about one and a h alf minutes over Stumbo. Winchell came through next with Johnston less than 15 seconds behind. Underwood was doing a great job in keeping a space between himself and the two Experts Tom Schell (250 Suz) and Heath Hibbard (400 Yam) . Brad Henson (175 Yam) was running in the top 15 at the bomb and maneuvered his scooter to eighth overall on the first lap . On the way out of the pits Kelly was really gertin' it on. Stumbo, in an effort to make time on Kelly , came charging out of the -pit area, only to have his motor seize again. It forced him out of the race. Johnston passed Winchell a few mi les out to take over second. At the completion of the second loop Kelly had really opened up a gap between himself and Johnston. After a few minutes Winchell came through, sti ll running third . Underwood was by moments before Henson . Once in the pits Henson refueled a nd ran into some problems. It seems th a t Brad 's foot peg jammed his kickstarter down and on ly after the persuasion of a large ha mmer was the kickstarter malfunction co rrected. In the meantime Hibbard shot by which left Henson to chase his dust. At the finis h it was clearly Tom Kelly with a several mi nute wait for Johnston. Winchell was in next for third with a good consistent ride . Brad Henson caught Heath Hibbard , whose ga s tank came loose , just a few miles from the finish for fourth overall , first Lightweight. To~ Schell (250 S~z) suffered all day wit h bad whet;1 ahgn~ent and a t~ndency for th~ b lk~ to pitch to the right, but. kept It gomg to take sixth overall , th ird 250. R ick Sh irey (400 Yam) worked his wa y through the pack to ta ke seventh overall, making his first appearance back since Dura lu be G. P . The ever consiste nt Monte Lee (250 Ya m) came in shortly after Sh irey, finis hing just a head of Mike Cole (250 Hus) who was running well until he contracted tire problems. Shawn Underwood ' was having a great day until a few miles from the finish where one of his handlebar clam ps broke, leaving him 'wit h only partial control of h is cycle . Even .with this large setback, Shawn still managed to finish first Amateur rounding out the top ten. Tim Plant (175 Yam) rode a good hard race moving in and out of the top ten all day finishing 11th overall, second lightweight with Kenny Upp (125 Yam) finishing third . Jeff Matthews (250 Yam) led the 250 Amateurs home followed by Ken Heil (250 Yam) and Ra lp h Griffin (250 Hus) . . The lightweight Amateur race was rather interesting with Darren Pritchett (125 Yam) running way up front until a front flat slowed him leaving the win to Mike Midkiff (175 Yam). J ohn Richardson (400 Yam) rde to victory over Boyd J an tzi (400 Yam) and Ge~rge Ha~e (400 KT M) in the Open J umor/Semor Amateur class : Very m uch d eserving his yellow bars, Gary Short (250 Duck) stormed to victory in the J uni or/Senior class on . his first ride as a n Amateur. Novice Scot Du nca n (250 Yam) led the second start to th e . bomb with Mark Moullet (250 KTM) in hot pursuit. Moullet ca ught Duncan and th e battle began. Swapping places and chasing one another. It finally ended when Du n can got caught between two big rocks and was thrown from his bike, lea ving the victory to Moullet and Duncan arriving second. Tom Philips (390 Hus) captured the Open Novice wreath , beating out Richard Tucker (390 Hus) and Brett Henson (400 Yam) . At the completion of the first loop John Foster (175 Yam) was running third overall Novice and literally walked away from the rest of the lightweight field. Powder Pu ff rider Lori Farmer (175 C-A) has been doing quite well and today she scored another Amateur victory. Nona Richardson (250 KTM) had gas tank and speedometer placement problems but overcame them to snare the Powder Puff Novice win over Michele Griffin (250 Hus). Keith Reynolds (175 Yam) apprehended the Junior/Senior Lightweight class over Bob H uff (125 Yam) and Fred Frazer (175 Yam) of Bellfl ower Yamaha fame . Greg Redford (250 Hus), Paul Sch losser (250 Yam) , and Leon Price (400 Yam) remained in this order the entire race with Gr eg taking the overall Begi nn er win . John Cannon (125 Yam) stayed ahead of Bob Ishman (100 Suz) for the small bore honors . Don Du nca n (370 Suz) pu t it together to beat Donald Foley for first Senior Begin ner. . Wendy Dooley rode her 250 Honda smoothly to victory in the Powder Puff Beginner race. Donnie Morrison (80 Suz) had but t e narrowest margin over Kelly Kline (80 Yam) to take home the mini laurels , with Alan Dryden finishing third. The course was said to be th e best thi s year by several riders ani! some thought at Ron Burpo did one of his' usual great jobs of setting up th e race. The weather was excellent with a slight breeze to keep things cool. Results OPEN EX: 1. Mike Jo hnst on (KTM), 2. Heath Hibbard IYaml . 3. Rick Shirey IYam). 250 EX: 1. Tom Kelly IKTM) . 2. Doug W inchell (Yam). 3. M onte Lee IY am l. 0-200 EX: 1. Brad Henson IYaml. 2. Tim Plant IDM GI. 3. Ken Upp IYaml. OPEN A M : 1. Shawn Underwood IHusl. 2. Richard Hall lYaml .3. Ron Smith lYaml. 250 AM : 1. J eff M atthews IYaml . 2. Ken Heil lY am). 3. Ralph Griffin (Hus). 0-200 AM: 1. Mike M idkrjff IYaml . 2. Darren Pritchett IYaml. 3. Bob Rundquist lYaml. OPEN NOV: 1. Tom Philips IHusl. 2. Richard Tucker IHusl. 3. Brett Henson (Yam). 250 NOV : 1. Mark Moolett IKTMI. 2. Scot Duncan {Yaml . 3. St eve Anderton (Hus ). 0-200 NOV: 1. J ohn Foster (Vam). 2. Mark Gervais (Yaml. 3. Steve J ohnston (Yarnl, OPEN BEG: 1. Leon Price lYaml. 2. Down Cushing lYaml. 3. Tony Leyrer IBull . 250 BEG: 1. Greg Bedford IHus). 2. Paul Schlosser IVaml .3. Darryl Webb IHusl. 0-200 BEG: 1. John Cannon lYaml. 2. Bob Ishman (Suz), 3. Mike Monrre . SR. OPEN EX: 1. Gus Paull IVam). 2. Mike Dyon IVaml. SR. 0-200: Harry Cantrall IVam). OPEN SR/AM : 1. Keith Soesbe IYaml . 2. i.JIVern Garton ISuzl. 250 SAlA M: 1. i.JIrry Upp IYaml . 2. Jay Sheldon lY aml OPEN SR NOV : 1. C. Crabbe IVaml. 2. Terry Glass. 3. Leo Blomgren IHusl . 250 SR NOV: Gary Moolett IBull. 0-200 SR NOV : Val Morris (Yam ), OPEN SR BEG: 1. Don Duncan ISuz). 2. Donald Foley. 3. BiII 20ller lYam ). 250 J R BEG: 1. Stan Blood IHon). 2. Herb Harris IVaml . 3. Jimmy Knight IYaml . OPEN J R/EX: 1. Pat M cEvo y IVaml. 2. Dave Wood IYaml. OPEN JR/AM: 1. John Richardson IKTMI. 2. Boyd Jantzi (Yam). 3. George Hale IKTMI. 250 J R/AM: Gary Short ISuzl OPEN JR NOV: 1. Ed W aldheim IKTMI. 2. J ohn W esbitt IBuli . 3. Frank A rciero Jr.IKTM). 250 JR NOV: 1. Butch May IKTMI. 2. Ernie Sutton IBuli . 3. Paul Baiker IM on). 0-200 JR NOV: 1. Keit h Reynolds IYeml. 2. Bob Huff IYaml . 3. Fred Trager IYaml. OPEN J R BEG: 1. Stan Walton IYaml . 2. David Berna IHusl. 3. Charles Bruen. 250 J R BEG: t . Dan Ely ISuzl. 2. Terry Adams ISuz). 0-200 J R BEG: 1. George Sell IVaml. 2. Jim Hill IYaml. POW DER PUFF A M : Lri Farmer IC-A). POW DER PUFF NOV: t . Nona Richardson IKTMI. 2. Michele Griffin (Husl. POW DER PUFF BEG: Wendy Dooley (Hon). M INI: 1. Donnie Morrison ISuzl. 2. Kelly Kline IYaml. 3. Alan DrydIl"JSuz). • _ • • 15

• Cover