Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

-i CENTRAL PIPELINE ~ t 1:' 1:' 0') 1"'"""4 (A bov e) Devid Lahey (Pen) gets the holeshot in the second 250 moto at Knobby Hills. (Below) Rob McQuary's im provised TT500 axle head was good enough for him to win the Open class . Unidentified rider roosts out of an Austin co rner. Next time maybe the photographer will send photo (Suz) and Bennie Lee (Yam) moved back-and-forth in position throughout the ra ce in front of the rest of the cr owd . but non e of th em wer e able to overtake Lahey. Several laps before the end of th e race . however. Lahey's cycle develop ed mechanical problem s and h e dropped ou t of th e ra ce. Witk owsk i fin ish ed first. Murra v second an d Lee th ird . ' T he seco nd 125 mot o had to be restarted a fte r al mos t hal f the rid ers wrecked in th e first lap . In the restart Bennie Lee took th e lead with Dale Schmick (Ho n) in seco n d a nd Witkowski in thi rd . By th e second lap . Witkowski had moved into first with Jerry Murray moving past Schm ick . It took Murray five laps to finish a close second behind Witkowski ; Lee got third , Lahey. on a Penton. had better luck in the 250 class and was able to take the victory flag in both motes by a half-lap margin. Dale Crook (Mai) a nd Kevin Kohrs (Mai) see-sawed in seco nd and third place in both motos with Crook gett ing second overall behind La hey and Kohrs with t hird place honors . Mike Warren (Suz) got the lead in the first Open class moto with James Denton (Suz) in second and Randy Slifer (CZ) in third . Excit em ent was very evident during th e race as Rob McQuary (TT500 Yam ). who missed a gear a n d got off th e line la st . event ua lly passed all of th e riders ' to take the checkered flag for firs t. Warren got seco nd a nd Denton. th ird . McQu ary go t t he holeshot in th e second moto a nd was close to la pping the field by th e ra ce's end . Denton came in seco nd and Warren third in that moto. During pract ice th e head of the rear a xle broke off on McQuary's Dick Mann Spe cialties (OMS) fram e for his TT500 . His mech an ic im pro vised by tightening a pair of vise grips on th e axle end and taping th e grips to the swingarm . The refer ee a p proved -the bike for th e races a nd the vise-gripped ax le remained intact du ring both motos . • Res ults in Results Section. 1.0 . Racers survive killer heat; Blackwell wins at Austin By Greg Labbe AUSTIN . TX . APR . 3 In the Expert classes at Austin MX Park, Ricky Blackwell easily swept all four motos, No one even go t close. Blackwell borrowed a .. 30 friend's new YZI25D Yamaha and brought it home with la rge margins of victory in each 125 moto . At va rious times Pat Adamson , David Daniel and Henry Evans - th ree veteran 125 Experts - tried to keep the blazi ng Blackwell in sight. but none of the trio co uld m a tch Blackwell's smoothness and speed. Overall it was Blac kwell , Adamson, Evans , and Daniel. al l -four mounted on brand new YZI25Ds . In the 2W-Open Expert class, it was much the same sto ry. There was simply no one in the same class' with Blackwell as he walt zed to easy victories in both motos, riding a YZ400D Yamaha supplied by Yamaha International. They must think that he has the potential to go on to stardom in the national motocross wars . and they are giving him a small boost on the way . Mike Moli ere. who has been looking really fast lately sinc e he acqu ired a n ew AW Ma ico , fin ished a solid second in th e first moto , followed at a distance by Mark Brown (Pen), and Ba rry -Ritchey (Ma i). Moliere was again running second in the second moto when his Maico threw a chain. It had done th e same thing to him last month. A surprisingly strong Robert Ellison (Suz) took over second and opened it up to the finish with Mark Brown again third. In a talent-laden 125 Intermediate class, no one was a match for Ron Taylor (Suz) , Taylor holeshot both starts and was never really threatened on his way to a two-mote sweep of this most competitive of a ll Amat eur class es. Kyle Landrum and Harry Layer, both recent transfers from th e 100 cla ss. ,were impressive. fin ishin g second a nd third amidst a field of experienc ed 125 Intermediates. A new Face emerged in th e 250 Novi ce cla ss. Todd Cea rley ( Pe n) put together a 3-2 day for first overall. J ohn Boswell (Suz) was second ahead of Mike Farmer (Suz) and Carl Shisler (Suz). GregJones ran awa y from the Open cl ass in both rnoros , leaving Bill Kasson all by himself in secon d . Sam . Womack rode consistentl y to third overall . In a rare occurrence, but one wh ich is expected to continue in th e future , Austin ran a n over-Sf cla ss. Bill Kasson won it with fair ease while Da vid Boswell and Lloyd Longmire swap ped seconds and thirds. Dennis Smith . organizer of the Texas Over-Sf ch ampionship to be held in Waco on May Sth, brought his Maico in for fourth overall. • Results in Res ults Section. Witkowski, Lahey and McQuary win at Knobby Hills By Kathy Williams OLSBURG. KS. APR . 10 David Lah ey (Suz) started off to a good lead in th e first 125 mota of th e day at Kn obby Hills. Eric Witkowski (Suz), J erry Murra y Strait takes two straight at McAllen MX By Nick Castillo McALLEN . TX . MAR . 27 Jimmy Strait. riding a Flying Wprepared Honda . won both Expert rnotos at McAllen M.C .'s motocross: Larry Hughes challenged b ot h Strait and eventua l runner-up J ohn Bersch (Hon) in th e first moto . It was a tight battle between the top three for several laps . until Hughes crashed. Riding his first race as an Expert . Ruben R a m os finished third . ahead of Nick Castillo (Suz). The 250 and Open classes were combined and Jeff Gage (Suz ) was the winner, with Jimmy Sandvig (Yam) second. An end uro class was ru n' for t he tim ekeepers; Ben Baca (Hon) set the pace. Gage returned to win th e 125 Junior class over Herbert Ana ya (Suz) and Richard Startz (H on ). The 100 cla ss looked like it was goin g to Rodney Woma ck . Wom ack . however , cras hed a nd ga ve th e win to • J ames Capt (H on ). Results in Results Sect ion .

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