Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; 11II -= s t tt- O) I"'""'C CN CN Q,) I:: ;:j -., Johanna Stenerson holeshot every moto in both 125cc and 250cc classes at the Women's championship. Motorcycle Championship ove-r Memorial Day weekend . The all lady event attracted racers from California , Arizona , Texas, Missouri , New York , South Carolina and Georgia. The 125 and 250 Expert Classes , for both Grand Prix and Motocross found m?st ?f the women entering tw~ classes bidding for the championship titl e and the lion's sh a re of $2000. Saturday's event was a one-hour Grand Prix coveri ng 5 ~ m iles of tight wooded trail , jeep road and th e Cycleram a motocross course. The firs t race of th e hot and mu g-g]' da y was the 125 Experts. Sue Fish, (fro m Monterey Pa rk , Calif.), jetted her Yamaha from a dead -engine start to th e first wooded sectio n , leav ing Jo hanna Ste nersen a~d 14 of th e best lady racers behind . Fish led th e fir st 45 m inutes of th e race , build ing a 25 -second lead over Stenersen , (San Clem ente , Calif.), Linda Barnes of (Houston, Texas), and Rh e Helms (1000 O aks , CaliL ). Before her fir st la p crash , T erri Bender of Rivers ide , Calif, was hot on Fish 's ta il and was extremely upset about losin g her shot at the Champ . Barnes fin ished fou rth. In th e last part of th e hou r th e q~~tion was gas consumption between Fish s Yamaha and Helm's Suzuki. Helms had passed Stenersen in th e river-bottom section , and had narrowed Fish 's lead. Fish roared int o th e pits, gas cap in hand , but th e gas stop was a ll Helms ne eded to take th e lead and hang on to th e fin ish . Sten ers en also passed in the p its to take second with Fish third. In the 250 Expert Class it was th e same WFO pace between the front runners m inus Helms, who on ly ran th e 125 Class . Fish gained the lead from the sta rt followed by Sten ersen and Barnes. Fish looked de termined not to repeat her 125 fini sh and set a 5:25 la p time in the ea rly going. T he hot lap times wer e too much for Stenersen , who over -ra n severa l corners trying to keep th e Fish in sight. At th e end of th e hour it was Fish with a 90 'seco nd lead , followed by dust · covered Sten ers en and Barnes. . Liz Power (Co lumbia , Calif.). Pamela Montague (Tusti n. Cal if.), and Kathy ' Holmns (Houston , TX .) too k th e hon or s in the 125 Novice , 125 Amateur and Min i-Cycle' su ppo rt cla sses. T he battle in the 125 a nd 250 Expert Gr ands Prix set th e stage fo r the m ot ocross on Su nday . Most of th e experts rod e two hours of GP races Sa.turday and were look ing at two 50 · mmute rnotos on the rou gh Cycleram a tr ack on Sunday. T he 125 Exp ert saw a repe a t of Saturd ay's ra ces. but this time Sten ersen go t t he ho leshot and led th e first two laps. Fish worked her way through the pack to be on Stenersen's back fender by the end of the fir st lap , th en taking th e lead wh en Steners en fell in the last corner on th e third .la p . Patricia Jacques, (Colum b ia , South Carolina ), was close enough to the d ynamic duo to take over second when Stenersen fell a nd that was the way th e first moto finished Fish , Jacques . and Stenersen . In the second moto Stenersen again g~t the holeshot , but Fish was right with her. For 20 minutes it was was wh eel -to -wheel and corner -to -corner Sue Fish got by Stenersen only to have Stenersen blast he r off a turn to regain the lead. Then Stenersen fell (in th e sa,me co.mer where she had previousl y slid dunng th e first moto) giving Fish an u.nexpected break and a good margm of lead . In Stenersen's catch up attempt, th e 50 -m inute moto , th e heat and Saturday's two hours of GP plus th e I :45 lap time of Fish (on ly seven seconds off the track record), all totaled up to d isaster in th e same last corner. Sten ersen fell aga in , loading up her b ike , too tired to get restarted . He r pit crew finally took the bike away from her and ca lled it a race . Fish went on to win th e 125 overall with Patricia Jacques seco nd and Renna Tyler (Big Spring , T exas) third . The 250 Expert was again a repea t of th e dynamic duo battling it out from start to fin ish . Steners en seemed to h a ve th e starts dc.'wn - gett in g t he holeshots ea ch moto only to ha ve Fish hot on her rear wheel. It was nip a~d tuc~ th e whol e tim e with onl y a sltgh t m istake by ei ther to take th e lead. Stenersen's break in th e first moto ~ame when th e two were passin g slow n ders . One fell , ca using Fish to momenta rily slow down and lose th e f~s~ line . Fish dropped back to fourth gtvmg Stenersen a cha nce to bu ild up a lead. But that unlucky last corner took out Sten ers en agai n . If it had not been for th e lead she had built up after Fish 's problem , Johanna would have seen Fish ou t in fro nt aga in aft er she had moved ba ck up to second place . Sten ersen put it all together in th e 250 a fte r her 125 showing to win both ' rnotos. But she had pressure from Sue Fish during 50-m in u tes of th e 60 m inutes of racin g . At day's end the two fas test lad y rac ers ca me to a split decision. Sue Fish took t he 125 Championsh ip a nd J oh anna Sten ersen took th e 250 Champion sh ip . As for th e overa ll W orld T itle Sue Fish ca me out one poin t a head of Johann ~ .Stenerse n in the two days of co m pell lion . • fZ1J IS) Sen d $ 3.95 fo r T·Sh irt and /or Hat . Indi cate T·Sh irt S i le _ $m . _med ~ _l g:_)C -I g. 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