Western hotline
a:
o
..J
>-
;:
w
W
..J
>-
CIl
a:
a:
w
-,
>-
CIl
- ....
o
•
0
il:
Brad Henson rushed through the bus hes and did something no ORA rider
has done in t hree years - won overall on a 175.
.
Cannon combining a second, third
and first to edge San Diego's Scott
Meyer in the mini class.
The 125s and 250s produced large
fields of riders eq ually divided between
rnotocrossers and 'IT-flat track racers
with Chris Ca nnon zapping the field in
the 125 Main and Billy Hicks doing
the job on the 250s.
In 500 action, San Diego's Geoff
Da wson p ut two wins and a second
together for the overall.
•
Monte Roberts 17Ileads Craig Roloff
11151 and Mark Little in 250 Pro
action at South Bay Park Speedway's opening night. The trio had
to take a back seat to Richie Volk
and Eddie Lawson, who dominated
the opener.
Henson wins DRA
Snake Chase on
175 Yamaha
By Jerry G. Welton
RED MOUNTAIN, CA, J UNE 5
Lawson, Volk
highlight South
Bay ST opener
By Rod Eschenburg
CHULA VISTA, CA, JUNE4
Over 70 riders - alm ost equally
divided between the four sportsman and the three pro classes combined to make South Bay
24
Pa rk's opening short track motorcycle
program a success.
In the pro classes , Richie Volk and
Eddie Lawson thrilled the large crowd
with tight racing in their heats and
main events, with Volk coming out on
top in the 250 Main event and Lawson
getting t he win in the 500 three-heat
series. Keeping t hem hon est were Ea rl
Roloff. J r. , thi rd in the 500s, and
T ra vis Pet ton , J r. , th ird in th e 250s.
The speedway bike rid ers turned up
with five machines, led by Steve
Nutter and Larry Kosta. They put on
a solid three-heat performance with
Kosta coming out on top after Nutter
slid out in the final heat.
The sportsman classes all produced
good racing with diminutive Curtis
"Bad" Brad Henson ( 175 Yam)
overcame heat, a tt rition and
larger d isplacement motorcycles
to take the overall win at the
Desert Racing Assn. (DRA) Snake
Chase at Red Mountain.
Al Meek (400 KTM) led first wave of
racers to the smoke bomb with Heath
Hibbard (400 Yam) and novft:e
Rodney Rod erick (250 Yam) following
closely on almost parallel lines. Shortly
after the bomb Meek's ride ended with
a piston seizure and Hibbard jumped
quickly into the lead.
Bob Balent ine (400 KTM) had
problems getting his bike started and
. was the last bike off the line.
Henson was running well at the
bomb and progressively worked his
way u p to second overall, but only
after battling with Monte Lee (25 0
Yam) and Hi bbard.
Coming down the fina l downhill
grade a t the completion of the first
loop it was clea rly Balen tine with
approximately one a nd a half minutes
over Henson who in turn was on ly a
short distance ahead of Hibbard.
After fighting a little dust at the
start, Lee managed to maintain a
good running position at the
completion of the first loop with
Roderick, Lonnie Peterson (400 Yam )
500 Intermediates Dave Rogers (211, Steve Rotondo lT171and John Jackson
go through a sweeping turn at AME's Sprocket's night opener.
and Tim Plant (175 Can- Am)
following with only a short space in
between each of' them .
When H ibbard came in to pit he
took an unusually long stop which
allowed Lee to slip past him .
Peterson retired at this point due to
a flat rear tire and Plant pulled in
briefly for a shot of water and then
continued on his way.
Balentine. on his way out for the
second and final loop , lost third gear
at roughly the bomb. Not wishing to
throw in the towel he continued
hoping he could get by without it.
About three qua rt ers of the way
around the last loop Balent ine found
himself missing more than just one
gear and was forced to retire for the
day with a sick transmission . T his
moved Henson and his lightweight IT
Yama ha into the lead. Henson rode
fast but ca utiously from t his point on
beca use he was tired and had already
gotten off twice.
Tim Plant , while ru nn ing sixth
overall, unloaded hard on the second
loop . Pla nt 's get off, coupled with the
heat , for ced him to spectate for the
rem aind er of the ra ce.
At the finish it was " Bad" Bra d
Henson with approximately th ree .
mi n utes or so over the second-place
rider Monte Lee . DR A has not ha d
overall win by a ligh tweight since
1974 , when Bill Friant did it , and
Henson is now the only ho lder of a
black bar in the 0-200 class.
The third rider in was Heath
Hibbard , who came across with no
problems except the heat.
Novice Roderick purchased Monte
Lee's old 250 Yamaha a short time
back and in doing so must have
bought some of Monte's talent.
Rod erick ran strong from the bomb to
the finish ending up fourth overa ll for
the day.
An amateur was in next at fifth
overall. It was Tom Mattox, who in
the past year had some incredible
luck, all bad. Mattox p ut it all
together today beating the next bike,
another amateur, John Foster (175 .
Yam). Foster got a front flat on the
way to the bomb but was ab le to keep
it go ing for the Lig ht weight Amateur
win a nd sixth overall .
Doug Beisner (250 Su z) was in next
looking very pleased with the day's
ride. Beisner finis he d slightly ah ead of
the hard-cha sing Mike Mulconery (400
KT M), who himself did a n excellent
job of worki ng his way up from back in
the pack.
Amateur Bob Coteman (400 Yam)
managed to keep novice Rick
Anderton (250 Yam) behind him to
take ninth overall with Anderton
rounding out the top 10.
Grant Colbert (Yam) has had some
problems with out-growing his bikes .
He seems to have found the right bike
to suit him and wasted no time
working his way up from 23rd to 11th
overall, third 250 Novice.
R a m o n Lowe (400 Yam) was
running well on the first lap bu t
dropped back and in doing SO lost
Senior division lead and the win to the
ever -consistent Gus Paull (400 Yam) .
Pa t McEvoy (400 Yam) was looking
good for the length of the race,
m an uevering arou nd rocks and thi ngs
to bea t John Richa rdson (400 KT M)
for the Open Junior/Senior Expert
win .
In the beginner race, m ost people
would have expected an open bike to
win . but Ch uck Sh a w (125 Can-Am )
sho wed the m the way home, lea din g
the first la p and at the chec kered flag
ahead of Jack Fuller (250 Yam) and
Mark Cates on his lightweigh t Suzuk i.
Resu lts in Resul ts Section. .
Denton, Vidic kick
oft Sprockets
nightAMEMX
By Lee Taylor
BAKERS FIEL D, CA, JUNE4
A su pe r group of racers and
spectators turned ou t to welcome
night MX at Sprockets Park .
American Motocross Enterprises
(AME) offered a $1,000 purse for the
Pros and 40% brass for the
Sportsmen. In addition, N. Chester
Cycle Parts donat ed new tires and
other goodies to the winners of the 125
Pro a nd_
250 Intermediate classes.
T here were problems with th e
lights , due to local ' electrical
contractor walking out at the last
m om ent . AME Presi dent Jerry Sho re
got out the Yellow Pages . a nd went
dow n the list until he fou nd a n
electrical contractor to str aig ht en ou t
th e situation. A m an by the name of
Mr. Holmes ca me imm ed ia tely an d
insisted on staying a ll through the
races to be sure a ll was in proper
wor king condition.
AME had $50 in special cash
awards, $25 of which went to the
winner of the Backwards Pro Ra ce,
Gary Dent on and the remaining $25 to
Sherman Schneller in a drawing .
Denton also won the 125 Pro race. The
Backwards Pro Race was hila rious!
