Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NORTHERN DATELINE Saenz smokes in slick Castle Rock n By Robyn Fisher CASTLE ROCK , W A .JUNE5 The races should have never run. It was a d ry , slick , blue-groove track and very tough to ride on. The only reason they ran was because we hav e had so many ra inouts around here in the past few weeks. Today it was 90'. In the 250 Amateur d ivision , Debbie Saenz (Hon) was really rnovin ' . She smoked them by a straighaway in her heat and in her trophy dash she cranked through the straight and bit into the turns to make a good win. Though she didn't win her main , Saenz grabbed at a fast fou rt h . After winning his semi by an astonishing lead , Jeff McDaniel (Yam) of Longview, WA, not old enough to be a novice until next year , was knocking on Jeff Celorie's door from fourth place in the 250 Pro Main. just waiting for a mistake. when Jeff Cel or ie (Yam) went wide and Jeff McDaniel barreled under him . McDaniel fin ished third and Celorie finished fourth . In the 750 Pro Main, hard charging Brad Hurst was thundering in the lead when he got out in the loose stuff and lost it. This put flying Brian Peterson (Tri) in first position with a see-saw battle going on right behind him between Glen Parker (T ri) and Dave Mazour (Tri). Forging a groove in the dry slick surface, Peterson went on to take the win with Parker in second and Mazour in th ird. • Results in Results Section. Clark's Branch reopens with a TT By Lynne Di ltz MYRT LE CREEK ,OR, MAY 29 After three years of gathering grass and som e re negade fourwheel drives looking for fun , Cla rk's Branch su m m er track 42 opened once more to what it was built for - motorcycles. Tom Bentley, a long-time Cross Country Riders member, was the push behind the restart of this track ; Bentley wanted the local riders to have a place to play. The first race has given an indication that there will be more than just local riders. The track was run as a TT for the start and will be run as a shorttrack in two weeks and then alternate throughout the season, to give riders some variety. Each class has timed heats, trophy dashes (TD) and timed semis to place riders in as many main events as necessary to give each rider a minimum of three times on the track . The 125 class was d ominated by fou r riders who split all the races eq ually. Jeff Ba rb er won the heat but finished second to Bru ce Smylie in a trop hy dash . Vic Lil ya finished third in his heat , third in the T D and secon d in the Main. Mike H uffman ended his d a y with two fourths and a third overall. After an interruption for a swarm of bees crossing the track, Dick Wooten and Dana Hansen went eight laps in a duel for first that Wooten won by a bike length. Close behind Hansen was amateur Glenn Lilya on a Kawasaki . Pro Lonnie Bentley figured in the front row until he slid ou t on th e u p hill sweeper. Bentley had trou ble with th a t tum all da y. Mini Expert Da ve Carlile on a Yamaha West bike . ca me all the way down from Aloha to try the TT but decided he'd like the sho rttrac k best. He took second to Rosebu rg's John ny White in th e hea t an d TD an d tho ugh t he had th e hang of it d uring the Ma in . Well int o the eight -la p event , he went down on the tight inside right-ha nder. giving him a fifth for the da y. Second was firmly in control of litt le Robbie Blagg. Coos Ba y's Pam Claassen finished third and J oe Wallace (It a) was fourth . • Resu lts in Results Section. Light turnout for Richard Paris Benefit race (Above) Ralph Ormsby tops a Daroga Park hill ahead of a com pet itor. The Columbia River is in the bac kground. (Below) Harley Malkson of Oregon has problems in the soft Daroga Park sand . Malkson is a Novice Old Timer. By Sallee Hilton SAC RAMENTO , CA ,JUNE5 Only about 250 riders braved the 106 0 tempera tu re to race for Richard Paris. It was especially a disappointment to see so few of the pro riders tum out to pa y their respects to their late racing buddy. Rich Paris was fatall y inju red while r id ing Open Pro pract ice in the opening Golden State series race at Sacramento OHV Park in January . The 19-year-old from W oodl and lay several weeks in a coma before he died. His family was faced with great medical and funeral expenses. Fred Dion , of Boss MX . put this race on to honor the memory of the rider, and to assist the famil y with the expenses. 100% of all proceeds go to that fund which he set up for them. Charlie Murch , the water truck driver, donated half of hi s pa y for the weekend . T he Lions Club set up a concession stand and donated 100% of their profit , and several of the people wor king the race donated th eir pay. T hose who helped the fund grow in spite of the sm all turnout are to be commended . T he 21 pro riders who did show u p are also thanked . • Resu lts in Results Section. Washington team take Old Timers Championship By Ken Briggs DAROGA PARK, WA , MAY 28·29 The Washington Sta te Old Tuners successfully defended their team tide in the World Championship Motocross hel d at Daroga Park north of East Wenatchee, W A. The host team scored an impressive 206 points in five motes, followed by Canada with 40 , O regon 21 , Sierra of California 18 a nd Los Angeles 15. There were 201 entries in Mini , Su p po rt . O ve r -t he-H ill and Old Timers events. T he 1 ~·mile track is carved out of a sand mo u ntai n rising from the Columbia River on pro pert y owned by the Auvil Fruit Com pa ny. It can be described as one of the toughest sand tracks in the Un ited States. The surface is rated as soft , soft er and softest with correspo ndi ng degrees of roughness . Hills ar e stee p, tu rns sha rp and cond itions constantly cha ngi ng with each moto . o w w a: w Z < o ::> ,. ell ~ Because of the severe conditions. an unusua l event took place after the second moto in th e Old Timers competition on Saturday. The Race Committee, consisting of Bud Coles from Canada, Dick Varvel from Los Angeles, Bob McGr a tt y from Oregon , Gabby Gabbert from Sierra a nd Da n McCarthy from Was hington, voted to ask the host team to grade the track before the next moto. Bert lIer traded his Husky for a D·8 Cat and blade and spent an hour dozing the track before competition resumed . Then, nobody knew what to expect because no practice runs were allowed. After the final race, several were asked what they thought about the track. Some of thei r remarks cannot be printed while others thought it was good for motocross championship competition. A California Old T imer who did not desire to be identified perhaps said it best: "T his track is good for young men but it is too tough for older gu ys like me l" Novice Of the 34 Novice starters, Clifford Scott from Oregon, riding a Yamaha placed first with finishes of 2-1·2·1 -!\. In second place was T . W . Co rdray from Washington , riding a Suzuki . with finishes of 1·2 ·1 -!\·4 . T hey were followed by team point winners Monti Ha milt on . ( KTM) Washington ; Gerald Gullickson, (H us) Washington; and Richard Dashley, (Bu l) L.A. Amateur . yernon Rank from Washington , riding a Yam ah a. led th e!\5 entries to first pla ce with mot o finishes of 2-1· 1-1 -4. In seco nd place was Jim Flem ing . also from Wash ingt on , on a KTM . He finished 1·2 -2 -!\·2 . Additional team point winners were G ra nt Lewi s, (Ma i) Washington. t hird ; Dick Patterson, (Ma i) Washingto n. fourt h; a nd Vic Rem pel . (Mai) Canada, fifth . Expert Twenty five rid ers made the starts in the Expert rnotos. Howard Anderson from Washington on a Yamaha won the event with finishes of 2-I -I- I- !\. In second place was John Selder (Mai) from L.A. with an 8-2·5 -2-5 record. Additional team point winners were Don Irwin. (Yam) Canada , third; Vern Amor, (KT M) Canada, fourth ; and Gabby Gabbert , (KTM) Sierra of California, fifth. Masters Nineteen Masters showed their class on the tough track . Zoli Berenyi from Canada, rid ing a CZ placed first with finish es of I ·I-!\-I -!\. In second place from WashinKton was Bob Derry (Mai) with moto finishes of 7-2-!\-4-2. The additional team point scorers were Joe MacKenzie (Mai) from Washington , th ird ; Mel McK erli e, (Hus) Washington , fourth ; and Bert lIer, (H us) from Washington. fifth. • Results OVER ·THE·HILL: CLASS A : 1. A lan Olson (SU21. 2. Mike Doherty (Mail. CLASS B: 1. Larry Auvil IKTMI . 2. Ron Marshall (Yaml. 3. Everett Waltmire (Mail, CLAS S C: 1. Fred Felker IVeml. 2. Bill Pritchard (Vaml. SUPPORT: OVERALL 125: 1. W illy McFarland . 2. M ike laMarche ISozl. 3. Alan Olson (Suz). 4. Todd And erson (Yam). 250: 1. Scon Flem ing (KTM). 2. Rick Hill (Yaml . 3. J eff A nderson (Yaml. 4 . Jay Krusoff (CZ). OPEN: 1. Larry Basen (Yaml. 2. Curt Phillips lSuzl. 3. Mik e Ellinger (Yaml. MINI: 1. Gary Frazier (Yam). 2. Tom W edd ell lSuzl . 3. Pete Davis (Yaml.

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