Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

E .~ t (Above) Gary Racca I1W), Pat Jacobsen (5) and Duane Parker I2B) lead the W oo dside 125 Pros Into the first turn. (Below) Clint Calhoun gives the photographer a wave at the W oodside Pro motocross. (Above) Derrick Knepper (200), Chuck Cochran (425)and Glen Willis lead the first turn charge in Watsonville MX action. (Below) Th ere seems to be a little confusion in the 250 Novice Div.' class as Chris Bier contemplates his fate as Doug Parson (53) and Terry Kuntz (648)boogie past Super turnout at Ridge Runners MX By Doug Swarthout and Gerry Reagan WATSONVILLE, CA ,jULY 17 A tremendous throng of hardcharging motocross racers turned . out for a super day of racing at Ridge Runners Motorcycle Club's challenging Watsonville.racetrack. 32 There were some new twists added to the already demanding course by . the club's track committee which is headed by Paul Marino who is an expert-ranked motocross rider. A series of steep hills lai d out in a "staircase" fashion , along with the new off-camber drop-off near the old windmill gave the riders a real workout as they negotiated the tight, "European" -Iike track. Kent Woods (Suz) took the early lead in the first mota of the 125 Expen class but was soon dropped to third spot as Mike Marquez (Suz) and jim Lesniewski got by to do battle for the number one spot. Lesniewski grabbed the lead and began to pull away while j eff Watts (Hus), who had gotten a terrible stan, fought to ga in position up through the pack. Scott Karl (Stiz) moved int o third place on the second to last lap as Watts d ropped into fourth spot at the end of the moto. In the second moto Marquez got the ho leshot with Karl in th ird and Lesniewski way back in eighth . Mike Scha low (Suz), who was running in second place, made a mo ve fo r Marquez and the two diced closely for four laps. Then Karl made his move , getting pas t Schalow and Marquez to tak e the lead while Lesn iewski came char~ng up from back in the field . Commg out of the last turn Lesniewski slipped up beside Marquez and squeezed by to take second in the moto by a sparkplug length, giving him the overall win for the class. With three divisions of 125 Novices there was plenty of opportunity for some good dicing, but Steve Alarcon decided he would rather ride alone as he blitzed the division one race on his 125 Yamaha. Dick Price (Suz) fi~red Alcarcon had a good idea and tned to do the same in the third division of the nervous novices. He did okay in the first moto, leading the race from wire to wire, but was relegated to fourth spot in the second run as Rick Nye (Suz) took the win . Price didn't care though , he go~ the overall win. While Glen Willis (Hus) and Scott Caldwell (Hus) shared wins in the Open Amateur clash, Claro Cabading (KT M) sat qu ietly back in th ird place for both motos and snuck off with the overall first place trophy. Caldwell held on for second overall honors and Willis was unable to make it out for the second mo to. Phil Crane took the early lead in the first moto of the 250 Experts and promptly stretched 'out a 15-second difference between himself and second place rider Larry Wosick (Yam ). Wosick played around for awhile and then began to close ground on Crane but he moved too late and finished seven seconds beh ind the swift Suzuki rider. Crane had some trouble in th e second moto as Darrell Shultz (Ossa) slipped into th e lead off the starting line and wouldn't let Crane get by. Shultz held the . lead for the entire moto while Crane dueled with Lesniewski (Ossa ), who later crashed, and Allen Berluti (H us) for the second place spot. Crane managed to hold both riders off and fin ished second in the moro for the first overall honors. There were some tense moments and some humorous events during the da y's racing. During one of the novice rnotos a rider crashed and landed in the middle of the track out in the back section . There were some anxious moments as corner 'workers tried to flag down oncoming riders to keep them from running over the downed competitor and one ride r had to be physically ejected from his machine when he refused, for two laps , to slow down for th e yellow ca ution flags , endangering the fallen rider. Things worked out oka y as the rider who had fallen was not too seriously hurt and was removed from the track without further incident. . Another incident caused some amusement to the onlooking spectators, but not necessarily to the rider involved . When he crashed on the lower straightaway, the rider's bike went off the side of the track and into the bushes alongside. A good indication of the type of land this track was built on was shown by the fact that it took six people 15-minutes to find the guy's bike! How's that for natural terrain motocross? • Results in Results Section. Ron Pomeroy top money winner in Woodside Pro MX By Roger Kane SANDPOlNT,lD JULY !I In Woodside's first pro race, 74 riders competed for $2,190 in prize money. They came from as far north as Kimberly, B.C ., east to Bozeman , MT; south to Boulder. CO ; and west to the coast . !lO-minute motos plus one lap were run in each of the three classes (125 , 250 and Open). Yakima , WA 's Ron Pomeroy was . high money winner , taking $!l50 for first place in the 125 class, and second place in the 250 class earned him an additional $170 . He rode Suzukis in both classes. Gary Racca (Yam) was second in the 125 class while Bill jones (Yam) was third. Pat jacobson (Suz), from Auburn. WA, took $!l50 first -place prize money in the 250 class. He also rode the 125 class, winning the first moto but breaking in the second round after two laps. Second in the 250s went to Pomeroy while Dave La Pierre took third-place money of $90 on a Maico. In the Open class, Buck , Murphy (Mai) flew away with both . motos for the $!l50 . Murphy, from Long Branch, WA, showed his appreciation for a good day by bestowing kisses on all three trophy girls . Second place went to Dan Huls (Mai) from Corvallis, MT; while St. Marie. Idaho's Tracy Prickett took third place.

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