Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I Western hotline ~ E o '" -' > s .... .... -' > ., ~ Evan Marcus. AME 125 Pro winner. leads Bobby Kline 11AI. Scott Morgan Ix151 ~nd Andy Jannings at Ind ian Dunes. (A bovel Wes Sutton (441 took the first CMC 250 Pro moto holeshot ahead of Doug Southward (92RI. (Below ) Randy Hess (271 leads Peter Wank8t 1221 in CMC's 125 Pro class. Wanketfinished first Hess took third. the two were bar-to -bar with Shekell '.' ma naging to keep just inc hes ahea d of . W anket. On the sixth' lap as they · slammed into the hairpin tum at the '. . end of the speedway, Wanket took command. Tony Wanket pulled away from Randy Hess at about the same time. Shekell a nd Hess got a good dic e goi ng with Hess eventially roosting Shekell to tak e over third. Nelso n Whitehill (Yam), Cliff Lett and ·Joe Padilla filled th e next slots . Shekell kept his machine wide open trying to get around Hess , but with only one lap to go th e chances were very slim . Hess kept the throttle full on for th ird. Wanket, Wanket , Hess , Sh ekel] and Whitehill got the top points. 24 In the second moto, Sh ekell again got the holeshot to rocket to the lead. Hess, Peter Wanket, Lett and Tony W anket rod e next. T his race looked to be anothe r Shekell/ Hess d ice, only th is time it was for the first two positions . . Coming off the downhill , Pete Wanket wisked by H ess to try his luck a t lassoing Shekell . Going up a nd over the ledge, it appeared "tha t Pete ha d . the lead but Shekell stayed ou t ' in fron t. Tony Wanket worked his way up another plac e. putting Hess to fou r th . T he Yamahas of Shekell and Pete Wanket wer e wide open and screaming as they sliced int o the sweeper , where Pete tweaked Shek el! for position numero uno . Tony Wanket whipped his ' machine into second . As the riders ca me out . of Ra ttlesnake gulch . the W ankets were in the lead with Hess a good st rong th ird ; Shekell was out of the race with engine failure . Whitehill. Lett and Pad illa finis hed next . Top mo ney wen t to Pete, Tony and Ra ndy. Cole Bros. Maico-sponsored Wes Sutton went for the holeshot in the first 250 Pro moto, Doug Southward (Ya m) an d Bra d Roysdon (SuI) were ah ea d of Pete Wanket (Ya m) and Clark Jones . who was out for the first time on his new Suzuki . Sutton kept the lead for two laps wh en Pet e Wanke t rea rr a nged things as the riders wicked ' it over the whoops by . the Suzuki bridge. Once he was in the lead. Pete had to fight off the adva nces of H usky. mounted Alan Smith . Cla rk J ones spent the ent ire race dueling with . Tony Wanket ; Su tt on finished the race in 'fifth with Gerry Stewart (Yam) an d T im Marsh (Ya m ) rig ht after him: J ones must have gotten his new machine dia led in the first moto because he was off and going first in th e Lsecond . Smi th , Ste wart . Su tt on and Southward came around the first tu rn in a bu nch and were looking for som e room to ba tt le. Sm it h took over as leader ,!'lith Jones and Pet e W anket c ha ng ing pl aces wit h each othe r severa l times . Wanket finally -got by him and mo ved Sm ith ba ck too . Pete was going for the win when he slid out and dumped his ride: Sm ith turned it W FO and cooked . A t the three qu art er mark in th e moto he was 21 seconds ahead of the next rider. J on es and Tony Wank et kept the crowd yelling as they ca m e off ju mps together and went into the ha irpins as the same time . As Buzz Croft signaled the end of th e race, Sm ith was the winner with Pete Wanket , Clark Jones , Tony W a nk et, Sutton. Stewart and Marsh getting the next places. . David Gerig , the Holeshot King of Ca rlsbad did it aga in as he ripped off the line and around the first turn for the lead in the Ope n Pro race . Luke Messer wasted no time in taking the . lead. Messer got on the gas and he and his power-house Maico smoked the entire 12 laps : For awhi le. his closest competition came from Jeff Foland , who was out on a four-stroke Hond a . It's amaz ing how your ears get tu ned into the scream on two-stroke engines and whe n a t hu mper goes by you wake up and ta ke no ti ce of what is ' happe ning. T op Shelf rider Danny . Steele swoo pe d b y Foland . Gerig finished the race in third wit h Wes Sutton next and Moto-Meister Ma ico . sponsored Dal e Anderson in fifth . Foland a nd Bill Jewell (Mai) had the next positions . Da le Anderson took care of bu siness in the seco nd moto, He too k the lead and the win . Gerig rode second but at the en d of the ra ce he got the overall win due 10 mo re consistent wins. • Resu lts in Results Section. Donnie Hansen double winner at AME/Bosch Series opener By lee Taylor VAL ENC IA. CA , JULY 22 Almost 3, 000 spectators a nd rid ers turned out fo r the open ing of the A .M .E. Bosch '77 Summer Series , breaking Indian Dunes' reco rd for night -time racing . With over 500 riders and 26 events. spi rits were high and the atmosphere was charged with exciteme nt. Bosch distrib uted pl ugs and out of 26 overa ll winners . 23 were using Bosch p lugs. ent itling them 10 a share of the Bosch $200 bount y. to which A.M .E . added an additiona l $30. An yon e riding five out of the seven ra ces in the series will be el igib le fo r the Grand Prize drawings for a n ATC 90. a Honda Express and an Oddessey. A. Bosch spo nsorship will also be ava ila ble 10 some lucky pro. Trophies for th e finals , to be held Septem ber 2 will be three-feet tall alo ng with contingencies th ro ughout th e series. For the 500 Pros, Donnie Hansen (Yam -Int. M IG) took th e lead with Dave Haugh in second. Kurt Bledsoewas running th ird with Mont e McCoy pushing him hard in fourth. At the start of th e second moto, Hansen and Ha ugh had a drag race off the .line for the lead. A t the top of the hill . Hansen moved into first with Haugh close in. McCoy. in fou rt h, was hustling to take Bledsoe in front of him and Haugh was litera lly charging to get by Hansen . Headin g into the hairpin turn . Haugh went down . setting him ba ck in th e pack. .Andy Jannings was riding h igh into the berms behind McCoy. When the checker ed flag ca me ou t , Hansen sail ed on home 10 a fir st overa ll with Bledsoe taking down second and third goi ng to McCoy . It was Hansen's nightl No t o nly did he win the 500 Pro rac e, but he took cha rge of the 250 Pros as well. Mark Ga m be tta (Suz-Suz of Sa n ta Ba rba ra) sta rted off the race. leading the pa ck up the hill with Hansen in second an d H a ug h running third . Hansen was right on Ca m berta's tai l, not more . than one bike 's length bet ween them . H augh . falling back to fourth . was out 10 catch Evan Marcus and closing fast. Eddie Cole with a new ride, a Can -Arn for Kolb e was running fifth and trying to get around Haugh. The seco nd tim e out . Haugh charged off th e line . pu tti ng Hansen in second a nd Gambeu a in t hird . The ba ttl e was really be tween Hansen and Haugh with Hansen pulling a sligh t lead over Gambeua when the race was blac k flagged du e to a n inj ury at th e back en d of the tra ck. The race was called a nd th e posit ions remain ed as th ey wert' . The overall sha re of th e purse went 10 ' Hansen . Haugh took home seco nd overa ll and third went 10 Gambeua . Division IV of the 125 Juniors was one of the fast est spo rtsmen races of th e night. In th e first rn oto, Gary Payne led the huge field of riders off the line. H e had Bill Pet erson running second and rea lly keeping the hea t on. Ch ris Hackman. on a YZ for Va n Nuys Cycle . was back raci ng a nd in top . form after a one and one-ha lf yea r hiatus. Chris had just received the bike .. three week s ago and t his was his second race on it. Hackman was in t hird an ' ke p t .t he p ress u re on Peterson . Payne held t he lead throughout the m oto , The second time around .' H ackm an

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