Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126274
NORTHERN IIATa. J eff Bucker a nd the Salinas Yamaha 500cc single re mained. King of th e J u nior big bo re cla ss with Steve W elch still trying to figure out how to beat the kid and J eff H aney on th e KR Racing 500 Yam a ha literall y ran off wit h t he expert ' po rtion winning re a l b ig over J ohn Bu rn ett a nd Frank Nye . Little Tony Dea th erage took his small size to good advantage in t he 250 Novice class with a win off th e pe na lty row that saw his Petalum a Yamaha run off th e corners as well as a ny pro and th is was about his fifth sportsman race aft er givi ng up the #2 m ini pla te. Results in Resul ts Section . !Top leftl Rod Casper (901and Scot Templeman negotiate a Puyallup j ump in CMC Mid-Summer Championship 125 Pro action. (Above) Northwest CMC Number One Mark Gregson rode three classes, winning one. Gregson, Jacobson and Weidman blitz CMC Mid-Summer Championships BySue Sykes PUYALLUP , WA ,JULY 50 -51 Ted Ponton, 53 years old and gassin' it at San Jose. Jorgensen on top at Pioneer By A nn Carr . 26 By W . H. Spencer OAKDALE, CA .JULY 50 • Chandler sweepsem at San Jose SAN JOSE, CA .JULY 51 White plate 16 Kim Jorgensen survived a poor heat via the semi and returned to ride the high groove and square the corners Doug Chandler, the II yea r-o ld minibike sensation has been ha ving a tough time of defending his #1 pla te th is year with Tracy a nd topped current point leader Ru sty D.avis for the 250 Expert top "! oney a t PIoneer a re na , Anot her one of those " Ken Roberts kin folks: ' T u rlock's La rry Du nnagan ha d to win th e 80 Juniors tonight in order to rid e in San J ose on Sunday a nd accom p lis he d t he fea t . wit h a smooth wire to wir e first. Mod esto's Ben Zakari an took his dad's Bultaco to a stro ng win in th e large 250 Junior ranks . Sa lin as chargers Tim Cook a nd J eff Buckner followed ahead of Gary Gall agher. Both of these gentlemen winn ers followed with good rides at San Jo se th e next day. St ockton racers Mik e W est and Mike Laughlin continued to dominate th eir respective ranks as West won his second straigh t 250 Ma in at Pioneer whil e Laughlin followed his Lod i scram b les first with another 80 N ovice victory , • Resu lts in Results Section. Hays of Stockton doing more of the winning than may be his share . Dou g has bee n having his troub les with bikes and himself. None of these ill thi ngs were evident this ho t , sultry day on the Sa n J ose di rt track hal f mile , where Doug swept bot h 80cc and 100cc Expert Ma ins with relative ease . W inning both his heats was th e prelu d e a nd Dou g quickly took control of eac h main to do the same thi ng . Ha ys ca me from way back in th e 80 Exp ert on his J orgy's Suzuki to take th e seco nd and kee p th e point differ en ce at two, but th e double m ay be wh at Doug ne eds to get ba ck on th e winning streak , Chris Carr once again did his admirable third finish over a hot pa ck of 18 riders while it was Bru ce Johnson who held Hays at bay in th e 100 Exper t that Chandler pulled out all stops on his Hodaka Way machine . Larry Dunnaga n of the j unior set m ay have bro ken the Ken ny Rob ert s bad luck spe ll at t his tr a ck with a n 80cc Jun ior clea n swee p, KR 's little nephew had little trouble with th is class despi te it bei ng his first big bike race and wai r'Il Uncle Kenny hea rs about this . Some tragic crashing ca used th e day to be marred as the 560cc Expert Mai n had to be sh ut dow n with no less than t hree riders down in th e front straight. Rick Delacy a nd Ru sty Davis wer e d icing for second when Delacy hit the outside fenc e co m ing onto the front st raight and the e nsuing traffic problems was a real night mare with Eric Engen running over Delacy th en while a rms waved and flags flew, Rick Silva hit Engen's bike a nd the bik e was ca ta pu lted over the scori ng tower a nd flag stand and hit p it man J oh n Tavis, Sr. T avis was wa tching his so n ra ce a nd getti ng read y to p ush his 650cc d own to stagi ng when th e bik e came at him and he tried to fight off th e twin Yamaha with his left a rm a nd th e flying bike nearly ripped it off. J ohn , Sr. is in traction at Alexian Bros, h ospital in San Jos e awaitin g ope rations that will take months for recovery. Del ac y h as a shatter ed hi p a nd pelvis a nd is recoveri ng at Vallejo Kaiser . Bri an Thompson d id in a ll th e big boys of th e 250 Expert set with a fine, goi ng away win th at will net him 12 big white plate points in one swoop a nd well on his wa y to lowering his 19th ranking to a one d igit number. Rusty Davis was a ll over him in th e ea rly laps but could n't match the pace and sett led for second just over the hard c h a rg in g effo rts of Kim J orgensen and his very fast Ca n-Am. Wayn e Ra iney was up from SoCa l to do battle but wasn 't listening very well to dad Sandv when he went out to break in a y{ew motor a nd seized it beyond ' repair in the first practice sessio n. Hopefully there will be one more event so th e sportsman boys ca n have an oth er try a t th e top novice in t he na tion . " Flying" Dou g O 'Brien barely held on for t he 560 Novice win with Dan Malfatti and Mike McClurg co mi ng on stro ng a t the end to register a first th r e e for H ond a s whil e Rand y Hol ycros s rod e his first ever ha lf mil e and won the 500cc Novice cla ss over Darrell Hu gh es and in both events , right in th e middle of th e action was Ted Pon ton , going for it a t age 53 . Ted doesn't win too many a nymore, b ut it is really tric k to see his old Goldie doing its thing . Puyallup Raceway Park opened up its gates for a Mid-Summer Championship - sid ehacks and all. The two -day event posted a $1500 pro purse plu s a n amat eur prize contingency of $ 1000 plus trophies sup p lied byarea spo nsors. Saturday races incl ud ed mot os one and two for a m a teurs and Old T imers. The frosti ng came Sunday with over 70 pros and fou r sideha ck teams added to the program . The pros rode three rn or os for eac h class wit h a third a m a teu r m ot a betw een eac h pro mota . Su pe r stars like No rt hwest number one Mark G regson foun d little time to enjoy th e su nshine as he clicked out ni ne mot os a t th e p ace of every other ra ce. Gregson , rid ing for Va ncou ver Suzuki , was ou t in fro nt of all three 125 Pro mot os at the flag. Bill Joyce (Suz) and Pat Jacobson from Bellevue Su zuki took the lead and put the squeeze on Gregson in the third mota. Joyce took second overall and Jacobson posted a th ird , In 250 Pro action, Jacobson put a 12-1 score together over Gregson's 2-1-2 for the Championship. There was a full class of 250 Pros from three states and Canada . Rick Weidman (H us) flam D.H. Cycles won mota three of th e Open Pros and that put his name on th e first -place payoff check . W eidman scored a th ird in mota on e then came ba ck with a sixt h the n ext ti m e , Gregson took win s in m otos one and two . but in th e last ra ce of a long day, spe nt his tim e with a ben t head by the tower. He took the last la p fla g bu t wou nd up out of the money, The rac in g La rson fam il y fr om Br em erton m a d e it a three -da y motoc ross weekend - th e Summer Champi on sh ip a nd Fr iday nig ht at Sea ttle International Ra ceway. Phil , Jr. (Suz) won Min i Experts, th en cam e b ack in th e 100 Int ermediates - a staggered st art with his fa the r in th e Over The H ill Gang , Both Larsons won their cla ss overa ll. Mike Larson chalked up a fifth in the Mini Junior class on his XR . Some of th e cont ingency prizes went down 25 places and winners picked up suc h motocross va luables as Bell Helmets, tires , goggles, jackets and on and on , Thanks to : Northwest Yamaha , Cli ffs Cycle Center , Cascade Cycl e Craft Yamaha . Cycle. Bremerton Yamaha . Enumclaw Suzuki, Highland Honda , U.S. Cycle , and Kent Cycle. • Results in Results Secti on .