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/126275
L --:- ~ o JQ. r V ance Breese leads Gordon Seim, Emile Mullick and Kevin Burk e in Open Production at AFM's Ontario road race. Nicholas unbeaten in AFM 1.25 GP By Jim Lester ONTARIO , CA. AUG . 7 The American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) played host to over 300 road racers Sunday at Ontario Motor Speedway. Paul 30 Ritter (750 Ducati) led off the program with a convincing win over Lee Gerke (850 Guzzi) in . the Open Production race. Ritter earned- an Azusa chain and sprocket set donated by Only the Best Distributing. Ritter was also second in the Open GP race on his 860cc Euromart Ducati, behind Harry Klinzrnann (TZ750) . Klinzmann, now fully recovered from his Loudon crash , was tuning up for the Laguna Seca International race next month. Klinzmann , as a first-year AMA Expert, is restricted to the 250 class for AMA events , but has been okayed to race 750s in F.I.M . -in terna tiona l races. Small- bore fans were wondering if Philippe de Lespinay and his new 125cc Morbidelli could break Jody Nicholas' win streak on the MT125R Honda. Philippe shot into the lead at the start, followed by Gordon Seim (250 Can-Am) , and Nicholas , Jody got by 250 Production winner Seim , passed Philippe going down the straight, and pulled away to a ninesecond win . Bill Mullins was the front running TA125 in third defending points champion . Doug Draper crashed at the horseshoe. A "down-onpower" Wally Karpynec (Suz) was second in the 250 class , with defending 250 points champ John Chermak in the hospital ~ith a broken collarbone, twisted ankle, and broken ribs. following a crash in practice. Bill McGrill (Bul) was fourth overall, and first in the 200cc GP class. With Steve McLaughlin's broken bike sitting in the pits, ' Wes Cooley rocketed to an impressive 45 ·second victory in the Open Superstreet race , riding the Yoshimura R&D Kawasaki Z-l . In a close finish that went down to the wire for second Mike Kauzlarich (750 Kaw) beat Vance Breese (900 Kaw) and Dennis Smith (750 Suz ). who went off the track on the last lap . In other . close action Bill Henry (Specialist II RD400 Yamaha) edged Steve Schrader ( Yosh irn a' Racing Service 500cc CB400F Honda ) in the Lightweight Superstreet race ; Bill Addington (850 Guzzi ) beat Chuck Parme (900 Kaw ) by I ~ seconds in the Box Stock class ; and Clay Rice (Ya m ) shadowed winner Steve Sizelove in 410 Production. Last race of the day. and one of th e hardest fought was 250cc GP . Ron Hlavka jumped off ,int o th e lead , chased by Bob Hyman , Darrell Lee . John Gidney , and Dick Fuller. Lee moved into the lead on the sixth lap . Fuller (Sy Klops TZ250) meanwhile ' was busy passing Hyman , H lavka , and Gidney. Fuller. caught and passed Lee for the lead two laps from the fin ish. and went on to win by two seconds. Results in Results Section. Lighting preparat io ns for a -37's dark , dus ty, dramatic Lights On endu ro. and roll charts were present. Some riders said the hell with it and just rode by the seat of the pants. As it turned ' out , they probably did as well as anyone. . The first loop was only 26 mi les long , partly due to hassles with the BLM on where the course could run, As it turned out , nobody was complaining. With speed averages - ranging from 18 to 24 m.p .h. , timekeeping turned out to be minimal for most riders except for the fastest A's. The Band C riders were just riding as fast as they could . One section in particular had everyone late as a last minute course change sent the riders ~~Lights down a rocky downhill , into a narrow wash and into a lurking secret check. Downhills at night are fun until you blackness. kill your engine. Then By Larry Langley Helmet lights helped but it still was spooky. BARSTOW , CA , AUG . 6 A soft uphill caught many riders - Honda-mounted Harry Keast rode ' late as they ended up pushing over. to a narrow win at the Pasadena .During the day, the hill probably -t wouldn't have been that tough but at M. C.'s annual under the stars night . with the dust being stirred up , it enduro. Harry edged out B rider was like trying to see through London Mike Butler, Jr. by one point . taking fog - not much luck . The loop was a the win with just two points lost. The tad hard for the majority of the C class win for Mike was his last Bride riders but certainly wasn't in the ' according to inside information from "Killer Enduro" class . the enduro steward. A long 47 ·minute break (''I'd rather Key time for the- enduro was 9:00 be riding," stated one A rider) gave, p .m . Saturday night and over 200 everyone a chance to make repairs, fix hardy District·37 enduro riders flats etc., etc. A depleted field left for showed u p with the necessary lightin g what was rumored to be a very tough equipment to give it a go. Some second loop. It was a little longer at 30 mo unted stock lig hts, a disadvantage miles in length and yes it turned out to to the riders who ha d more exotic be rough . quartz hardware with u pt een million candlepower to try and turn night into The dropouts included the day. Ins t r u m e n t lighting was Heavyweight ' n um ber one and . two , important too and many ingenious with bike problems , Gary Woodling ways of displa; ing speedos , watches and John Townsend respectively. The Keast flies through the night to win ' D-37 On" enduro loop started off right up a nice uphill which 'ga ve the pit people a chance to spectate. It was easy to tell when someone didn't make it by the sight of their headlight darting off into the night and at angles far away from the trail. Rocky trai ls led to a ferocious uphill where , you guessed it. a check was waiting to catch most riders late. A fast 24 m .p .h. average ,had riders humping to stay on . time with most dropping off the pace. The next check had even the A riders a cou pie of points down . A long powerline road allowed make up time for all the late riders , much to their rel ief. Terry Swets was dashing down the road w hen all of a sudden a rid er darted right out in front of him from off the road and , in the ensuing collision: Swets ended up over a rock c1iffl Luckily he wasn 't hurt, but his headlight was history. He managed to limp in on his helmet light. At the last check riders were scratching their heads and trying . to figure out how they were seven minutes late. As it turned out , they weren't , the flip card clock had ' been set wrong , The Pasadena M.C . adjusted everyone's score card to allow for the error and everything was just fine . For a 57 -rnile enduro , it was pretty good. Marking was 300% better than last year's night run and it was obvious the club had spent a lot of time and money on the course . Florescent ribbon and arrows aren't cheap. A lot of riders don't care for riding at night and didn't show up . Or they showed up with little enthusiasm. But to have an enduro during the ' sum mer , it's probably best at night. A good light makes all the difference in the world . Results in Results Section.