Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Tom Wa lton 1121 xl, Jack Smith (lOx) and Kirk Johnson 11 13xl try varying styles through a Corona TT corner. Gary Denton won the AME 250 Pro class, taking both motos over Dave Haugh. 18 b ack wins. The first moto, he grabbed the holeshot and led the huge field of riders up the hill . Tim Lunde too k over second from Kirk Sturgeon . Lunde held onto second for quite. a while until Bob by Jones passed him coming along the sa ndwash . Jones was closing fast on Pillar as Lunde dropped out of the race . and John O'Ma ra (Suz-AI Baker) settled into third place. When the gate dropped the second time , Pillar again took over with Sturgeon and Jones close behind. Sturgeon was staying in close to Pillar. as Jones and Bob Kline carried ou t their own private battle for third. They both finally passed Sturgeon and fought right down to the wire for second. O 'Mara was closing fast on Sturgeon and Sturgeon was staying up close to Kline. By the end of the night. Pillar sai led across to top money, Jones took home second overall and third went to O'Mara . For the 250 Pros , it ' was Gary Denton's night! After doing battle with Dave Haugh for two fast and furious motos, Denton (Suz-Suz of Pomona) racked up back-to -back ' wins . Keeping the pressure on Haugh in the first rnoro was Tim Lunde (Yam T&O Yam). Don Dixon was holding down fourth and breathing down Lunde's jersey. The battle was for fifth between Eddie Armstrong, Don n ie Hansen, and Mark Garnbetta . Dixon m ainta ined a strong lead in fourth and left the battle behind him . In the second mota , it was Denton and Haugh holding down first and second again-Andy J ann ings was third and had T erry Clark hot on his fe nder. Jannings, Clark , Lunde a nd Ga mbetta were all close together in a fina l stab at third . . Haugh was gl ued to Dent on 's tail but just couldn't m a ke it by. When the winning checkered flag came out , De nton rode home to the' overall win, Haugh took down second with a 2-2 ride, and third went to Lunde. • Resu lts in Resu lts Section. Lawson hits tor . three at Corona HM/TT By Elaine Jones CO RONA , CA, AUG . 10 Back a board Bu tch Silva's 750 Ya maha , Eddie Lawson went home with a grand slam Wednesday night, win n ing both Mo ney races and th e Open Amateur/Expert half mile. He also had fast time for the n ight with a 22 .86 -second clocking. not too far off his track record of 22.24 and .riot bad at all for a summertime track. It was Steve Fortune who posed the greatest threat to Lawson in the Money races but the outcome was never seriously in doubt as Lawson rode like a young man out to prove something. He was off the line quick and was gone finding the best lines on the track and using them for everything they were worth . Fortune played second fiddle to him both times and on the half mile was given a good run for his money by Terry Singleton who has to rank as one of the most improved riders of the season. Jeff Springma n , who has not ridden Corona that m uch, socked it to the 250 Experts on the half mile. Jeff won the drag ra ce to the first turn with Terry Singleton in hot pursuit and Jack Sm ith not far behind. Singleton kep t the p ressure on Sp ringman , hoping to . fo rce him into a m ista ke b ut Jeff wasn't having a ny. Singleton had his own pro blems as Smith was doing a number on him. Everybody kept their status q uo and Sp ringma n came up with the gol d . Things were a lor more exciting in the 250 Expert TT. This time it was Jack Smith that got off on top with Dyla n Neihart and Tommie Walton following. The duel was between • Neihart and Walton and the action started im mediately. Neihart held off Walton until the thi rd lap when W a lton took the inside line coming out of tum four and with it t he lead. It took Neihart two laps before he could return the favor but he had second when it counted at the checkered. Tom Hughes put on a show in the 250 Amateur TT. Hughes , off in last place , literally rode like an old lady and then all of a sudden on the third lap someone lit his fire and he started passing riders like someone was holding a million dollars in front of his nose. In three laps he passed five people and he wasn 't particular about where he did it . It paid off as he claimed the win from Kirk Johnson and David Cote. The 125 Amateur/Experts heated things up a bit and it's hard to believe the way these youngsters ride against each ather that they are pretty good friends. The TT had Bobby Garabedian blast off in first on the hot Yamaha he just purchased from Todd Brown. Chris Cannon was riding double with him in second and Tommy Walton , . spo r t in g new leathers. was third . Garabedian and Cann~n went at it tooth and toenail while Walton discovered Eddie Drake wanted to play. On the fourth lap Drake took Walton. On lap five . Garabedian was out with bike problems and Walton had turned the tables on Drake and had moved into second. When the checkered fell it was Cannon. Walton and Drake. It was almost an instant replay on the half mile. Garabedian was again out on top with Can-non on his tail and Walton not far behind. On lap four, Cannon made a Banzai move coming low out of tum four to take the lead. Two laps later Garabedian again fell by the wayside with bike problems and the top three spots again went to Cannon. Walton and Drake. The 250 Novice half mile saw three riders put on the best show of th e night. Ron Hlavka took the lead off the li ne with Mark Martensen in second and TT win ner Bob Ca llawa y in third . O n lap three, Martensen go t under H lavkato ta ke over as all-three bu nched together. On the six th lap Martensen started going very high • between turns three and four and H lavka a nd Callaway came down low and it was case of almost as they exited tum four . As they came aroud on the last lap and headed for the checkered, they came out of four three a abreast and it was a drag race to the finis h with Martensen inches ahead of Hlavka and Callaway. ' • Resu lts in Results Section. Lopez and Blackwell race ·t o victory'at Ascot By Rico GARD EN A , CA , AUG . I I After almost two months of being a bridesmaid , Ray Lopez finally picked up the first place m oney in the hotly contested 125 Pro race at ' Asco t 's CMC motocross Thursday . The first moto 's a w Redon do Beach's Tim Lunde and Lopez dive side by side into the first tum with Lunde coming out on top . Bath YZ·mounted riders were never more than a bike's length apart with Lunde holding that first position to the finish . Lopez grabbed th e holeshot in th e second moto with Ross Maeda and Lunde hat on his trail. On the vertical climb across the TT jump, Maeda and Lunde collided . with Lunde sliding down the hill right into last place. Lopez ran away from the pack with the number two man Clifton trailing by 15 seconds. Lunde charged hard through the pack and worked his way up to a very respectable fifth place position at the finish line. The 250 Pros were combined with . the ' Open Pros. Tim Lunde, fresh from the first 125 moto win, took the holeshot with Austin, Texas' Rick Blackwell on his tail. The race between Lunde and Bla ckwell was strictly for show ; Lunde was on a 250 YZ while Blackwell rode a 400 Yamaha . The two q uickly left the pack, headed by Chuck Lunde, a half lap behind. Lunde bui lt up a I5·yard lead over Blackwell on the first couple • of laps , but Blackwell surged back in the closing laps to camp on Lunde's fe nder. In the final corner it was so close tha t Bla ck we ll b um ped the lea der' s rea r tire. The second moto was the same as the firs t going into the first turn . However . going over the TT jump on the third lap. Blackwell dove under Lunde in the following right-hander and took the lead for keeps. The pack again finished a half lap behind the

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