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/126277
Johanna Stenerson led Sue Fish in the 250 class. Johanna won. but Sue took the title. Sue Fish flies to 'second National Women's Title By Patti Trotter T RA BUCO CYN . , CA , AUG . 27 ·28 In just four years the Women's motocross program has taken tremendous strides. This year in what was to be an incredible test of strength, endurance, and a sheer, gut level desire to race 14 women spent two da ys .a t Escape Co untry raising the' d ust. Each of the women entered was to ride not only motocross but two , two -hour grands prix. One look at the GP course was enought to scare even vete ran riders. Sue Fish was to prove over the week end why she iscalled the "Flying Fish ." She completely dom ina ted both the 125 and ' 250 Expert divisions of Saturday's racing. When the race started, Sue a nd the top riders Johanna Stenersen , Carey Steiner and Ba rb a ra Spielman - were clocked at 4: 10 for the 3.5-mile track but as the laps checked off and the riders got the terrain dialed , the time was down to 3:25 a lap. The organization of the "Pit" crews could easily rival the Indy 500 crews . Trudy Beck was to have the fastest time for a stop when her crew not only pitt ed the mach ine but got some liqu id in 'T rud y in u nder 7 seconds. , At the completion of the 125 Expert GP the riders ha d only three hou rs to crash out and try to re-vita lize their drained , bodies. The weather was not ideal for distance riding as the sun remained directly overhead , and if there was any breeze it was stopped by. the mesa on the other side of the course . Madelene Almeida was back in the thick of the ac tion after quite a lenghty lay-off. Even if the Amateur rider h ad run out of c;nergy the support and cheering she got from her crew was enough to keep her psyched up . Granny class rider Pen ny Terry got her support from a rather fuzzy purple critter that was attached to the bars of her mount. ' When Sa t u r d a y' S racing was com plete the pa rt icipa nt s were each awarded a heavy duty trick tee shirt designed and created by JA D. The tee shirts were such a success that they were offered to the parents and friends for a reasonable fee. With the riders meeting finished and everyone, semi-refreshed from a night's sleep, the riders got a chance to do a few la ps on what was to become a real bod y thrasher of a track , Standing on t he hillsid e and keeping a close eye - on the action was last year's National nu m ber three rider Joan ne Miley, Joanne had put her bike aside for a littl e while bu t she and husband John ha ve been doing a lot of long distance running to keep in shape. Dede Cates rocketed her Suzuki around the first turn to begin the action for the 125 Expert's first rnoto . Johanna Stenersen kept her Yamaha inches in front of th e super-trick Honda that was under Barbara Speilman . The Fish was next , with fellow Yamaha rider Carey Steiner next. The next time around Fish had gotten by Spielman. Sue was wide open , at th is point in the race the ankle she injured in the parade lap yesterday didn't seem to be troubling her. Within,the next few laps the pack had stretched out and Fish was in total command . Cates was smoking right· behind her. Carey Steiner moved into third with Rhe Helms roosting her Suzuki around in fourth, Stenersen was back a few places but by the end of -- the moto had motored to fourth, passing Rh e in fifth . The seco nd moto had Fish flash ing off the gate for a n early lead, one which would not last because the to rn ligaments in her ankle were giving her incredi ble pain. Stenerson captu red the lead and went for the moto win , Sue rode in second wit h Cates always right on her fender. Helm s and Steiner spent the entire moto dicing, their positons changing with almost every lap . Carey was able to get by Rhe when the two ripped into one of the tight turns and Rhe missed a shift. By the time the two came around again Rhe had re-ta ken the lead from Carey. On the last lap Rh e ex perienced some major problems and Carey crossed the finish line in fourth . The first three positions went to .Stenerse n , Fish and Cates. The overall win went to Sue along with the title of 125 Expert Women's Grand National Champion . The title came from a combining of all of the points for both the motocross and the grand prix races . Before the 250 Experts got going. C herry Stockton was heard to p raise he r new Yamaha whi le she was making plans to ride the Baja 1000. She is a lso planning on some very serious desert racingin the near future , To train for all of the things she does, Cherry works out on a regular schedule and plays a lot of tennis , sometimes with Rog er DeCoster: In what had to be the best ra ce of the day, Fish got the credit for beginni ng the action when the 250 riders got going. Johanna had the lead before long and the two sta yed within inches of each other for the first half of the race . While th ey were-coming out of the horseshoe at the top of the hill , they both tried io take the same line and Sue went down , Johanna wicked it on and within a few laps had maxed out her lead. As had been the case for the day, Dede Cates was in the top th ree. The hot dicing was again between Rhe and Carey. . When the next race was over each 01 the women had put ilJ six hours p ushing themse lves to the limit. Severa l of t he ga ls were getting pep tal ks from Dee Gra nge r and Ga le Webb while both lea ned on their respect ive cr utches. They co u ld have been th e "faster in plaster" tea m captai ns . Along with bei ng a to p mo tocrosser , Gale is making it in world of skateboarding, By the expressions on the faces of the riders while they waited to the race to begin this was going to be a long 16 la ps. Johanna executed a beautiful holeshot for wha t was to be a never ending forward position . Kim La Vign e rode second with Carey, Da wn G rant (Hus) a n d " C h e r ry Stoc kton filling' the next slots. Cates . was in sixth. Joh a n na opened up an insu rmountable lea d and , towards th e en d of the race, thrilled the specta tors with some rightous cross -u ps while she sailed over the jumps. By' the sixth lap, Dede was in third and Sue had worked her way up to fourth. O n the first lap Sue got caught in some heavy traffic a nd stalled her machine taking a few seco nds to get it goi ng again. Johanna in the ninth lap had a 30 -seco nd lea d on seco nd p lace Steiner. Cates carapuled around Carey, ca pturin g seco nd and reducing Johanna's lea d to 20 seconds. At the en d of the moto the leaders were Stenerse n , Cates . Steiner, Fish. Grant. Helms and Carla Swing. ' The last event of the afternoon was a Pit Tootsie ra ce and Dave Miller the winner of race . was crowned King of the Pit T ootsi es and given a radically painted helmet. • Resu lts in Results Section.