Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._ -- . _ . _ ~ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . - Western hotline Rawson held third to the finish. for enoug h points to win seco nd overall . Resul ts in Results Sect ion . .Heavy traffic at AMEAmateur HNationa/s" By lee Taylor VA LENCIA. CA , AUG . 28 Ron Williams (Yam) led the Mini J r. class. H e . d id battle with Randy Itow th roughout the first moto Second time off th e line. The 250 Juniors got underway at AME's "Amateur Nationals." Already there's trouble brewing back in the pack. Mike Shumaker 16Flhad Jerry Asher for a shadow in AME Bosch Series 250 Pro wars. A.M.E. Bosch rn Sum m er Series Smo'dn' at t he Dunes By lee Taylor VALENCIA , CA , AUG . 26 32 Donnie Hansen rode his way to victory in .t he 250 Pro class Friday night. In the first moto , he had a drag race to the top of the start hill with AndyJann ings (C·A). Jannings made a great recovery after gelling squeezed off th e track at the top of the hill . Hansen (Yam) set up a nice lead as Jannings was locked into a battle with Mark Garnbetta (Suz) for second. Dave Haugh . after a bad start was catching up . Don Dixon and Mik~. Shoemaker wer e in to a du el for fourth . Haugh had now moved on into fifth and was pu tti ng pressu re on Shoemaker. Ja n n in gs had gained considerab le ground over Gamber ra and finally found some breathing room . At th e end of the moto , the 'positions held . Second time off the line , Hansen took over. with Gambett a second , Haugh third, and Dixo n in fou rt h. One bi ke lengt h behind Hansen . Garnbet ta was going wild! T he d uo entered the ha irpin tu rn side by side, th en comi ng out of th e gully. Gambetta made his move a nd passed Hansen. Haugh , in th ird , was chasing Hansen. All three for e-runners were in tight formati on . Heading into the last la p, Gambetta was running away with th e lead. When the checkered flag came out, Hansen took home top money , Gamberra ,second , andJannings third overall. . Mike Pillar took the overall win for the 125 Pros . In the firse moto, Doug Nicol.1ed and had a fantastic ride all rnoto long, But Pillar was right on his tail. Tim Locey was third while Kirk Sturgeon and John O'Mara were fourth and fifth . In the second moto Bob Kline . garbbed the holeshot on a restart with Pillar right on his tail. Pillar moved in to th e lead with Edw in Amet (Suz) . in one of his first Pro races, running thi rd. Sturgeon was a close fourth and Nicol was fighting his way up to the fron t: Pillar now had a wide open lead , Kline was pressured by Arnet, and Sturgeon was keeping the heat on Arner . Locey moved in to fourth , and on to th ird place. The race between Kline , Arnet and Locey was extremely close , Pillar sa iled in for the win; and Arnet took second overall . Third went to Locey. The 500 Pro race was a battle ground for Dave Haugh , Steve Rawson (Ya m), and Andy Jannings (Ya m). Jannings took the overall win for the night . In their second moto , Jannings - led th e pack up the hill with Haugh running second and Rawson in' thi rd, As Rawson moved by, Haugh went off of th e track into the sand wash , he ad over heels! Haugh was back up a nd going again but lost ad va ntage . Steve Richards, a new pro , was doi ng quite well in t hi rd . The battle was for second betwee n R awson a nd Richards. Rich a rds was stayi ng in close 10 Rawson a nd suddenlv Rawson 's tire went flat . Ric hards t~ok over seco nd . Wi lliams was running second 10 Billy Full mer(Ya m) wit h h e avv ·t r a ff ic comi ng up behind . T he battle raged right do wn 10 the wire wit h W illiams t a kin g t he ove rall win a n d t he " Na tiona l Cha m pion sh ip ." Full mer took down seco nd a nd Malt Na tio n, who did suc h a great job of hold ing off heavy traffic all arou nd him . held th ir d . Eric Gr aves over-a iled th e 125 Jrs. Division II after a heavy fight with Mark Currie and J erry Martinez. In ·the first rnot o , Martinez gra b bed th e ho le shot with Cu rrie rig ht beh ind . Ga ry Payne was chargingl Comin g up fast on Currie . Gr a ves , (Yam) was moving up fast , to third. t hen working on Currie a nd taking over h is seco nd slot . So ended th e mot o. Second time up , Graves was a storm in the lead , Currie ho ld in g fast in seco nd , buzzing Graves. There was a po wer play for fif th bet ween .Jerry Martinez a nd Dave Van Bibber , but Martinez held on . The win nin g flag ca me ou t for G raves first over -a ll, Cu rrie second . a nd thi rd went to Martinez. Jerry 'Irelan smoked everyone and hid for th e 250 Jr . Championship. He won his class back-to-hack after a long a nd heavy du el with Kevin McLaughlin and Fete Snorteland. In the first mot McLaughlin had Irelan right .on his tail and couldn't shake him . These two covered every inch of the track. practically in tandem. Finally Irelan slipped to the lead on the last lap . Richard Arnold was riding a strong third. . Second time out Pete Snorteland was challenging Irelan. Their duel that lasted throughout the moto, right down to the wire . McLaughlin , tight behind them stayed right with them to the end where McLaughlin took down second and Snorteland third. All three joined each other la ter on the line for the Main . . Four main events determined the local national champions of the 125 Juniors . 250 Juniors . and 125 Intermediates. and 250 Intermediates. .W hen the gate dropped for the 125 J rs. Eric Graves opened up a slight lead for himself. held off Bill Reccnia, and won the p rize (a Pro-Am chain . tensioner), The 125 Intermed iat e Ma in was fast and ha iryl Dave Viciosa was leading with Jim COle second . R ichard Arnold third , Mike Gosselaa r fourth all racing on top of each other . Now Gosselaar mov ed into third with Kenny Spiker (aircone) right on his tail. These two were coming up fast . mak ing Cote ride a ll the harder . Viciosa barely hung onto his lead for th e win and title. J erry Irelan took charge of the 250 J rs. and eve ryo ne ' t h o ug h t R ick Gu ilmette had th e 250 Int . win sewed up . But headin g into his white flag lap . G uilm ett e slid out in the sand wash , losing many va lua ble positions a nd th e Champ ion sh ip . A rou gh da y "

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