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/126278
Jack Johnson. overall w inner. somewhere in the Nevada desert. Fred Hansen leads a competitor out of the desert. onto the road. to fini first 250. Las Vegans leap for victory at 'Pioche GP By Sk ip Johnson PI O CHE. NV . SEPT. 3-4 "[umpin" Jack Johnson , aboard a Team Husqvarna 390 , bounded to the overa ll win in the Silver City Scrambler's third running of the Pioche Grand Prix. On the previous day, Greg Price . a 100cc Amateur . surprised th e rest of t he field with an overall victory in th e Scrambler's Mini-GP . Spendin g a holida y week end in Pioch e , Nevad a ( where's that ?) may not sou nd too exciting, unless you kn ow Labor Da y is Pioch e's "Go od Ol e Nevada Da y s" celeb ratiom'T he wh ole tow n has a party. Activiti es start Friday wit~ old W est contests and a street dance . and cont inue day a nd night until Monday. Whow! The Silver City Scra m blers . - La s Vegas' oldest motorcycle ' clu b. began spo nso ring races in Pioc he in 1974 . They moved their races to Pioc he fro m Bea tt y, Nev ada ( Beatty?), wh ere t hey used to ra ce wild b u rro s a s we ll a s motorcycles , bu t t hat is anothe r story! . Nevert heless . th is year's GP pro ved exciting for th e ra cers. as well as th e to wnspeop le . The act ion was broken up int o separate events, with th e m inicycles running Saturday and the big bik es Sunday. Saturday 1 2 T his mornings act ion opened with a brief ra in . just eno ugh t to settle th e . dust. After the meet ing , th e racers wer e led to their paved ro ad starting a rea a nd waved off by divisi on s; ex pert , am a te ur, th en novice . Mini 80c c Expert Chris Howa rd , ' of Las Vegas. blazed h is wa y int o a n early overa ll lea d . The seven-m ile race co urse ' proved too dem and in g fo r Chris' m ach ine , because his YZ siezed . Kevin Keefe took over th e 80cc Expert lead. T he real ac tion was taking place b ack in the pac k .d u ring the ea rly laps as G reg Price. in his first amateur ride on his' YZI00, moved from fifth overall to first during the third lap of the six -lap race . H is lea d was unchallenged for th e balance of the race . with the exception of a laterace cha rge by 100cc Expert Rob in Harris, who could not seem to get within striking dist ance . Other class action incl~ded 80cc Amateur d omination by Billy Hill on a very qu ick RM 80 . Nino Butrerowe ' fin ishe d a d istand second . La nce Burns took th e 80cc Novice win . Sunday . At the drop of the banner, the race rs. were charging, and out of the dust came Jack Johnson , jetting away from the rest of the pack. E~Hly pursuit ca me from Joh n (il) Stee le (250 Ya m) and Scott Ha rd en (39 0 Hus). Harden ha d m oved int o second ove ra ll by th e second la p of th is five -lap , 20 'm ile loop GP , a fter some minor front brake problem s. Sc ott' s d r iv e , however . was just not enough to match j ohnson 's gassin' , • As ' Jack and Scott set th eir own pace . th e 250 Exp erts provid ed th e Steel e . a n mo st com pe titive ac tio n . aggressive. young rid er fro m Overton . Nevada . h ~d th e 250 lead in th e earl y laps. only to b e ca ught by Fred Hansen J r. Hansen (25 0 Ya m) n ow on h is first new bike in som e tim e . moved h is way to first 250. thi rd overa ll for the ' balance of t he ra ce . Stee le managed to ha ng on to second 250 , despite n ume rous cha rges by even tua l th ir d place finis her But ch Laswell. who was a lso Mon o-mou nt ed . .u Current number one 250 plate wearer in Las Vegas, Mike Maze navigat the fast, but bumpy MRAN course. . The fiercest raci ng was over fourth place. as KTM·mounted Mike Maze. current 250 number one tried in vain to hold off Marc Knudsen (250 KTM) . a cont ender for this year's plate. Knudsen came from a mediocre sta rt. worked his way through th e pack right onto Ma ze's rear fend er , where he sta yed unt il the fourth lap_when Mik e's gea rbo x wen t sou r and Marc went by. Uno ffici a l reports heard in the pits say Marc now ha s the po ints lea d for 1977 . Mor e ." hot st roking" was taking place in th e 125 cla ss. Some sm ooth. co nsista nt riding secured first 125 Expert for Lena rd Sikorski ( 125 KTM ). His d et e rm in ation started b uildi ng Saturday as he was heard to . say "I 'm gerting ready wh ile the rest are gettin crazy!" or som ething to that effect. ( I think th e listen er was a little "crazy" at th e rim e. ) One of th e strongest drives from behind ca me from Kevin Davis ( 125 KTM ). who work ed his way through nearly th e ent ire pack to sn a tc h second place from a desperate Ron Ellenburg ( 125 Yam ). Other clas s action included th e " O ver The. Hill Gang". wit h Ra unchy Ra y Charlesworth (RM 370) taking top hon or s and seco nd going to OTHG guest Earl Leeber (400 Yam). Tom Fisher was first Open Amateur and Mike Furdy (250 KTM ) took top 250 Amateu r. . The most ded icated rider of th e day award sho u ld go to 125 Ama teur winner Mike Zahm . His t hrott le ca ble broke ea rly into the first la p a nd he the ca rbu rator full open! Instead stopping , he continued on . fighti and wrestling his bike all the w When he came to one of the pav highway crossings , he jumped off t bike ( pe r instructions) to p ush acr the road . with h is engine n , shrieking. Bu t Mike neglected to P 'in the cl utc h a nd when the tire traction o n th e pa vement , he and b ike rocketed across the highw After over 100 ya rds of bulldoggi a nd fight ing , . he regained enou control to po int himself towa rds t vicinity of the ra ce course. and r h is way int o th e pits for a new cab and continued on for th e win . T ha dedication! The ra cers seemed pleased with t race as a whol e a nd plan to be bac k next yea rs " race thru history" Pioche. Nevada . • Results MRAN GP: jacl< johnoon, Open Ex,IHu.l. Scott Har Open Ex. (Hu.l. Fred Hansen Jr .. 250 Ex, IVaml. J 5,_, 250 Ex. IVaml. Butch Laswell. 250 Ex. (Va Marc Knudsen, 250 Ex. (KTMI. Conon Guio. Open 1HusI. Tagg Gu;", 250 Ex, IHusl. L.eon.d Sikaroki 125 IKTM). Kevin Davie, 125 Ex,IKTM): Ron Ellenburg. 1 Ex, IVaml.Mike Maee,-25O Ex. IKTM). bob Gabriel, 1 Ex. IBuli. Greg Mayer, 250 Ex. IVaml. Billy McOan 125 Ex.IVaml. Steve Goke, 125 Ex. IVaml. Jeff Har 250 Ex. (KTM). Ron Harris. Open Ex. (Bull. Tom Fis Open Am. IHusl. Mike Zahm, 125 . Am. iSuz). M Purdy. 250 Am. IKTMI. MINI MRAN GP: Greg Pri 100 Am, (Varni Robin Harris 100 Ex. IYaml. K . , Keele , 80 Ex. IVam). Tiny Ser iben, 100 Am. IV Chris Howard. 80 Ex. IVaml. Scott Sudd. 100 Ex. IS Billy H1II. 80 Am. ISuzl. Patrick Shield. 80 Ex, (Y lance Bums. 80 Nov. (Yam). Nino Butterowe . 80 (Yam). Kenny Keefe. 80 Am. (Yam). Steve lahm, Am, (Yaml. Martin Boven. 80 Nov. ISuz!. Rick La 100 Am , (Yaml. Bobby Guevtes. eo Am, lYaml. Graham. 80 Nov. lYaml.