Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ENORTHERN DATEI.II: ~ Results MINI INTERMEDIATE: Gary Johnson. MINI NOVIC E; Jammin John Looney 100 NOVICE: Byron Estes. 100 INTERMEDIATE:Danny Clemen ts. 125 NOV ICE: Tom Nobles. 250 NOVICE: Gary lyko. 260 INTERMEDIATE: Wes Morrell. OPEN NOV ICE: MorIoMcCoy. VETs/OLD TIMERS : lou.. Shopifo. GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP: S- . ledford. E l' l' 0') ....-4 Rick Graham wins Open Experts at Salinas Elksl .Ramblers benefit scrambles By W. H. Spencer SALINAS , CA , AUG . 28 IAbovel Rick Eklund was up in the air about the Salinas benefit scrambles. IBelowl Slidin' sidehackers put on a great show for the benefit races. IBottoml Rod Spencer gets on the ragged edge of a high side as he chases Rick Graham. Graham took his second straight benefit title. 28 bounced his way along in fou rt h. A few laps later th e crowd ca ug ht sight of Schwartz flying th rough a berm , bu t he em er ged u nh u rt. The th ree front runners held their positions at the end of th e race. Magoo kept h is Su zuki in front of Cantaloupi in the 125 ra ce only to get off on th e last lap . Second was t he best he could m a n age in the first mot o . The second mot o ' saw the du o get terrible starts , but Mag oo worked up into 'the lead , and took the overall, Cantaloupi took home second place , Sand Hill series results I By Tom Anderson JULY 15 through AUG , 26 Friday night August 26 conclude d our seven- week Frid a y night MX series. Below a re the top point lea ders in eac h d ivision , Each rider had to compete in at least five ra ces to qualify for a • trophy. Congratul at ions to all. Rick Graham captured his second straight Open Expert victory at the annual Elks & Ramblers benefit scrambles before more than 6,000 spectators and 350 riders. The racing was exce llent while the rest of the day meant a lot for th e Sa linas Elks, who annually contribute more to charities than any other group in th is area . The thousands of d olla rs mean a lot to the crippled children a nd meant / as much in , giving to the Sa linas Rambl ers M .C . as we ll a s th e tho usa nds who atten ded the world's la rgest motorcycle scrambles. The Salinas rodeo grounds is a n old , open· air -type op eration with no cover and an old concret e grandstand that will hold about 14, 000 on old wooden se ats . It sta rts out em pty , but before th e pract ice session is too far along, it crowds up a nd by opening ceremonies, it's nearly half fu ll. A part of each yea r' s activities is th e parade and display of colors and meeting one and all . The first trophy of the day went to Paul Pearson for best dressed rider and bike. Paul is parts manager at Sam Arena H -D in San Jose and his 250cc Harley short tracker is impeccable. W ith paint by Lee Seidel and detail work from brother Scott, it was the first defeat for ' Tony Alves in three yea rs. With over 40 events of the da y, racing was at its max. Doug Chandler con tinued his dominance of the mini classes winning both the 80cc and 100cc Expert mains with onl y Mark Key challenging the Sal inas Yamahasponsored fast kid . Wayne Karcich made it look eas y in the 125 Novice main with it win over 'J oel Green and Kevin Morgan and was trying for the same in the 250 No vice, bu t crashed and Rich Matuszek took the . checkered in front of Da ve Hufford and Dan Hart. Dave Rosa was out to do the sa m e in the 125 and 250 Juniors with nearly the same result: a win in the 125 over Bob Silva on a come from behind effort and troubles in the 250. No troubles for J eff Haney and the KR Racing monoshock 250 Yamaha in the expert class . Jeff is blitzing all the races of late. Keith Da y held second on a Champion Kawasaki while Dennis Spence took his Can -Am to the th ird overJohnnyJones and AI Cicacco . Haney was out for a repeat in the 500 Experts , but couldn't get th e sta rt right and had to settle for fourth. Dennis Spence rode the Vall ey Cycle Yamaha to th e win ove r Ken Robi cheaux a n d Jim M ah on e y. Robich eaux led th e early part of the race but co u ld n' t hang on wh ile Mahoney and his Cycle Center Hond a held off Haney and Dallas Davis for the other trophy spots. T he big class of th e day was once . again the 650 Experts with 41 in attendance. R ick Graham was in charge all day after some trepidations during practice with a leaky tank. Rod Spencer played the devil's advocate in both th e heat and ma in , dogging Graham the whol e way th roug h. Paul Johnson held onto third with some fast slipping and sliding. Phil Vitale took his Norton to fourth over Buddy Rob inson's hast ily prepared ND Triumph. The 10·lap main kept the crowd together as it was nearly 6:30 when it ended. • Results in Results Section. Slidin' at Salinas Scrambles By Bob Hugill SALINAS, CA, SEPT. • The riders who rode at the Salinas Airport Smooth Scrambles Sunday found the track and the weather near perfect. The track at Salinas has been in the best condition of probably all th e Northern Ca lifornia tracks all season. Promoter Bob Ro sa has the conditioning of the d irt really . d ialed in . Jeff Haney was t he b ig double winner in both the 250 and 500 Expert Classes in his conti nuing ch a rge to lead Denn is Spen ce of Los Gat os for the number one plate. The next ra ce a t Sa linas Airport, which will wind up the season , 'will be • a 1/4 mile on September 18. Results in Results Section. Sand Hill MX update By Tom Anderson BRENTWOOD, CA , AUG . 12 Tom Worth came back after a big layoff to win both motos in the 250 Novice class, with Ron Shipman taking second . Jerry Wallgren im proves each week, and he took home the third place trophy. The real McCoy, Merle that is, won both motos with ease. Mark Lane was back in second and Tim Birmingham was third. Matt Lorenzo on his super-fas t Suzuki too k the final mota in the 100 class after a good battle from Gary Johnson. The int erm edi a te class had some good dueling as K.T. Barry won over last we ek 's winner , Frank Hastings. Again the b ig th riller was the 125 No vice class . Mik e Brown won th e first moto, with T im Nobles right behind him for second. The final rna to Brown got a bad start , leaving him in about fifth, but he passed up to second with Mark Pantell not wanting to give up th e lead. Brown tried to pass on th e inside, couldn't make th e pass , and fell. Ma rk won the battle, but Tim Nobl es had enough points to win th e war. Expert Perry Donahue on the 125 Suzuk i pushed Joey Schlag all th e way but had to settle for second. Jack Stroski won the first beginners mot o with Eric Lofgren pushing all the way. The final moto Jack grabbed the lea d but Lofgren was pu shing harder. J ack fell , leaving th e win to Lo fgre n and taking th ird for his hard ride . JamminJohn Loon ey on h is new DG su pe r Suzuki won both mot os, beating th e intermediate riders. J ohn , a very polite young lad from Byron and a goo d spo rtsm a n, gave his t rophy to th e

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