Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

IAbovel Tripes (381 and Mosier 1 chase Bell in the motocross. (Below ) In 40) the short track. Hocking 127) fought with Fishback and Hateley. (Bottom left! MalcOlm Smith won the road race. lBottom right! Winner Howerton grimaces while working on his bike. heats and two semis to qualify a 12rider field . A consolation race sorted out the rest of the positions. Gary Sem ics won the short track consy, leading fro m stan to finish . Burleson went down in -the second lap and took Terry Clark with him ; both got up and finished the race. Jim Rice took the big Beezer to a holeshot in the main . Fishback. Hateley , Hocking, Roeseler, and Jennings followed. It was elbow to elbow for several laps before Hocking finally edged into the lead. Hocking 's TT500 along with Rice's bike, were ' the only ones with a short travel suspension system set up for din track. Hocking held the lead to the finish . followed by Rice. Hateley, Fishback. Jeff Jennings (250 Suz). Roese ler , Mike Bell. Hannah . Mike Hannon (400 Yam). and Howerton, Before the main . Hannah's tire had developed aslow leak. He filled it up "to about 80 pounds. " He got no traction on the stan and had to work his way up . . Diane Cox did not race the short track. Du ring p ractice her bike lost a master lin k. She got one. but m issed her heat. The rules. which weren't explained to ' her, required tha t she push her bike to the start of her heat in order to be transferred to the semi. Though the bike was fixed in time to run the semi. she was not allowed to ride it. YamahaTT Mike Bell let everyone know his intentions in advance by winning the first TT heat. Rick Hocking was running second when he went down in a tight corner , . breaking h is kickstarter. Gary Jones (250 Ammex). who had been in the back of the pack in previous events. came alive and chased Bell to the finish line. Hannah , still riding with the slow leak. won the second heat. Jennings the third . Hocking came back to win the consolation race ahead of Jack Pen ton and Al Baker (440 Hon) . Jones charged to the ho leshot on the main, leading Fishback and Bell. Bell was in the lead before the first minute had go ne by and won handily. Jones . ran second for awhi le. but J eff Jennings (originally an alternate. but permitted to run, as were Mosier and Fero) got by to take second. Mosier, Fishback. Howert on , Hateley, Tripes, Hannon . R oese ler. Sem ics, and Hannah rounded out the field . Shortly before die main , the threeman jury ru led that Hannah could not us a pump to inflate his tire because it was a mechanical device. After the tire went totally flat in the main Hannah managed to procure a tire and wheel and frantically changed it during the 10-minute work period. Penton Cross CountrylTrials 16 (ContinuedfTom page 14) Malcolm Smith, who rode with a front tire so small it made his 390 Husky look like a chopper. Malcolm passed Hateley. and Little John. trying to catch him. overcooked it in a corner trying to get around a lapped rider and ate it. He lost a bout a la p trying to get re -started and finished IOth . T h at moved -Rice into second, Howerton to third and Hocking to fourth . They finished that way. ahead of Fi shback , Sern ics , Tripes (350 H -D), Roeseler (390 Hus) . Terry Clark (380 Kaw) and Hateley. Diane Cox (TT500). the only girl in the race , started last and had a fine race up to 14th, passing Bob Hannah along the way . When the first da y at Orange County International Raceway ended . Howerton had the points lead with 70 , a hea d of Malcolm Smith (68), Semics (66), Hocking (61) and Burleson (60). The win ner of each event received 40 points. Goodyear Short Track Sun day t h e r a ce mo ved to Saddleback Pa rk . with the short track and TT bein g ru n in a natural bow l, the TT us ing the infield of the quarter-mile oval. Most of the riders had utilized the 60-minute maintenance period Saturday afternoon to switch to knobbies. though a few fitted dirt track tires . The short track and TT used three The cross-country/trials was a long course through Saddleback's outback. There were two observed sections - a steep. twisting hillclimb and a narrow gulley - where riders were penalized on the number of times their foot hit the ground. The maximum penalty was five points for killing the engine or coming to a complete stop. But it really was a cross' country race, Bell took the early lead. followed by Mosier. Hannah got a good stan. passed Mosier and Bell and wound up 17 seconds a head at t he end of 30 minutes . Bell ran second for much of the race. but Mosier. whose Maico was eq uipped with a fa iri n g du r in g Sa tu r d a y's p a vem e n t expedition, passed Mike with two laps to go. Se mics took a fo urth; R oesel e r , Howerton . Jennings, Tripes, Clark. and Jo nes finished in the top ten . Fishback had been 'running sixth but his chain came off on the last lap and dropped him to 12th . Jennings barely beat Tripes for eighth; the m a rgi n was only a co u ple of feet. Tripes had worked u p fro m near last after he crashed on a ru t and was run over by Lars Larsson and Malcolm Smith. Their foot pegs gashed his side and he rode in pain for . the remainder of the day . Tom and Jack Penton, neither having a good weekend, had disasterous luck in the trials named after the bike their family imports. Jack seized during practice and Tom crashed in the race . breaking his handlebars at the crossbar. Yamaha Motocross Hannah finished the day on . a up bea t note by running away with the 30-minute motocross . On the stan , though. it was John Hareley's fourstroke Yamaha leading the pack of Bell , Mosier. and Hannah. Bell moved into the lead before the first lap was over. As Hateley slowly faded, Hannah took second and planted himself on Bell's fender. He was q uickly past and on h is way to an easy win . Bell and Mosier fought for the rest of the race.' a nd were joined by Tripes. Marty got past Gaylon a fter the halfway mark a n d stayed there to the finish . Howerton finis hed fifth and clinched t he title. " I missed a shift a nd then tipped over In the first turn ," said Ga ry Semics, who fought from nea r last to sixth. only a few feet behin d Howerton at the finish. Jones and Clark followed. then came L a rry Roeseler. Roeseler had tangled with Fishback in the first lap and dropped to 17th. He finished ninth . ahead of J ennings. Jim Rice and Rick Hocking rode the flat track bikes (equipped with knobbies) and finished the motocross. though way back in the pack. The Olympiad was . for the most pan, a spectator's delight. There were problems over interpretation and enforcement of the many rules, but most of the riders sai d they'll be back next year. Hannah , who. showed Sund ay afternoon that he's just abou t the fastest thing on two knob by tires. said "I didn't come prep a red. 1 came just to show u p . Next year I' m goi ng to • win this thi ng or I' ll be mad ." Results DRAG RACE W INNER AND POINTS : Dick Burleson IHusl 40 Points. Gary Semrcs (Kawl 37, Kent Howerton 35. Mi ke Bast IYam)·33. Chris Carter (Yam131, Rick Hocking (Yaml29, M alcolm Smith IHusJ 27 , AI Baker (Honl 25, Jack Penton IPenl 23, Lars Larsson (Mail 21, Dave Aldana (Yam) 20. M ike Griffitts IMon119. Lairv Roeseler IHusl 18 . John Foro (Vaml 17. Sob Hannah IVa mi. 16 , Gaylon Mosier (Mail 15. Bill Uhf lMail 14. John Hateley (Yam) 13. Jim Rice IBSAl 12. Jeff Smith IC·AI I 1, Jim Fishback IVaml 10, Mike Be ll IVam) 9. Gary Jones IAmmexl B, Terry Clark (Kawl 7, Mike Hannon tYaml 6. Marty Tripes {H-OJ 5, Jeff Jennings (Suzl 4, J im Ellis IC·AI 3, Cordis Brooks IBu ll 2, Tom Penton (Penll , Diane Cox !Yam) 1, Corl Cranke IPenl 1. VAMAHA ROAD RACE: M. Smith 40, J . Rice 37. K. Howerton 35, R. Hock ing 33. J . Fishback 31. G. Sernics 29, M. Tripes 27, L Roeseler 25 , Terry Clark 23. John Hatetev 21, D. Burleson 20 . J . Ferra 19 . T. Penton 18. D. Cox 17, C. Cranke 16. C. Brooks 15..1. Jennings 14 . B. Hannah 13 , M. Griffitts 12. A. Baker I 1. M. BellI O J . Smith 9. C. Carter B. J . Penton 7. M. Hannon 6 G. Mosier 5, B. Uhl 4. G. Jones 3. M. Bast 2, J . 81is L Larsson I , D. AJdana 1. SHORT TRACK IMAIN EVENl1: R. Hoelting . J . Rice. J . Hatetev, J. Fishback, J . Jennings. L Bceseler, M. Bell, B. Hannah, M. Hannon, K. Howerton, G. Mosier . A Baker . TT (MAIN EVENl1: M. Bell. J . Jennings, G. Jones, G. Mosier. J . Fishback, K. Howerton, J. Hatelev, M. Tripes, M. Hannon . L Roeseler. G. Serna. B. Hannah. CROSS COUNTRVITRIALS: B. Hannah, G. Mosier. M. Bell, G. Sernics, L RoeseIer, K. Howerton. J. Jennings, M. Tripes, T. Clark, G. Jones, D. Burleson, J . Fishback. J . Hatetev, M. Smith, J. Fora. B. Uhl. M. Hannon. C. Brooks. C. Corter . C. Cran ke, J. Sm ith,- R. Hocking , D. Cox. M. Griffitts, T. Penton. A. Baker. J . Rice. L Larsson. MOTOCROSS RES ULTS : 1. Hannah, 2. Bell, 3 . Tripes, 4. Mosier,S. Howerton, 6. Sem ics , 7. Jones , 8 . Clark, 9. RoeseIer, 10. J ennings , 11. ' Hatelev, 12. Fishback. 13. Burleson, 14. Broo ks, 15 . Han non , 16 . Foro, 17. Uhl, 18. M. Smith, 19 . J. Smith. 20 . Carter , 2 1. Cran ke, 22. Hocki ngs. 23 . Ric e. 24 . Co x, 25 . Larsson. OVERALL RESULTS : 1. Kent Howerton 11821, 2 . Gary Semics 11821. 3. Mike Bell (1581, 4 . Bo b Hanna h 11531 Larry Roeseler 11 491, 6. J im Fish back 11 441, 7. ,5. Gaylon Mosier 1143); 8. Ric k Hoc king 11 391, 9. J ohn Hateley 11 341.1 0. Marty Tripes 1132),11 . Jeff J ennings 11251 12 . Dick Burleson 11231. 13 : Ma lco lm Smith . 11191,1 4 . Gary Jones J (1151. IS . Jim Rice 1112.51 .16. Gary Clark (961, 17 . Mika Hannon 1 891, 18. John Foro 1 841, 19. AI Ba ker 1751, 20 . Chris Corter (72) . 21 . Cord is Brooks 1671, 22. Bill Uhl 1611, 23. Jack Pen ton 1581, 24 . Lars Larsson 153 25. Mike Griffitts lSI I. 26. Jeff Sm ot 1. h lSOI 27 . Carl Cranka 1411, 28 . Tom Penton 1381. 29. . Diane Cox 1361. 30 . Mika BaSI 1351. i,

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