Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; .._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.I: Westernhotline IT A w inner Gary laPlante shown cleaning section two's roc k y hillside. Nicol continues at AME Sprockets MX By Lee Taylor BAKERSFIELD. CA . OCT. 30 Doug Nicol continued his winning weekend by racking up back to back wins in the 250 Pros. as he had done at Indian Dunes. In 28 the first rnoto, Nicol took command with Greg Youngblood on his tail and Greg T orge rso n (Suz-Mom and Dad) in third. David Potts pushed Torgerson hard , tried to pass once, failed . but made his second attempt and moved into third. Youngblood was pushing N icol relentlessly, as Torgerson .h ad a battle going with Larry Watkins for third. Potts was having trouble, going into the banked turn with a stalled bike. Watkins passed Torgerson for third and held his position to the end of the race. Nicol held his lead and Youngblood held second. The second time off the line. Nicol again took down the lead with Youngblood running second and Steve Williams in third. Torgerson was off the tra ck in trouble. while Watkins took over third. Still nying, he moved int o second and started to work on Nicol's lead. Nicol held him off. taking top money for the class. Watkins was second and third went to Youngblood. Randy Berkeley (Mai-Kiel's Maico) racked up back to back wins for top money in the 500 Pro class. In the first moto, Paul Birchfield grabbed the lead with Ron Haase rigbt behind him and Berkeley in third. David Rogers was moving up fast . up to fourth and pushing Berkeley. Haase was hounding Birchfield, coming up on the outside but unable to get by. A battle between two brothers was taking place for fourth with David and Stewart Rogers. Coming up ( M 7 King Kong jump. Haase took over the Iead as he and Berkeley continued a heavy duel. Berkeley made his move and took th e lead with Haase staying rigbt with him. . The second time around. Birchfield took over the lead with Haase in second. Berkeley flew into second then went to work on Birchfield . keeping the pressure on until be took ( M 7 the lead. Birchfield and Haase continued to battle for second right down to the wire with Haase moving in. Berkeley took home the overall win. Haase picked up second and third went to Birchfield. A hardy band of 50cc Mini riders and one small Pee W ee , W arren Provost. braved the Sprock ets Park track . Throughout both m ot e s, brothers Bobby and Johnny Hoffman , both on H ondas, b attled for t h e winning position . Jo h nny wou ld close in fa st and ti gh t on h is b ro the r . threa teni ng to send the go blins a fte r him if he didn't move over . Bobby stuck to his guns , held his gr ou nd a nd came home the ViCIOr. Johnny took home secon d overall and third went to Erik Brown with a solid 3· 3 ride . Results in Results Section . La Plante good as gold at I. T.A. trials By J erry M anley SADDLEBACK PARK. CA . OCT. 16 Jean Fradette. I.T.A . prez . laid out a neat trials. Sections one , two and three tested your ability at rock riding on hillsides. Four was a mean little gulley with a couple of steps. Section five was a boulderstrewn gulch . Sections six , seven and eight were of th e san dstone ditch , gulley and hill varie ty. with th e riders carefully pi cking a serpentine line over demanding off-camber ridges and knolls. Nine featured a steep drop in to a deep ravine , with an exit up a steep pile of loose dirt that required banzai throttle control. T en , laid out on th e steep side of a hill . covered with expired grass. made several turns , cal1ing for body english and more throttle control. A couple of the sections were so demanding that they yielded no cleans all day. Winner Gary La Plante earlier this year rode his modified 302cc Kawasaki to victory in the Texas Canyon two days trial. The former Arizona State Champ has added a few high finishes in the National series to his portfolio also . Finishing a solid second was Matt Parsons, followed by Matt Pritchard and Mark Webster. all on Bu ltaco 350·s . The amateur class had a close dogfight between Bultaco-rnounted Rick Manley and Mike Allen on a Montesa 348 . When the d ust settled both riders wer e tied . so the issue was decided by "cleans" with Allen taking the win . Consista nt Rick Bieniak took third. with Phil Chandler a close fourth. Mark Older's feet- up style won him the gold medal in the Novice class on a modified 300cc Honda . This gives him enough po ints to move up to amateur. Jack Weir grabbed second , mov ing up to amateur also . Third went to Scott Kolar. Snowden Mathews took fourth . La rry Curtis was fifth . and Da ve W illson sixth. Ron Ben iga r has been bea ting th e beginner class la tely and ca me in fir st agai n . Mike W arne , showin g ra pid im provement. took run ne r- up and Geo rg e Avery was third. These fellows will all b e rid ing th e Novice class next time out! Fourth was you ng Mike Pa rson on a little Yamaha T Y 80 . Rob ert Dussler fin ish ed fifth . T he first time beginner class is for th ose who have never ridden obs erved tri als before. Pete Ve trano adapted well and won himself a gold medal. Michael Efaux was in close pursuit. T he current seven event Seniors Championship Ser ies . (for thos e who admit to being over 35) is divided into two classes: Senior "A " for a m ateu rexpert types and Sen ior " B" for less experienced riders . It was good to see former I.T.A. Prez Bob Grove back in com petition again , winni ng the Senior " A" class . Runner-up was one of the area's better a m a teu rs, Gil Smith . Senior "B" honors went to " Pap a" Art W ebster . patriarch of th e popular W ebster clan. Art rode well to edge Gordon La Duke. Third was Bill Markham , followed by J ack Stone and Gl enn Bye rs . Th e p oin t sp re a d betwee n th ese fell ows is m in imal , so it shou ld be a great series. to see who will be Nu mero Un o . Sr . A or Sr. B. Smokin' ST and savage scrambles By Len Shirley Reddin g hung on for th ird . On the third mot o th e story was revers ed when Hames broke h is fr ame a nd Johnson won the over all. In th e 250 No vices. Ted Dann too k first with Peck second and Coc hrane th ird . The O pen Novice class was hard fo ught with J oh n d ro t a ki ng first overall. The Blake brothers came out 10 try the track and found it to their likin g . Larry Blake kept th e lead in the firs t m o t o wi t h bro th er Norm followi ng and j oh nd ro taking thi rd . The seco nd moto sa w L. Bla ke holding the lea d wit h J ohndro takin g second awa y from N . Blak e a t the halfway point. The third m oto had th e Blak e brothers exc ha ngi ng th e lead until Joh ndro p assed th em both on the fourth lap to hold on for th e win . In the Open Ex p ert s. Charles Summers had 10 fig ht his wa y 10 the lead in all three rnotos as Sperry and Sanders were exc ha nging positions on every la p . Sanders was out to run after a few years ' absence . Sanders. Sperry, Summers a nd Armstrong led the rnot os at di fferent points and a big question was who would be th e fastest 10 th e lin e. O ver all , Summers took fir st with Sp erry , Sanders and Armstrong following in that order. T h e last race of th e night was a novelt y race ca lled th e Backwards Sweepst a kes race. T he rac e was run on the co urse , backwa rds , with differ ent size b ikes ha ndicap ped on th e co urse itself for the sta rt. The n ag dropped and the scram b le was on for th e goodies. Johnso n got a good jump with his 250 Yamaha in the first few laps and Sa nders had 10 let it all hang out 10 cat ch him . On th e last lap in the last turn , Sa nders fin all y got by for the win . Good tim es wer e sh a red by all . Results in Results Section. PERRIS. CA , OCT. 22 Racing was hot and heavy at Perris Raceway on the short track. The 250 -0pen saw Pete Hames (Yam) dicing with Eddie SO Roman . H ames took th e lead an right off the bat a nd held it with San Roman at his heels . The 250 Novice rid er s were having th eir own battle beh ind t he two expe rts with Steve Peck taking first and T ed Dann second . Grover Riley ran thi rd . In the Open -Expert 250 . a blanket could h ave bee n sp rea d over th e entire field, they were so close! Positions changed every, la p . John Sperry and J ay Lewis were ou t in the lea d with Jack Langst on passing riders a ft er a ba d sta rt to pull int o fourth. The next two la ps saw Langston pick his way up to seco nd . Lewis regained his prior posi tion on th e fifth lap and held on to seco n d. Sperry held off all the cha llenges to take firs t. The next two m otos saw Dwa yn e L ock ( Ya m) challenge Spe rry and Lewis many times . Overall . Sperry won with Lewis second and Lock third . The Open Novice races were fast. One might ha ve thought they were experts . Dennis Penheira had it all the way in all t h re e mores , The challengers were Don Young . Gary Johndro and Bill Bartels. Johndro was chipping away at Penheira every chance he could , waiting for an opening that never came. The 250 Novices in t h e TT Scrambles were all good riders. Jeff Johnson and Pete Hames were lined up 10 back at the experts' handicap line. When the green light came on , the first turn saw the two experts take the outside line and proceed to show the Novices how to do it. Hames took the lead for keeps as Johnson couldn't find the right place to get by . Mike Big novice turnout at Old Timers MX By Betty Bird VALENCIA . CA, OCT. 23 The novice class had a great turnout when the Old Timers MX Assn. raced with AME. with 18 on the line. Larry Smith was number on e today. but not for long - the amateur class is right around the corner for Larry ,- as of January I , 1978 . Maico-rnounted Dave Jensen of Canyon Country took second. J.D . Bray ended up in third overall. Old T imers charter member Chuck Flack improves every time he rides and he does j ust that every chance he gets. Frank Hershey. 70. the oldest member of the Los Angeles chapter, rode his last race with the L.A . membership . Frank is moving to Arizona . and hopefully he ' is going to start an Arizona chapter of the Old Timers. Chief Line Steward today. Jerry Scott on his Tonka Truck sponsored Yamaha . took the amateur gold. Jerry announced he will be moving up in class - look out experts. The silver throttle of John Webb took second. John went for it in the first moto and held it all the way ; the second m oto he too k a fifth. Pete Klassen combined a 4 -3 tally for third overall. Taking a second to Cal Browning in the first expert moto, Ken Williams made it a firs t in the second moto for the overall win . Bill Bird. late for his first moto made it to the starting gate just in tim; for it to drop. That's the closest he has ever come to getting a holeshot start (Continued on page 30)

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