Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Larry Roeseler sails his Husqvama past a lapped rider on his way to three wins in Toys for Tots competition. Roeseler takes three at Toys for TotsGP By Gary Laudig ORANGE. CA , DEC. 3-4 To have an exciting race , sacrifices have to be made such as trails so inaccessible water trucks can't reach them. Such was the problem today but the Maywo od M.e. course at Saddleback Pa rk was loads of fu n regardless. . , . Sta rting off t he day s excite - m ent were the 0 -37 0-200c c Novices and Beginners. Mike T ina jero had Pa t Cain in d ust. Cain slid out a nd to ok o ff in t he co veted la st position. The only Beginner in t he race was Dou g G rafius a t 14th. T he first narrow uphill took its toll , the first d ownhill d id a nu m ber on a few also . Strung ou t, dusty but tryi ng. the racers finally saw th e white flag . The last lap found las t place Ca in in th ir d , J ohn Langhammer and Bill Pa rks right behind for fourth and fift h . T inaj ero bagged the overa ll, Hopson was second . O-500cc Sportsmen 8 Close to 40 started . 29 finished. Passing the TT jump and the 360 sweeper. the racers headed for th e triple mudhole section just below the portacans. wh ich brings to question. " how did they keep th e waterhole fill ed? " Scott Cecil to ok the le ad unaware of th e d isaster behind him . A crash made life misera ble for th e followers. The only HSMX entry , Bob Carpter was in third spot. Dave Wentz fourth . The Begi n ner class sta rted with five. Jim Carroll and Todd Cam pbell were the sole survivors in tha t order. Past the halfway po int , Burt Silver a nd Scott O 'G ra d y were moving up on the leader. Pa ssin g through th e wooded area , over the up and down rise, the racers hooked a left up a wide dusty flat secti on. By th e time they reached the WFO hardpan Cecil had the race sewn up . Carpenter moved into second. W en tz th ird. Suve r fourth . O 'Grady fifth . Du e to the " Off you r bike" sta rting pro ced ure. a lot of luck and skill wer e needed to win on th is cou rse . 250cc Novice/Begin ner Bri an Charters let it all hang out a nd surged a h ea d of t he mass of machinery. Mike Coc krell was wor king up from a bad sta rt . Begi n ner Paul Hu ffm an was d oing th e same, and Beginner Dave Her rera was two b ikes back m aking his move . At the dropoff fro m W FO road , Lee Midgley was pressing Ch arters a nd James Ku risu was after Mid gl ey's position . Cock rell moved into fifth headin g ou t on the last lap . Charters . on h is Pesk y's Maico, managed to su rvive bent bars and stuck throttle to take th e overall win . Midgley held second , Jam es Kurisu rode his buns off but ran out of time and settled for third. Paul Huffman was next and Mike Cockrell fifth . 250cc Amateur/Expert Aware of being televised live on KN BC didn't seem to bother the ' veteran desert and motocross racers as they lined up for the big event of the day. Taking an early lead. John Fe ro, the Six Days Yama h a rider , ha d the neat jo b of keepin g Larry Roeseler off his back . Bru ce Ogil vie did n't have that problem because h is bike killed on the start giving him the coveted last pla ee posi tion . As the race progressed , Roeseler got by Fero ; Tom H olm es , R og e r Toubeaux and Rick Bu rris dueled for first Amateur position running in th e sixth to eighth overall positions. John Mittendorff is in definite trouble. Ogilvie didn't waste time working to the front . By lap two , Ru tten slid out and Ogilvie got by for good . Sanchez. riding in pain , worked his way through the pack trying to maintain the number one plate in D-37 motocross. Denn is Rosenberg , with a bad arm . held off Carl Fjastad, Joel Parker and Don Brand. J r. Bad day for Huskys: T im Fit zpatrick's qui t. T h inking "Down hill" Alexander was aceing him on points. he lat er found ou t Mike hit another tree; with his bod this time and th en got stuc k in th e mud hole. Roeseler seized , Statham was on TV . La rry n ursed the bike b ack to life while in th e background Ogilvie was rig ht on Fero's fender as th e race rs headed out on the last lap . Tom Stock ton was m aking his bid on the Am a teur batt le wit h Holmes hold ing first , T oubeaux right be hind , Bu rris then Stockton . Rutten passed G riego for fifth , Sa nch ez held on to fourth , and Ogilv ie mi ssed p assing Fero by a tire width settling for third . Fero seco nd. Roeseler first over a ll. T he side ha cks were th e ce nt er of attent ion as th e KNBC Ch annel 4 television crew in te rv iewe d Bru ce Lewellyn , Bru ce Ogilvie and Larry Roeseler . The side hack winners were the Sanner team , Bob a nd Ch arles, ahe ad of Ron H all and Ken Meter, a nd Glenn Mithcell a nd Ron Syd ell . . Heavyweight Novice/Beginner Su rviving several slid eouts a n d crashes. Sunday's firs t race crossed th e lower ridge . down the so ft face downhill with the off camber right turn at the bottom. Heading int o the whoops , Jeff Matthews had hard cha rgi ng Bru ce Felcor in pursuit. Beginner Rick Pu vogel had Rich Christensen on his tail. Doug Ince and Don Boese had a battle going. Eric McCracken had the Willis gang to contend with. Dave and Steve. By th e tim e the white flag unfurled, the positions were fairly well sewn up . Matthews was first. Bruce Felcor second, McCracken third . The only Beginner finisher was Rick Puvogel. Seniors and Women The banne r d ropped and June Elias grabbed th e holeshot . Thinking it was a fa lse start. she slowed and looked back letting Rich Burley by. At the first turn, Earl Roeseler stuffed h is arm int o sorneone's motor taking Honda lady Ba rba ra Spiel ma n with him. Losing her clutch lever. she and Roese ler took off.after th : leader. •TV star Bru ce Lewellyn , who took the lead when Bu rley seized. J ack Froelich had to ride hard as Trudy Beck and Madelene Almeida were not far back. Bouncing through the picnic area with the up and down ridge. Melissa Thunderpussy, Debbie Henke and Sandy Love na vigated the lefthand turn . Suzuki Art , Chuck Alexa nd er a nd Ch arlie Morris made it up th e one bike tra il to th e specta tor a rea . Ch erry Stockton held off Trudy Beck for most of th e race till Trudy got by in the back sect ion . Roeseler an d S p ielma n worked t heir way back t h ro ug h the p a ck . Earl passed Lewellyn for first . Bruce held seco nd and Honda lady Spielman. rid ing superbly. fin ished third overall. The Over th e H ill gang had a super start. W he n they rea ched the uphill th ey resembled the swa llows returning to Ca pistra no without a place to land . Hoyt Statham borrowed a bike and won th e race with W .E . Saltzman right behind him all the way . Marvin Ba rn es too k third . W ith the all red jerseys, it was quite a colorful event to watch. Ga ry Schell , Bru ce Hoover and Basil Sa ncher did a good job. With the dust and quantity of riders, the attrition rate wasn 't that bad. 0-200cc Junior/Expert Two things Larry Roeseler seldom does: (1) get bad starts, (2) lose. leading the affair on a stock IT was Ga rry Conner. When th e racers started down the first downhill, Roeseler was in th e lead. The exi ti ng Butch Darling had a nas ty sta rt bu t the guy never ge ts upset . just Roes fas ter. J im Connolly was m ovin ' like a teenager when the race h it th e twisty section near th e h ig h way. Do n G reen e a n d Da ve Woolmor e wer e close, Da le Dorman and son D.L. were no t. Dale fell and go t a helmet full of d irt. T orsten Corum a nd Dou g Ma rt in were behind Baj a cla ss win ner Scott Coutts. Rocseler seized a t th e end of WFO roa d but got the bike going again. At th e hal fway poi nt . the Hon d a and Darli ng were in second place , Danny Sanch ez third . At th e checkered th e position s stayed th e same. Heavyweight J unior/Expert Jumping off their C bikes and on to the b ig bik es, Roeseler a nd Connolly wiped their fa ces. d owned two fingers of Gat or ade and got ready. The banner dropped and Ma x Eddy, on a brand new '78 400 YZ. took the lead. By th e d ownhill , Ro eseler moved from fifth to first bu t d id n' t stre tch out too b ig of a lead ' on se co n d p lace mot oc rosser Cra ig Adams . All around racer Jim Fishback was in th ird . Max , trying to figure out how to control so much power was in fourth. Late entry John Burr was back in the dust passing like crazy. Marty Olson was first Amateur, Chuck Koistra and Larry Earhart were fighting over third . Joh n Fero didn' t fare as well as Saturday but still moved very fast. As the sun began to fall the checkered did a lso. A giant sigh went up from th e Maywood section. Larry Roesele r chalked up win number three, John Burr was second , Big Jim Fish back third . The GP was q uite a success. The figure from one of the Ma ri nes was $6,0 00 in mo ney and toys. When you kick back this Ch ristmas be proud you not on ly m ade yo ur family happy but an unfort unate child will have a sm ile instead of a tear for Christmas; bikers are birchen . The Maywood M.C. was wonderful . the U.S . Marine Corps were outstanding. They are also avid Larry Roes eler Ians , > • " ~

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