Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

First tum action of the 125cc Novices at Knob Hill Ranch's return to regular motocross. .32 The main attraction of the Sears Point motocross was the T rans-AMA high-f lyer. the pack. Ten minutes into the moto, Brand started to pull a slight lead when trouble hit both riders. Brand's brake lever curled around his footpeg as he worried about fast-closing Worth . One lap later , Worth mysteriously pulled off. With a much slower pace, Brand started losing his lead to the rest of the -pack. Gene Manhire (Suz) passed for the lead but lost it almost as fast, with bike problems sidelining him. Brand took back the lead and held it to the end, followed by Chip Chapman (Hus). Brand had complete control of the second moto, from st art to finish . Worth p ut in a strong ride to finish a distant second. Second overall went to Chapm an with two strong, consistent rides . Tim Worth (Suz) and J a y Haroutunian (Suz) shared the ho leshot of the first 250cc Pro rnoto. Worth hadn't completed a lap when problems hit him again. Haroutunian led for three laps before fading back and ending in fourth. Mike Wickersham (Mai) took over the lead, followed by a hard-charging Scott Karl (Mai). The two locked bars for laps until Karl used his Dunlap experience and pulled away . They finished with Karl first, Wickersham second and Jim Ellis (Suz), back from an injury, third . Scott Karl elected to put himself out front the second moto and held the lead for the win and the overall. Tim Worth and Jay Haroutunian chased· Karl , with no luck of passing. Haroutunian passed Worth for second, but Karl was gone. Worth again retired and Mike Wickersham brought in third. The moto ended that way and the overalls went Karl, Wickersham and Haroutunian. Jim Flowers (Yam) , was the fastest rider in the O pen Expert class, taking bo th moto wins ra th er easily. Flowers led the first moto from start to finish with J im Bu rges (Hus) second and Carl, Nelson (KTM) t hird . All three finished quite a distance from each other with little passing going on . Jim Burges led the second moto past the halfway point, until Flowers rode up and took the lead. Flowers quickly pulled out to a comfortable lead and finished first for the overall with Burges seco nd and Nelson third. Jordan beat fellow Suzuki rider Jeff Cabral in the 100cc class . ' Brad George dusted the first division of 125s with Suzuki riders Steve Dubridge and Jim Smith second and third. Barry Velasco beat Jeff Johnson in Division Two with Don Risso edging Rich Goldberg for third. Mark Fickas made easy work of the Open Novice class with Dene Dale and De n nis Schwatka wrapping up the brass . Dave Dickey. 125cc Intermediate, beat Mark Seele and Rich Renaldi . The 250cc Intermediate fell to fast Jim Fratini over Doug Johnson and R . Schumacher, while O pe n Intermediate John Saggan cruised home ahead of Tom Ross and D. O'H a re for the win . O ld Timers Gary Arnold , Jerry Auiven, and Fred Pa rsen took home the gold, and Vets Ernie Cabral, Rich Lokke, and Q uality Cycles' Ron Davies went away winners . Results in Results Section. Halcomb, Heiberger take KnobHillMX By TT Productions PESCADERO, CA , DEC . 11 A rather small group of racers showed up for the opening event, the first m otocross at Knob Hill R anch in about a year. It was a disappointment to the organizers, who had do ne a complete face lifting of the old track with new sections, a tricky jump into the d rough t-d ried pond and two water trucks to keep dust off rider's goggles. Action was hot and heavy in the Expert classes with Nationa lly-ranked Charles Halcomb and Santa Cruz-flier Jeff Watts giving their all in the 125cc class. It was nip and tuck between the two Husky riders until Jeffs brake rod came adrift. leaving him in second, but with lots of breathing room. The second moto looked like a repeat of the first with Halcomb finally pulling away from Watts for the overall. T&R -sponsored Mark Marquez held off the rest of the small bore screamers for third . Sixteen-year-old Jerome Heiberger showed style beyond his years while scratching out a win over D&D Cycles' Duane Joice in the 250cc Pro go . The two crossed each other's lines all afternoon. Troy De Herrera held on to ' third ahead of Ra ndy Okada on the fast track. It was Yamaha vs. Maico in the Ope n class with Blue Plate #5 Du ane J oice tu rning the tab les on Mr. He iberger in a classic duel for first tha t wasn' t decided u nt il la te in the final moto (joice didn't breathe easy un til after the checkered flag). Todd Kohlmeister chased and raced to third overall. Ken Scott showed he is just as fast in the rough as in the smooth (he is a regular short-track winner) with a first over Allen Silhanek and Jimmy Heiberger in the Mini class. Steve Sun shines at Sears Point MX By W . H. Spencer SONOMA , CA, DEC. 4 T his Sunday was a re al live honest to goodness amateur activity. Well, semi-pro activity, and it had to be the biggest thing for District 36 of the American Motorcyclist Association. With 627 riders to do their thing on the Sears Point pseudo-Trans-AMA track and a crowd in excess of 2 ,200, it shows that motocross is big. Do n Ca n ra lou pi, D -36 #1 mo tocrosse r won t he 125cc Ex pert with a pair of wins over Danny T urner and Do n Fer ra r o , while tak ing a second to Da nny "Magoo" Cha nd ler in the second divisio n of 250cc Experts. That's right, they had 59 Experts for the 250cc class and had to run two divisionsl Chuck Sun won the other with Parry Klassen chasing him all the way. Klassen took the Open Expert win with Bri a n Jodry getting outpointed b ut doing the sa me to Darrell Schultz on an Ossa . Lots of stories to tell . O pe n Experts came off the first gate fast with a class " A" troop of riders, mostly Maico with the exception of one Ossa . (Did n' t know Ossa made an O pen bike, eh?) They don't! But Jan Houterman did a trick with some enduro stuff to make Darrell Schultz a 3IOcc Ossa that is pretty wicked. Bob Myers took the early lea d with Par ry Klassen and Sch ultz j ust over Brian J od ry. After lots of berzerking. Schu ltz nudged ou t Klassen for second while Myers rode back to the finish flagger . In the second mo to, many ho urs la ter , J od ry got the handle of things over Klassen , but Klassen had led and kn ew where to finish for the overall. His 3-2 won with Jodry. in for second mo ney at 4-1 and Schultz outpointed Bob Myers by one. Myers got off to a bad start in the second moto for a seventh spot and fourth overall, just in front of Phil Oveland on the very old Cha rlie Brown CZ. Hedging a tad on the number of riders allowed in one race a bit, 39 of the 125cc Experts rode quite successfully with Don Cantaloupi easily taking both motos over Danny Turner, 3-2 , and Don Ferraro in third . Neal Snarr and C ha rl ie Halcomb followed. All were touring the one and one -half-mile circuit quickly despite the tough terrain of the Trans-AMA course. The mob was all smiles, except for the length of the rnotos. With nearly 60 Experts to ride the 250cc class , Referee Howard Ross split the riders into two divisions and doubled the excitement of racing for the assembled fans. Da n ny Ch a ndler ha d the first division all to himself with lots of oohs and aahs ab ou t his style. O n th e first lap Magoo flew high with one big lock to the left and then, just befo re po unding th e gro und, gave a lock to the right and got a 9.5 fro m the a pplauding fans . Running th ird for awhile was Chuck Su n , but he was scheduled to ride the second division. Maybe it was Charlie Halcomb on one of his spares? Look closely a nd he disappeared to ride the second motol While Chandler had a firm lock on both motos, it was Don Cantaloupi

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