Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126293
who re turned to the fr ay with a pair of seconds for tha t spot over Dave Wood (4-5) , J erry Heiberger (3-6) and T ad Gumbmann , Cantaloupi took home a fair sha re of th e b ig -buck purse. Division II of 250cc Experts was a ll Chuck Sun's, with the fac to ry Husky flying th e highest and lon gest over the heads of t he cro wd . Littl e co mpetition materia liz ed ex cept form Pa r ry Klassen. taking two seconds . and J im Lesn eiwski , doing a pa ir of threes to take th ir d . Paul (T he Pipe) Turner followed with a pair of fives. Results in Resul ts Section. Kleve claims Thompson Peak cash By Doc Blevins JANESVILLE. CA, DEC , 4 "Instan t Pan ic" was the theme of Sunday's first Thompson Peak motocross , as a new promoter and an untried track were put to their test , Riders galore turned out, and the day went surprisingly well with no hitches at a ll. Local shoe Jeff Kleve (KT M) m ade a hard drive to the front to take first place in the Open Pros when Conrad Stitser (H us) and Mik e Cole (H us) eac h bobbled on th e d ust -free track. It was nip and tuck th e first moto as St itser passed Kleve for th e lead on th e first _lap a nd look ed as smooth as bu tter to take some of th e glo ry awa y fro m eventual win nerJ eff Kleve. A simi la r ba ttl e develo ped in the 80cc divis ion as Danny Docktor (Suz) and pipsqueak Greg Blevins (Suz) tra ded mot o wins wit h Docktor ta king the fina l mot o a nd overal l. Ironman AI Br ay (H us) put a n ice finishi ng to uc h to the Vetera ns clas s and th e O pen Junior division by taki ng first place troph ies in each class. Mike Walesch .. 250cc In ter mediat e winner , m ade thi ngs look interesting as he. was las t off th e line in th e first moto a nd center-punched a h ay ba le in th e second moto. Overco mi ng a ll , tha t to sti ll bag first -p lace too k a nice piece of rid ing. CMC promoter T ed Check and Mike Trumbull are to be com mended for pu tt in g u p with all t he hassles of pub lic hearings , permits, et c. and then orga nizing a nea t ra ce . th at we hope will co ntinue. T hanks guys! Resu lts in Resu lts Section . Felice flashes Pioneer fina le By An n Carr OAKDALE, CA , DEC. 11 Jerry Griffith's Pioneer Arena in Oakdale closed out the 1977 season with 24 guys taking home some very special Chrisnnas brass. Green and gold trop hies adorned with stars and a Santa on top were th e hit of post-race activity while competition for the day was keen on an extremely rough and dry track . Mini Experts Danny Moore and Chris Carr, not new to trophy spots but new to winning regularly, grabbed the 100cc and 80cc victories. Danny gained his win when BP #9 Mike W ilson failed to make the course on the first lap . Chris survived a get off to lead the 80cc race all the way as Joe Knight, aboard a new YZ80E, worked through traffic to take second. Boyd Tre e ce ho oks it up on th e way to a Tho mpson Peak w in. Stockton's Jeff Jones returned to th e wars after a la yoff to easily win the 80cc Junior main over Tommy Knight . while fr esh 80cc Novices Bobby Coakley and David Perry captured the main in that class . Sportsman racers Todd Winkler , Bra d Summers, and Jimbo Feli ce p ro b ab ly took their las t lower class rides today as all th ree should move up wh en new ca rds are issu ed . Todd blitzed the 100cc No vices and ca m e back next ra ce to h old off ha rdcharging T ra cy Hays, in his fi rs t sportsm an ra ce. Tracy left t he sta rti ng grid last but m ethodicall y worked th rough the pack for a closing second . Summers . ridi ng Jorgy's Suzu ki a nd Can -Am , won th e ho tly co n tested 125cc Junior m ain over Ma nteca 's Terry Spurgeon a nd th en chased the J ensen Cycle Suzuki of Jimbo Feli ce in th e 250cc event. Bra d's poi nts sho u ld e leva te hi m to t he Expe rt - r anks January 1. Felice followed th e ' 250cc win with a nother runaw ay in the 500cc fray . Al ready an Expert -sho rt tracker (W P #6), Felice is ex pe cte d to be a contestant for t he number on e p la te in District 36 in 1978 , as the points will aga in be scored together for scrambles and fla t track . Pioneer kicks off the season wit h rou gh scram bles action followed by a $1600 Pro Short Track on J a nu a ry 29th. This pro event will be a last t u neup opportunity fo r National Experts a nd aspiring pro Novices prior to H ouston th e followi ng weekend. Results in Resu lts Section. DeLaceys dazzle Fremont fans By Ken Centoni FREMONT, CA , DEC . 10 Saturday night short track races resumed its seventh week at the quarter-mile dirt track of Fremont Raceway , under the direction of Ken Centoni. With track preparation again at its best, we found the best in the nation at Fremont. Steve Eklund , Number One Short Track racer in the United States today, out mastered th e turns and straightaways all evening. The 500cc Expert class again found Eklund , of San Jos e, sta rti ng in the dead last position , and b y the start of lap number three in the lead, with WP #5 Mike DeLacey at his side throughout Heavy a ction at Fremont Short Track. ' the entire feature . On the final , both riders went into turn three with Kevin H u g ill hot on both their heels . DeLacey took the low groove and Eklund went high . Something happened here and Eklund lost traction while DeLacey made his move and took th e honors , a race that kept every one on their feet. With some 25 250cc Experts on hand , two main even ts were re qu ired, and in th e B Ma in was WP #4 Jim . Mertens of Sonoma and WP #2 Rich DeLacey doing battle once again . Off the tra ck the best of frie nds . on the track , to each his own. and that they d id . One wai ted for th e othe r to m ake a mistake, a nd whe n it happened , Me rte ns made his mo ve to ta ke the checkered flag , wh ich a lso ga ve Jim ano t he r five poi n ts t oward the towering 6'6 " marble troph y which will be presented to th e overa ll high poi nt champion . T his will end th is first eight- week series, on ly to b e followed by ano ther on J anu ary 7, 1978 . Results in Resu lts Sect ion . Schultz, Cantaloupi crash Plymouth Qualifier By Andy M edin PLYMO UTH , CA , DEC . 18 Sunday was the first of a four race Hangtown Sportsman Qual ifier series with almost 300 Novices, Am a teu rs and 80 Exp ert s competin g for gu aranteed spots in the 1978 Hangtown Sport sm an Da y in April. A good ra in m ade for a primo tra ck and mudholes, some thing No rt h ern Ca lifornia ha sn 't see n in a wh ile. R ick W oodson (Su z) took a n ea rly lead in th e first 125cc Expert moto with Don Ferraro (Su z) , Don Cant a loupi ( Ya m) , Mike Pre ston (Suz), andDan Turner (Ya m) behind. Woodson's early lead fell to a hardch a rgi ng T u rner, who quickly moved through the pack. Canta loupi rode into second with Ferraro a close third. Preston was running fourth but faded with problems while Dana Waxham (S u z) t ook over the sp o t. Jim Lesn iewski (Suz) suffered a b ad sta rt and was held back in the pack before he could make the cha rge th a t netted h im seventh at the flag , behind Woodson . Turner took the moto comfortably with Cantaloupi, Ferraro. Waxham , and Charlie Halcomb (Hus) follow ing. Second moro action saw Waxham take a b ig lead on lap one with Halcomb and Cantaloupi dicing for second. Lesniewski . Ferraro , and Turner were having their own battle for third. Waxham contin ued to lead , but the Halcomb-Cantaloupi war was setting a very fast pace. This put them up to Waxham at the halfway po int. Late in the race Halcomb d isappeared from th e race and Cantaloupi was righ t on Waxham's rear. Cantaloupi slid by a lap later. taking the win and the overall. Waxham was seco nd , well ahead of Lesn iewski . Turner and Ferraro followed . Jim Lesn iewski took his new '78 Ma ico to a n ea rly lead with Duane Joice (Yam) , a nd Randy Losh , also on a new Ma ico , rig ht behind in th e first 250cc Pro m oto. L esni ewsk i was sta rti ng to stre tc h his lead wh en bike problems stopped him, Losh passed Joice and took over the lead for a lap before hi s Maico st arted seizing. Danny Chandler took over th e lead with Darrell Schultz applying heavy p ressure . C ha ndler lai d it down , givi ng Shu ltz the moto , Chandler held seco nd as Dan W a ller (Suz) ca me up a nd took th ird . J oice and Arnold Plant (Suz) rou nd ed out the top five. The second moto was a SchultzChandler show. Chandler took th e ea rly lea d with Schu ltz close behind. Schultz nudged by Chandler ha lfwa y t h roug h the race b ut Chandl er wou ldn't sett le for second. A lap later, Chandler tried to push h is way by Schultz. bu t Schultz held while Chandler a te it. Schultz easi ly too k the m ot o and the overall. Chandl er too k second and second overa ll with Lash fin ishing the moto third. Waller DNF'ed as did J oice, who experienced a bad plug that put h im in back of t he pack. Plant took third overall with a 5-5 ride. Darrell Schultz ca me back to take both motos of the Open Experts, but really had to work for it. The misfortune of Bob Myers (Ma i) gave him the victories. In moto one, Shultz took an early lead but Myers gobbled it up and took over, but on the last lap he bit it in the whoops. It was the same situation in the second moto until Myers bit it again . Myers he ld second overall with Joice (Yam) and Waller (Mai) taking third and fourth overall. Very few Plymouth riders came out but one to look for isJim Guiffra in the Open Nov ice class. Jim is doing great and getting ready to bang bars with theJuniors. Results in Results Section. • 33