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/126296
; 1:1 .._._.•..._._.•._._._._._._._._._._._.•.•..__ ._._._._. _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ ~ . ~_ . _ Wester-n hotline ' odd in the turnslJames Summers came in second overall while Ben Meyer was a consistant th ird. Next week the Riders M.C . will be your hosts at Elsinore so we'll see you there . And come on l25cc Experts ...show upl Corona MX: Denton stays clean; Poly tops HSMX By Elaine Jones CORONA, CA:JAN. 20 It was another week that the rain gods were angry and the Corona Raceway night MX course re flected the aftermath of their Jeff Springman (2) kept Joe Steffan (1) ridi ng on t he high side at Elsinore. That's right - they're all t urn ing left at the Lig'h tweight s TT. Lightweights host first TT of season By Maureen Lee ELSINORE, CA ,JAN. 29 The Lightweights M.C. called the first 1978 scrambles to order a bit late on Sunday as they wisely decided to 00 some extra track 20 maintenance. The surface was very fast but also very slippery. The minis led off and after three rounds, it was Darren Hulbert first overall, then Chris Cannon and Roger Thompson. Where were all the 125cc Experts? Bud Carroll, sporting his new number one plate, was the only one on hand . He took the first heat followed by Mario Ayers and Bria n Bradford. The second heat took off alright but as they headed up the hill after lap one they started coming off their bikes and it was a re -sta rt. Mark Ledbetter won it , although he was chased ha rd by Garth Beavers. Carroll came up through the front runners to win t he main with Beavers taking second and a .very hard working Marrotte was third. The 250cc' Amateurs showed their usual dash and vigor. First round you could have tossed a blanket over Tommy Walton , Mark Cain and Jack Smith. Mark stayed in second throughout the race but on the last lap he got by Walton and took the flag first. Next moto it was Smith and Rob Selvy sticking to his rear wheel like glue for a photo finish . Third moto , Smith was again in the lead , then Cain and chasing hard, Gary Smith. Coming over the jump Smith suddenly went straight ahead full bore and crashed beavily into the berm . Latest word when we checked at the hospital was he's broken some ribs and a wrist and has a concussion. They were in process of moving Gary to Canyon General Hospital on Lakeview Blvd . , in Anaheim, so let 's get all those get well cards over there gang. Another new number one plate holder, Joe Steffan took the 250cc Expert go although Jeff Springman (carrying number two) served notice he 's again going after that number one for himself. He kept Joe very busy and beat him last moto . We're in for some exciting times again in that class. The 500cc Novices have some of the strangest riding styles comi ng off the line . . .they sure get wild and wooly. Allen Swett got" his Honda out front for three straight, whi le Roy Potter and Bud Wanbaugh swapped second and third around. Bud dropped out finally with mechanics in the last moto . Don T vBone Grigsby again carries the heavyweight number one plate but didn't start the new season off in too great a shape. His bike ran out of brakes in practice, then the engine gave up the ghost. In the semi he appeared on another bike with knobbies the size of which had to be seen to be believed. Of course the rule book has things to say about bike trading (TvBone knows it, he doesn't have to cheat) and seeing as how those knobbies didn't make even riding for fun , fun, he retired for the day. All the Amateurs and Experts ran together with Ed Steffan grabbing the lead first heat only to lose it to Mike Montgomery. Second heat, Rex Hailey. had to make a quick plug change at the fence , but went on to win , followed Landry and Don by Vince Fraunenberger. Montgomery won the main, with Frauenberger second and Hailey third. Some of the 250cc Novice.riders got a bit concerned pointwise when they started off running their class in heats and en ded up with motos after some dropped out. Don't worry guys, no one lost any thing. Best batt le was between Bary O' Brien, and Michael Roach who . was trying to stave off the determined efforts of Greg Sargent. Greg finally got him with a determined pass made in turn one , his one leg out in the air like an outrigger . Whatever his riding style he ended up the winner with two seconds and a first. So who ca res if you do look a bit wrath. It was true motocross which you liked or disliked according to how you fin ished. Gary Denton, riding for Al Ba ker aboard a Yamaha , finished the evening looking like he had spent it in the pits playing gin rummy. Compared to everyone else that was on the track, he was " Mr . Clean. " Denton had the rough course looking like a freeway as he jumped out on top and ran awa y from the rest of the field. Denton made it look so easy the other riders were ready to throw mud at him just to make him feel like one of the gang. Robert Gray and Rincon Kawasaki's Dave Rose who followed -him around in the two , three spots both motos probably wanted to throw more than mud at him . David Williams, still recuperating from back injuries , was not up to his usual form but was good enough to out-mud everyone else in the 250cc Pro class . Williams, whose back was definitely bothering him , got out on top and did a superb job of defensive riding that held Mick Jacobs and Phil Thorstensen to second and thi rd both times. Thorstensen who had gotten out in second in the first moto blew it, on the second lap through the hills and J acobs there to make sure that T horstensen didn't get a second chance. There was a rider in the 125cc Intermediate division whose riding style has got to be the wildest to come down in a long time and the mos t punishing. David Coy le never stood up on the I Y.-mile Corona course. That in itself is a feat since his body took some kind of beating. Even over the whoop -de -does and the missi le launching jump that comes right after them Coyle was literally pasted to the seat. If he needed more balance he stuck his legs out and used them like wings . Mechanical problems struck him down in the second moto and he watched from the sidelines as Rick Johnson parlayed one , two finis hes to take the overall by one from Steve Harper. Rick Davis was third. Poly High School was out in force and going for the team win . When the night was over they had done just that , winning four out of the seven classes and being shut out of the top three in only one. Poly started the evening with Warren Bell, who captured the 100cc Senior class . Bell ca me back and fought it out wit h tea m m a te Bill Sa rfaty in the 125cc In termediates. Bell had no troub le in the first rnoto , going wire to wire with Sarfaty rig ht behind him . Things didn 't work out as well in the second moto as Sarfaty got the holeshot and a commanding lead that Bell was never able to make up . They ended in a tie but the win went to Sarfaty with the second moto win. ..