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/126298
; ----_._._.•-_._._._. 1:1 Western ~ : ~ , _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . - . _ t 00 l' O"l 1"'""'4 Editors on parade. No wonder t he new RM1 25 M Xers looked so gre at . Be t you thought those guys never got their leathers dirtyl Sportsmen slugged it out along with the Pros at CM C Carlsbad, Johnson smokes CMC Sportsmen buzz bombs By Patti Firth-Trotter With the likes of Rex "The Rocket" Staten and Marty Tripes ripping up the track first, the Sportsmen had their work pretty 18 well cu t out for them at the CMC I Suzuki Golden State Series race at Carlsbad Raceway. According to th e majority of riders the track was in th e most spectacular shape any of them had seen it in recent years. All three classes of 100cc riders we re on the track at the same time . The little t ricked -out buzz bombs fi red arou nd the first tum and took off for t he wide open spa ces. Pro Ri ck Johnson (Yam ) took the hol eshot and th e event u a l win , Intermediate rid er Sc ott Burnworth (Suz) fill ed th e second place slo t. Two more P ro riders , Ladell Eide, riding for DG a nd Flying Machine Factory's " Uncl e" Ma lc olm McCassey had the ne xt places under cont rol. O n t h e secon d lap Burnworth seem ed to be ha ving some me chan ica l probl ems , giving Mike Cady (Yam) a chance to ta ke over his posit ion . Mitch Futch (DMG) was busy in the middle of the 28 ·rider pack tryin g to get in the top Junior position . At the end of the first rnoto , the po in t leaders in the Pro division were Rick Johnson , J im Cote (Suz), Lad ell Eide and Ma lcolm McCasse y. For the Intermed iate rid ers it was Mike Cady, Clint Hardick (Suz), B.J. Lehn (Suz) and Dav id Hughes (Suz). Junior ride rs scoring high were Mitch Fut ch . T om Basaker (Yam), Woody Carlson (Yam) and Mike Gomez (Ya m), Cote ca p tu red the lead position in the second moto with Rick Johnson breathing down his neck. Eid e had a good str ong third with Futch and Ca d y fou rth and fifth. On the second lap J ohnson jumped by Cot e to aga in become t he leade r. Cot e ro de the rem a ind er of the rnot o in second . Eide finished the race in th ird with Cad y coming across the line in fron t of Tommy Higgins (FM F) and McCasse y, When the points were ta llied th e winners in the three classes were Johnson , Cote a nd Eide for the Pros ; C ad y, Ha rdick and Lehn for the Int ermediates a nd the Ju nior winners were Futch , Basaker a nd Ca rlson . Rich O 'Brien d ialed his Yam a ha wide open to get off the start first in the I25cc Intermedi a tes. Jerry Hensley (Yam) and Andy Northrup (Suzuki of Pomona) made th e first la p a head of fourth -place Matt Nelson (Suz). By th e ti me th e riders had co m p le te d a second lap Nelson had work ed his way into second. Northrup and Hensley now were the thi rd a nd fourth place rid ers. Mark Smith (Yam) m ad e for th e first tu rn to led t he second moto around the Suzuki T ower but fou nd himself out of first by th e second lap. Nelson had taken ove r ' a s leader. Da vid Metje (Suz) followed second place rider Sm ith for five laps, then passe d him to finish seco nd . Northrup cr ossed th ird wi th SCOtt J ohnston ' (Ya m) a nd R ick St u pi n (Yam) following. The win ner of the Electro Helmet was Matt Nelson wit h Andy No rthrup , Mike Sch offsta ll (Hon), Ma rk Smit h and Scott J oh nston getti ng the next po ints. The la rgest grou p of the day close to 40 riders - was the 250cc Junior division. J oe C rozer (Mai ) and Bob Gr een (Suz) switched moto wins with G ree n com ing out wit h the overall. Vartan Sarkisia n (Suz) led the pa ra de in mot o one with Crozer q uic k to snatch the lead away. Green soon too k over seco nd with FMF Suzuki rider Lee Ramage finishing . the moto in third. Fourth a nd fift h went to j im Trip p (Mai) a nd Sa rkisia n . Sa rkisia n again got the holes hot in the second rno to but again fou n d himself displa ced , th is time by Gree n. Maicoriding Robert Smi th was the second pla ce rider . Crozer crossed th ird with Doug Silverstein (Ka w) and Ho ward Wright (Yam) ne x t. The ove ra ll winn ers were Green . Crozer , Smith, T ripp an d Silverst ein . Denton, Holley win AME Sweepstakes MX By Lee Taylor VALENCIA . CA . FEB . 12 Gary Denton , on a new Suzuki provided for him by Al Baker, ro de his wa y to back-co-back victories and the lion's share of a $1,000 pu rse for the l25cc Pros a t th e Am eri can Mot ocross Enterp ri ses (AME) Swee pstakes Series eve n t a t In dian Dunes. At the sta rt of th e first moto , john O 'Mara grabbed the holeshot with Denton moving in fas t beh ind him . Dent on sn agge d the lead a n d p roceeded to leave th e rest of th e field far behind. Closing ground on O'Mara ca me Will y Simons (Ya m· D G) . A he avy duel ca me down as these two sep a ra ted from th e rest of th e pack and clashed wheels a ll around the course. Som e tight d icing went on between Gary Sche idle r a n d T im Locey for fourth . By now . Denton was so far out in front he cou ld n 't even spot his competition . By the end of the rnoto, Sim ons had edged O 'Mara for secon d and O'M ara was st ro ng in third . T he second tim e around, Denton once more took com ma nd with Ron Turner (F MF) running a strong seco nd Dent on immediately p ulled a su pe r lead as Bob Ramsey (Suz-Cyc le Shack) secu red himself in th ird . Sch eidler. who had fought hard to hold ont o fo urth, was ou t wit h mechanica ls. Lance Burgess too k over fou rth and spent t he rem a in d er of t he m o to fight ing off Bob Kline and Ra msey, who was no w in six t h . When t he winn ing checkered flag ca me out. Denton crossed over to top m oney, Turner. who came back lat er for a second in the 250cc Pros, took seco nd overall a nd thi rd went to Locey. j eff Mabe rock eted off the line in the first moto a nd cont in ued to lead the 125cc Begi n ners to victory. Mabe had his sha re of heavy dicing with Todd R ichardson , and both of them were pressured rele ntlessly by Ray Mci n tyre. By th e end of the rac e, Ma be crossed over wit h ba ck-to-hack wins for th e overall victory . David Bennett took second overall and th ird went to Kevin Kleinsmith. j im Holley (Yam· PK Racingj.racked u p a superb pa ir of ba ck-to-hack wins for top money in the 100cc Pro class . In th e first mo to , Steven Schmitz (Su zU. S. Suz ) g ra b be d th e holeshor . Holley, running second, sna pped it away. J ohn Whelchel (Suz- U.S. Su z), m oving u p fas t th rough th e pack, eased his way into seco nd a nd hel d on to the e nd of the m o to , ho ld ing teammate Schmitz to third. T he second tim e ar ound , with the rai n now ste ad ily coming down , Holley on ce more took com ma nd . Sch mitz was holding onto seco nd with jim Cote (U. S. Suz) in third . Cote went off the ~ tra ck wit h probl ems , lett ing Whelchel go for Schm itz. Heavy dicing followed these two throug ho u t th e rest of tHe m oto where . to ward s th e e nd, Whelchel slip ped a wheel under a nd took over second. When th e ch eckered flag brought th em h ome , Holl ey cl a imed to p mon ey for th e class. Whelchel took second overall ana third goi ng to Schmitz. When the 250 cc Beginners blasted off th e line, a tight battle developed between Chr is Sch ill er and Paul Linder. Schiller held to a firm lead for back-eo-back wins in both motos, ::> Results in Results Section. The screaming Yellow Zonker is amudder By John Huetter 6 The ca ll ca m e over the loud speak er, "T wo minutes 'til the final moto of th e Grand Prix!" And the al re a dy torrential ra in began to fall even harder. Slowly. th e r id e rs b ega n pu sh ing t he ir wo rk s; looking mot ocross m ach ines towards the start gate with grim determination. T h e ir raci ng attire reflec te d t h e weather. the ir sponsors and affiliation. It was the pred ictable group of eager tee n agers a nd veterans in the ir th irties wit h eight , 10. even 15 years of raci ng under their kidney belts. z Factory mechanics had spe nt ho urs preparing the ma chines, t hen investe m or e h u rried m inu t es cl ea ni ng chec king a nd fueli ng them as th _ riders fitt ed clear plastic tea r-offs into their goggles a nd snapped rain j ackets "\ The mud was hub -deep on the 21 -in cn knobbies; th e course was a slip pery quagmire . Tea m m ana gers grim", fa cedl y huddled in their paddock j ackets, not really he a ring th e constant drumming of th e ra in on th e roofs 0 th e team tents. There was no though of not goi ng to th e ga te. regardless of the cond it ions. This wa s se rious business. It was th e final event in the, in t ro d u ct io n o f Su zuki 's 1978 "C~ mo d el RM 125 motocr oss rac er to th e U.S. motorcycling press, the Fourt h An nu a l Edi tors' MX . T hat was tn u nifying factor : all the machines weI; 125cc cla ss Su zuk is. If not exactY maxi -buck replicas of the 125s Gasto n Ra hier used to win three MX World Cham pionsh ips, their appearance wa ' still works -like in the extreme. ..