Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• Bauer takes Pro win at C.RC's Dr. Pepper GP By Jerry G. Welton T RABUCO CANYON. CA . MA R. 25 Steve Bauer and his DG Suzuki took the lead on the second lap and did not -relinquish it, taking the victory at the Dr. Pepper Grand Prix, promoted by the California Racing Club. W ith m oto rs lit and riders straddl ing their bike's front wheel, th e bannerdro pped. Bria n Ben nett pulled t he holesh ot a nd led. Second overall Expert Lane Leav itt e nt er s an SeTA trap. 2-3 SCTA/ATA Trials 37 enduro rider , is riding trials events these days in order '10 improve his enduro skills . Looks like he 's a good candidate for top trials riding as well! Senior B and Beginner classes rode two loops for th e day while Novice . Amateur. Senior A and Expert classes rode three loops . The relatively easy loops consisted of 17 sections of varying terrain which included loose off-cambers. mudholes. and some streams of water. Section One remained uncleaned by Amateurs and Experts for the day. R id e rs entered downhill into a gully . . . immediatel y back up the other side with a grassy. offca mber .. . then a left tum heading for the exit. This short section was a real poi n t - gi veri Whaley. on his second loop . was the only Expert rider to clean Section Four. Experts entered dow n a gu lly maki ng a 180 0 tu m b ack up a I fi-foot cliff. Then t hey tu rned back down agai n. crossed a creekbed wit h a slight left a nd then turned right up a nasty i!ut a nd out the exit. Novice. Amateur and Senior A classes entered the same way but only made a 90 0 tum, going across the creekbed with a hop over some rocks and back into the rut. then out the exit. Section Nine was a dabber for most of the Senior B and Begi nner riders. Entering on a downhill . riders made a slight right tu m on an off-camber followed by a left tum down into a two -foot mud hole, then up and out the exit. Double Section 16 and 17 which was checked by that decisive gal . Magda Lauxen , was the spectator's section of the day. Expert. Amature and Senior A riders entered down into 'a rocky stream. made a 180 0 turn up an embankment with an immediate 180 0 lock -tum back down into the stream for 20 yards. Next came'; right tum up a three-foot cliff. continuing on up the bank and struggling for traction all the way . then a left tum on a downhill off-camber back into the stream which bo th ended Sec tion 16 and began Section 17. Here, riders had to give it the t hrottle on an offcamber to a flat sum m it. Water from the stream made this difficult as the day wore on! Rid ers who m ade it th is far had approximately 20 yards of fla t ground to ta ke a brea t her befo re making a 10-foot drop-off wit h a sharp left tu m into the stream . T hat was followed by a right tu m up to (guess what ?) the exit! Had 10 see it to believe itl For those interested in seeing or riding more trials action, the next ATA event will be at Barona, CA , on April 9. Contact the Bogwheelers for further information at 714 /426 ·1253 . 'the fiel d of Amateurs. Experts. and Pros across the ridge and down to the start, finis h area . Blast ing through the first needlehole Ben nett and his KT M ha d a slight advantage over Bauer. Dean York (400 KTM) , Randy Rodrigez (450 Mai) and smallbore Andy Kirker (125 Yam) were the next wave of mud slinging Pros , all of which were jockeying for position. The real surprise was 16·year·old J im Holley and his 100cc Yamaha running sixth overall. On the second lap Bennett was over taken by Ba uer who just motored on. As the race progressed the mudholes got bigger and bigger causing several rid ers to be thrown down and engulfed by mud. At the checkered flag it was Bauer all by himself with the overall victory tucked safely in his belt. Ben n ett . the desert ace, was in nex t with first Iigh t we ig h t Kirker . doing an outstanding job for third. Faced with the p ro ble m of which class to run in . 31-year-old J im O 'N eal worry abo ut bei ng s hould n' t co mpetitive , for he sho uld cons ider himself'a th reat to the younger rid ers as he powe red his .~ 7 0cc Can -Am to fourth at the finish fro m 10th on the first lap . B . Co nway (400 KTM ) rode consistently fo r fifth overall with Mark Coo k (250 H us) capturing the 250cc win. Holley kept his 100cc screamer humming to take second lightweight and seventh overall. Chuck Miller and h is 250cc Prem ier Ya maha was the apparent winner of the Amateur class with some way-out riding to get him there. The Open Novice and Beginners were the lead-off event with Gary Mulconery and his vintage Cl leaping into the ea rly lead. Mulconery did an unbelievable job oIpulling away from the newer, m o r e sop histicated machinery for the majority of the race. Run n ing seco nd most of the race was Myram Kitchen (Yam) who was just waiting for Mulconery to make a la rge error, and he did. A co uple of laps from th e end, Mulconery ran out of petro l and was sidelined with Kitch en p ick in g up t he lea d a nd the eventual victory with Ken Baer (Ya m) and Terry Utterback fin ish in g second a nd th ird. T he second race of the day was the 250cc Novices and Beginners, Steve Da lley and his Ho nda jumped out to an early lead over Bri an Zier, Mike Tinajero and Jack Fuller, all riding Yamahas. After the completion of lap two it looked as though Tinajero , who had passed Zier , wou ld be a b le to catch Da lley bu t t ~is ~as not the case:. A few laps later Tinajero bega n to tire and was passed by Fuller. Desp ite a poor start, Larry Spaeth was riding h ard and moved up from 11th on the first la p to within striking dis tance of Tinajero , with the hel p of his Yamaha. W hen the checkered flag dropped it was Steve Dalley with an impressive start to finish victory, Fuller did a fine job for second and Spaeth caught Tinajero for third . Along with the 250s were the hard chargin' gals 'o f the Women's Division led by J olene Pa yne. With the aid of her Cycle Prod u cts West KT M 175 , Payne led from start to finish . Jolene's closest competitor, Lori Farmer. ran into difficulties right away a nd could not kee p her Steve's Bu ltaco at speed. The 200cc a nd under. Novices and Begi nners proved to be action filled as always. O u t front on the first lap was Ya m aha of El Montes's Reed "Valve" Johnson with Dean Checkos right on his rear fender. Trying to overt a ke Johnson, Checkos got off and into a huge bush . After remounting his Suzuki, Ch eckos m a de a n attempt to continue b ut th rew a chain and retired for the day. Johnson lost t he lead abou t th ree qu a rt ers of the way through the ra ce with Lome Crawford taking over unt il the finish . Crawford has been getting hot in the CRC desert action latel y and showed his versatility · by h is win tod ay. In race five , Leo n Price (400 Yam) took an early lead in the Junior and Senior event only to lose it on the second lap.• Gary Shell (Suz) and Ed Shenault (Hus) made the race interesting by mixing it up for the lead with .Shell coming out on top at the end. Naturally Easter weekend would not be the same without an appearance from the Easter bunny. Sodbusters M .C . President, Big Red , made his annual transformation and jumped into his bunny suit to race. He may not Have won but he sure hel ped to lig hten CRG'S Dr . Pep pe r G P. • 11

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