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/126305
; y _ I: .. . _c• •• . . •• . . • . . • • • . • . • •• ••••.. . ••••. . . • .. . . • . • • . • • . . • • • • , _._._. ~ _ ~_._. ~ , ~ =. , _ . ~ ~. . _. ~ ~ ,.. . ~ _._._._ ._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.-~._._._._._._._._._._.- Western hotline close that sho rt ga p th a t separated the two leaders. Meanwhile . th e next three gu ys were thrilling the crowd w!th th eir side-by-sid e b attle for th ir d pl ace . Bill Barl ow and Greg Gracer h ad worked thei r way up from back in the pack to join Mark Co ok . By th e end of th e sevent h lap . Gracer was out of th e race while Barlow definitely ha d th ird over all. Co ok had d ro p ped back t o sixt h pla ce b ehind Mark MacFa rlane a nd Steve Scalzo. The team ra ce found most of th e earl ier winners te amed. and th ey were back ou t fron t. Rick Secor and Brad Fenton cla im ed first overa ll with Mark Asbury a nd his p artner T om Bell claiming seco nd . Don Miller and Dave Carlson were the first 250c c Am at eurs a nd Larry "The Sh oe" Shoemaker . with his partner Herb Townsend. claimed first Open Expert. Results in Results Secti on . Rod Gor dy stirred up some dust at SRA'sGP. M ike Brown leads the 125cc Pros at Racing W or ld. Brow n w on both motos. Dale Himmelrich (18) tries to catch Phil Carter and Rick Johnson at AME. By Rod Esc henburg claim dusty SRAGP SAN DIEGO , CA , MAR. 19 R IVERSIDE, CA , MAR . 19 Although there were several muddy wa terholes around the Sportsman Racing Association's Riverside Raceway GP course , 28 follow and they in turn blazed a tra il for th e rest. Blake su ffered' a loss when his Su zuk i blew a fuel lin e which mad e him stop mid -race for a patch job -. Recovering his position became a n a ll ou t effort but he managed it in three fast laps and fi nis h ed just b eh ind Brown . Blak e and Slaton wound up seco nd and th ird in both races gi ving consis tent overall wins to the three -top takers. It was a super d ay -for the AME . Minis, most of which wer e holding I their own last m inute dress rehearsals for Easter Sunday's NMA World Min i Grand Prix. Eric Kehoe entered three classes and finished first in all six motos. U .S . Yamaha -sponsored Kehoe won in the 83cc Stock. 83cc Modified , and 105cc Open Mini classes. Kehoe's hot handling was the main reason for the big wins but owning three factory b ikes sure didn't hurt. The bike he rode in the Open Min i class was a tricked up 100cc Yamaha engine stra pped -to a Trackmaster chromoly frame with Betor forks . The other two bikes he rode were 83cc Yamahas , one a stock job provided by Van Nuys Cycle , and the o t h er a modifi ed version from U.S. Yamaha . AME will be back at Racing World April 2. Results in Results Section . atCMMCMX Fenton, Adams, By Sue Senn was moving up again. Marion and Bazemore finished second and third . The final Open Pro match was nearly a carbon copy of the first with the exception that Bazemore spun the sprocket right off his hub and didn't finish . DG -sponsored Mo orewood finished first overall and Rick Ma rion . riding a Husky for Action Cycle . earned the second place money. The first run of the 250cc Pr o race found Mitch Musgra ve hot on Moorewood's heels until the fourth lap when Pat Delligatta passed him . Don Glover moved up in the eighth lap to squeeze by Musgrave also and at the finish it was Moo rewood. Delligatta, and Glover . In the next round Glover manned his Can-Am around Rick Cavish for the second place spot behind Moorewood . Cavish continued to lose ground and even tually fell out of the race. Musgrave and his FMF· sponsored Yamaha found his way around Cavish for third. First. second, and third overall went to Moorewood , Glover. and Delligatta . - - Mike Brown scored a big one for himself by winning both motos of the 125cc Pro rac and by turning in the overall fastest lap time for the day. DG -sponsored Brown pioneered a path for Skip Blake and Jesse Slaton to Wins come twice most of it was dry and just wai ting to be turned into eye-stingi ng, lun g burning silt. As th e 250 cc class sta rted th e da y's events . it was Lance .T u bbs who go t th e holeshot and held the lead until his Yamaha seized during th e seco nd lap. At thi s point Ric Secor too k over th e lead with Brad Fen ton ea ting his dust. Secor held th e lead through th e sevent h lap wh er e Fenton , who had ju st been joined by Eri c Pattison , made his mo ve . Just as Secor took the whit e flag, Fent on see me d to get his sec o n d wind a n d . cla im ed th e chec kered h ag first. Craig Adams found th e best way to avoi d eating dust was to m ake it rather than follow it. And , as th e Open ra ce began , it was Ad ams ou t front with Ma rk As b u ry rig ht beh in d h im . Adams , who has ha d a stri ng of unki nd luck la tely, kep t it a ll toge the r. a ll the way. At o ne point it look ed as if his KT M was ha ving a b it of engine trou ble a nd wit h rid ers like Asbu ry and Jim Fish ba ck right beh ind h im , he needed all th e lu ck he could ge t. As it tu rn ed ou t , he d id ride one lap with no rear bra ke and a cl utc h th at wouldn 't dis eng age : Ad ams la ter co m me n ted th at - things mi ght hav e been a little closer i~sb ury hadn't had problems on th e sta rt ing lin e . It see ms he had his bike in gear for th e LeMans sta rt. William Pattison got the holeshot in th e Senior race , but it was Larry Shoemaker wbo sto le the show. He took the lead afi4 left th e rough stuff for W.C. Thornton and Pattison, who finished in that order whil e battling for second. . The 81 -200cc class was one of the most exciting races of the day . Warren Barr got the holeshot th en-seized with only 55 miles on his new engme. As 27 -year-old George Luther took over. I 9·year-old Jim Odie was hot on hi s trail. The pair created a su bsta nt ia l lead over the pack and at one time it looked as if Odie just might The wins came in pairs in the California Mini-Motorcycle Club race at Barona Oaks Raceway wirh Yamaha-mounted Scott Hamilton taking wins in th e Expert Modified Mini and Open I05cc Mini classes; Suzuki rider Da vid Hopwood grabbing the Stock and Modified 1216-year-old Intermediate classes; Bob Rose (Suz) taking the 9·11 Stock and Modified Intermediate classes , and red-hot Terry Murray (Suz) notching runaway victorie s in- the 12 -16 Modified and Stock Novice classes . Hamilt on is a third generation racer, being th e son of former CRA Sprint Car and SDRA Super Modified Champion Don H am ilton , and th e grandson of former Midget , Jalopy and Super Modfi ed : driver Gordon Hamilton whose career went back to the "good old days" at Balboa Stadium and Carrell Speedway. Ten-year-old Bob Rose made h is return to racing after a three -month la yoff a big one with two strong wins in the highly competitive 9-1 I Intermediates. Rose , who had a gr eat yea r as a Nov ice in 1976, (actu a lly moving up to the 9·11 group while sti ll eigh t} but a disappointing 1977 Sophomore yea r, appears back on th e track for.1978. The real test will come next race on Apr. 2 , h owever . a s Interm ediate point leader Jon Jon Bel isle will be returning fr om his Grand Na tiona l Championship win at . th e Houston Astrodome . The outstanding two mot os of the day were : in the N ovic e 125 cc Motorcycle class. Yamaha -mounted Greg Cramer grabbed th e overall with two hard fought seconds after two motos that featured lead swaps several times a lap between as many as five different riders. Brian Fuller (Suz) and Loren Duncan (H on) gave it all they had with several banzai runs by Duncan and a first moto win by Fuller; but after the dust settled it was the steady riding Cramer who had the top spot. • In the Powder Puff class. Tammy McGuire (Yam) took her second straight victory. Tammy has already acquired the Number One Powder Puff plate for 1978 with U.S. Minicycle Racing Associa tion in races held earlier this year at Elsinore and Barona. • Results in Results Section.