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
m al o but did so bad in th e first m oro he pl aced sixt h ove ra ll. . . . Min i b ik es h ad a full d,VISIOn. Truckin' Troy Bara zoto ca me o u t late , and had no pract ice b u t it d idn't slow him down. He led both m ot os but the final m oro Chris Eat on passed Troy and tied with points but th e fina l m ot a ga ve Chris the ove ra ll win . There were two new jumps put in by the tra cto r man Ace . whi ch th e riders reallv lik ed . They m a d e th e tr ack mor~ challengin g . Results in Results Secti on . ...... .~ ' 0.. <: Mud 'mars Ogden MX By Maxie Abernethy O GDEN . UT . MAR . 12 W e're covering another muddy MX sponsored by t he O .C .A . Cl ub and held at Ogd en , UT. Mar. 12. O r perhaps the' m ucky New season brings grass to Watsonville By Gerry Reagan WA T SO N VIL L E. C A. MA R . 19 Standing in the announcing tower before pra ctice began a nd look in g ou t over th e grassy hill sid e behind the County Fair- 30 grou nds in W at sonville . it was d iffi cu lt to tell wh er e th e m otocross tr ack was. Ab oUI a ll- th at co uld be seen of a co urs e wer e the whit e ribbon m arker s . th at zig -zagged ac ross the g reen slopes whi ch wer e covere d with two -foot high waves of rich . g reen g rass flow ing softly in th e ea rly m o rn ing su nlight. The ' R id ge R u nn ers Mot orcycl e Clu b of Sant a C ru z had redesig ned t heir narura l-ter rain cou rse for th e 1978 season a nd it was hard to te ll tha t tho usands of motorcycles had passed over th is a rea d u ring the fou r years the tr ack has been in ope ration . First races of th e day were the 100cc Novice class a nd t he Ol d Ti mers . Gar" Hu tt o p ut in a co nsistent ride in t h~ 100cc class on his Ya maha . finishing t hird in mo ta one and winning the second go around for a first overall , J im Sairone rode his Ma ico 10 a treme ndous lead in both motos of the Ol d Ti mers to ta ke the overall win. As us ual . rhe 125cc Experts put on a good show as Mike Ma rqu ez (H us) broke into rhe early Iead in the first m oro a fter Larry W osick ( Ya m) we nt off th .. co urse o n rhe last turn of thc fir st lap wh.. n his t hro t t l.. st uc k . Charl ie H a lcorn h (Hu s) die..d wit h Tim He bard (Suz) during th e m iddle of the m o to but got by into t h.. seco nd po siti on a nd b eg a n t o go .a ft e r Marqu ez. Hal com b wa s ga ln mg rapidl y on th e lead er wh en his rear b rak e a rm broke on the seco nd -to -last la p . A lthough he had lO slow down q u ire a bit . he was ab le 10 maintain scco nd as he crossed rhe line . Mot o two sa w H alcom b ge t off 10 a poor sta rt with Kell y H ardman (lI us) m ovin g into the lead o n lap two. H a rd m a n co nt in ued to lead unt il the last half o f the final lap when H a lcom b squirt e d by 10 take th e win . H ard m a n was in second place a nd be ing pressu red by L arry W osick (Ya m) as he ca me ou t of th e bac k sec tion o n the last la p and a lm ost lost tha t posi ti o n o n t~e tig h t.rig ht t~rn . lO ya rd s before t he fi n ish . \\ oSlck spu rted righ t u p beside him and the two crossed t he fin ish line a lmost exactly side -by -side. The lap checke rs d ecid ed H a rdm a n was a head . b y abou t a n inc h . H a lcom b 's second a nd first place fini sh es gave him th e ove ra ll wit h W osick taking seco nd . In the 125cc Novi ce I race Mark W ebb (Suz) pu t in a co nsiste nt ride in th e first rnot o to fin ish thi rd a nd th en fou ght his way .th rough traffic to grab t he lead in th e second m oro on the last la p of the race . ga rnering t he first ove ra ll trophy . Rod W illia ms (Suz). apparently de ciding that if you a r.e going to win you ma y as w~1I do II right . completely ran awa y With both mor os of the 125cc Novice III event : winn ing the second moto by half-a la p . T he 250cc Expert race saw some good d icing with Pa rr y Klassen ( M~ i) chargi ng swift ly through t he pack In t he first moro to rake over the lead on t he las t la p . passing Pa ul Turner (Suz ) as the two came out of the hack secti on a nd headed for th .. final turn . In th e seco nd moto, Larry W osick (Yam) . wh o had led for awhile in rh.. first go ·around . too k over the lead .o n the fo u rth la p and held on for the w~n . T urne r an d Klassen had a good d ice t hro u g ho u t m ost o f th e rnoro bu t Kla ss ~n be cam e a vic t im of t h.. mud hoi" on the last lap a nd Turner rode on to second . Stevc Ku sanovich (Ya m) led wirc -to wire in the first Ope n Am at eur m oto bu t had to fight with j oe Bertr an ( Ma i) in t he seco nd clash . Bert ran too k the lead o n th e second- to -las t la p a nd held on wit h Ku san ov ic h finishi ng in seco nd . T he firs t a nd 's..cond ga,'(' Ku sa novich th e ove ra ll with Bert ra n . wh o fini sh ed p oorl y in rnor o o n e , ..nd ing u p with a fourth pl ar c tr oph y. T im T rem ai ne (Suz) climbed into th e lead o n the last lap of th e 250cc Novice I race after cha rgi ng through traffic for the whole firs t moto , Kirk Br ewe r ( Ya m ) m aintained th e lead d uring the whol .. second m or o aft e r droppi ng the first pl ace spot a t th e e nd of th e firs t m ot o to T rema in e . A II.373 rid e rs in attenda nce se..rncd to ag r ee t ha r .rhe track commi ttee ha d do ne a rr ..m ..nd ou s jo h of prepa ring a rou gh . Eu ro pca n -style track and Mik.. MeA nd rews, t hc head of th .. t rac k co m m ittee . has even more trick id eas in mi nd for tilt' nex t rac e whi ch will h., held o n Ap ril 16 . R..sui ts in R esu lts Sect ion . Schlow, Wilcox take Sand Hill MX By Tom Anderson BR ENTWOOD . CA . MAR . 12 A su per race came from Minis to th e Open Experts a t Sand Hill Ran ch Sunday, th ey all ran fast! Curt Wilcox , the unbeatable at San d Hill wo n aga in. H e ra n fourth in the first m ot o , but co uld not be stopped the second . Tim Alarcon tried hard to stop the winning strea k but co u ld o nly run second. T he 125cc Exp ert was a no t her of the su pe r r a ces of the day . M ike Schlow is a lso a ma n who wins a 1 at 01 Sand H ill. He fo ug ht a ba ttle wit h Billy J oh nson. Johnson wo n the second m ot o , b ut didn't ' ha ve th e points for the overa ll. In the 250cc Expert Larry. W osick was a ga in unt ou chab le a n d won both motos with a runaw ay ride . Second place went to Billjohnson , riding out of Hayward Yamaha . Three divisions-in th e 125cc Novi ces ca me up with three winners . David Rodriquez won borh rnot os in th e Division III. Ed Shipm an pu shed hard but had to settle for second . Gary J ohnson won with a runawa y rid e in bot h moros of Division II. Kell y Man a s..u led for second . Pal Sc hu lt z won th e Divisionl aft ..r a SUpN battle with J oe y McCrummen . wh o won th e secon d mota is covering us? Fortunately. it wasn't quite knee deep this time and they did cut out some of the corners that had the prospects of becoming lakes. Although it did rain nearly all day and hailstones battered. 80 riders showed up for the event. Motocrossers have got to be eithe r one: a tough breed of guys or two : completely crazy! Ma yb e both? Bryan Mather ( Ya m), a 250cc Novice. endoed in the very first heat and put himself out of th e race. Well , it was j ust one less man for Mike Brehman to pass as he to ok the first place trophy. The 250cc Experts always bring th e crowds down around the tr ack because the competition to become the main man is tough. Randy Sargent (Yam ) ran away with it th is time . but Mike O 'Driscoll (Yam) did everything but fly to ca tch him . Mike got a little wild and stuffed it a co u p le of times. but he managed to hold his second place position , fending off th e attacks of Dale Bohm (Mai ). Vulture- like . Dale was await ing a ch ance to devour and conquer. but had 10 settle for third . Ruling the 125 cc Amateur class was Tim Salt (Suz ) as he smoothly rode first in both motos . SteveJeppsen (Suz) followed behind for second and Ken Ulibarri (Suz ). a new comer to the class. jumped into th ird . Even' though Mini Amateur Steve Liedburg stuffed his head in a corner. he managed to regain his posiiion and snatch the firs t place trophy righ t ou t fr om under Brent Smith (Suz). wh o had 10 scra m b le for seco nd . You know you 're watch ing th e O pen Expert di vision wh en the m outh dries up and th e a ll' ticker thumps m adly! M ike O 'Driscoll ( Ya m) held the throttle wid e ope n a nd sm oked around the track . all the wh ile making it look sooooooo easy l H e had no trouble at all keeping the first spo t , with Randy Evans (Yam) nosin g in for second. Great showmanship was prov ided by Bob Pow ell (Ya m) . who did a few head plants and even had to be carried off of the track once. That didn't SlOp Bob though . he recovered quickly and vaulted back on a bike to finish the race! Resu lts in Resu lts Section . Shultz seizes PlymouthMX By Greg Neukam PLYMOUTH . CA . MAR . 12 Spectators were abundant at