Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~DDDDDDDDaDDDDaD DDDDDDDDDDDDDaD'DDDDDDDDDDaDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD -!Zi.=. , A .be. EWI Suzukll >1 W -' -' o 0.. W Z « a > Ol • L.._--"---=---~ ~ 0 __---,:.....::....c..-":""':"' __--J~ ~"':"" This Texas AMA Qualifier Hillclimb photo has pain w ritten all over it! his RM Suzuki . Before th e Amateur race was over. Starnes was lapping some of th e 250cc and Open class bikes. Following Starn es to th e finish lin e were Delb ert McD onald (Yam). Rick y Myne r (Suz) and Robi n Thompson (Yam) . The 100cc Amat eur class was won by Gl en Good ier on a Su zuk i. Tod Myers .grab bed a third pl ace in this class on a YZ80 Ya maha . For th e firs t time in the six -year historv of th e TCCRA . a sa nctioned Ove r ' 40 class was run . Sevent een ra cers entered this class a nd hopes are for more racers th e next time out. The O ver 40 class was won by Ra y W hite on a YZ400 Yamaha . Second pla ce . went to J ack Blevin on a Suzuki. Third and fourth went to Jerry La za (H on) and Ray Clevla nd (Suz). There were all kinds of exotic bikes on the lin e including an AJS. Alford and McGraw _ battle for King of the Hill By Diane Polley MINERAL WELLS. TX. MAR . 19 Texas Hillclimbers Assoc iation decided to take a chance and hold their second AMA National Qualifier Hillclimb early in the year and it paid off. Over 150 riders fr om Texas. Louisiana : Kansas . Nebraska and Iowa showed up to cha llenge the 400·foot hill. Riders from Nebraska and Iowa could not qualify 'a t this climb but they could check out th eir bikes and soa k up some of the heat that usually floats around T exas during March . T .H .A . ran their specia l classes as usual. The real excitement showed up in the Sportsmen classes where the invitations to the championship were up for grabs. A little taste of the rivalry between t he Texas riders a nd the ones fro m the Mid W est showed u p in the small classes. bu t it reall y su rfaced in the 250cc class . W ill Alford (Bul). of T exas. a nd George McGraw (Bu l) from Nebraska . have been swa pping wins for a -Iong time and th is was the first time they had met on Wi ll's home grou n d . George had a littl e bad luc k on his first run and never see med to recover . so he had to rely on his riding buddy Jim Terlow to try to overtake Will. That was not in the cards though as Will sewed up the win with a beautiful 12·second run while Terlow had to settle for second with 12:52 seconds. McGraw and Alford met again in the 370cc class . McGraw had a first run time of II :91 secon ds to put him in first and th is was th e fast est tim e of th e day at th e end of th e first ro und . Alford a lmos t caught him but t he cloc k sho wed a tim e of 11:98 when he broke th e string. They waited until t he rest of the class had their second ru n before squaring off aga in . ·Alford ha d been studying the hill a nd had p icked his line. He ca me off th e line and negotia ted the hill in a very smoot h run . He had twea ked the throttle a little more and h is tim e was I I :79 seconds. McGraw was 'a lill ie surprised to find th at he ha d to run aga in . It see ms impossibl e bu t he turned a lim e o f II :78 seconds to ease AIfor d ou t or firs t. Will Alford had on e more cha nce to keep the top time troph.y on home soil in th e Exhibition class. His tim e of II :67 seconds was th e top tim e of the day on the sa me 370cc Bultaco that he rode in the 370cc class. T he .hill at Mineral Wells is a series of steps and th ey always give t he b ig boys a ha rd tim e . Snapped and thrown chains were co m monplace. Some of the riders look ed like they had been practicing on a m ot ocross track for th is climb. The big bikes could not take the jumps as hard as the 125s. and when they did . bad things happened. Smooth. down to earth riding. like McGraw a nd Alford had exhibited . was needed for winning runs. Throttle control was th e name of the game as these boys needed to cut off a lillie at the steps. Mike Jones . on a 1000cc T riumph triple. would have won th e ha rdluck award if there had been one. Over half wa y to the top . Mike took' one jum p a little too hard and when th e bik e landed the power of the triple snapped the ch ai n in two . On his second try . he eame out of th e hole good but he hit the second jump tQO fast and the bike broke another chain. His handlebars also colla psed and somewhere in the mishap Mike sus tained a cut on his chin tha t required six stitches . That was th e only serious inj ury of the day. Mi ke did ta ke his 750cc Triumph over in 12 :42 seconds for a seco nd in t he 750cc class . Lee " Little G ra ndpa " Myers had -a bo ne-jarring fa ll-also. So mehow he got sideways on the third ledge and when " Lill ie Grandpa" landed. it was right on his knees. T his was on his 500cc Triumph and it looked like he did not trust it the second time. Lee had changed his name in the last few " months from "Little Man" to " L illie Grandpa" for obvious reasons. • . Results in Results Section. * * * * * * * * * * * * , * * * , R 170 Hi-Comp. Piston Big Bore Kit Hi-Performance Cam Valve Guides Case Saver Fork Boots Chain Tensioner Swing Arm Bushinzs Racing Megap hone Muffler Air Fork Caps 36mm Mikuni Carb Kit Alloy Swing Arm Kit Hi-Performance Exha ust Pipes (Hi and Lo) Hi-Performance Valve Springs & Collars . * Handlebars * Air Filter * Skid Plate * ·Cable-saver Number Plates * Rear Brake Cable We're on i:heBa , 8423 ROSEMEAD BLVD. PICO RIVERA. CA 90660 (2 13) 949·2448 DIST. and DLR. Inquiries Invi red ! I RO LF (~ _ 'IBBLIN WOR ~C CHAMP 'CN RACING PRODUCTS PO BOX 937 ESCON DIDO. CA 92025 1 71CJ741-6051 Also the finest MX sc hoo' enywhefe Sammy Tanner Distributing lUIRI-TECH 213 -924·21 " 37

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