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(Above) Phoenix rider Chappy 810se held off Radical Ron Turner and his .
stock KX125 for the overall 125cc Pro win at Saddleback. Turner was on ~
s
the bike for the first time. (Below) David Williams grabs the holeshot of
the second 500cc Pro moto at the Coors Trans-AME series. Overall winner I
Scott Gillman (23) gives chase.
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11.
In a fierce 250cc Pro battle. Gary Denton holds off Jim Gibson for the
overall win at the opening round of the Coors Trans-AME series.
Denton, 810$'e, Gillman slide Coors Tra. .
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By Brian George
ORANGE, CA , APR . 2
-W ith Mother Nature providing a two-hour delay
in the starting times, the 1978 Coors TransAME Motocross Series began with mud-covered
Saddleback Park roads that claimed many
au to s, a tra ck slicke r
a nd
tougher than a professional hit
man, a crowd so confused that
sign -u ps took all morning just to
fi nd a n d finall y so me honest -t o goodness motocross madness, .
12
T he people of American Motocross
Enterprises deserve a big hand for
pulling off the event with condit ion s'
that normally render the park closed
for th e day. Jerry Shore and Jo e Vieira ,
along with the many officials on hand ,
brought tot a l chaos to an extremely
exciting afternoon of racing. Overall
winners of round one were Gary Denton
in th e 250cc Pros ; Chappy Blose took
th e 125cc di cing a nd Scott Gillman th e
500. Mot o win s went to Den ton and
- Kenny Zahrt in th e 250cc races: Blose
and Ma rk La wren ce in t he 125s a nd
Gillm an too k both 500cc Pro wins.
Up for grabs in the series was not
on ly a $3000 purse per event , but
conti nge ncies a n d prize m on e y
totalli ng over $50 ,000 . Payback to
Pros is not j ust by the overall finish bu t
by moto a lso. In addition , dra wings
a nd spe cia l prizes a re give n away at
every event , like a n XR -75 , tri ps to
, Mexico , ca rbura tors, boots, oi l, and
ent ries to the Ru ss Darnell School of
Motocross.
.. Experimenting with a flag start at
the top of the start hill . th e 250cc Pros
were the first to conquer the mud , As
the tight group rounded the first turn
onl y 30 yards away Gary Denton placed \
his Suzuki into the front of the 41 -rider
field . Can-Am riders Kenny Zahrt and
Eddie Cole were right behind and on
the mov e for the lead.
Coming out of th e pa ck was Jim
Gibson ' on a Bassett Yamaha , and
when Zahrtmissed a sh ift and dropped
to th ird , Gibson m ade his presence
kn own .
It took two laps before Denton co u ld
feel that pressure of Gibson , a nd when
he d id . con centration was lost a nd so
was th e lead . Denton no w began a
st ri n g o f fall s and co m e" b a ck s,
totalling eig ht get -offs by th e hal fwa y
m ark . Gib son wa s also having
pro blem s, a solwoly seizing engi ne th at
bro ught his ho pes t o a ha ul t on the
eig h th lap . Zahrt , the only consiste nt
rider on the course, now took over the
lea d , Dent on had dropped second and
thi rd a number of times in crashes and
pulled in to fourth place. only seco nds
a head of being la pped by Zahrt ,
When th e checkered - Tlew. Zahrt
too k th e win with team ma te Cole in
seco nd, Rick Long and his Can -Am in
th ird. Bob Stem and Radical Ron
Turner slipped ahead of Denton ,
taking fourth and fifth .
Using the gate to start the. second
run , Denton again ran away to the
first turn . Giving hot pursuit were
Mitch Musgrave and Ron Turner,
both on new Honda CR250Rs. When I
asked Turner before th e start of the
first moto whose bik e it was a nd how
he liked it. he said , po inting to a
friend besid e him , " It' s his' and I' ve
only ridden th e th in g from th e pits to
th e lin e!"
On th e first lap . T u rner almost went
dow n wh en Denton hit Ron's bars off a
j um p, and dropped ba ck to mid -pack
wh ile Mu sgrave a nd Denton set a I
hea vy pace out front. Jeff Vidic s ame
out to r ide th e second moto and was
runn ing fourth behind Bob Kline .
a no the r Hon d a p ilot.
W ith a fresh engi ne underneath
him , Gibson was a lso on th e move
afte r the leaders a nd on th e sevent h
la p , he took Mu sgrave out of seco nd .
For t he re m ai ning n ine laps, Denton
was un d e r p ersist ent a t t a cks b y
Gibson . As th e moto closed . Denton
held on to th e lead for th e win and first
overall. Gibson cou ld n' t place in the
money on th e overall sheets. but took
second ahead of Turner, who made a
fantastic comeback on the new bike.I
Second overall was his . Fourth in the
moto was Jeff Vidic, followed by
' Musgrave , Kline. Bob Blose and third
overall Bob Stem . Zahrt had problems
in the second moto and finished way
back in the pack.
Y"
Taking another new bike to the line, 2
Radical Ron T u rner rode the 125c
Pro cla ss on a sto ck Kawasaki KX 125 ,
All th e way fro m Phoenix, AZ . was,
Chappy Blose, det ermined to make his
long drive worth som e money. These
two put on a helluva sho w as they
fought to see who would ru le round
one. Blose took the holeshot in the first
