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/126306
E • clas h , Bill J ewett moved up behind San dy Rob ertson to try for the lead , Gary Jones (not the motocross champ) did the same to Jeff Mendenhall. Bob Ru tt en ran out of gas to the pleasure or Roese ler , but Bob 's brother Tom moved into the fourth spot to apply pressure. Hamill followed Tom as the eighth lap came to a close . The last lap had everyone pay ing so much attention to the Kirker charge (before he ran out of gas) that nobody paid any attention to the Green Meanie KX 125 Kawa saki ridden by #3 125cc District 37 motocrosser Dennis Vetter . When all the shouting was over, this young man took the ov'erall win of the' first race. Enduro champ Diane Blauer won th e Women's race, De d e Cates took second, L isa Down hill and Dawn Pa irnent were next. ~ t 00 t' 0') ....... 0.. < I-< 100cc to Open Sportsman ' Sunday afternoon w inner Larry Roeseler (82) prepares to pass Mike Quibodeaux. Oh Suzanna, don't you cry for me, Fm going down to Riverside and ride Great Bear GP By Gary Laudig RI VERSI DE, CA , AP R . 1.2 The bill of fare for the AMA-D-37 Orange . . County M.C.'s Great Bear Grand Prix moml~g get-together brought the 100cc, 125cc , and 175cc classified Novice through Expert riders plus the women . Keep ing to their regimented schedule , the bikes took off at ex actly 9:05 a.m. Broadslid ing the first of two left- 10 handers , the racers ~ea_d.e~ .~~ ~h_e_l~~~ stretch of pavement then hit a tricky lefthander into a wet , grassy turn . Charl ie Hamill of Yamaha led th e first wave of 15, followed by Tom Grant , James Brown , Larry Roeseler an~.~:ev: _ ~i~ ... :~~ .:'-..!.~e~ . o.n.e. !aJ'.' n .. Roeseler had gained th e lead and redclad Torco rider Andy Kirker was flyin'low on his Yammie. Clearing th e big dropoff and head ing for th e back section. Bob Ru tt en moved up on Roeseler, pressing the Husky through the cobbled concrete. under t he tunnel th en the long straight to th e mud hole . The 125cc Amateur leader was a dude who broke his collarbone last year while running first overall . Sandy Robertson . The C bike Novices wasted no time . Cooper Wallace's Husk y had the lead timewise with Yamaha -mounted Richard Epper a close second. Passing Blue Lagoon , the dropoffs and flat section it was home for check in . By la p five, th e rac ers were scattered throughout the entire raceway. Ken Dodd had wrestled th e lead from Joe Lockhart in th e 100cc Expert class. Mark: Zoller - out to check out the ' cou rse - found himself in third. Dennis Marchand and Ra y Guilbeau battled for the 100cc Amateur lead; John Rud der and John Langhammer . were doing the sa me in th e Novice class . The Begin ners had their own war going on : When th'ey entered the motocross .section by Day Street and Hwy . 60, Pete Postel had the lead on Steve T urnbaugh for the 175cc class. Kevin Brooks had a slim lead on Doug Messner in the 125cc class and Rich ~~~~ '::i:~w.;~x~nLt~~nlei~d t~~C~o~:~ di~~~~eniors were holding their own : Leader Bill Steward had a pack of hounds on his line: Chuck AI..xander, and J erry J ared to na me two . Taking the white flag for the last lap . Don Ba bbit and Dave Hornbeck ~~re !~~ !:a.d_e~ ~n the 175cc Novice 1 T he Sportsman class had the dust asr the race finally go t underway, delayed! by'll turned over tractor. Early lead en Craig Ada ms dis played his smoot h , style in t he s ta rt /finis h t u rn com pleting loop one. Ra ndy Ha yes a nd Mike Gi llma n we re very ! aggressive, charging through the back ) mot ocross section. Streaki ng along , H wy. 60, making a hard right a nd divi ng into the first waterhole , Greg Winters lost a few fans as he parted the water like Moses. From here it was WFO to the big turn then back , towards the warerhole again . Navigating the tricky righthander off the pavement, Larry Katuls and Errol Clarke flew completely off the big dropoff then got airborne on the jump on the straightaway. The course wound around then went over the big vertical dropoff, then off into the backsection where the cobb led ' concrete lay. Rick Rasmussen shot d own the double downhill jumps, Tom White got airborne on the: double uphill jumps and the pace continued . Ru n ning eighth overall, third open, Rick Rasm usson entered the tunnel , gritted his teeth and plowed through the munghole on the other side. Bud Brack and Scott Wilson had a dogfight going over t he firs t 175cc spot. ' Crossin g the road a bove the bridge,l Sha wn Mahn used th e long stretch to_ the m ud ho le to open up his lead on second place 125cc rid e r Kevin ' Carlson . Tom White gassed his bike ], around the high berm above Blue Lagoon , Hobart Bowers and Spike Dunchan were testing their jetting around the concrete sweeper. Mike T ha ms kept on charging even though I the dust increased and the bogs in the I back remained the same: deep. Tony I Prieto did his best to gain on Mike but a 100cc bike can only do so much . Craig Adams took third overall , first 250cc, R a nd y Hayes took second overall , second Open , while Mike Gillm a n bagged th e overall and the Open win . 25Occ/Open Novice "H ow Deep is Your Love" by the Bee Gees had to be written a bout a dirt bike rider. The racers awoke with a . cringe; their gear washed a nd po lished to perfection by the night's rain , and they ha d a quagmi re to face . O nce u nderway and a la p down , Mike Ba ker moved from 226th position to l Oth, Robin Busse ignored the big bore bikes and qu ickly moved into the first 250<:c spot after Bak er developed a rea r fla t an d fin a lly dropped out. J oe Turn b ~ugh sailed into t he overall O pen position by lap three. Joe Stou t headed into the back section fourth overall second Open . Bo b McClelland, Mike Manning and John Bollinger were the three Open Senior Novices, Les Wolf and Earl Nichols followed .