Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

conspicuous by his absence was Dick Burleson who did not compete due to left shoulder and arm injuries sustained in a crash during a National Championship enduro in Texas on April 16. Burleson, currently wearing a shoulder brace and sling, will be seeing a specialist April 24 according to Husqvarna team manager Buzz McQueen. Burleson is planning to ride in the April 29-30 Qualifier in Texas. Tom Penton, ha Ving signed a contract with Suzuki on April 17 to contest the qualifiers, was out for his first ride in seven months and his first ride on anything other than a Penton ina very long time. A flat tire marred Tom's ride in the 250cc class . Dey One Frank Gallo's grass track special test scores enabled him to dec;isively win overall honors and the Open class title. Gallo gallops to victory in 'Ba m a Two-Day By Gary Van Voorhis MAPLESVILLE, ALA . , APR. 22·23 Frank Gallo, by virtue of overhwelming superiority on the grass track special test sections, charged to a decisive 83 point victory over KTM teammate Kevin LaVoie in the Alabama Two-Day Trial organized by the Perry Mountain M.e . KTM riders swept seven of the top ten overall spots 14 in thi s, the opening event of the AMA ISDT Qua lifier Series, with Gallo and LaVoie followed byJeff Hill , J ack Pen to n, Ted Leim bach, Gary Younkins and Jeff Fredett e. Suzuki riders Drew Sm ith. Den ny Reese and Ted Worrell rounded out the top ten . Gle nn Holl ingshead was the top rider in " B" class competition taking' his Suzuki to Vict ory in th e 125cc class on his way to the top spo t. Gallo showed marked superiority in taming the three and on e-half mile grass track special test whi ch was run twice each da y. The secre t to going fast ? " I wear orange socks," said Gallo with a grin. He does . Desp ite the fact that t he re was a conflicting Two-Day Qual ifier in Cal iforn ia, it appeared tha t everyo ne who was a nyone was in Alabam a . Most Over 360 riders turned up in Alabama. The " 8" time schedule, a 24 .8 mph average speed between checks, was instituted for the first day to allow the riders to familia rize themselves with the terrain. Team . Yamaha rider Kevin Reynolds had the dubious honor of crashing before reaching the first check and takig a ride to the hospital with possible cracked ribs and a sprained wrist. Denny Vandecar saw his ride come to a complete stop when his transmission broke, gear by gear. "I lost th ird gear and then second and then first . Pretty soon all I had left was sixth and that definitely wasn 't the way to go ," said Vandecar la ter in the ga s stop area. 8arry Higgins was another rider whose luck went sour. H iggins's had the lower end in his Maico's engine seize up tight. " It's a bummer," said Higgins. "The qualifying for the ISDT is going to be especially hard this year and nobody who really wants to go can afford to have a DNF in the first round because that puts even more pressure on you ." Suzuki rider Ted Worrell had his own story . " I had a flat before the grass track, changed it and still got to the check on time. But I was tired and crashed twice during the test . I thought that was bad, but what really bummed me out was being run over by a rider going the wrong way on the trail. Luckily, all he did was bend a few things and bruise me a little." The accident happened after Worrell completed the timed terrain test , a twisting three mile trail through the woods. He would find out later that he had turned the fastest time. Crashes were the order of the day on the grass track spec ial test. The wind ing motocross type cou rse was tight and many a rider trying to make up time plowed through a tight comer only to find the berm was. nothing but powder. The AMA's Al Eames, wh ile waiting for the first day's scores to be post ed , surv eyed the Pare Ferme impound area and commented, "T here were too many fin ishers today. W e'll ha ve to fix that. You can' t get ISDT expe rienc e by ha ving an easy run ." The course was easy enough that mo st riders zeroed it incurring no route marks. That put t he deciding factor squarely on a rider 's scores in th e grass tra ck special test and t he terrain test to de cide th e standings . Frank Gallo , Jack Penton , Kevin LaVoie, Jeff Hill and Drew Smith were th e top five overall aft er Day One. Day Tw o Thunderstorms were predicted for Day Two and that, com bined with an already successful event , led Perry Mountain M.C . president Tommy Seal es to abandon th e decided upon "A" sched ule and revert back to "8 " for the final day. The route was also shortened to 129 m iles from Day One's 172 m ile total. A number of riders d isagreed with the " 8 " sched ule decision . St ill others wished for rai n, hoping that mud and miserable weather would make it real test of both man and machine' The rains never came and again it was the grass track special test scores that would decide the outcome. The work area before the start was a place of controlled frenzy as many riders changed tires , chains, rear brake shoes and checked out air £ilter elements (d ust was a problem) and head and taillight wiring. Team Army rider Nate Pillsbury was moving very slowly as he worked on his bike. A bad endo on Day One had left him sore with a badly swollen ankle . Pillsbury started, but later called it a day. The first pass through the grass track special test saw crashes again take their toll . Among those biting the dust were 125 and 175cc class leaders Greg Davis and Drew Smith. Davis was down and up quickly. " It was a dumb crash," said Davis later. "I zigged when I should have zagged. Luckily I had enough of a cushion so that the lost time didn't hurt me ." Drew Smith was not as lucky . He had Don Cichocki, Mike Russo and Dane Leimbach breathing down his neck and waiting for a mistake that would throw the class lead their way. " My crash was in a critical situation and I knew it, " related Smith after the day was over. " I lost a lot of time getting re-started . Perhaps if I had put in a new plug at the gas stop it wouldn't have happened. " In any case Smith turned in a superb effort in his second pass to pick up 17 points (seconds) on his pursuers and win the class. The first pass through the grass track was also trouble for Tom Pen ton . His rear tire went flat just after starting it which cost him dearly. Then he lost four minutes in repairing the problem. It cost him his Gold. In the 175cc class , Ted Leimbach's grass crack special test scores vaulted him into third place over Mike Rosso at the day's end. I A special mention should be made of Kathi Campbell, who took a Silver medal in the 125cc "A" class. Kathi aside from two m inor problems which cost her two and three minutes respec · tively could have been a contender for the Gold, The majority of riders spoken to considered the Alabama Two-Dayan excellent event. "T he trails were well marked and the terrain and gr_ track special tests were well put together," commented one rider. "I th ink the Perry Mountain M, . did a good job," said Jack Penton af· terward. I don't think running it on the 'A' schedule would have made 10 0 much d ifferen ce today. What I woald liked to hav e seen was some rain ; that would ha ve made it fun. " Frank Gallo was a ll smiles after the event . In fact, one could say that he was ju bilan tly happy. " Hey , that ..as fun ," he proclaimed. " I really enjojed that grass tra ck. Heck , I wasn 't even going fast. " ,. Results Best "A" Score: ffanl< Gollo IKTMI 2036 .5. ....:> Best "B" Scor e: Glenn Holling_ (Suzl 2294 . lOOcc A: No Rnisho

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