Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Blasting around Spillway to a 125cc Pro victory was Suzuki West's Gary Denton. a: s ~ w w .... >CD '" Coming out and taking the Open Pros of the Coors-Trans-AME was Rapid Rickey Burgen L- Rocket Rex was the man to beat in the 250cc Pro dice. --==:....:...-'--'....::.:;.,;a Can -Am's Kenny Zahrt did a little shuffling through the Spillway sand . Coors Trans-AME MX Series - Round four Denton, Staten,Burgett star at Spillvvay By Lee Taylor SANTA MARIA, CA . MAY 30 O ver 400 rid ers th roughout Californ ia met In Santa Maria for the fourth race in Am erican Motocross Ente rprises' Coors T rans -A ME MX series , breaking yet another track record . . Among the Pros in attendance were Open Pro winner Rick . . Burgett. riding for Team Yamaha , as well as 250cc Pro winner 16 " Rocket" Rex Staten. top 125cc Pro Gary Denton , Terry Clark and Gary Jones. Bosch Plugs. as in the past. was providing strong suppon. They contributed an additional $180 in contingency mon ies. payi ng down to l l th p lace as well as provid ing another CB radio. this time won by Chappy Blose of Phoenix . AZ In preparation. Spillway, carved an exciting motocross track out of an abandoned river bed. under the watchful eye of Ge ne Du nn . Darrell Shultz. on a Maico for Ra ncho Cordoba, riding in both the O pen and 250cc classes felt right at home - Spillway rem inded him of his home . T erry Clark (Ma i-Co le Bros .) entered the 250cc Pr o main via th e Consolation race . yanking th e win out from under the field o r riders . Clark had missed his qualifier . workin g on his Open bike. He knew this was the only shot he'd have at th e main and he opened up all th e stops. . . Rex Staten. back from a VIctOriOUS ride at Mountain High. once more fired up his Basset Racing Products' Yamaha and la u nched yet another victory. The first moto was fraught wit h changes. Gary Denton (Suz uki West Suz) took command only to find Kenny Za hrt (C-A) challenging hard. Zahrt took over only to go down in front of the tower. turning the lea d over to loca l rider Sherman Schneller (Santa Maria Cycle Suz) . Terry Clark . track at Plymouth. moved up behind Schneller and snapped the lead awa y. " Roc ket Rex ." flying by several riders , moved in for th e kill and once and for all settled th e issue . taking over and holding co m m a nd throughout th e remainder of th e mot o , Throughout all of th is cha nge in command , Mike Brown (R&D Suz ) and Tracy Oswell (Cole Bros. Suz ) had their own duel going d own for fifth . Oswell broke awa y and continued to move on up . setrling for third. Tim Locey. running seventh. sta yed on top of Schneller for the remainder of the race . hounding him throughout for sixth. Throughout the second rnoto Staten amazed everyone . Moving up from sixth place. he eased his Yamaha past some of the top Pros on th e track . With Darrell Shultz leading and Clark in second , Staten was burning up t he trackl Clark threw a chain and Staten took over. maintaini ng second throughou t the remainder as Schneller moved in behind. Due ling heavily for sixth. Zahrrand Gary Jones battled to th e end with Jones winning out. When the winning checkered flag came out. Staten piloted his Yamaha into the winner's circle. Clark too k home second overall. Tracy Oswell ~ took third overall and fourth went to Den ton . R ick Burgett , representing Team Yamaha led . the pack of Open Pros off the line on his way to the overall win. With Rex Staten riding shotgun and Darrell Shultz holding down third. the pressure was on and Bu rgett was equal to it. The Staten/Burgett duel that unfolded left racers and spectators breathless. Lapping riders left and right . these two continued their duel side-by-side , over jumps that twisted, sharply. ricocheting them deep intoJ berms and sp illing them out onto th straightaways. Staten finally made hi move in mid-air over a jump witli Sh ultz closing fast. In battle for third Jim Turner and Mark White (Missio Hills M/C Hus) were wheel-to- wheel . with Turner casing ahead . Another duel was being fought to the end between Bill Hagen (Murry's Accessories Yam) and Va l Tamiet ' (Mal-Track & Travel). T his time for fifth with Hagen inching ahead by tlie end of the mota. ~hen the checkere flag brought the riders in. Bu rgett was once more back in command with Sta ten hold ing second and Turner in' third. Shultz had fallen . and was set back in the pack and out of the ma ne for the first mota. :JP. The second time off the line Burget _ once more took control with Shultz in second and Staten running third . Shultz zoomed into the lea d as Staters' and Bu rgert once more engaged in a ' duel that would decide the Open Pros , In fourth Hagen had Turner onc more on his tail with Mark Whi hounding Turner. Shultz moved into II wide-open lead. which he held down to the end as Burgett took control of second. holding Staten to third. 1 At the end of the race Shultz carried. the lead with Bu rgett holding second for the overall win . Staten. strong in thi rd. took second overall with th ird going to Turner. fourt h to White a nd fifth to Tamietti. Gary Dent on . riding this race for his' father 'who passed away in Feb ruary. took complete control of the 125cc Pros with a spectacular pair of backto-b ack wins . Mike Br own too k th lead a t the stan of th e first mota with J ohn O 'Ma ra runni ng second and Dent on in third. Moving quickl y int3 second. Dent on slipped into high gear and took over the lead . A th ree-way duel for fourth was taking plape between C liff Le u. Tim Locey a!J d Pa trick -Hubbs (TOT). Chappy Blose was b lasting his way up through t~e pack and on the tail of Gary Scheidl Com ing up behind Blose. Jim Hol9 and Bill Keese had a wheel-clashing duel that 'ca rried them down to the wire. By the end of the moto , Denton was safely in the lead with Brown holding second and O 'Mara solid ig third . " The second time around Denton took over and held his lead throughout with Brown once more up behind him . Ron Turner (FMF) moved by Brovn for second with Leu running foun~ keeping the heat on , followed by Blose. When the final checkered f1a came out Denton wheeled down victory row to take the lion's share f the p",rse in honor of his father. Leu took second overall and third went to Turner with O 'Mara ta king home • fourth place money. Results '25cc PROS : 1, Gary Oenton ISUll, 2. Cliff l

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