Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; • • _ __._._._.-._ ._ ._ ._ ._ .. ._ ._ ._ ._ ._ ....,. _. _ ; _._ ;-.; ; - ~-;.;. ;_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. ••• • I ;: Western hotline ~ E Reg Pridmore teamed with Keith Code to w in the AFM six-hour. Vetter Team wins wet AFM six-hour By John Ulrich ONTARIO . CA . APR . 30 The Vetter Fairing-sponsored Kawasaki KZlOOO ridden by Reg Pridmore, Keith Code and Pierre desRoches won the rain-soaked 20 American Federation of Motorcyclists six-hour endurance race at Ontario. Rain fell at varying rates for five of the six hours, with the track ranging from damp to running with water. It started drizzling in the short wait between the rider's meeting and the start. When the flag fell, Billy "T he Bullet" Addington (partner Syd DeSoto) led into the first turn on a Magnum Manufacturing turbocharger-equipped Suzuki GSIOOO . Addington's moment of glo ry was short-lived , with Reg Pridmore and Chuck Parme (partner Larry Parme, Z-I Kaw ) slipping past. Al ready it was raining on the banking and northwest side of the 3.19 -mile course. Parme fought his way past Pridmore, but Paul Ritter (partners Vance Breese and Jody Nicholas) was moving through the front runners on his slick shod 750cc Euromart/ Aero Union Ducati, taking the lead on the fifth lap. Parme then ran second , followed by Pridmore, Whitney Blakeslee (p artn er Pat Beacom, Champion Motorcycles KZIOOO). Mike Velasco (partner David Langford. Yoshimura R&D Suzuki GSIOOO), and Dennis Smith (partner Bill Henry , Del Amo Suzuki 944cc GS750). Hurley Wilvert (partner Dennis David. KZIOOO) ran street tires on his bike , and worked his way into sixth by the 10th lap . Open-class riders were shocked to see Alan Gingerelli (pa rtner Dick Fuller. ND /Rustan's RD350) and Mike Baeder (pa rt ners Danny Coe and Rob Reilly . Specialists II RD350 ) jet into the top 10 overall - from a second -wave start - before lap eight. By la p 10 Gingerell i was eighth overall and Baeder had crashed. R itter led lap 10, ahead of Pridmore, Blakeslee, Parrne , Gil Martin (partner Roger Hagie , H.W . Acoustics KZ650 ), Velasco, Wil vert , Addington , and Gingerelli. Ritter p itted on lap 15 with wat ercaused ignition problems. regained the lead by lap 30 . and retired at 12:30 p .m. - th e 90-minute mark . Dick Fuller put the Gingerelli /Fuller RD350 into th ird overa ll - behind Blakeslee and Walt Fu lton (pa rtn er Glenn Seymore, KZIOOO) - by lap 40 . Fuller crashed when he lost the front wheel in a puddle , and spent 10 minutes in the pits making repairs . Pat Beacom crashed the Blakeslee /Bea com KZI000 while running third on lap 45 , losing six minutes. Blakeslee took over and put the bike into second overall by lap 60 , after pitting for a new foot peg and in spite of missing a po ints cover and a header pipe tail section. Gary FISher (partners Ron ,Pierce and Wes Cooley. Yoshimura GSI000) had a lready pitted by lap 25 for a tire change and gas , and swapping the rear wheel lost the Yoshimura R&D bike 10 minutes then , but Ron Pierce used the improved traction provided by a treaded rear tire to start unlapping the team . By lap 50 Roger H agie led Code , Velasco, Smith and John Ulrich (partn er Ken Gill , Escargot 950cc GS750 ) with the Yosh ima Ra cing Service GS550 - fitted with a n 8 I-.! gallon tank - in sixth overall. W ilvert took the lead by lap 60 . ahead of Blakeslee. Hagie, Smith. Ulrich , Velasco and Code. By lap 70 - the three-hour mark and halfway point Pierce, Cooley and Fisher had worked into fourth overall. T he Ulrich/Gill Suzuki had retired with a blown head gasket and Dennis Smith had pitted to hand the slick-eq uipped Del Amo Suzuki over to Bill Henry and to organize a tire change - after a hairraising lock-to-lock. feet -off-the-pegs slide/swap on th e back straight at 100 mph. Fisher had the Yoshimura bike in second behind Wilvert when the cam chain adjuster broke at hour four . Yoshimura mechanics hurried to finish an engine change so Pierce could fin ish the race to celebrate his 29th birthday - but the bike wouldn't roll again until the 5 1-.! -hour mark, Near the end of th e race t he ra in lightened , then stopped. With 15 minutes to go . Reg Pr idmore passed Dennis Dav id 's W ilvert/David KZI000 to take the lead. Pridmore won by eight seconds in sp ite of a 37 · second gas stop five minutes from the finish . At the end of six hours . Pridmore had covered 136 laps, his bike's front slick worn down to the limit indicators on th e right side. Due to wet cond itions, lap times were almost 20 seconds slower than last year. La st year's race ran 153 laps in six hours, compared to t his yea r's 136 laps. Sixty-seven bik es fini shed . In Saturday sprint races , Wes Cooley set new lap records for Superbike Production and Open GP , turning 2:06.25 (GS I000 Suzuki) and 2 :01 (TZ750 Yamaha ), respectively. O ld records. held by Reg Pridmore and Marty Lunde . wer e 2:08 .9 and 2 :04 , resp ect ively. Best race of Saturday was Mark Hornchick's hard fought 250 GP victory , defeat ing Mik e Baeder, Ron Hla vka and Bob Hyman . Results next week . Jeff Haney continued his Ascot Novice streak. here lead ing Rod Sullivan. Hane'y, Rainey, Jorgy at Ascot again By Maureen Lee GARDENA , CA , APR. 28 Jeff Haney and Wayne R ainey again blew off the opposition on their potent Yamahas each win ning their heat and main event in Novice and Junior classes . Alex Jorgensen and the Ron Woods Norton a re still the fastest Expert combination. This week the track was not so good; damp and slow with only two men in the 22·second bracket for time trials: Jorgense n and Pee Wee Gleason with Jorgy at 22 .87 . Gary Scott had time trialed well but scratched when the swing arm on his bike went. First heat had Eddie Lawson arriving in the south turn slightly a head of the pack but Alex Jorgensen had the high outside line and coming down the back chute it was the Norton first , then Lawson , Bob Sanders and Scott Pearson. Sanders held off Pearson all the wa y Second heat it was John Gennai in front for a while then Steve Eklund got around him in a tight race. The heat ended Eklund, Pee Wee Gleason and Gennai . Steve Fortune jum ped 'em in the semi and ended up row three. Scott Pearson and J im Mertens came out of the pack one, two down the back traight and held those positions. Ted Boody, riding Don Tortorelli 's Harley , got busy and got ahead of Frank Wood with Danny Hockie becoming first alternate. Boody's Ascot appearance was an added treat for the fans : he flew into town and was due to fly right out when the eveni ng was over to rejoin the Harley team in the midwest. Is there a difference between a factory Harley and a non-factory Harley? If you were at Ascot you now know the answer, because Bood y is one hell of a rider. Jeff Haney followed by David Ryan got out front in the Novi ce main and stayed there, although Ryan had to work on getting by Dylan Neihart first. Dylan lost the th ird to Rod Sullivan for a while but Sullivan hit a bump in the north turn and Ne ihart slid under him , For Haney it was 10 in a row . Wayne R ainey and Rod Spencer didn't lose their first or second places in the Junior final ; but behind there was plenty of action. Matt James was turning in a terrific ride in third when his Triumph got a flat rear tire, Russ Davis and John Matherson rode side by side several times and it wasn 't until the final laps that Davis was able to put a little space between himself and Matherson for third. Jorgensen chose to line up on the outside of line one in the Expert main and came around leading with Eklund in second and Lawson third. Once that order was established there was no changing it. The most excitement was at the back with Bood y. Gennai, Sanders, and Frank Word right in the middle 0 it. For a while Boody and Sanders ha a good dice going, with Boody finall getting t he upper hand . J orgy went 0 his way to another main event win bu was the track slow? He was fou seconds slower than the week before that tells the story, . Resu lts TROPHY DASH: 1. Eddie Lawson !Yaml. 2. Ale. Jorgensen lNorI. 3. Pee Wee Gleason IH ·D). 4. SIeve EklundIYam), Time: 1:11.82 NOVICE MAIN: 1. J eff Haney !Yaml 2. David R.,.." . (Yam). 3. OyIanNeihart!Yam) 4. Rod Sullivan!Yaml 5. . Derek land !Yaml. 6. Kim Jorgensen IC Al. 7. 51..... Harvey IYaml. 8. Ken Robicheaux IH-DI. 9. Jay l.eM. ISuz). 10. Emery Gray IBuli. Time: 3:17 .61 JUNIOR MAIN: 1. Wayne Rainey !Yaml. 2. R od Spencer !Yaml. 3. Russ Davi. !Yaml. 4. Jn (H·D). 7. Teel Boody IH-D). 8. Bob Sand.... IH 9. ·D). FrankWord IH-D). 10. John Gennai (Norl. Time : 5:52.09 Williams does it twice at DeAnza MX By Ron Lawson SUNNY MEAD . CA , APR . 23 Maico's Dave Williams was the top name on DeAnza's Pro lineup last week. He came out with a couple of Maicos and went home with two fir st place fin ishes and the respect of everyone in both the 250cc and Open Pro classes. At the start of Open Pro moto one.

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