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/126311
; III s III ;; -. 00 1:' 0) ~ 1:' ~ >~ . ~ J'Hont mulkH:ross action at Prairie City OHV Park. Cook fries Prairie MX By Jill Smith PRAIRIE CITY . CA . APR. 16 Track and weather conditions couldn't have been more interesting as JHont Motocross opened thier gates Sunday at Prairie Ciry OHV Park after many other tracks cancelled because of rain . Riders wanted to race rain or shine and so they did . The whole day ended with only one a ccident . but many racers and motorcycles went unidentified . In the Vets class . Ron Del N ero pulled the checker flag in front of Jim Ricci th e first moto, but Ricci came back-in the second moto to hold first spot till , through his mud -soaked goggles, Ricci left the track to give way to a four wheeler in front of him! Now Ricci. what would a four wheeler be doing on a motocross track? Nero took home first and Ricci moved up to I ~termediate with his second place r Win. Jonnie Cook plunged through the rain and mud to take prize money in both 125cc and 250cc Expert classes. Jon Youra placed second in th e 125cc and Don Cady rode second in th e 250cc and Open classes . Both racers d idn't let the liquid sunshine slow them down a bit. Gary Murphy. on his Maico, ate mud right along with them and went home Open Expert number one for th e day . Deatherage, Gibson grab Cycleland Handicaps By Ernie Aldrich CHICO . CA , APR . 29 NorCal riders shared the spotlight Saturday night as Cycleland Speedway ran their initial program of the summer. This card had all you could expect from exciting, action-packed SemiProfessional short track racing. In the Minis a Marysville duo . Kim Atkinson and Scott Dickerson, prevailed. Atkinson won the 80cc final with Dickerson heading the 100cc group. Both riders wer e on Suzukis. In the 125cc Novice Main Mike Snider took the top prize over two local co m pe titors. Ma rk Gilbert (Suz) was second and the third finisher was Vance Lee (Ya m). Chico rid ers garnered 14 of the 30 trophies presented , but only two managed winning. The two th at d id win were Lowell Moural , capturing the 250cc Expert main , and Mike Egbert , who bested Pete Upton (Ya rn Biggs) in the 200ccJunior main. Egbert (Yam) also snatched the second place trophy in th e 200cc Handicap. Moural won his Expert race over Mike Hall and Manuel Crummiu. The top three riders rode Bultacos, with Dan Fowler (Yam) and Ken Gray (Bul) r~unding out the Expert trophy winners. One Chico rider trophied, but his trophy wasn 't presented for Saturday's ra cing. At halftime . George McK illop presented Chico' s J eff Fowler with th e "Scratchman" t rophy. T his awa rd. handmade by McKillop , is th e hig hest hon or a rider ca n achieve in Cyd eland racing. It is ea rn ed by winning' from ea ch d istance in the Hand icap m am eve nt. For ea ch win . th e rid er is sta rted a n a dd itiona l five ya rds behind the first sta rt ing lin e. H e progresses. winning from ea ch distance, until the m ax imum handicap of 60 yards is overcome . . Conquering that 60 ·yard handicap earns him the title "Scratchrnan." In only his sixth year of racing. Fowler is th e 16th rid er to win it since its 'inception in 1966. He is unsponsored. a privateer. In the 250cc Novice main Ken Walcott (Bul) led a parade of Chico rid er s a cross the finish . Bruce Smith (H ·D ) was second followed by 'Dirck Sauer (Ya m), Ted Baines (Bul). and Fred Wa ybr ight (Ho n) . John Heernsb erger ro de two Hondas to victory in the 250cc and 360cc Jun ior main even ts. In th e 250cc main Chuck Atk inson (Ya m) was second , Dave Evers ( Bu l) th ird a nd Perry ra n fou rt h. Proiette (Ya m ) Heernsberger was the lon e 360ec trophy winner. In the 200 cc Handicap , Yamaha ruled . Three rid ers wh o kn ow how they're built chose th e right machines. T ony Deatherage was firs t. followed by Mike Egbert a nd Keith Williams, both of Chico . The 250cc Handicap main event proved to be an exciting ra ce with John Sudberry and Bob Gibson in a thrill -packed. wheel -to -wheel contest that saw Sudberry hit th e dirt while trying to sq ueeze by on the final turn. The sp ill moved Mike H all in to second and Doug Reiswig up for third . Rei swig. last yea r's 250cc Junior Scratch a nd 25 0cc Ha ndicap High Point W inner had qu ite a d uel with Ha ll a nd Ha ll too k it. The top three rode Bulta cos. • Results in Results Section . 43 •