Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cealral Plpellae teur 500cc Scrambles Champion 00 - t"- (j') • Jimmy O'Dell leads his semi at the Dusenberry ST, Phil McDonald 1251heads off t he line on his way to w in the 250cc Expert main, McDonald molds Dusenberry.benefit STwin By Dick Ainsworth WICHITA , KS. APR. 22 Sa turday's benefit short track raised $2,800 for Laetril ca nc er treatments in hopes of saving th e life of former AMA Na tional . 44 Number 8 1. Gordon Du sen berry of Wichita. The Wichita J eeps M.C . . a 35 ·yea r ·old AM A cl ub , held thi s event with nearly all th e prizes and contingencies bein g d on a ted by . dea lers , businesses and in d ividuals. thus sen ding almost all the revenue to the Du senberry medical fund. It was a very cold and windy nigh t. but the club grounds was packed with peopl e , enough that they ra n out of food! Jimmie O'De ll. J r . took th e lead in th e first 250cc semi and on th e fourth lap C .D . Martin ra n int o th e b ack of him a nd fell hard. T erry Fr an cis. who had no place to go , ran over Mart in and his bike , a nd crashed . T he race was sto pped as bot h riders stayed down for a while, but t hey wa lked away . On th e single-file restart O 'Dell again took the lea d and won over Tom Foster . The last Open heat was a real thriller as Lee Keeter , John Fike and Tom Foster battled back a nd forth fo r th e lead , They cha nge d pl aces severa l tim es with Fike winning it. . Todd R a tliff took th e . Min icycle lead in th e fina l. but Kirk Englund power ed by on th e back chute a nd wen t o n to win . Ph il Culver took th e 125cc fina l lead , followed closely by Kirk Engl und. J er ry Hill a nd Curt Stephen s had their own ba ttle for third whi le No rr is Slupianek was in fift h . Cu lver held off Englund for the win , but Stephens had shifter trouble and let Slupia nek by int o fourt h behind H ill. Phil McD on ald a nd Da n Robinson jam m ed the first tu rn side -by-side in th e 250 cc fin a l, b u t Ra nd y Dop ps literall y bumped Robinson back to fourth . Robinson came back to tak e th ird as Ron Bel t ca me from sixth to b att le for th at spot. On lap five, Belt broke into a tanksla p per afte r hitting a hole goi ng into turn on e. a nd got off hard . T he ra ce was stopped as Belt received a broke n shou ld er. Over hal f the la ps of th e race wer e run and no restart was used , so McDonald was th e winner. Roger Sterl in g took th e 500cc fina l lead as J immie O'Dell . Jr . ca me from th e back row a n th e ou tside to tak e seco nd co mi ng ou t of tu rn two . Bu t ' Tim Newby a nd Phil McDon a ld moved u p to batt le th e du o for the lead . Sterling led until th e fourth la p when Newby got by, bu t Sterl ing cam e right back as Ga ry Schli ckau charg ed into th ird . Fike a nd O'D ell now Gary Garrison topped the 250cc fina l field at Kanopolis. ba ttled for fou rt h. On th e last la p . . O 'Dell hit a hol e in turn four a nd fell. and J im m ie Ratl iff moved into fifth . Keet er led t he O pen fina l for fou r la ps unt il Foster stuffed it by on t he in sid e to win . Results in Results Sect ion . Schlickau, Byrne battle at Kanopolis By Dick A insworth KANOPOLIS , KS, AP R. 23 Gary Schlicka u pu lled the ho leshot in Sunday's 500cc fina l at Kan op.olis with 1977 AMA Ama- Den nis "T he Burner" Byrne in close pursu it. Dan Brooks a nd Larry Kennedy had th eir own battle for third that lat er joine d Ga ry Law ren ce. On th e fifth la p . Byrn e brou ght th e fa ns to th eir fee t as he passed "Slick" on th e inside co m ing off th e hill in th e big sweeper. It's very d iffic u lt to pass on th e inside at th is part of th e track and mos t riders do it on th e outside. Bu t Byrn e , with his skid shoe in th e infield grass. slid by with his fr ont wheel turned in and gliding! Brooks was in a safe th ird . but Kenned y and Lawren ce were going at it for fourth . In t he tight S switchback , Lawrence charged by, but a la p later was out with motor woes. Another fierc e battle for fifth develo ped among Ron Simmons. Jimmie Ra tliff , Ch ad O linger and Beggs with Simmon s geuing t he edge at the end. This was an a ll-four-stro ke fina l as KMSA number two Bill Sn yder crashed his fait hful Bu lt ac o in his heat chasin g all the thumpers, T odd Ra tliff took the Minicycle lead in the final . followed by Scott Murray , but Kirk Engl u nd shot by and took off after Ratliff. He took the lead on the south uphill sweeper and went on to win. The Ratliff/Englund battle con tin ued int o th e IOOcc class and th is time Ratliff got his revenge as he held off Englund the entire distance to win . Dan Hollingsworth took the 125cc lead foll owed by Phil Culver , Don Lacer, Mike Cla rke . Norris Slupianek and J erry H ill. On the th ird la p , Clarke zip ped by Lacer a nd took off after Culver. Siup also ca ugh t Lacer . but cou ld n't get by. Danny Clarke too k the 200cc final lead but KMSA numbe r one "Bad Chad " Ol inger took the lead on th e u p hill. By th e end of a la p Chad had a big lead as Rogers flew. Clarke ma ven back up on Olinger while Ken ny Johnston took over th ird as ' Kirk Vin cent a nd Ren ee Kennedy fought over fourt h. C la rk e put his move on O linger a t th e end of th e fro nt ch ut e on t he insid e as J ohnston dropped out with ign ition trou b le. Meanwhile, Scott Nov otny had cha rge d up from th e back of th e p ack to tak e fourt h. Gary Garrison roc keted off th e line and into th e 250cc lead but three othe r rid ers stacked u p in th e second turn and -a res tart was ca lled . Again it was Garrison ou t in fro nt over Culver a nd Sn yder. followed by La wren ce. Rock et Horton and Nick H uston . Culver dropped out , he was having ignition trouble all nig ht at the Wi chita short trac k the night before, a nd Sn yd er inherited second. Lawrence and H usto n had a batt le for third while Horton , Mel Watson a nd Den ny Patterson fought over fifth . On th e last lap . Pa tt erson got by W a tson , but co uldn' t catc h H ort on . T om Foster gra bbed the Open lea d as KMSA num ber one T im Lind fors held second. Kei th Harris moved int o second briefly. bu t th e 1977 AM A Ama teur Open Scrambles Champi on powered by a nd sta rted to close on Foste r. C .D . Martin go t by H a rris for th ird a nd m oved in on Foster a nd Lind fors. H a rr is. Mark Kumle .a nd Hu sto n sta rted a three -way ba ttl e for fourth with Ha rris winn ing ou t. Th is race was spo nsored by t he Sal inas Coyotes M .C . and , as usua l, t hey did a bang-up job of putti ng on' a super ra ce at th eir well-p repa red track . Their next event is Sunday , Ma y 14 a nd th e Plainvi lle Roadrunners M.C . will ha ve a hal f-m ile th e night befor e at Stock ton . • Results in Result s Sect ion . I

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