Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NORTIERN DATEUNE (A bov e) Virgina City was a row -by-row start w ith plenty of rows. (Be low) Husky's Jack Johnson won the Sunday race over Larry Roesele r. riding in the 300th posmon and knowing it. A few were a bit upset, however, when they cam e around the home turn , saw the official standing with the fin ish flag in h is back pocket a nd ch ecking his watch - and they were wa ved out for another lap! It 's a ma zing what agony 30 seconds can cause. Since the course was a claimed 16.5 mil es long (I got closer to 18 wh en I rode it but t h a t may just be a d ifference in odomet ers ), the leaders made at least 132 miles in eight la ps on Saturday and 149 mil es in n ine laps o n Sunday. T o receive one of th e Primo finish er p ins , you had t o complete five la ps on Saturda y or six on Su nd ay. W inding up was hes , crossi ng a nd rec rossing roa ds , ci rcling m ine ta iling pi les. you were never reall y sure where you were until you sta rted seeing faces in th e d ust a nd th en . no d ust. T he dirt st reets in and about town were wa tered to hold down the d ust. Saturday Jack Johnson wins Virginia City GP By Terry Rezek Photos by Bob Tarnai and Rezek VIR GIN IA C ITY . NV . MAY 15·14 Virgi nia City is a trip, with an a mbience sadly rare in motorcycling today. All of the biggies a re gone and many of what a re billed as Grand Prix have become (t hrough community hostility , governmental h assles and insu rance profiteering) just lon g motocrosses. Bu t "V .C . ." as the aficionados of the event ca ll it , wails on . W hy? Wha t makes a race so desirable that over 2000 entries com e in fo r 800 spaces , forcing th e spo nsoring club 10 close entries within th ree days of ope ning? From where come th e magic fla vor ? Well , you m ight say it's a stew, a of who leso me m a rvel ous b rew ingred ients b lended wit h ca re . The credit goes 10 the cooks . The W estern Stat es R acin g Associa tion is a cl ub like a ny othe r - o nly more so . T hey put o n races bu t each is very different , so t hey ha ve broad experience . Most of the members ha ve ot he r jo bs and race as a spo rt , so th ey ca re for the rid er as they wou ld for th emselves. T hey also race in the ir own events a nd the caring me n t io ne d above tak es o n a very personal fla vor. Fin all y, th ey ha ve somet hi ng special, an acute awareness of public relations . It is th is co ncern tha t reall y limits the number of entries to 40 0 pe r day . Virgini a Ci ty is literally ha cked ou t of the side of a solid rock .moun ta in and th ere are simply not eno ugh flat areas to allow the ca m pi ng of more than 800 riders plus entourage. It is this concern which p revents any sign of a pending race before T h ursday evening and has it a ll gone by Su nday nig h t. inclu d ing trash pick up. It is t h is co ncern which produces an a uction for next year's po le position, with all the proceeds goi ng to a loca l cha ri ty. An d it is t his co ncern wh ich res u lts in the town speople be ing friend ly. courteous and 'eag er to have WSR A and t he ir Grand Pr ix back aga in next year. You ca n bet your gas th a t the riders will be back . T he, form at thi s year h ad the rid er s sta rt ing in rows of 10 with 15 seco nds between rows. Th e finis h lin e is excact ly four and a hal f ho urs a way . T hat's vrig h t , t he cu toff is by tim e . regard less of th e posi tio n of t he a p parent lea d er! As you m ig ht imagine, th e fir st rider to receive the checkered flag was more th an a little su rp rise d. since th ey were likel y -to be Sa turday's classes were 100. 125. 200 , and 250cc Novice ; 125cc Ju n ior and Expert; Old Timer (over 40) and Vetera n (30 10 40) Novice and the Women 's Divisions. At the end of the first , loop . T im Hausma nn and R . D . W ya nt ca me through al most together a nd nearl y five minutes ahead of anyone else . Since Ha usm ann had started in t he first ro w and W yant ha d been in th e ni nt h, two minu'tes back. it began to loo k like W yant was th e early lea d er a nd co nsidering his phenomenal first lap time . would only ha ve to maintain to be a winner. H e di d main tai n a good pace for some tim e but never aga in as good as that first lap . By mi d race t he reason was clea r. At a point where two portions of the co urse got close 10 each other. W yant had made a wrong turn a nd inadvert antly cu t off se~era l m iles of th e cou rse . Sin ce it was cl earl y accidental , WSRA did not d isq ua lify him but . to be fair, p en ali zed h im 15 m inut es. T his effec tively put him about o ne-ha lf lap back and ou t of content ion . A rrenrion now foc ussed on th ree othe r riders: J im J enki ns, Mike Darby, a nd Sha ne Hyb a rger. Althou gh it was not possi ble to tell fo r su re who was a head on tim e . th ese three wer e rid irig co nsistently fast er than anyon e else. As this was writ te n. five days lat er , even WSRA could not be certain until all th e lap tim es of all th e finis he rs were co mputed . T his m ay ta ke two 10 three weeks. Prelim in a ry calc u la tions give the win 10 Hyba rge r with a n elapsed time for eight laps of fou r h ours. 49 m in u tes. 42 seconds . J en kin s, of Co lorado Spr in gs, appears to be second a t this time. It is not yet kn own whe ther Mike Da rby placed b u t he certai n ly ge ts the nod for the most radical j ump ing style of the day! Sunda y This event was shaping u p 10 be a grand battle . T h e lin eup cove red O pen Novice , Junior a n d Expert ; 200cc Jun ior ; 250 cc Ju n io r and Expert ; a nd Veteran a nd Ol d T imer Ju nior a nd Exp ert . T he re was also some hea vy tal en t entered ; names like Do ug W in ch ell , St eve Sub it h', J a y O re n do r f, Bob Ba lent in e . L a rry Roesel e r, Ja ck J ohnson an d R ick Shirey . Not listed in the program but rid ing nont heless was Co rd is Brooks. Ba lent in e , who started in th e fifth row . was in th e front a t the end of lap one and t he r u mo rs imm edi atel y started lflying about co urse CUlling . O ne thing for sure . a rid er with his abilit y does not cheat so thov- rumors were qu ickly d ismissed. But, again by mid -race , the announ cement was made: Ba lentine had fallen prey to the same m isfortune whi ch had gotten W yant on Saturday a nd he would probabl y be penal ized one lap . a bliviou s to it all , Bob kept turning in consistent 30 minute lap times , probably good enough for first if not for the penalty. The seventh lap res o lve d the dil emma . Ba len ti n e limped in with th e fro n t wheel of his KTM stuck out like a Sunset Boulevard cho ppe r . A broken -frame brought an abrupt end to a great rid e a nd saved the scorers fro m a possible overdose of Alk a -Selt zer . T he real d uel was occu rring a little fu rther back in the pack . L a rry Roeseler had rela xed a littl e too much on th e first la p and I-Iusky teamma te J a ck Jo hnson qu ickl y m a de up th e one and a hal f mi nu te sta rti ng di fferen ce between th em and by th e th ir d lap was rig h t on Roeseler's kn ob s. ; he two fought spectacula rly for two m or e laps a nd th en, in one la p . Johnson go t by Roeseler and stretc hed out a lead that amou nted to more tha n th ree m inut es bv th e end of the race . • The only ot her real contender was Bobby Decarlo . of Virginia City, who ha d almos t caught u p to Johnso n severa l times but fin ally had to settle for just a high fin ish position - with both tires fla t! But neither Decarlo no r Roeseler were able to take th e day aw ay fro m Johnson . J ack's fin al time fo r nine laps was 4:3? : 19 to Roseler 's 4:40:29 . The co mplete. a nd official results should be rea dy in a bou t two mor e weeks and WSRA will send a list of th e to p finis he rs in each class to Cycle News a t that time. Right n ow , all we ca n say is th anks. T ha nks to Bob , Donna , Jak , Jo e a nd th e dozens of really su per people of WSRA for th eir help. hard work a nd goo d times - for every one at V .C .. not just for m yself. For m ysel f, thanks to t he great folks of V.C . itsel f, especia lly Joe Maddox of th e Virginia City Assay Offi ce , who gr aciou sly offe red me th e use of th e balc on y ab ove h is sa loo n a nd sho p 10 take p ictures of th e Sa tu rd ay night pa ra de . What 's tha t ? Ju st a littl e number whe re th e race bikes get to ride do wn main street in V.C. led by th e Sh eriff, no less. c Holley hauls Sptsmn Day wins By lee Taylo r DIX O N , CA , MA Y 7 A full morning of racing awaited the Sportsmen riders at Argyll Park Sunday in the fifth race of the Coors Tr~ ns- A M E Seri es. T he ra ce rs fo u nd o ne of t he roughest tr acks in the series , with everything fro m hairy jumps "10 dusty and lig hteni n g -fa st b erm s st raighta ways. The 125cc Intermediates wer e eq ua l to th e cha lle nge and ran on e of the m ost exciting races of the d ay , won by Dave Sarian. astride a Su zuki , up from So u the rn California . At t he start of th e first rn oto , David Baker (Suz) led off th e line with J a y Cook - (W hee lers Cycle Supply Yam ) running, second a nd Sari an hold in g down th ird . Cook went dow n in th e mud in fro nt of the to wer , selling hi m ba ck to sevent h with Sarian tak ing over. By th e end of the moto Baker was still firm in the lead with Mike SCOll ta king second, hol ding Sarian to third . 31

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