Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1978 06 07

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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IAbove) Ted Leimbach finished second 250cc A. (Below) Tom Penton picked up some gold at Michigan. Taking his second overall win in three attempts was KTM's Frank Gallo, who romped Michigan. Gallo romps to Michigan Tvvo-Day vvin By Bill Moss ROSE CITY, MICH " MAY 20 -21 . Frank Gallo sped his 400 KTM through sand, rain and sun-soaked woods to post his second overall ISDT Qualifier victory in three attempts. Frank made a romp of the Bent Wheels Mot o.rc ycl e Club -sponsored event as he enjoyed a 54 point margin over fellow KTM rider , . J~ck Penton . Frank s ~reV1ous wm was at th e Alabama Q.uahfier. Gallo headed a ' parade of KTM riders in the overall standings. with Ja~k .Pent on , Ted. Leimbach , and Jeff HIll In th e following three spots. Bob Popiel and th e West Co ast's Larry Roeseler rode Husqvar~as to 5th and 6th places, Gary Younkins was 7th for KTM . Steve Hess, Pent o~ . jeff ~redet . te (KT M), and Don CIch ocki (Suz) filled out the top ten , Rick W~lsworth on a 250 KTM was the best B nder . Day One 14 . Saturday was th e critica l day of the two -day event. It was made so by the rain that came crashing down two to three hours into th e trails, The rai n expanded old muck holes , he lped crea te new on es, and slickered up th e trails, Butonceth~showerspassedand the w~ we~e ~~p dry , there w~s, a,~ Bob Popiel said, maximum tra ~uon. Many of the ISDT contenders like th e tough going of rain , It really sorts ou t the competition. At the th ird gas Steve Hess com ment ed, " I love the rain -- it's neat!" It was at the third ga s stop , jus t 23 miles from the end of the 148 mil e course, that problems eliminating riders and skyrocketing the scores were evident. Larry Roeseler came in , saying .he had seen at least four gUys out of gas . Greg Davis was one who ran dry but managed to get to th e gas check. It 'was 47 miles from th e previous gas; the wet sand soaked up power, and there were two te rrain special tests to use up an ex tra margin of fuel. Ba rry Higgins a rrived wit h a bone dry tank but offered a few words on the type of trail. saying , " I'm sick of bea ting m y knuckles off on a ll t hose stupid trees. I don 't mind th e ride . I hat e it when th ey put th e arrows up (th ro ug h fresh woods) a nd say, ' He re you go , gu ys,' " J im Fishback a nd Hoyt Stathern both had t ree troubl e . J im said, "T wice I hi t trees head on ." Sta tha m maintained he had m anaged to bum p int o at least 50 or so. Jack Pines don't grow well in Cal ifornia desert. Dick Burleson started th e day with his shoulder still not 100% a fter a crash a few weeks ago . Following a get off in the first special test, Dick reti red from the event. It was apparent to - Burleson that the sand whoops would require more of the shoulder than he was willing to risk . By da y-s e n d, Gallo had a ccumulated a 56 po int lead over Jeff Hill and was a couple more in front of Jack Penton. On two of th e th ree terra in special te st s , Frank had established untouchable scor es , On th e other he was two seco nds off th e pace esta blished byJeff Fredette, Day Two Early morning cloud banks burned awa y and Sunda y be came wh at Burleson descr ibed as a " perfect day for a Michigan trail ride." He meant it was too easy fo r heavy-duty com petition. A hillclim b specia l test greeted t he riders just a mile fro m th e sta rt line. Still ea rly in the morning was th e seco nd ru n ning of th e well -kn own " fence line" test , featuring elepha n tswallowing sand whoops! As th e fast riders carne th rou gh th e whoop-de dos. the pu lsing sound of their engi nes woul d often come to a n abru pt hal t as bike and rider were pitched into t he sa nd. Drew Smi th disa ppea red into a whoo p with on ly a bl ue hel met bob bing up and do wn as he pic ked up a nd gOI restarted . Jeff H ill kicked his shifter into neutra l a nd ate it. Bru ce Ken ny go t ou t of sha pe and wen t do wn. And Gall o came off th e to p of a mogul wit h his fro nt wheel cocked and stuc k in the sa nd like a spea r. T he seco nds ticked away as he dug it ou t, kicked a few tim es, a nd roared away . T he last speci a l test ca me at the finish. It was a cou rse in excess of a mile. set up like a mot ocross, but was not a closed loop. T he riders entered one a t a t ime a nd rode aga inst th e cloc k. The spec ta ting was great! Afte r 300 m iles of trai l, th e rid ers wer e ha ngin g it out as though one test would make or b reak th eir tri p to Swed en . T here was n o hiding m istakes as th ey went for it. T om Penton ca me off a jum p wrong and crashed in th e following whoops, Popiel laid his

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