Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I••••• D•• D.D".D ••• D.DDD •••• DDDDDD.DD ••••• D•• DDD ••••• D'D"'DDD'DD'D"DDDD'D""'DD'D"""""D'.DD"'DD'D'DD.D •••••••• By Jerry G. Welton CALIFORNIA CITY, CA ,JUNE 4 After years of bad luck, bad starts , DNFs and second place finishes , Morgan Malocco took his self-tuned 400 Buena Park . Yamaha to first overall at California City. Following the riders' meeting, the banner was dropped and the first wave of Experts. Amateurs and Novices ' were off. At the first sandwash-just past the smoke bomb came th e red and white Midas Muffler jers ey of Malocco , with about 100 yards on Kent Perkins (390 Perkins Agency Hus) and Darren Pritchett (250 Yam) . Off to the sid e of th e main trail was Chuck Miller on a borrowed 250 Suzuki. Amateur Tony Harris (400 Bellflower Yam) was running up front , despite th e use of a wrist brace , with KennyUpp(175 IT) , Rick Muller (400 KTM), Monte Lee (250 Baker Yam) ba nd Doug Beisner (250 Suz) right behind. 1 -Ma locco slowly began to stretch his I lead by the first check with Perkins still close enough to be a threat. Up p ha d made a move on Harris a nd was looking for a good overa ll spot. Prit chett's bike was too stiff a nd hard to handle , forcing him to cr u ise in . This mov ed Miller int o third . but he too was having suspension troubles and was passed by Upp . Lee and Beisner got by Harris in th e choppy stu ff and were moving up on Miller. After a conservat ive first loop , Malocco cranked it up for the second . with Perkins running 30 seconds behind. Shortly onto the second loop . Perkins got off hard and took several minutes to get back underwa y. Kent hadn 't ridden in quite a while and was . in his own words , "ou t of shape. " Upp came through in third with Miller right behind him . Miller retired as Lee and Beisner took over. Beisner returned to th e pits after losing a swingarm bolt. Amateurs Harris and Tim Nething (250 Hus) were by next , with Mu ller and John Foster (250 Premier Yam) completing the first loop in the top 10. The first Novice to leave the pits for the second trip was lightweight Billy Lee (175 Yam) with Ron Nelson andJe Zuidema (175 Yam) running second and third . On lap two Malocco was really stretching out his lead. Morgan was unable to pre·run, so his first loop was used to get acquainted with the course. At th e completion of lap two Malocco had a little more than two and a half minutes over Perkins. Upp and the lightweight trailed 25 seconds back. Lee was having a great time with his new bike and put it through the . pa ces. keeping Harris behind . Scot Duncan (250 Yam) led a three-bike charge into the top 10 with Jeff Blix (125 Baker Suz) a nd Mike Mulconery (400 Mid · Vall ey KTM). J eff Wilson (250 Su z) also worked his way up to the top 10 aft er getting past Nething. Muller dropped out with a flat front tire. When Malocco left the pits on his thi rd and final loop he must have been wondering if his bike would go the dist ance . or would bad luck fall upon him once again . About halfway around the final loop . Upp began challenging Perkins for second. Upp passed on an uphill road, but short ly after broke a swinga rm and could not contin ue at speed. Lee took over third and Duncan had overtaken Harris for fourth. Coming down to the wire ' it was Ma locco, after so many previous near misses and problems, and now a trouble-free overall win. Following a few minutes later was Perkins. with quite a worn out appearance. Lee wheeled in for third as Scot Duncan kept off the ground and on two wheels to take. a solid fourth with Harris finishing first Amateur and fifth overall. Blix captured the smallbore class after a heavy battle with Mulconery . Upp nursed his bike in for eighth as Daryn Wyatt (390 Hus) and Mike Marti (390 Hus) moved up to round out the top 10. Frank Arciero , J r. (390 Hus) was victorious in the Amateur Junior/Senior class . finishing just ahead of Gary Short (250 Suz) at 14th overall. . Once again it was Larry Upp (250 Yam) taking the Senior class ; it h Mike Dyott (400 Yam) within striking distance all day. Billy Lee. the early leader in the Novic e class , had problems, letting Bill Vanderbyl (400 KTM) pick up the lead at the finish with Ron Nelson running a secure second over Donnie Morrison (125 Yam) . In the Beginner race it was Jim Tarpley (400 Yam) with the overall win over Charles Hubble on a lightweight machine and Ric Ba rrett (250 Yam) . Jolene Payne (175 C PW KTM) too k the victory in the Women's Division. Bill Mattox (80 Yam) was the Mini winner. start to finish . T his particular event was made possible only through the outstanding efforts from all the CRC clubs, led by Dr . Bob Newhouse . Without their support there wou ld not have been any rnre. • Results OPEN EX: 1. Morgan Maiocco UTI; 2. Kent Perkins (Husl; 3. Mike Mulconery IKTMI. . 250 EX: Scot Duncan IYam!. ll-200 EX: 1. Jeff Bli. ISuz); 2. Ken Upp; 3. Bob Rundqu ist. JRtSR EX: monte Lee lVam). _ SR EX: 1. La"y Upp IYam): 2. Mike Dvott IYam). OPEN AM: 1. Tony Hartis (Y am); 2. Daryn Wyatt (Hus!. 250 MA: 1. Jack Fuller (Yam); 2. Geo

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