Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

11111 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 •• 11 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 0000 Ceab''' PlpeliDe th e rest of the race th ey raced tight a nd close. At the end Pickerin g led wit h Lee close be hind . T his twilight ha re scra mb les was held by the Trailwinders M/ C wit h a n A class for money a nd a B division for trophies . It was cool a nd clo udy with he av y ra in a nd bad wea ther everywhe re around th e track . b ut not 'a t th e track . A riders left th e starting lin e in one wave and a few minutes later th e Bs ro ared off. Stewart Nowlin fell ha rd on the steep downhill and got his foot caught in th e spo kes. pinning his leg against the ex ha ust pipe . He got up and fini sh ed fourth in the Ope n Junior a nd was rushed to the hospital aft er the race with third degree burns and torn ligaments. Results z·, pilot HUlJh Humble led the CRRC Endurance run un t il a getoff in t he m ud took him ou t . . eX PERT HEAVYWEIGHT: 1. Wayne Pickerin g (Yam); 2. Bud l ee (Yam); 3. Art Astle (Yam); 4. Glenn M cClur e [Yarn] . EXPERT LIGHTWEIGHT : 1. Lloyd M cCl ure (Yaml ; 2. Marty Crowley (Suz); 3. Gary Dod ge (Hon l. JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT: 1. Dave Beason Is uzl; 2. Jay Williams (SUI ); 3. Kenny Romine IHusl; 4. St ew art Nowlin (Mai) , JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT: 1. Devron And erson IYam); 2 . Ma rk Cahoon e (Su zl; 3. Dan Slat er (Yam ); 4. Bill King (YamI. Culver, Pressgrove, Sterling grab Topeka wins By Dick A insworth TOPEKA . KS.JUN E 17 A total of four red flags were needed to run the 250cc final a nd an additional two in the 500ccs, but only m inor inj u ri es resulted in one of the cras hiest ra ces a t T opeka Short Track . Dave Coats and Paul Pressgr ove were -rhe semi winners in the 250cc. but it was T erry Francis taking th e lead over Tim Newb y in t he final. A red flag came out due to some riders anticipating the fl agman . On the restart Pressgrove jumped to the front . but another red flag came out for th e same reason . The next rest a rt had Pressg rove again in front over Coats and Newby . The three of them went at it for two laps until Pressgrove crashed in turn four. Out ca me the red flag again as Pressgrove was still laying on the track . but the former Naional #74 was back for th e fourth restart and again took the lead over Coats. Newby and Phil Culver. On th e next lap Coats took th e lead coming out of #two. but Pressgr ove got it ba ck coming down the front ch ute. Coats took it again in on e. o ny to lose it again to Pr essgrov e , Coats tri ed to sq ueeze by Pr essgrove a nd the cement wall on the front straightawa y, but his front tire and Pressgrove's rear tire got tog ether with Coats highsiding at the starting lin e. Another red flag ca me out and the tempers were beg inning to flare up . T he referee decided it was getting too hot . and since over half the laps had run , called it a race with Pressgrove the winner. John Fike and Roger Sterling won th e 500 cc sem is a nd the final roared off th e lin e with rnotocrosser Gr egg Romine getting his .RM all out o f sh a pe and co llid ing with T .J . Gaughan . putting him down . Out came t he red flag as T .J. a nd his 500 cc Yamaha la y in th e track . It was a few minutes before T .J. was race-ready and on the restart off th ey went with Leon Bresl en fa lling.on th e ba ck chute and Gaughan hitting his fall en bik e . pitch ing him over th e handlebars. Gaughan got up sha king his head hoping this was the end of it all. But it wasn't , On th e restart Sterling jumped out int o a big lead and ra n away with it. Fike was th e o nly one to keep him in sig ht. O n the las t lap Gaughan slid out in tu rn number one. He co uld now sm ile a bo ut it a ll a nd be gla d the night was co m pleted . Cu lver was o ff like a ro cket in th e 125cc fi n al. fo llo wed cl osel y b y Heishm an , Coa ts. Mike Eri ckson a nd Da le Schmick . Cu lver opened u p his lead while Coats got under Heish m a n a nd a four -way ba tt le res ulted for second. On la p six Erickson fe ll in num ber o ne and a p peared to inj ure h is wrist. Cu lver went on to win by a large m argin . Lee Keet er grabbed the lead in th e 200cc fin al followed by T erry Francis a n d Jon Bomgerger. On th e next lap Bomberger bombarded his wa y into second and took the lead from Keet er at th e end of th e back chute. But Keeter took it ba ck and Bom berger again go t it in the south end . The two went the next la p shoulder to shoulder. the white flag came out and Keeter again took the lead . only to lose it. Coming out of turn four Keet er blew an engin e and coasted across th e line for th ird a s Franc is n ipped second. Results ~ INI : 1. Rog er McBrid e C Suzl . 125cc: 1. Phil Culver (Hon); 2 Dave Coats (Yam); 3 . Bill Heishman (Sun; 4. Dale Schmic k (Yam). 2OOcc: 1. Jon Bomg erge- (Yaml: 2. Terry Francis IOssa); 3 . Lee Keet er IBull . 2SOcc: 1. Paul Pressgrove IRiclcJ Monl; 2 Dave Coats (BuD 3. Tim Newby IYam); 4. Barry Bunner (Bull; 5. Phil ; Culver IYaml . 500cc: 1. Roger St erling (BSAl; 2. John Fike (Yaml; 3. John Isaacs !Yaml ; 4, Gregg Rom ine (suzl; 5. Gary lawrence IYam). OPEN: 1. Bill Myer s (Yaml; 2. John Fike lBsAl ; 3 . Lee Keeter CTri); 4 . M ark Fillmore (Yam). Pickering takes Reading HS . y Dick A insworth B READING . KS,JUNE \7 Wayne Pickering sho t into the lead of Saturday's two -hour hare scr a m b les with Bud Lee clo se behind , a nd held it for three and on e -ha lf la ps. But Pick ering pulled in with a bad plug. giving th e lead to Lee . It took him some tim e to cha nge th e p lug . so I", didn't refuel a nd hoped he had enoug h [0 fini sh . He kne w Lee would hav e to mak e a ga s sto p . With a hal f-hour to go in th e race . Lee ca me in for gas. which was wh at Pickering needed to close the gap . For ·A ust in Kawteam takes CRRC Endurance RR By Mike Reilly Photo by Chris Reilly COL LEG E STATIO N , T X, MAY 28 T he Centra l Road Ra cing C lub ' Fou r Hour Endurance ro ad race at Texas W orld Speedway proved . to be very much a n end u ra nce ra ce , but considering th at th e top th ree teams fin ished th e marathon on th e same la p m ade the even t see m more like a sp rint . Rewa rd for the overa ll winner was th e co veted Deviat e Cup. so named to honor th e Deviate Endurance Tea m that won last year's six- hour TWS endurance race , upsetting expected winners Freddie Spencer , Pau l Stephenson and Bu b ba Byars. wh o rod e a 900cc Ducati Desmo . To defend th eir titile as CRRC's Best Endurance T eam , Deviate members J ohn Miick and Vernon Davis enlisted Paul "Hogman" Stephenson to help ride th eir 750cc Honda in an attempt to assure th e victory. Aft er th e usual banzai Le Mans sta rt , th e 30 teams took off around th e three -mil e TWS ro ad ra ce co u rse. Ab out a n hour in to th e ra ce . th e entire co m posu re of the event cha nged as heavy th understorms mov ed over th e track and wou ld not lea ve for two h ours. W ater wa sh ed d own th e banking in sheets and several sec t ions of th e in field wer e under water. The teams adjusted to th e co nd itio ns as best as po ssible . though se veraf decided not to run at all. Others slo wed th eir pace dramaticall y (a t tim es visiblirlity on the banking wa s no farth er than the r ider 's fa ceshield) . but those in th e hunt for th e overa ll victory slowed only slig htly. With a n hour to go in th e ra ce , th e teams running had a rel atively d ry tr a ck su rfac e o n whi ch to sp ring th e fin al laps to the checker ed flag . Four tea ms had a shot a t th e overa ll win . th ree of th em fini sh ed on th e sa me lap for a d rarru ic co ncl usio n. The winners of th e ra ce a nd now possessors of t he Deviat e Cup were Steph an T ippet , Ma rk Ca m pise and Andy Robbins. Rid ing for Austin Kawasaki on a KZ650 , the winn ing team actually sto p ped a nd discussed whet her or not to co nt inue when the rain storm was at its worst. Real izing th a t th eir main competitors were not sto p p ing. the Kawasak i riders committ ed the mse lves to th e effo rt a nd began to lap at unreal speeds co nsideri ng th e ra ce cond itions. The rain would prove a blessing to th e winners as the coo ler tr ac k saved their rear tire that would not ha ve finished the four hours . Anchored by the steady perfomance of team lead e r Tippet, and thrust to the lead through the effo rts of Campise and Robbins. the winning Kawasaki ran flawlessly to the flag . The Team Deviate Honda , with St ephenson aboard through the first hour , managed to put a lap on the field that was secure until the third ho ur. At that point the lead ing Honda went off co urse III the rainstorm , and not returning at that same point , was penalized one lap . The bri lliant r id ing by the team m em b ers. organized pit work. and a fast and dependab le bike wer e not enough to make up the penalty as th e Deviate team crossed the fin ish line on the same lap but behind two othe r teams. Taking second overall was th e ent ry o f Charl es MacDonald a nd Dr. Thomas Marquardt , who raced a very busi ne ssli ke 4 00cc H on d a . T he H o nd a . speci a lly prepa red for end u ra nce ra cing . had th e speed and the ca pap b le rid ers a board to make it ath reat. T ota lly profession al in t heir approach , th e Colorado team ran like a freightt ra in ra in or d ry. their only drama was la te in the race whe n the pi pe m uffler b ro ke loose . Despite th is ha nd ica p . the team turned up th e wick the final ho ur when the track was d ry in a n effo rt that wou ld net the m second. Though not finishing the ra ce , th e Mike W alker En terprised Kawasak i ZI R was moving up to cha lle nge th e leaders a nd wou ld hav e been a d efinite threat for th e win . Rid ers Benny Delmonico a nd Hugh Humble, both expe rienced z·\ pilots. had moved the bike among the leaders when Humble took over a t the ha lfwa y point to ma ke a d rive for the lea d . That Humble cou ld handle a Kawasaki in th e rai n was beyond doubt. Few will forget Humble's win at th e WER RA National finals at TWS December. \976 , wh en in a freezin g drizzle he blitzed all competition including David Emde and Paul Stephenson , to win Open GP , Really flying thru the infield , Humble caught and passed the winning 650 Kawasa ki and then the leading Deviate Honda to put themselves on the same lap . as the leaders . But it all ended when Humble attempted to la p a slower rider and went off course, crashing in the mud. One can only imagine what would have happended in th e final laps if four bikes were still in the race for the sprin t to th e checkered fla g . De sp it e th e ra in , th e fo u r -h o u r enduro was a su ccess. especia lly for the Austin Kawasaki team that now become th e kings of CRRC end u ra nce ra cing. at least until J u ly 15 when a six-ho u r ma rathon at T WS a llows everyone else an other cha nce at the TWS t rack a nd the Deviat e Cu p . • • . Results OVERAL L W INNER S: 1. Si eve Tippet. M ark Camp ise, Andy Robbins (Kaw l . 2. Charles MacDona ld. Or. Thomas Marquardt (Hanl ; 3. J ohn M iick. Vernon Davis, Paul Stephenson (Honl. HEAVYWEI GHT CAFE: Tippet. Campise . Robb ins IK l. aw HEAVYWEIGH T PRO: M iick. Davis, Step henso n (Han ). lIGHTWIEGHT CA FE: J ohn Cherry , eric Harrison IHonl . LIGHTWEIGH T PRO: Al st on Jennings. Gerald Smi th (Yaml. BANTAM WEIGHT OPEN: Dun can Paul, Ern ie Thomas. Eddie G-eon (Yam ). 37

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