Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

., . Would you believe he saved it ? Neither would we. Copier crushes Bonneville compet~tion By Maxie Abernethy SALT LAKE CI TY . UT , AUG, 4 Eldon "C rus her" Copier (Suz) cha rged up from the middle of th e pack and clamped down on Keith Gordon (Su z), then went after ' the h olesh ot hold er, Stan W ynh of (Su z) and fizzled his lead. All of this occ u rred when th e 125c c Pro class busted out of th e harness a t Bonnevill e Ra cewa y motocross. Copi er st yled a ride that left absolutely no do ubts of why he holds th e top Pro points in Utah . Mike O 'Driscoll (Yam ) thrust his mo unt to the upmost capacity, then hit the turf a nd left the th ird p lace position to Da n Lechtenberg (Yam). "Mighty Mike " O 'Driscoll geared it for the ho leshot as t he fina l moto erupted and grabbed th e lead .in spite of Copier's constant nibbling on ' hi s rear ' knobbie. O'Driscoll stu ck to the hottest line and controlled the ac tion as they flew away from the rest of the pack. Go rdon lagged behind and any attempts to make up the extensive yardage were squashed by Bryan Haslam (Yam) as Haslam zero'd in and t ro u n ced Gordon. Crusher already had the high st akes stashed, O'Driscoll upped his points for secon d place bucks and Lechtenberg rode in with third . T ension mounted as the 250cc Pros fluttered their engines and awaited the time of their release . "Mighty Mike" O 'Driscoll ( Yam) took the lead and di aled a ride th at left most of the pack chowin' down on his dust . Jim Ea st (Hon) secured seco n d , but Eldon Copier (Suz) made a banzai charge and sa iled pa st East over the Plaza Cycle jump . Then . Copier beaded in . o n th e top spot. O'Driscol l real ized that "the tiger was o n his tail and in creased his speed, but Cop ier had already gai ne d th e yard age a nd ch ose O'Drisco ll as hi s next t arget. Th e checkered curtailed th e ac tion and O'Driscoll took first. T he seco n d m oto released Jason Weim er first , but he was fo llowed closely by Jimm y T h urmond a nd Ji m East. T hu rmo nd knocked Weimer off while a bar -to -ba r st ruggle detained Copier , O 'D riscoll a nd R and y Sargent (Yam). Eas t swooped in a nd gra bb ed • " the lead away from Weimer, but then he got out of shape and Copier zoomed past riders to gleefully snatch the front spot. Weimer worked back in the pack to regain position and inserted his mount into second when Sargent caught him and slipped past. Ea st lurched into the third position. as Weimers enthusiasm stalled, Copier took top dinero. East held down th e po ints for second and Sa rgent picked up third . . Randy Sargent (Yam) completely controlled t he Open Pro class when he took over th e lead and maintained it to th e wire. He wound his mou nt u p and b lasted a fu ll lap o n the rest of the pack. " R ad ica l Ron" Schaefer (Yam) persistent ly groped for a hot line to seco nd , but Delyl e Billings (Yam) cu t him off with various rnanuevers. . The fin a l m oto brought on some heavy act ion when Sch aefer grabbed th e lead a nd left Sargent with th e second pla ce spot. Sa rg ent tapped ou t his m ount a nd co nt in uously probed the field for a passing line. Schaefer went a little too wide in a tum and Sargent's vulture -like p erseve r a n ce paid .off. He snatched the front spot a nd shot for th e checkered. while Schaefer p a rt icip ated in a dice-match with Scott Gerber (KTM) . Sargent whizzed away with win, Schaefer stayed in second and Billings slid into third. . . . Mini Experts bumped the gate in eagerness and Br e nt Gray (Yam) . sprang away first when it fina lly fell . Kelly Archib a ld (Suz) gassed it , munched Gray's fender and eventually took. the lead. Gray fell back to dice with ' Mark Gren (Yam) and after a romp, Gray shot ahead for seco nd Gren finished thi rd. Gray snagged the hol eshot in th e fina l bash and ran it a ll th e wa y hom e for the top trophy, Arch ib ald to ok seco nd a n d Gren' • ended th ird. Results M INI EX: Brent Gray (Yam); 2. Kelly Archibald ($uz); 3. Mark Gren (Yam). MINI INT: 1. Shane Westling ISuz); 2. DaY~ Smith (Suzl; 3. Shane Wilde (Vam). MINI JR (7·111 DIV I: 1. Robert Bills !Yaml; Z. rv Johnson !Yaml; 3. Randy Lindsey !Yaml. MINI JR (7·11) DIV II: 1. Travis Duffay (Vam); 2. Willie Gray (Yam): 3. Kevin Sleeter

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