Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; _._._._._._._._._... _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.- I: . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . ~ . Western hotline . ~ E Can·Am 's Tony DiStefano was second 250cc Pro at SSM. Tommy Croft scored two class wins at CMC's Carlsbad motocross. Croft conquers CMC Carlsbad MX By Mark Kariya CARLSBAD. CA . JA N . 14 Kawasaki's Tommy Croft rode his way to victory in each of the four motos he entered at Carlsbad, earning the majority of the Continental Mote-Sport Club's Pro money wh ile sim p ly ha ving a good time racing on t he club level. W ith the Golden State Series being run near Fresno. th e number of Pro class entries were down . As a result . the 125s and 250s took to the track at the same time and as the pack came out of the first turn. it was Croft lead ing the charge whi le unicycling toward the next change in direction. Right .beh ind him, though. Tony Gomez (Hon) saw an opening a few corners later and slipped by. . Those two traded the lead a couple of times during the first lap and by th e time it was completed. Gomez. Croft and Steve Bla ckman ( Ma i) were haggling over the point position . Next came Chris Chaffee (Yam). . k Hon and th e first of th e 125s led by Mike T ripes (Suz) and Mike T oycen (Ya m) . Croft powered by Gomez on the uphill on lap three a nd was go ne . Bla ckman also went by Gomez. whose rear b rake was draggi ng from a brush with Cro ft. T oycen retir ed at this po int with a suspected seized cr ank . Takin g h is place was Scott Anders on (Esc). doing h is best to hold off Ross Ma eda (Suz) . both 125cc ·mounted. Gomez dropped out of th e ch ase on lap five as Croft continued to fly in front with Blackman in pursuit. Tripes. who now had mo ved int o fourth , forced h is little screamer o n wa rd . By lap n in e . he passed Chaffee for th ird . onl y to give it back on the next circuit. He spent the rest of the moto gathering himself up for a final lap cha rge that got him thi rd (fia.t 125cc) ahead of Chaffee. An dy Nort hru p '(So P 125). Anderson and Ha rdick. Blackman shot int o the lead in moto two. followed by Croft . Hardick , Chaffee, Anderson and Tripes . At the top of the uphill on lap two . Croft slipped by Blackman and proceeded to reel off the laps ahead of all . entertaining himself with wheelies and some nice cross ·ups at th e ledge . When Hardick fell and lost a lot of .. _ places, Chaffee had a clear shot at Bla ckman and made a run at him . Chaffee. racing for th e first time sin ce breaking his leg six months ago . passed Blackman on lap six. Exhausted by th e effort , though . he faded back to fin ish third . just ahead of Tripes' 125c c. Hardick worked back up to fifth at th e checkered . in front of Ross Learn (RM 125 ) and Anderson . In the 500cc Pros. Corft ran away with the firs t m oro . Chaffee and Lee Ramage (Suz) foll owed h im home whil e Bart Ragu e (Suz) had som e time trying to pass Ken Yarnall . Yarnall's Mai co look ed almost ou t of place with its low pipe and coffi n tank . but held off Rague for all but th e last few laps . Rain sho rtened th e last moto to 10 laps as well as slowing th e speeds . Croft had to work harder for thi s one. He got the lead right away. Chaffee not far behind and it began to look lik....a repeat of moto one. C haffee clung to him d oggedl y. however. a lwa ys stay ing within striking d ista nce . It paid off. In perhaps a mom enta ry loss of concen tra tion . Croft d ropped it a t th e top of th e uphill a nd by the tim e he got ro lling agai n . was II seco nds to the rear of Chaffee wit h four laps to go. He turned it on as did Chaffee who hoped it would ta ke Croft a little.whil e to regain his rh ythm . Croft kept mov ing up on th e yellow bik e . ea ting a way th e defi cit until a mere three feet sepa rated th em a t the last lap flag, For Chaffee . it was a matter of holding him off for one last lap . At the top of th e uphill . however. Croft went to the outside , turned ea rlier and started down the hill just ahead of Chaffee. maintaining the edge to the checkered to retain his unblemished four -for-four day. Ram age also moved up on position on the last lap to make the first five finishing order identical to moto one. Results MINI J R: 1. Aton ISuz): 2. Ro nnie Sey mour ISuzl; 3 . Sco tt Rich eso n ISuzl. MINIINT: 1. Kenny Stokes (Sull. MINI EX: 1. Rog er McBride (Suz); 2. Dave Hopwood • (Suz). 100 J R: 1. Carlie Walker (Yam): 2. Warren Sleigh t ISuzl. 100 PRO: 1. Da";d Conrad ISuzl. '25 INT: 1. Joe Bone tt i IEsc); 2. James Gochmanosky IS uzl: 3. Eric Baker IS uz). 125 JR : 1. Tim Bodenhamer (Yam ); 2 . Mar k Durn ell (Suz): 3. Mark Howell (Suzl. 125 PRO: 1. Mike Tripes IS uzl; 2. Soon Anderson IEsc): 3. Ross learn (S uz). 250 PRO: 1. Tom my Croll (Kawl: 2. Steve Blackman (Mai):-3. Chris ChaHee(Yam). 250 INT: 1. J erry Benson (Hon); 2. Brian W erner (Hon ); 3. M ark Smith (Yam l. 250 JR : 1. Steve Rauding (Yam); 2. Brian Pitzen (Vam): 3. Ron Jones IHusl. ee 500 PRO: 1. Tommy Croll IKawl: 2. Chr;s ChaH (Varni: 3 . Lee Ramag e IS uz). 500 INT: 1. David Biddlecome (Vam): 2. Kevin DuHy (Yaml; 3. Craig Robertson (Su z). 500 JR : 1. Ron Jones IHusl: 2. J ack Johnson (S uzl: 3 . J ohn Brust lHon). Reid romps at SSMMX By Te rry Whytal ORANGE, CA . JAN . 13 Team Honda's Warren Reid handily won the 250cc Pro class at this week 's Saturday Saddle- ' back Motocross. The large field of riders included suc h notables as Tony DiStefano , now riding for Can Am . an d up .a n d co mi n g loca l Kawa saki rid er Rob ert Riesin ger. Reisin ger quickl y gra b bed th e lead as th e first race sho t from sta rt ing gate on Sa d d le bac k's rear co u rse. used because heavy ra ins m ade the main track a qua gmire . Cl ose behind Reisin ger ca me Reid . Pet e Sn orteland o n a H on d a . Ted H oyt r iding a Yamah a and DiSt efano . By lap three Reid had ta ken th e front spot awa y fro m Reisinger a nd DiSt efano ha d moved into fourth ahea d of Hoyt. Two laps later DiStefano p assed Snorteland and began to pressure Reisinger. As Reid m otored off with a com m a ndi ng lead DiSt efano tried every m ove in th e book to get by Reisinger but to no avail as he held on to fin ish second ahead o f. t he t h ree- rim e Nat ional Champion. As th e second moto started Reid jumped to the front of the pack with Reisinger latched on to th e Honda's rear fender and DiStefano charging from third. For several la ps the three riders circulated the track as if they were roped together until Reid kicked in the after-burners and showed why he 's a factory rider by pulli ng away at a steady second a lap . Reisinger m ade an incredible attempt to stay with Reid . riding wildly and almost closing the gap but apparent fatigue from the tremendous pace caused him to slow in the latter stages of the race. DiStefano then moved into second and he also made a cha rge at Re id but the Honda rider had op en r-d up a secure lead and he cru ised in fo r th e win . Reid was the

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