Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; _._._._._._.__.__.__._._--_._._.__._.__._._._-_._._._._._._._.__._. II Western hotline . , " l!') -... C'I . I-< c, < Eddie Lawson l211bested Bobby Sanders in As cot Expert action. Lawson, Haney and Garabedian tops at Ascot By M aureen Lee Photos by Charles Morey GARDENA, CA , APRIL 13. 1979 A lot of Experts were already on their way 'to the Sacramento Mile - or maybe Friday the 13th had something to do with it - 16 I : '. the turnout in that class was only eight Friday evening. The way the officials ran the program was a shot in the arm for spectators - they ran 'em off in three eight lap motos and you'd better believe the action was wildl There'll be no more combining Experts and Juniors because of the restrictor plates on Expert bikes. It really wouldn't look too swift to have some of our hot juniors womp their elders, now would it? First moto, Bobby Sanders shot for the lead; Eddie Lawson bobbled on the line. First was Sanders, then came Mike Minnig, John Sperry and Travis Petton . Lawson got going, only to catch his foot in the south tum which only slowed him momentarily. and he shot for third , going in /between Petton and Sperry as they headed again for tum one down the front straight. Up /front, Sanders and Minnig were having at it. Passing and repassing each other in a knock down drag out, the lead was switched eleven times . Lawson was able to gain just a bit on Minnig and Sanders pulled ahead a bit of the persistant young rookie. Danny Hogue, meanwhile, had eased on by to fourth behind Lawson. Next round Minnig got the lead, then Sanders, Lawson , Petton, Sperry, Hogue , Ken Celorie and Shawn Leipold. Sanders got a great drive out of tum two (it 's wider back there this year at both ends.of the straight) and he got Minnig. Lawson was going full out after Minnig while Danny Hogue and Travis Penon were doing their' own side-by-side racing. Hogue got away a bit from Travis leaving John Sperry to start swapping places with Perron. Up /front Lawson was past Minnig, who is really going fast in his first expert season, and was after Sanders. . Again it was elbow to elbow racing and much of the action hinged on who got the drive out of tum two; the lead changed at least eight times. They finished Lawson, Sanders, Minnig, Hogue, Celorie, Petton, Sperry and Leipold in a faster heat than the first. Third time out Lawson completely O t ,. I l p t l l l t ..... t l.I I.' took charge from start to finish. He left the line in first gear, instead of second which hadn't worked for him. and went sailing off in full flight on his new ride this year, the Sal Acosta Harley. Sanders was in second but couldn't challenge this time out. Minnig had to drop out and behind Sanders the trio of Sperry, Hogue and Perron were at it again , sometimes three abreast with Sperry ending with the third. For the Trophy Dash Eddie. Lawson lined up with Bobby Sanders, Mike Minnig and John Sperry. He loaded up (one of his second gear starts) and got left behind. Sanders flew around the outside of Minnig and Sperry and took the lead which he never lost; enthusiastically receiving the Pacific Coast Sportcycle Trophy. The Juniors were out in full force . Charlie Summers took the lead first heat and neve r lost it. Behind him were Dave Busby and Steve Monger, who'd started on the third row for getting jumpy on the line. Monger bobbled but got back into second again on the back chute and it was Busby to the semi. Eddie San Roman caused some excitement on the part of the announcer. Eddie had put R·E, for Raines Engineering Special , on his entry and Roxy Rockwood thought Eddie was Royal Enfield mounted. He proceeded to give some racing history on that venerable breed, actually the bike was a Yamaha , and San Roman immediately put it out front with Mike Inderbitzin and Geoff Lowe behind. Inderbitzen came sailing out of tum four in the lead with Lowe in tow for second. . Third heat Jeff Haney on that fantastic 500cc Honda ran off from everyone with the fastest Junior heat time . Derek Land had second for a while until ' Dorothy Rowe took it awa}. Rowe had set the third fastest time and started that heat on the pole. She got a direct transfer and a front row start in the main, the first woman rider at Ascot to do so. Heat four went to Jeff Allison who had to get by Ron Alt. Keith Day and Dave Ryan ; again using whatever part of the track he needed to take the lead. The Junior Semi went to Rich Volk who swapped the lead back and forth with Dave Busby a good eight times . after Busby had out-dragged the pack into tum one, narrowly beating , out Eddie San Roman. The end of la p one in the main had a crowd of riders all jammed together coming out of tum four : Charlie Summers, Jeff Haney, Mike Inderbitzin, Dave Busby and Rick Volk. Summers was hauling, but eventually Haney I. . , '_ .1.1. .' .' I" p .• Luc Delay 141ZI, Don Fuller (431and David Gerig 1 21in action at CMC. made his move and took over with a faster main event time than he set last week. Dorothy Rowe was back aways, having been shoved out a bit in the starting crush around tum one. Rick Volk finally slid in behind Inderbitzen who almost crashed on one trip around tum four. Two laps later Volk was by him and into third as the race ended. Haney's Honda was protested by Summers and tom down in the pits. Official - word from referee Ron Glasgow is, "It's absolutely standard, not a thing changed." If you're interested, the frame was 'speci a lly built by Jerry Griffith who, along with Dave Berg. tunes the bike that has all the racing fraternity talking this season. Bobby Garabedian and Bret Butterfield transfered directly from the first Novice heat. Scott Podergois and Steve Karsten came out of the second and fastest heat, with ' Karsten making a very determined effort on the outside of tum four in the last lap. Paul Iwanaga and Joe Steffen ran first and second in the last heal with Steffen being pursued hotly by Oregon's Cliff Allen. Jim Filice who hasn't fared so well at Ascot , was first alternate for the semi and made it in when another rider didn't. Dennis Camp won it as . Filice slid into second ahead of Stuart McDaniel on the very last lap with Don Remp the last transfer. Bobby Garabedian ran off with the lead in the main, then came Steve Karsten, Scott Podergois and Jim Filice who were running side-by-side. on and off. Paul Iwanaga and Stuart McDaniel fought for fifth and sixth. The front runners were still fairly close together when they came around the north tum on the last lap. So far , no Novice is really dusting the others off yet this year. Resu lts TROPHV DASH: 1. Bobby Sanders (H-D): 2. Mike Minnig (H-DI: 3. John Sperry (H·D): 4. Eddie lawson (H· 01. TIme 1:11.89 NOVICEMAIN : 1. Bobby Garabedian(Yaml: 2. Steve Karsten (Vam):3. Soon Podergois (Yam). TIme: 3118.72 JUNIOR MAIN: 1. Jeff HlI'Jay (Han): 2. Charlie Sum""". (Yam):3. Rick Volk (Yam). TIme: 3:58.40 EXPERT MOTO: 1. Eddie lawson IH-OI: 2. Bobby Sanders (H-D) 3. Dan Hogue ; rr-u Arizona rider scores at CMC CarlsbadMX By Mark Kariya CARLSBAD, CA, APR. 8 _With four races down a nd one to go in the DG Series sanctioned t. IJ)U I '../. .. . .. : 1 .. ".', ,.. by the Continenta l Moto-spo rts Club. all six classes are still up for grabs after this event at Carlsbad. The finale at Saddleback promises to be intense. The man with the most comfortable lead is Scott Manning (Suz) who sits atop the 125cc Intermediate heap. He took the overall with 'J first and second. but had to work for it . Curtis Rough (Kaw) gave him fits in the first moto until a spill knocked the Team Green-clad rider out of the running. Lee Bacon (Suz), 23rd in the first moto, got it together in moto two and hounded Manning until finally going by a half-dozen turns from the checkered. Bacon drops to third in the standings behind Manning and Steve Pfaff (Suz). Ma rk Howell (Suz) took both mo tes of the 125cc Juniors, Division 2, with ease, getting th~ 0point lead in that class with it. The win give him the momentum going into the final race and if he rides like he did today, it should be his last moto as a Junior. Dan Worley (PCS) is another rider with momentum . His win in the 250cc Intermediates moved him from eighth to first by three points. Mark Denning . (Yam) and Bob Ken (Hon) are currently tied for second with sixth and seventh places. III Pro action, Don Fuller (Suz) grabbed the early lead in the 125s. ' David Gerig (Esc), riding a 125cc for the first time in a couple of years, sat in second looking for a way around until he clipped Fuller's rear tire coming out of a tum. The resulting spill dropped him three spots, but he lost his shift lever later, leaving him stuck in third and cruising to an eventual sixth at mote's end. Fuller experienced problems which also put him back while Vail, AZ. rider Dave King (Yam) and Andy Northrup (SoP) moved into the first two slots. Northrup took the lead after the halfway point and held it to the finish for his first Pro victory followed by King, Luc DeLey - normally a 250cc rider - (Suz) and Fuller. DeLey shot into the lead at the start of moto two. Fuller pounced on him on the d ownhill before the end of a lap, though. Gerig, with a shift lever pira ted from his 400. zapped Fuller ' in the same spot on the following lap and kept it wired to the flag. Combined with his first moto finish. Gerig picked up third place money. King made trip to California !ili t: 'Jll k ~ t: '!- tl! \ lf," .11 ... . )1

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