Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; ,._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.I: Western hotline Randy Goss looks a little wild here. but he won at Ascot going away. Ascot's record breaking Regional halt mile By Maureen Lee Photo by Dan Mahony GARDENA , CA , APRIL 20 The biggest crowds of the season .were on hand, both in the stands, 4 ,500 , and in the pits, 141 riders including a swa rm of 18 Jun io rs , fo r t he AMA r eg ional championshi ps Friday night. Fans kn ew ea rly it would be a good nig ht with the fastest time go ing to _ Gary Scott, 22 .23 , t he n came brother Hank on th e Ron W ood Norton with 22.35, Randy Goss at 22.36 a nd Eddie Lawson 22.4 1, fo llowed b y Ted Bood y, R ick H ock in g a nd Corky Keener. Fastest Junior was R ick Volk at23 . 12. First Expert hea t Gary SCOtt chose the outside and shot for the lead with Eddie La wson rig ht with him. leadin g Steve Morehead, Mike Minnig and Corky Keener ; it looked very bu sy out t here . Lawson coul dn 't qu ite get Scott but Keen er b lew past Minnig . Gary took th e checke red fl a g with a triumpha nt wheelie down the front chu te . Next heat H a nk SC took t he lead Ott a head of T ed Bood y, Bob by Sa nders , SCOtt · Pea rson and Wayne R ain ey. Pearso n got by Sanders who ha d his hands fu ll with Ra in ey, but W ayne cou ld n't ge t him ; u pfront Boody was rea lly after Scot t. H e went for it in th e sout h turn and the Harley a nd Nort on duo th un d er ed side by side down the back chute on the last lap ; Bood y got th e win by a wheel at th e flag . T he last heat was a wowser ; Randy Goss tore 'em up sett ing a new five lap t rack record. Hi s I :54. 16 brok e T om Berry's 1975 time of I ;54 .39. Real flat track fans quiver ed as Goss , riding his H arl ey th e Harley's shou ld be ridden at Ascot if you ca n do it , p ro ceeded to dust off Rick Hocking, Tom Berry , Joe W ilson and Frank Word. The Expert semi came to an abrupt halt when Joe Wilson came off exiting turn two . On the restart Mike Minnig got the edge off the line but Corky Keen er , full on th e ou tside, was off and running . Sanders got Minnig , but Frank W ord co uldn't get Mike for the fina l transfer. Ga ry SCOtt took th e lead in the Trop hy Da sh follow ed by Hank Scott , trying it on th e inside , Ra ndy Goss a nd Eddie Laws on . Goss p assed Hank and, go ing like hell , went a fter Ga ry getting h im on th e back chu te on th e last lap. For a while it looked like th er e'd be no trophy b ut it finall y a rri ved and Goss ro de happil y up on h is pit bike to collect it. T he main was a triumph for the "Mic higa n Ma fia ." Ga ry Scott and Randy Goss came off the lin e just a bo ut even, the n set tled down a t th e end of lap one with Goss leading Law son , Ga ry, Pearson , Bood y, H ank SCOtt a nd Keener. GOss was haulin g ... possib ly even Sp rin ger cou ldn 't have caught him , he was th at good. By lap six Bood y a n d Scott were re a lly ha ving at it , with Kee ner righ t behi nd , the n Pea rson , Hank Scott and Steve Moreh ead . Severa l ri der s said lat er tha t the trac k was good but very hard p acked a nd slippery. Some wer e ha ving di fficu lty holding it down , Ga ry Scott for one; "I co u ldn't do a thi ng , t he harder I'd go t he more I' d start slidi ng, I co u ld n't hold it. " T he tric k was whether you'd opte d for Pir ell i or Ca rlis le tires . Scott dropped b ack to fifth whe n Keen er a nd Pearson got under him . Springer's teammate, Steve Moreh ead , was co m ing on fast, working fro m around sevent h to a fourth overa ll. Bood y was wh ittl ing aw ay on Edd ie La wson , a nd finally got by him after exit ing turn two a sha de nea te r. Then it was Keener's turn to ha ve the crowd cheeri ng as he wen t for Boody after drivin g arou nd Lawson . Back in the pa ck , Hank Scott was chasi ng broth er Gary , and finall y go t him . Up front, Keener and Morehead were trea ting fa ns to some sid e by sid e racing with Keener co ntrolling second place. As for Randy Goss , well , he rode a race to remember. About 50 Juniors were on hand , but on ly one wou ld transfer directly to the main . Danny Perkins looked gi-eat in his first heat but couldn't stay ahead of Rich Volk. Next heat was a real go between Charlie Summers, Jeff Allison and Mike Inderbitzin. Charlie hung onto his lead despite All ison 's all out onsla ugh t. Third heat saw Jeff Haney a nd the 500cc Honda removed from the night'S' p rogram after a classic h ighside. Driving hard for turn on e on t he start, t he rid er just in front of him balked just a dab ; Jeff clip ped his rear wheel a nd went sailing . It was a wise deci sion not to let him rest art , but he'll be back nex t week , bruises a nd all . When th ey wen t again , first was Eddie Sa n Roman, then Steve Monger, Em ory Gra y and Sa l Hoffman , wit h Mon ger ge tti ng t he transfer out of that fra y. Steve Polson took th e lea d next heat , but a newcom er from Pen nsylva nia , Bob Cra bbe , look in g like he'd ridden Ascot a ll his life , went for it t he hard way on th e outside and took the transfer. Out of th e fifth heat it was Ra y Du gan ove r Dorothy Rowe a nd Keith . Da y. Rowe turned in a fin e ri de for seco nd pla ce . There was another lady Juni or o n tap from W ashington , Debbie Saen z, but she didn't fare as well as "T he Pride of California : ' wh ich is wh at Rox y Ro ckwood ca lls Rowe. So much excitement was gen erated in the semi that the Cragar sign on the .stra ightaway came adrift and hunks of it flew around the front ru n ners as they ran over it. Jeff Allison won it towing in the rest of t he to p Juniors who usually don't have to go as ha rd to make the main, Mike Inderbitzin , Dave Busby, Steve Polson and Danny Perkins. John Burnett was first alterna te and Dorothy Rowe second. The fans heartily welcomed Bob Crabbe at his introduction, which really must have stoked h im because he event u ally did in the home town gang. Charlie Summers took the lead with Steve Monger, Rick Volk , Crabbe and Steve Polson all in a gaggle , switc h ing and swa ppi ng. Summers' Yamaha let go in the north turn and he joined H aney as a spectator in t he pits. Ray Dugan mixed it up with them as J eff Allison and Steve Polson . wer e having at it. Monger lost the lead to Crabbe on th e ou tside of the north turn and awa y he went. Volk was after Monger and finally both he and Jeff Alli son got by. Da ve Busby had to settle for sixth behind Monger and Alli son a lm ost ste p pe d off the bike in the north tu rn, he wanted second so badly , but Volk just took it back when he di d get it. Three of th e top Novices fou nd themselves a ll together in th e first hea t , Sco tt Podergo is, Steve Karsten and Bob b y Ga r a b ed i a n . Bre tt Ba rkman , fro m Wash ingt on , took t he le a d a head of G ar ab edia n a n d Pod ergois na iled him . Podergois too k t he lead , with Gara bedi a n secondand Barkma n haul in g right with them . Pod ergois kept th e lead bu t Barkman lost his spo t to Bert Stephens . Steve Ka rsten a bru ptly found himself in when Bob b y se co n d pl a c e Ga ra bed ian's bike blew a head gasket on the last la p in th e north turn. Ben Zak aria n won th e second hea t with Cli ff Allen a nd J oe Steffen go ing for seco nd beh ind him; Steffa n got it. In t he last heat it was Rich Arnaiz over Brian Haycock and Dennis Camp . Camp made it to the main from the sem i by winning it. Other transfers were Paul Iwanaga , Pa t Krznarich and Bob Cunnington . The number of Novices may be down but this year we have quality instead of quantity and they all belong in the professional ranks . Scott Podergois took off with the lead and hung onto it all the way . The race was for third after Steve Karsten made his way up to second and kept it. Rich Arnaiz an d Brian Haycock were going for it , until Haycock unloaded on th e last lap lea ving Dennis Camp in fourth spot. Results TROPH Y DASH : 1. Rand y Goss (H-D!; 2. Gary Scon (H-D); 3_Hank Scon INor); 4. Eddi e lawson IH·D! . Time 1:10.06 NOVICE MAIN: 1. Scott Poder goi s (Yam!; 2. Steve Karst en (Yam); 3. Rich A rnaiz (C·A); 4. Denn is Cam p ISUll; 5. B"" zaka rian IYam); 6. Joe Steffen IYaml; 7. Bob Cunn ington (Yam); 8. Pat Krznarich (Yaml; 9. Paul Iw anaga (Yam ); 10. Br ian Hay cock (Yam), 10 laps , Time 4:05.84 JUNIOR MAIN: 1. Ro bert Crabb e IH·D!; 2. Rich Volk (Yaml ; 3. J eff A llison (Yam); 4 . St eve Monger (Yam); 5. Steve Polson (Yam); 6. Dave BusbV (H·O); 7. M ike Inderb izin {Yam l: 8 . Dann y Perkins (Yam): 9. RaV Dugan (H-D); 10. Charlie Su m mers (VarnI. . , S laps. Tim e 5 :54.80 EXPERT MAIN: 1. Randy Goss IH-D!; 2. Ted Boody tH·D); 3. Co rky Keener (H·D); 4 . Steve M orehead (H-D); S. Eddi e Lawson (H-D); 6 . Sco tt Pearson (H-D): 7. Hank Scott (Norl ; 8 . Gary Scott (H-D); 9. Rick Hoc king IH·D); 1O. Tom Berry IH·D!. 20 laps. Time 7:36.30 . O'Mara, Hansen, 8ell blast CRC • series opener By Brian George VALENCIA , CA, APR . 15 A $3 ,000 purse drew nearly 100 Professional motocrossers to Indian Dunes for round one of the four -race California Racing Club Dr. Pepper/Yamaha Series, offer ing a total of $10,000 purse money to the Pros and nearly $10 ,000 in motorcycles and contingencies to sportsmen. Picking up the Pro class overall victories were Johnny O'Mara on his 125cc AI Baker's FMF Suzuki; Donnie Hansen, who totally dominated the 250s ; and T eam Yamaha's Mike Bell in the 500s . Both Bell and Hansen took double moto wins, but O'Mara dropped to fourth in his second moto , and barely sq ue a ked b y Luffs Radical Ron Turner , the only rider to compete in all three Professional classes . Turner's scores were 6·1 in the 125s, 3· 2 in the 250s , and DNF·2 in the Opens after a first-mote getoff that had the crowd stu n ned . First ou t of the ga te were th e 125cc Pros, and Honda -m ounted Bobby Klin e took the holeshot ahead of O'Mara , but right behind them was a big pile-up, Evading the mess were you ng A .J. Whi ting a nd LOP's Ga ry Denton , who set ou t after the leaders. Aft er two laps of ea tin g dust , O 'M ara st u ffed Klin e to th e ou tside of a new turn on the re vised International track, and slip ped by for the lead . Back in thi rd , Whiting must have been taking not es, because the 15· year-old did the exact same maneuver for second a few laps later. Denton wasn 't so lu cky, however , and when he tried to overtake Klin e for third , Bobby shut him off, clipp ing the Yamaha 's fro nt wh eel , a nd Gary went head- fir st into a dirt wall . After la ying around with a slig h t concussion , Denton got up a nd ro de back to the pits under his own ste am, althou gh he had totall y forgotten who he had come with , wher e he was p itt ed at , or wha t he ca me inl Meanwhile O 'M ara and Whiting were pretty well spread out ahead of the pack and held ste ady to the checkered. Kli ne held on to a tight third ove r Tim Worth, who was trailed by DG's T im Locey and Radical Ron Turner, both involved in the first -turn pile-up. . Round two saw Steve Martin take the holeshot with Turner right on his tail and O'Mara third. Martin and Turner pulled away from O'Mara

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