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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126413
, O TH R N R E NDATELINE Take a Closer Look.·•• -. Rain halts Sears PointAFM road race By Karl Okamoto SONOMA. CA , MAY 6 Ma y show ers brought an early end to the first AFM points race of the '79 season at Sea rs Point . The races that were run will be Dana Waxham holeshots the first 125cc Expert moto at Marysville. Scherf puts tWo together at Marysville By Chuck Woodbury •••At Bill Walters Pants for '79 MARY SVILLE. CA , MAY 13 It was so hot in Marysville that you could have fried eggs on the car hoods and the racing was just as hot as the riders turned in a lot You 'll li ke what yo u see. Bill's allnew Nylon f, Leather MX pants feature a new Spa ndex crotch pane l for a better Fi t, ventilat ion and a more comfy feel-I j ust lo ve it. Hip pads and plastic knee and shin guards protect me and the n ylon tricot lining feels nice next to my sk in . Bill uses only to p-quali ty cowh id e and nylon to make his pants and all seam s are double-st ich ed for strength. The heavy -duty zippers are all co vered to shield t hem from the ele ments and a super choice of color combin at ion s and special sizing are available so I look as good as I feel. Isn't it time you took a closer loo k ? Send $ 1.00 for br ochure a nd s tjc ker s. Bill Walters ~.... Leathers a~ ~" 7359 Varna Ave nue North Hollywood. CA 91605 (213) 982·3738 ~~~ • 0" . Burbank YAMAHA - MONTESA 0: Now b1k........ for ' 79 348Cota. We ship out of state o . o ROAD . TR IALS. & SNOWMOBILES 0 complete line of STREET. OFf.. 0: 0' -0 . s"s W. Burbank BITd. Burbank, CA 9SS" 0: , 0 0 2S~5-8'7380: .0.000000000600'0 Cycle News Want Ads do it 520 McG Ll NCY LANE, CAM PBELL. CA 95008 (408 ) 371-1221 42 of good performances. Nobody really shined in the Professional ranks ,' although 250cc/Open Junior rider Dan Scherf put together outstanding performances in both of his divisions. The rider turnout was light - 211 riders - primarily the result of the shortened supply of gasoline at northern California stations. AMA promoter Charlie Sexton announced during the rider's meeting that he had arranged for a nearby gas station to be open during his next race. If the ga s crunch continues, the move will probably hel p increase attendance at his two popular Marysville tracks. The races today were at the E Street track. Don Ferraro has been steadily improving for the past severa l months after a lengthly .a bsence (injury caused) from the local scene. Lately his comeback has mo ved into high gear. He started this day off with a strong performance in the first 250cc Expert race. Donny Dennis (H on) hol eshot the moto but two 'laps later Ferraro put him away enroute to the checkered flag , Don dumped his bike once, but im med ia tely got back up and by the eighth, and final lap , he had an II second lead over Maico-mounted Dan Waller. Waller held second place until midway into the final lap when Dave Coupe (Suz) , Jim lnglebright (Mai) , and Pat Wilson (Hon) pushed him aside on their way to second, third and fourth place finishes . Waller settled for fifth . Wilson holeshot the second moto and never gave the spot up , finishing with a comfortable I Ovsecond lead over Co u pe . Coupe maintained a sec ond place position st rong, th rougho u t the moto until the final mo ments of the race when Den nis and Ferra ro made strong advances after him. He held . though, with Dennis and Ferraro taking third and fourth place finishes .. Coup's 2·2 fin ishes earned him the overall money. Rick Woodson won the Open Expert class with 2·1 finishes, Pat O 'Donnell (Mai), from Rough and Ready, took the first win with a 10second lead over second -place Woodson. Third place went to Bill Swartz, who brought his Maico in well off Woodson's pace. W oodson shined in the second round, finishing first ahead of Swartz and Randy Chapman "(Mai) . But it wasn 't an easy ride for the Rancho Cordova rider . Chapman rode Woodson's tail continuously for the first five laps and after that Swartz took over . Woodson held , though, for a one-second margin of victory at the checkered flag . Swartz followed in second place with Chapman third . Way back in fourth was O 'Donnell. Dana Waxham also rode to 2-1 finishes as he wrapped up the 125cc Expert class . After taking the holeshot in th e first moto, Waxham bowed to Ferraro and they sta yed that way to the finish . Waxham never gave up , however, and at the finish line he was only a second off Ferraro's pace. Dan Turner (Kaw) finished a distant third. Waxham put down 12 competitors in th e second moto. Ferraro might have troubled him , bu t after a fifth place position around the first tum, Ferraro could only pull to within six seconds of Waxham at any point in the race. At the checkered flag it was W axham , Ferraro and way back in th ird , Dan Turner. In 250cc Junior action , Dan Scherf won the overall trophy but only after battles with Bob Shafer (Mai) in the first moto and Jeff Plumber (H on) in the second. Scherf came back again to win the Open Junior class: Grant Higginbotham finished second in that class . Bria n Bu tler . a Yamaha rider from Carson City , topped the 250cc Novice class , after fighting off a challenge in the first moto from another Yamahamounted rider, Roger McCoy. T im Astin surprised nobody with his win in the 80cc Expert class. Curtis Booth (Suz) won the Mini Novice division. Ed Minton (Suz) of Petaluma won the first division of the 125cc Novices with 1-2 finishes: Kevin McMahan (Suz) finished first in the second moto but di dn't figure in the final standings because of a DN F in the first rou nd. Ca l St au ffer of Rocklin took the win in the second 125cc Novice division, Melissa Ro ss (Suz) topped the women's division with two first place finishes. Kay Corpe finished second in both mo tos . Jimmy Souza had a fairly easy time winning the 100cc Sportsman class. Bob Bein tker (Yam ) ga ve him his toughest competition. counted toward class championships at the end of th e year, but will not count toward the AFM ov erall champions (identified by plates one through 10). Also, on ly' one class of the four that comprise the ND.Spark Plug Golden State Road Race Series was able to run. The status of the three remaining races .were unknown at the conclusion of the race day. That class. 125cc GP , was won handily by Jeff Leggitt. The Vallejo , CA flash , whose Honda MT125 R is sponsored by R &J Ho nda in Vallejo, was in the lead at the end of the first lap and won by over 20 seconds. Fred Merkel (Penero Hond a 135) and Fred Winters , Jr. (Bel Ray/ND Honda 125), last year's AFM overall champ, followed Jeff home. Bru ce Hammer (T Z 750 Yam) triumphed in Open G P , followed by Al Collins and Mike Ross on their 350cc Yamahas. Hammer led fr om the first lap. with such notables as Harry Klinzmann, Chuck Parme, and Gil Martin dropping out as the ' race progressed. Rich Oliver, on his 650cc Kawasaki of Monterey mount, too k the overall Box Stock win after Kurt Knollenberg , on his Grand Prix Ka wasa k i . Z- I , fell in turn II . Knollenberg. whose fifth lap dump came after he had established a large lead, was visibly upset with himself for crashing and repeatedly pounded his fist and head .against' t h e tank following the misha p . Whitney Blak eslee (Kaw KZIOOO MK II) and Ch a rl es McAvoy (BMW) followed O live r 's KZ650 in. Mark I ngalls (Berkeley Yam 400), who consistently fini shed in the top three at ea ch race in 1978 . took top 410cc Box StOCk honors . Larry Theobald (T & 0 Yam 400) , his arch rival last year, finished second. Kurt Kritikos/ Pete "Unsafe" Essaff prevailed in the sidecar race, bu t only after bumping Wayne Lo ugee /Kip Cu lver on the last tum of the last lap. The coll ision , which had the crowd buzzing long after the race ended, kept Lougee'/Cul ver off the fast line and enabled Kritikos/Esaff to get the good drive coming out of the tum for the win. Kurt reflected after the race, "I went for the win on the last lap. We went to pass Wayne and Kip in tum I I and I kinda bumped into him ." Essaff explained that tum 11 was a good place to try , beca use "you can only pass in certain places, depending on the side of the passenger." Both teams emphasized that , in sidecar ra cing . the safety of the "monkey" is of utmost importance because of his ob vious vulnerability. After Jeff Little (C -A), Ron Swart (C-A), and Dusty Behrman (H on) had won thei r cla sses (200cc Prod, 125cc Prod, 100ccGP) in the Fea therweight race, activities were ha lted for about an hour when a 'soft d rizzle from th e skies began. T he N D Spark Plug Series, consisting of cash prizes in the 125cc GP , 410cc Production, 250cc GP , and Heavyweight Superstreet classes , returns for Round Three at Sears