Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

E • ~ E Staten seizes 'CMC Four Stroke Chao By Mark Kariya CARLSBAD, CA,JULY29 Yamaha's "Rocket" Rex Staten romped home a happy winner in the 1979 Four Stroke Championships, sanctioned by the Continental Motosports Club with a $1500 Pro purse from Subaru Escondido The sights, sound and feel of ths event were a pleasant change from the ~ program. When these bikes thunder out of the gat~. thr ground shakes and you A:now th~re's a lot of power going down. 12 In th~ first Open Pro moto, Statm used his mormously potmt bik~ to full advanta~ and I~aped to tum on~ ah~ad of th~ pack. Danny Tum~r (Yam) and Jim' Gibson (Franks Hon) mad~ sur~ ~ didn't g~t too far out of r~ach, though, with both taking th~ir shots at th~ I~ad during t~~ first lap. Th~ ord~r at.tq~ ~nd of lap on~ saw Tum~r. Stat~n, Gibson and Larry Wosick (Hon) freighting in a tight pack. _ Gibson's bik~ app~ar~ to ~ hand· ling th~ rough stuff ~xtr~m~ly w~1I and h~ slipped by th~ Rock~t th~ next lap. Already, t~ first four w~ starting to ddach themselves from th~ rest of t~ pack, haded by Jim Lowe (Hon). Having had but SO minutes of pracri~ aboard th~ bik~ ev~r, Gibson used th~ first coupl~ of laps to furth~r acquaint hims~1f with it b~for~ charging hard~r. H~ duck~ und~r Tum~r in th~ horscs~ on lap fiv~, but Tum~r k~pt it dial~ to snatch th~ I~ad back.. Gibson fmally mad~ a pass stick lat~r and imm~tely o~n~ up a littl~ breathing room. Unfortunately, it was not m~ant to ~ and Gibson was f~ from th~ rac~ on lap seven wh~n his n~w bik~ t~d its chain at th~ bottom of th~ downhill. . That ma~ it a thr~ rid~r dic~ for th~ l~ad, h~ad~d by Turn~r. ~osick, having found a way past Stat~n, was gunning for him, though. Th~ last tum of lap 10 saw Wosick squar~ off ~arly and shoot through a wat~r hol~ on t~ insid~ in a vain attcrnpt at t~ I~ad. It put him clORr to Tum~r, how~v~r, and a f~ turns Ia t~r, first was his. Stat~n sprin~ th~ last two laps to snag ~ond from Tum~r with Low~ fourth. Honda ~nduro 'rid~r Rick Munyon ov~rcam~ a slow stan to rid~ st~adily up in th~ standings on his XR250, displacing Eric McK~nna (Hon) by tM whit~ flag lap: Mota two found Statm pulling th~ holeshot again, with Gibson hot on his h~ls. Turn~r sat in Mark Ellis' Yamaha r006t for a lap b~for~ dttiding ~nough was ~nough and motoring by into third. Gibson had his rhythm brok~n on lap thr~ wh~n h~ slid out. H~ got away quickly, though, and slowly, st~adily at~ up t~ gap ~tw~n Stat~n and himself. H~ k~pt closing th~ distanc~ a liul~ at a tim~, despit~ Stat~n's pow~r advanta~ wh~n shooting up t~ hill. Th~ir battl~ carri~d th~m from Tum~r, who was plagu~d with t~ wrong r~ar tire and shock settings. By lap nin~. Stat~n held a slim two bikelength kad ov~r Gibson. Both wer~ .running into traffic problems with lapped rid~rs, but for the most part, they w~r~ o~nly going for it. Gibson tri~ all sons of tricks two laps from th~ ch~cker~, but came up ~,!,pty and allow~ th~ Rock~t the WIn. Turn~r, Lowe and Munyon dupli· cated th~ir first moto scores for second, fourth and fifth overall .. Wosick start«:,d last aft~r being crashed into t~ first tum and bmding the shift Lev~r und~r the cases. He reco~red and mded up sixth across th~ line, good for third in th~ . standings. ' Th~ Pros ~'t th~ only ones allowed to enjoy racing the quadrastrokes and putting on a show. The sidehacks prov~d to b~ quite ~ntertaining. Ralph and Scott Whitney took their Norton/Eagle to a narrow win ov~r Tom and P~~ Whitney (Yam/Eag). John Palfreyman and Thorn Lund (Nor) cam~ up third. In the ~ond mota, Ralph and Scou crashed on t~ first lap. finally getting away but in last place. They put on a fin~ display of maneurv~ring t~ir bulky ~ast around the demanding circuit to finish a short way ~hind Palfreyman and Lund. Each rider in the Mini classes rode a Honda and all thr~ classes ran together to make things more int~rest· ing. Intermediate rider Scott H~att, who normally races a Suzuki mini, ran away with it. ~ating the Ex~ns in the process. Th~ Old Timers class brought back m~mories for a lot of peopl~. Siuing among the trick CCM's. Hondas and Yamahas on th~' lin~ was Chuck "F~ts" Minert astride hiS v~rable BSA. H~ proved to still have some speed left by running with kaden Jim

• Cover