Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

IAbovel Pee Wee rider Travis Laskey knows who number one is. lBeIow) The event was filmed for 0. AtI, . . . ., II. Erik Kehoe leads the start of the 83cc Stock Expert race. Behind him are Roger McBride 1301. Ronnie Lechien 12411 and George Holland 1371. Kehoe took this class and two others. Holland favpred, but nobody told Kehoe By Chuck Woodbury PONCACfIY, OK, AUG. 8-12 Ponca City will not soon forget the name of Erik Kehoe, nor will the 14-year-old southern Californian soon forget the northern Oklahoma community. Kehoe powered his three Yamahas to three National Motosport Association titles in the 1979 Yamaha Grand National Championship5 here. Kehoe's only threat in 12 the Sunday finals came from arch· rival Geor~ Holland, but only in the 105cc Expert division, to now Kehoe's most vulnerable class. More than 800 of NMA's 8,000 riders made it to the finals, held for the second,year in Ponca City. Many riders rode more than one class; total entries topped 1,200. Ponca City is geographically almost at the midsection of the continental United States. It is an oil town; Conoco Oil is headquartered there and employs more than 10 percent of the town's 33,500 residents. The company's presence may partially account for the overwhelming welcome the community offered both riders and their families to the motor· sport event. Evidence of the town's hospitality to motocr05Sers first greeted riders on the state interstate signs outside of town. The green and white signs give direc· tions to the trac'k. In town, billboards, marquees and neon signs welcomed riders. A local radio station, KLOR· FM, broadcast results and interviews live from a remote studio at the track. A Ponca City bank spent $600. advertising the races on the same radio station. Ponca City's mayor attended the races along with other local dignitaries. To those riders who had never been to the Ponca City facility, it offered a pleasant surprise. Except for most of the 114 mile track the SO·acre park is covered with a thick, green turf. Even the start is grass and after five days of back·to·back motos, the turf remained lar~ly intact, a testimonial to the track's crew. The course is fast and it can be hard·packed. A member of the track crew noted that wood chips, sand and calcium chloride are applied to the track when needed. . "It's like clay," said Kehoe. "When it ~ts hard it gets like asphalt, and I like that. It's a lot like Saddleback." Most of this year's riders agreed with Kehoe that the course was wellprepared. Besides the grail}' staning area, the track features a shaded starting line, an almost too tight. 180· degree flTSt tum, many wide comers, and a dozen jumps of various sizes. Three overhead walkways enable spectators to cross to all pans of the track without interfering with the action. There are many shade trees in the area. For five days the action was vinually non·stop. Wednesday was practice, but even then the racing was serious business to the riders who had traveled from 46 states to compete in the once· a·year championships. But Thursday morning the air electrified as the formal competition got underway. No titles were decided until Saturday afternoon, but by Friday the hotshots had made their presences known. The Kehoe/Holland matchup didn't come until Saturday as both were entered in different qualifying divisions. Thursday evening the riders went to town - in mass, aboard their bikes, in a police-escorted parade through Ponca City. Kids, moms, dads, good. looking Ponca City ladies· and a few hundred other non-descripts lined the streets as the minis and biggies roared and wheelied, three·abreast, through the half·mile downtown. Yamaha factory brass were on hand Saturday and Sunday as tbe new,YZ50 made its long-awaited debut. A special three·moto exhibition race was staged. Yamaha brought along a video tape crew to record the event for a film introducing the hot little two-wheeler to dealers. Canyon City. California's "Mouse" McCoy earned the honor of capturing the fim-eveJ' moto win on the new YZ. But it was not until the 19 ruuofl races got underway on Sunday that the more than 2,500 spectators came out of their motorhomes in mass to witness the Kehoe/Holland confrontation. It was almost like having Bob Hannah on the line with somebody who was actually a threat. The first matchup came in the 85cc Stock Expen class. With two of the three motos already in the can, Holland held a 2-5 advanta~. The crowds lined the wooden fences along the track as the minis buzzed across the grass start toward the tight, wickedly demanding first tum. Kehoe had the lead with Holland well off the pace at mid·pack. Still, the crowd waited for Holland to move. By the second lap. Kehoe had a onesecond lead over Kansas City's Roger McBride. Holland suddenly pulled off the track, the victim of a piece of din jammed into his main jet. As Holland pondered the race that could have been, Kehoe blasted away from the rest of the party and headed for the

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