Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I NORTHERN DATEUNE ~ to contend with in the second moto his brother Lance, but his sibling was not quick enough on this day; Lance finished five seconds off his brother's pace at the checkers. Kerman, California's George Holland (Suz) was the star of both IOOcc molOS, even though he was riding in the 80cc Expert class. Holland and David Berlin were the only Experts (both 80cc) entered in the combination IOOcc/80cc Amateur and 80cc Expert race. Holland blasted away to win both motos, even though the 80's had a delayed start. Overshadowed by Holland's performance was Mark Romff, who rode to I-I finishes for the win in the lOOcc Amateur class. Dallen McKenney of Hanford got lost in the shuffle but nevertheless took the overall trophy in the 80cc Amateur competition. , . E r-.-4 M GJ ..0 o .... u o Lance Moorewood. riding in the 125cc Pro class lit Huron. gets a little unorthodox with his style lit times. finish. Overall it was Rich Cervantes 1· I-I, Cory Cantaloupi 2·2-2, Willie Miller 4-!l-!l and Ed Minton !J-5-4. Racing last in the program were the 125cc Experts. The fIrSt moto was marred by a first turn crash that took one rider out and put several others rather behind to start, but the rest of the race was stunning. Scott Rebuck took the holeshot, closely pursued by Mike Beier who stuck to Rebuck for the entire race, never moving out of range and probing for a chance to get by. Scott and Mike turned in the fastest lap times of the day. Together they opened up an impressive 40 second kad over the nearest competition. Anyone who stayed until dusk to watch the second molO was amply reward,ed. The background was a golden fan of light spreading upward from the setting sun, reddened further by the heavy pall of dust, As the riders .all but disappeared into the golden haze, becoming dark silhouettes against a red-gold glow, Scott Rebuck and Mike Beier took the lead, appearing more mated this time than before. In concen with each other, they opened out another impressive lead. Almost regrettably the checkered flag signaled the conclusion to a very fme show. Scott Rebuck finished the day with a I-I-I, Mike Beier 2-2-2 and Pat Yoho was three for three. Over 300 MX' era go for Pro-Am cash and progressive Pro pta. at Huron By Chuck Woodbury HURON, CA, SEPT. 2!J Huron sits inconspiciously smackdab in the north-south center of California. The town of 1,500 farmers lays on the west bank of 32 the California Aqueduct, five miles east of Interstate 5. It is not a tourist mecca, but it does have an excellent motocross facility arid that is where Tri-Cross Promotions brought the third and final leg of its second annual Bridgestone Tires/Yamaha Pro-Am Summer Motocross Series. The action at Huron was excellent. Nearly !l00 riders showed up for the final race in the series. They came from all over California and from many western states to vie for more than $10,000 in p.rize money and contingencies plus the opportunity to earn some important advancement points toward their professional licenses. The Amateurs kicked off the action at 9 a.m. After three days of continuous watering by local fanners, the 1% mile track was not only dustfree but downright muddy in spots. But nobody complained (too much, anyway) and the heavy watering proved to be a blessing later in the day when the track cooked under cloudless skies and temperatures in the mid 90's. There was no single outstanding race on this day, but there were several exciting contests. A Jon Nelson/Steve Smith bailie in the second moto of the 125cc Progressive Pro class was hot, with Nelson winning by less than a bikelength at the finish. Nelson, with 2-1 finishes, earned the overall money. Allen Berluti looked like a sure winner in the first Open Pro moto, grabbing a IS-second lead by midrace. But Irving, Texas' Tim O'Brien moved from a sluggish start to overtake a fast-fading Berluti during the final lap. O'Brien came back to win the second moto and the overall title. Matt Whiting had to fight hard for his overall win in the second division of the 125cc Amateurs. After a second place first moto finish, Whiting charged into the second molO to take an early lead. But Jack Barton didn't make life easy for Whiting, never falling more than a second off Whiting's pace. Whiting held, however, and collected the first place' trophy. Perry Donahue took two first place finishes to win the Open Amateur class. Donahue, aboard a Yamaha, had no serious threats, although Mark Duval (Suz) tried unsuccessfully to catch him in the second moto. Larry Coleman made it look easy as he won the first division of the 125cc Amateurs. Coleman had a familiar foe Jim Coffey rode his Yamaha to two first place finishes and the overall win in the 250cc Amateur class. Tracy Knight finished second in the first moto with Jeff Nichols taking the second spot in round two. Gene Manhire topped the 250cc Progressive Pros with 1-4 finishes. Jim Ellis of Fresno won the second moto but had to settle for a sixth place ov..rall after a 19th place slot in the first round. ' . Donald Hanson looked like his bike was turbocharged as he devastated his competition in the 250cc Pro class. David Wood (Yam) rode a consistent second in both motos, but seemed in a different league. Hanson moved to more than a one-minute lead by the three-quarter mark in the first moto, and nearly duplicated the feat in the second. Wood rode solid second place slots in both motos with Charles Halcomb and Richard Beneck sharing third place finishes. Jerome Heiberger had little trouble nailing down two first place finishes in Open Progressive Pro action. Tim Llarcon followed Heiberger in the second moto with Robert Marino of West Covina taking the slot in the first contest. Chappie Blose rode his factory Kawasaki to 1-2 finishes to win the I25cc Pro class. Blose was hounded by Michael Brown in the first moto, finishing three seconds ahead of the Washington rider. But the second moto, it was privateer Phillip Larson, also aboard a Kawasaki, putting together a successful ride for the first place finish, 16 seconds ahead of Blose. Alaska State Motocross Championship Series: Final round By M. R. Edge ANCHORAGE, AK, SEPT. 2-!l In the ruth and final round of the Alaska State Motocross Championships held at Kincaid Park, six new State Champions were named and one champion retained his title in two classes. Rob Wolfe (Suz) of Anchorage led the Mini class from the beginning of the season, and finished as champion with a lead of almost 700 points over runner-up Darren Brooker (Kaw) also of Anchorage. Anchorage rider Jeff Wells (Suz), who led the 125cc Novice class throughout the series. ended his season with an awesome ma~gin of 1579 points over second place Vince Monzulla (Hon) of Fairbanks. \ In the 250cc Novice class Jeff Smith (Kaw) of Anchorage took the championship by a little more than 800 points over Scott Smith (Hon) of Palmer. Cort Phalp (Mai) of Anchorage was heavily challenged by fellow Anchorage rider Jamie Linxwiler (Mai) throughout the 500cc Novice class series, but managed to pull off the championship by a little less than 450 points. Cal Frey of Anchorage and his KLX were runaway winners in the Fourstroke class, besting John Wilterding (Hon) of Anchorage by over 600 points. In contrast to the Novice and Fourstroke classes, all three Expen classes were a mystery right up to the last day, with two of the three classes not decided until 'the final moto of the series. Canadian Al Tinciniski and his Yamaha came very close to upsetting Suzuki rider Scott Davis of Soldotna for the 250cc Expert championship. Davis, who was burned in an electrical accident prior to the Fairbanks state. race, was present in Anchorage this weekend. Although unable to race competitively, he was able to acquire enough finishing points for the win. Anchorage riders Jim Stewart and Chris Patterson had battled all season for the 500cc Expert crown and Stewart held the lead going into the final round. In the first day of com, petition Stewart was forced to ride conservatively due to the fact that his KTM had a broken frame. Patterson captured the win with Stewart taking third place. The second day of racing would decide the championship with the winner of the Patterson-Stewart duel to be named as champion. In the first moto the two battled side- by-side until Stewart tangled with a lapped rider. A broken exhaust pipe dropped Stewart to fourth place and Patterson went on to easily take the win. There was still hope for Stewart as he took the second moto win with Patterson finishing in second. In order to 'retain his state championship, Stewart needed the final moto win with Patterson finishing no better than third. This appeared to be a possibility. Lee McCarrol (Mai) of Anchorage was riding his finest race of the season and posed a definite threat to both Stewart and Patterson. When the green flag dropped Stewart once again shot into the lead followed closely by Patterson. Stewart held onto the lead until mechanical problems which had plagued him throughout the weekend struck again and he ended up on the sidelines watching Chris Patterson and his Maico cruised to the 1979 500cc Expert Stat~ Championship title. The 125cc Expert title was not decided until the final few seconds of the third moto on the second day. Jeff Wolverton (Suz) of Anchorage did not appear to be riding as. well as usual; he finished second overall behind Jeff Sandstrom (Yam) of Anchorage on the first day. Wolverton needed the win on the second day in order to take the championship away from Soldotna's Scott Davis. Wolverton led the second day's first moto from start to finish with Sandstrom taking the second moto win. But, in order to take the overall for the day and thus the championship, Wolverton had to win that last moto. He took the lead off the starting line, and for a few minutes it looked like someone would finally

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