Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Nonhern California·Northern Nevad.Oregon·Washington·ldaho·Utah·A1ask.Canada·Northern California-Northern NevadII-Oregon·WllShington-ldaho-Utah-A NomERN DATELINE Kaufman (Yam), Mathers and Ostriem chasing. Ostriem never let off the gas as he pulled up behind New on the last lap in the last corner. As they crossed the jump before the finish Dennis held it wide open and passed ew in the air to win by a few feel. The 250cc/Open Pro class had the best race of the day in the first moto between Tudor (Yam) and Ron Pomeroy (Yam). Andy quickly took the lead followed by Art Key (Hus), Mike Luke (Yam) and Don Lentz (Yam) - both riding Open Pro - and then Pomeroy. Ron quickly moved up to second by passing over the double jump and then passed Tudor in the same place. Andy was riding with only three gears in his tranny but regained the lead and won by !l0 yards. Key took third with Rod Ostriem (Hon) fourth. Luke led nine laps of the 10lap race over his one competitor but fell on the last lap giving the Open win to Lentz. The second moto was dominated by Pomeroy all the way. Tudor stalled once and fell once while trying to catch up and the best he could do was third with Key taking a steady second. Lentz again beat Luke to win the Open money. o 00 C') (Above) Cnlig Rowley tries keeping hi. bike on the ground at Kiona. (Below) Andy Tudor (8891 and 8nItt Tremblay (471 dice for 250 Pro lead. Pekarek takes two hour Medford MXmarathon By Delbert Longbrake MEDFORD, OR, MAR. 2 It seems that marathon madness is sweeping the country and it recently swept the Medford motocross track. The man who did Ostrlem goes wide open at Kiona By The Squisher KIONA, WA, MAR. 2 Beautiful weather and nearly 200 riders made a great day of racing at Kiona today. Track prepara· tion was minimal because of a • 42 tractor breakdown but no water was needed to keep the dust down. Craig Rowley (Yam) led the first moto of the large 125B class from start to finish. Rowley pulled out a large lead by clearing the double jump in style when everyone else was slowing down or crashing. David Perez (Suz) gassed it from a 12th place start up to second in three laps only to crash on the double jump. Bruce McGuire (Hon) and Tom Hilker (Yam) waged a war for second with Tom winning. The second moto saw a new group of riders out front with Mike McDonough (Yam) pulling out to a good lead. Kent Tramel (Yam) was second followed by Perez and Kyle Fast (Yam). Rowley lost his glasses early in the race keeping him out of the top five. Hilker worked his way up to fifth after a poor start only to crash into a lapped rider on the double jump. Fast lived up 10 his name as he came on strong in the last few laps reel· in McDonough to take the win and first overall. Tramel took third behind McDonough. Two of the local Pro riders, Andy Tudor and Dennis Ostriem, were back from the Florida winter series and they showed the crowd what they learned in the 125cc Pro class. Ostriem (Suz) took a lead in the first molO and held on 10 win despite strong pressure from Tudor and Larry Mathers (Hon). Tudor and Mathers fought over second until Andy took a spill which left him in third at the flag. Kenny New (Kaw) took off and then the starter dropped the flag in the second moto with Brell Tremblay (Suz), John the sweeping was Randy Pekarek who completed 21 laps on lhe 2.!l-mile course in the alloted two hours. It was actually more like a two- hour moto for Randy because three other riders were on the same lap as Randy all through the event and all were riding the 250cc Expert class. The day started with the Minis who ran their regular motos. There was some fierce racing between Rick Lee and Robbie Blagg in the Mini Expert class. After a hard fought battle, Robbie got to the checkered flag in first place with Rick close behind. After the minis, it was time for the two· hour marathon to begin. With the modest turnout - !l0 riders - there was plenty of room to start everyone at one time. It was a dead engine start so there was- plenty of opportunity for some friendly heckling on the line and most everyone panicipated in it. The talk SLOpped when the green flag dropped, though, and most riders managed extremely fast getaways. Getting away the fastest was Treve McReynolds. Behind McReynolds we~e Mike Zillgell and Ray Price. Price overtook the two for the lead soon after the start, not knowing what lay ahead for him. One of the first riders to fall in the marathon was Dean Gallegos who was riding the 250cc Intennediate class. Dean ~lso received the prestigious "first-to-be·run·over award," made possible by Fred Pariani who was also in the 250cc Intermediate class. Luckily Dean and Fred weren't hurt and both soon remounted and got back underway. The course contained all of the regular motocross track and then headed out onto a Iluge grassy field. The track twisted and turned through the field until it reached a huge over· flow ditch which was about 15 feet wide and 10 feet deep and contained a couple feet of water. The banks of the ditch were very steep and rocky and many riders stalled their machines at the tricky spot. After the ditch, it was rock city for a short section. These two sections proved to be a tricky combination because the bikes' brakes and tires would get wet through the creek and then the rider had to ride over the round river rocks. After the rocks were two long fast straightaways then some more switchbacks. After the switchbacks the course moved into the most popular section. The track wound through and over a huge bark pile. The section was very narrow and lined with people since it offered the spectators a good viewing spot because of the height of the bark pile. This gave the riders something to look forward to after coming from the lonely no·man's land out in the field. Price was leading the entire field when he had his first in a series of mechanical problems. At the farthest point on the track from the pits, Ray lost his chain. He got a ride in with the sweeper truck and then began working on his Yamaha. That left Zillget, Pekarek and Jim Jamison to continue the battle. But theirs was not the only battle. There were battles raging all around the track. One good race was between Gallegos and Monte Smith, both in the 250cc Intermediate class. But even i1 two riders were nOt in the same class, you could be sure that if they came close to each other the race would be on. There's always someone to race with in a marathon. At about 40 minutes into the event, the field section of the course was get· ting extremely muddy as knobbies churned through the top layer of graSs. Huge mudholes were developing and the track was getting wider and wider as the riders tried to go around the bogs. Some of the ruts were swallowing the smaller machines and a 125 rider got hopelessly stuck. Zillget was still leading Pekarek, Jamison and McReynolds when Price came out on the track once again. But he broke for the third time. This time it was a missing foot peg and once again Price was in the pits. All the riders were required to make one pit stop and Randy Pekarek had the most interesting pit crew. When Randy made his stop, two girls swarmed around Randy and his bike. Randy repaid the favor by showering one of the well-dressed girls with mud as he exited the pits. Price got his bike repaired and again came out onto the track. Ray was burning up the course trying to make up the lost time. The ditch and the rocks didn't even phase Ray as he took lines no one else had taken. But there just wasn't enough time. Anot her a nd even bigger hea rt break story was in the making, though. With just 20 minutes left in the event. Zillgel. who had been leading much of the marathon, stripped all the teeth off the countershaft sprocket on his Honda. That left Pekarek with the lead which he held 10 the finish. In second was Jamison and third was McReynolds. All three riders were on their 21st lap. Price completed 18 laps, which was very impressive when you consider all his down time. Gallegos successfully held off Smith for first place in the 250cc Intermediate class. Dean completed 20 laps to Monte's 19. It was a great two hours and everyone got in plenty of good racing. Later. everyone headed for the 25-cent car wash and 10 the local SlOre for a supply.

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