Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126473
nada- Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Utah-Alaska-Canada-Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Ut Krauser pi! ma de a tir e cha nge a t the . break and Rocky finish ed the second heat with a good lead over Skiver , but as at Portland th ree weeks ea rlier, Phoenix's bike was no t legal for that class a nd running for practice only. T he first heat was especially exciting as Ph oenix's normall y flu id style was hampered by t he wrong tires and he spe nt most of the heat tryi ng to keep t he rea r whee l beh ind th e fr ont one and still keep Skiver in sight. The sidehacks were out in force and a Canadian cont inge nt of Wildman , Wildman , Wildman and Davison took the top two spots on Triurnph -engined sidehac ks. Jerry Whitlow picked up where he left off in 1979 , dominating the 550cc Cafe cla ss on a TZ 350 with a head light lightly a tt ac hed to th e factory fa iring. Trackside grumbling abou t a GP bike in Cafe class aside, Whitlow ' ca n ride, and until and unless WMRRA follows the Oregon club's lead and beats him with the rul ebook , Whitlow looks like a good be t in 550cc Cafe. Despite m inor interfere nces from geological events , the W ash ington roadrace ope ner was well a ttended by racers and sp ectators alike and WMRRA looks forwa rd to a su pe rb year of raci ng. Results OPEN PROe: 1. Keith Pinkstaff ISuzl ; 2. Wayne Tanner ISuzl; 3. Lewis Harruff IOuel. 750 PRoe: I . Claude Hislop IHant; 2. Michael Scon IHonl; 3. Mike Ochoa (Suz). 410 PROD: I. Adda n Chaster lVam); 2. Chris Robi nson IHanI; 3. Mark Hislop (Han). OPEN CAFE: t . Randy S kiver ISuzl; 2. Roger Sta nley IHan); 3. Wayne T"""'" (S ul) . 850 CAFE: 1. Roger Stan ley (Han); 2. Pat Marinacci (Hant: 3. Dan ZIock ISuzl . 550 CAFE: 1. J erry WM Iow (Vaml; 2. Dean Pet erson (Vaml: 3. Tad Dressel lVam ). SUPERBIKE ,. Rock y Phoen ix (Kaw); 2. Joe Davis : (Suzl; 3. Gus Denzler {Hont. OPEN GP: t . Randy Skiver (Suz); 2. Robert loose (S uzl: 3. Wimam Many ISuzl. 250 GP/500 SINGLE: 1. Alan Seddon lVam); 2. Bruce Lind (Ha n 5001;3. Steven Schaefer lVam). 125 GP: 1. Peter Jacobsen IHon); 2. Tad Dressel (Han l: 3. R;c Mullane (Ha n). 125 SPORTSMAN: 1. Michael Kenyon lVam); 2. Ralph Javins lVam); 3. Howard Rays IHan). OPEN SINGLE GP: I. Diane Prutsman lVam}; 2. Howard Pinkstaff !Yaml; 3. Mike Marr IBSAl. 250 SINGLE GP: 1. John Moffon IKaw l; 2. Oean Isaak IC·Al; 3. Miles And rist (Han). Keller, Mahan battle for hard luck honors at Watsonville MX By Gerry Reagan WATSONVILLE , CA , MAY 18 It's not unusual for motocross rid ers to ahve a bad day; in fact , most do .n ow and then. What really hurts , though , is when you've done you r best and all but picked up the winning when old man Fate zaps you - especially when it wasn 't even you r faul t. That's just what happened to two riders at the latest Ridge Runners' race and if they gave trophies for hard luck, it would have been a tough decision to de termine which one deserved it the most , Scott Keller or Jack Mahan. Keller took his Honda to the 125cc Novice Division II lead even before the first tum of moto on e and stayed right in the front for the rest of the ra ce. It 's never really "easy" to win at motocross but Keller made it look that way, finish ing a good distance ahead of the second-place rider. . When the rubber band snapped for the second round , it was Keller out in front again and look ing good . He led the first half of the lap before he got around to the place-they were waving the red flag , signaling a restart. Ap- pa re ntly, on e of the rubber ba nds had broken and it had been an unfair start. Keller jo ined the rest of the racers at the starting line on ce again a nd d ropped the clu tch at th e "go" sign. T his time , though, he was fourth into t he first tu m and th at 's where Fate got him for the first time. O ne of t he riders a head of him screwed up a nd caused Keller to go d own . He's lucky he wasn't ru n over by the 30 -some chargers behind him bu t he still ended up in last place . Not to be d iscouraged, Keller jumped ba ck on his bike and took off after th e rest of the horde . He rode hard a nd well , mo ving up to eighth by the en d of th e seco nd la p. He seeme d to ha ve it . under con trol a nd the fans were pu lling for him when, Zap l, it happened aga in . Just before th e off-cam ber turn in th e front sec tion of th e course he went down again , this time for goo d as far as his chances of winning wer e concerned . His bike was broken a nd so was his spirit. If t hat rubber band hadn' t broken he p robably wou ld have repeated his m ot o one ru naway a nd ta ken home the go ld. Jack Ma ha n won a trophy bu t it wasn't the one he almost got. Mahan rode h is Hond a to the head of the pack in th e Vet eran No vice class bu t had to fight off a cha rge by Da rr el Lawson (Yam) in th e firs t moto . Maha n lost t he lead to Lawson on the second lap b ut soon slipped by and bega n to stretch it out. He had about five seconds over second pl ace at the whi te flag but that lead began to d im in ish as the la p pr ogressed . Everything looked fine for Maha n when he hea ded out int o the ba ck sectio n but when the leader came a rou nd for th e checkered flag, Mahan was in th ird place. " I had to stop and get sick ," sai d Mahan after t he moto . "T he re was Egg McMuffin everywhere. " Well , that happens sometim es, even motocross ra cers get th e flu . Jack fel t better by the time the second round was sch eduled and when the band snapped, he once again charged to th e head of the pack. He d iced with Bob Holcomb (Yam) for a couple of laps and then began to pull away to a cornfortable lead , just as he had in moto one. Mahan passed the white flag a good d istance ahead of the second and third place riders and would have wrapped up th e overall if it hadn't happened aga in . " O nly two more turns a nd I jus t couldn' t go any further ," he said. Once again he fin ished t hird , taking home a th ird overall trophy but missing th e win by an upchuck. Not everyone had a bad day, though, as Brian W argo will a tt est. Wargo, on a Ya maha , jumped to th e lead of th e 250c c Expert class in both motos and held on for a clean sweep. There were some anxious moments when Jim Ellis (Suz) came up behind him to try and steal the lead but W argo held his ground and Ellis had to settle for second in both motos. Wargo wasn't alone in his two -mote sweep but he almost was. Only two other rid ers, Chris Mann in the 250cc No vice Division II class and Dean Brown in the Veteran Expert event, were able to win both rnotos , ea ch of them leading wire to wire in eac h round . One of the most difficult wins of the day was turned in by Bart Carrigan in the 125cc Novice Division 1 race. Carrigan (H us) ran off with the first moto but got tangled up on the first lap of moto two . By the end of the second lap he had fough t his way into the top 10 but it was a long way to the front of the pack. Carrigan rode well and was able to work his way up to third by the o 00 0") 1"'""1 John Norberg begins his di smount at Watsonville. chec kered fla g. T he first pl ace in moto one combi ned with his fine effo rt in th e second rnot o gave him th e overa ll. Eric Conrad (Yam) pulled off a simila r win in the first division of the 250cc Novice class. Con ra d got pas t ~co tt Fendorf (Yam) on the th ird lap of m oto on e, ho ld ing on till the finish. He the n got st uffed int o the m iddle of the pa ck in the first tu m of round two and had to battle his way around the competition , mo ving int o a second plac e finishing posi tion on the last la p . That second moto, by the way, was won by Brad Stoke (H on) who got by leader Ken Nystrom (H us) on th e th ird lap when Nystrom missed a shift on an uphill . It just goes to show that even in a long mo tocross rac e, one m istake can make all the d ifference. Resu lts OLDTIMER EX: t . J erry Jackson (Mai). OLDTIMER NOV: t . Ken Vern (Vaml. VET EX: 1. Dean Brown (Han) ; 2. John Fresi.. IHusl. VET NOV: 1. Roger Loller (Mail; 2. Darrel Lawson (Vaml; 3. Jack Mahan IHon). 125 EX: 1. J on Nelson (Sull; 2. Chip Chapman (Hanl; 3. J im Ellis ISUll. 125 JR : 1. Gary Hutt o IKaw l; 2. Rod Williams (Yam); J . Mike Brumit IHon). 125 NOV I: 1. Bart Ca"igan IHusl; 2. Scot Fend rof (Sul) ; 3. Brett LaFavene lVaml. 125 NOV II r, J ack Genovese IKawl: 2. J eff Renn.. : (Vam); 3. Mike Daws lSuz I. 250 EX: 1. Bryan Wargo IVaml; 2. J im Ellis (Sul); 3. Ken Nona IVaml. 250 JR : 1. J ohn Beeman IHan); 2. Kelly Hardma n (Hus); 3. Ed Shimmon (Han). . 250 NOV I: 1. Er;c Conrad lVaml; 2. Brad ley S toke (Hanl; 3. Sco n Fendorf lVaml. 250 NOV II: 1. Chris Mann IHonl; 2. Bret Preb{e lVam!; 3 . Mike Guasch (Vam). OPEN EX: 1. Neal S narr lVam); 2. Mike MarQUez !Yam): 3. Jerome He;berger IC·A). OPEN JR : 1. Riel< Lane lSuzI; 2. Donnie Hawkins lVaml; 3. Gary Fargo lVaml. OPEN NOV: 1. Joe West lVam); 2. Mike McCurdy IMarl; 3 . J eff Lind (Sul). Argyll MX benefits Solano County 4-H clubs By M el White DIXON , CA , MAY 18 The race today at Argyll Park benefited Solano County 4-H clubs. Nearly 300 riders and three times as many spectators guaranteed that many 4·H kids will be going to cam p this summer who otherwise might not have been able to go . A barbecued chicken dinner was an added enticement to part with one's money, as was Action Photo which was there to ensu re tha t almost every rid er could take hom e a photo of himself baki ng off a j ump d uri ng th e first . moto . Action Photos a re very ha rd to resist! Ji m Inglebrigh t (Mai) got off to a great start in mot o one of the 250cc Exp erts. Lon Ward ell (Suz) was next and then Harold Hutson (H us) and J oey Schlag (KTM)_ Schlag mo ved up into second place before abruptly lea ving the race m id -mo te with what ap · peared to be a broken cranny. Dean Wiggins (Mai) in herited second and crossed the finish line in that position .in the first moto. Inglebright kept pulling awa y little b y little and had a full 22-second lead a t the end of the moto over Wiggins. Eugene McKenzie .(Hus) was into third at the finish, having finally gotten past Jim Robertson (Mai) who came in fourth . Inglebright again sailed out ahead in the second moto to tally a perfect I I score. Wiggins was hot on his trail for the first half of the moto but DNF with mechanical problems. Scott Rice (Yam) was in for second pla ce in the moto and second overall. Larry Dashiell (Mai) finished in th ird and Mark Hearn (Yam) took home the money for fourth . T erry Gordon (H on) was the holeshot leader in the first moto of the 250cc Intermediates. Norman Kramer (H on) was next followed by Berkeley White (Suz). Kramer quickly became the leader with Neal Nelson (Yam) in second. Je ff Krekelberg (Yam) soon displaced Nelson and Lars Ihle (Hon) took over the lead when both Kramer and Krekelberg slid out in som e mud during the fourth lap. Krekelberg was up again quickly enough to retain a second spot but Kramer did not get mo ving again until the ent ire group was by. Coming around for the white flag , Steve Richards (Yam) turned up the gas and flew by Ken Palmer (Ma i), Whtie and Krekelberg all in a single lap and was up behind Ihle, challenging him for first at the checkered flag. Mike Lotten (Mai) had the holeshot in the second moto followed by Nelson and Palmer. Greg Bonovich (Yam ) turned in the winning ride, however, coming from a less than terrific start to finish first. Greg Nash (Mai) was next and Palmer stayed in for third. Richards' fifth -place ride was less spectacular this time out, but good enough to earn him first overall. 39 ...