Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. . Pete Snorteland continued his SSM success. winning the Open Pro class. Snorteland, Gerig, Stem top SSM MX By Terry Whytal ORA NG E, CA , MAY 24 DG /Yamaha rider Pete Snorteland dominated this Saddleback Saturday MX Open Pro class. Snorteland has been th e most 32 co nsiste nt SSM rider in the 1980 race . season and seems to ge t fas ter a nd smoothe r with every race. In thi s week's co ntest Snorteland had to hold off strong cha llenges from Yam a ha rider Bill Hagen and Maico-mounted Da le Lewis. Snort eland power ed in to t he lead at the sta rt of moto one . Following Snorteland onto the track were Lewis a nd Ha gen , wit h Bill Je well moving his Yamaha into the fourt h position . O n lap two J ewell ta ngled with anot her rid er and wen t down hard en oug h to end h is day. W ill Ha rpe r p iloted his Ma ico through th e field a nd into fou rt h place as the lead ers co mp leted lap th ree . H agen was pus hi ng ha rd on Lewis' back d oor and both riders were stay ing close to Sno rt ela nd, keeping th e lap times low a nd th e action high . On the seventh go ·'rou nd Hagen found his ope ni ng and slipped pas t Lewis a nd into sec ond . At t he halfway mark Snortela nd began to pu ll away fro m the Hagen /Lewis d ue l. finall y taking the chec kered flag with a sa fe cushio n . Ha gen held on to fini sh seco nd a head of Lewis and Harper. Hagen hit the gate pe rfec tly a t th e sta rt of moto two and used th e power of his YZ465 to power to the fro nt of th e pac k as the ra cer s cha rge d up the sta rt hill a nd eme rge d from th e first turn dustbowl running in first. Snortela nd mov ed into seco nd ahead of Yamaha rid er Mark Moh s a nd Lewis. Snorreland put th e moves on Hagen to take over t he lea d on lap two ._Lewis dropped out with mech ani cal problems while challen ging Moh s for third and Harper once aga in mov ed int o fourth . Posit ion s remain ed un changed for the rest of the rnot o givi ng Snorteland th e win over Hagen , Mohs and Ha rp er with Mohs and Harper rever sing posi tions in th e overall score . David Geri g rode his Husky to the 250cc Pro win d esp ite ha ving a somewha t off day. Geri g motored away with the first race aft er Yamaha rider Tim Lunde blew his transmission, leaving Kawasaki rider Mall Devich and Honda -mounted Bill Keefe to a rgu e over second. Devich see~ed to hav e second pl ace wr apped when a mer e 100 ya rds from th e fin ish he a lso blew his trans , leering Keefe tak e th e chec kers in second. Moto two Ge rig had his hands fu ll with Yamaha rid er Mall Nel son who ca pita lized on Gerig's mi stakes to cross the finish line first with Gerig inc hes behind . Fred Combs followed Gerig on his Kawasaki ahead of Keefe who finished fourth . Overall Gerig took the win with second pla ce goi ng to Keefe and third to Nelson . Yamaha rider Bob Stem fin ished third in the fir st 125c c Pro moto be hind the tremendous duel for fir st in volving Yamaha riders Doug Dubach and Rick jackson. Dubach won the first rnoto but Stem found a few extra poni es and charged into the lead in the second ra ce leav ing Chris Morey to fin ish second on his YZ125 ahead of Jackson and Dubach . Stem's 3·1 d ay was good eno ug h to ea rn th e ove ra ll win ahead of Jackson a nd Dubach . Results OPEN PRO: 1. Pete S nortela nd (Yaml; 2. Bill Hagen (Yam ); 3. Will Harper (Mail, 250cc PAO: 1. David Gerig fHus); 2. Bill Keefe (Hanl : 3 . M att Nelson (Yaml . izsee PRO: 1. Bob Stem (Yam); 2. Rick Jackson (Yaml ; 3. Doug Dubach (Yam ). • OLD TIMERS NOV: t . Bob Alloy (Yam): 2. Connie Holt (Mail ; 3. M elvin Shaps c (Mail. OLD TIMERS AM : 1. BUll Moeller (Yam): 2. AI Satt erla (Ma i); 3. George Spearin g (Husl. . OLD TIMER S EX: 1. Dave Hutchens (Yam); 2. Ted Holt (Vam); 3. Cal Browning "fe ·A). OPEN INT: 1. Ma rino Bastic nell (Mail ; 2. Kelly Sallee (Yam); 3 . J ohn Blakeney (Yam). 250cc INT : 1. Fred Nichols IHonl : 2. Bill Bo ver (Ho nl; 3. Ar t M cCl ain (Honl . 125cc INT: 1. Vaun Butler (Yaml ; 2. Stev e Hutchens (Yaml ; 3, Tom EngeI ISuz), OPEN JR : 1. M ike KellIMai) ; 2, Doug Rand {Yam }; 3. Greg Brow n (Yaml . 250cc JR : 1. J eff Cant well (Hon); 2. Bill Hair (Yam}; 3, Greg W agn er (Yam). 125cc JR : 1. Brett Lind en (Yam); 2. Vin t Butler (Sull: 3. Mi ke Cc urt nev (Yam). OPEN BEG: 1. Randy Parks (Mai): 2. Harper Jo hney (Suzl; 3. Cind y Fulcher (Yam). 2SOc BEG: 1. Frank Paglia IKaw); 2. Bill Patt o n (M ail; c 3. Glenn Daunch (Han). 125cc BEG: 1. Darrel W all. Jr . (Suz); 2. Patr ick Fannerty (5Ull; 3. Eric All oy (Suzl. 1DOc INT: 1. Dave Graigl er (Suz). c MINI BEG: t . Mike Betke (Yam!. Orange clockwork atOCIRMX By Tom Corley IRVINE, CA . MAY 22 One of the better 250cc Expert battles was fought this evening at OCIR. After two great motos of close competition , Juan Ben avidez on a flaming · orange Can -Am became the overall cash winner . Right with the start of th e first moto, Benavidez got th e holeshot and had the lead wired down . Juan looked like he was going to go for the win' bu t soon Tod d Peterson adva nced to 'second and on th e fifth lap made the cru cia l pass . Mall Devich (Kaw) crep t up a lso and pushed Benavidez back to third. At th is point it looked like Peterso n was going lo take the win for the night but it turned out d ifferently in th e final moto, Devich jumped ou t in front th is tim e and held off the pack for the first four laps. Benavidez kept moving up and on the next lap soared on by for th e first place position. All th e whil e Peterson was ca tch ing up but fell for some unknown reason on a straight. He fired his Yamaha ba ck up and went all out try ing lo make up for the tim e that he lost. T od d got up lo th ird p lace a nd th ere was st ill tim e for him lo overtake the top two rid er s. H e was right on their heels when he d u m pe d his Yamaha right before the fin ish lin el Afte r tha t there was no chance . Benavidez confident ly - rook the fir st wave of th e checke red flag ahead of Devich and those two ended up that way on th e overall resu lts. Da vid Behlings wound up third overa ll. Results MINI BEG DIV 1: r. Scan Brodie IKaw): 2. Greg Arm stro ng (Kaw ): 3. Lee Beaver (Suzl. MIN I BEG DIV 2: 1. St eve Evinger (Suz); 2. Brad Kelly (Yam); 3. Chuck Collin s (Yam). MINI NOVIINTIEX: 'l . Chris Sparks IKaw): 2. Dan Brub eck (Suzl: 3. Doug Hawkins (Hon). '25 BEGDIV t : t. Paul Colston ISUl ); 2. Bobby King (Suzl ; 3. Larry Waterhou se (Suzl. '1 25 BEG DIV 2: 1. W illiam Kelly (Yam l; 2. Dave Randall (Yaml : 3. J im Th evs (Suz). 125 NOV : 1. Jack Ste vens ISuz); 2. Mark McFarl ane (Suz): 3. J ohn Whitfield (Yaml . 125 INT: 1. David Font es (Yam); 2. Mi cky Dymond lHon); 3. Dale Hlmmelreich (Yaml. 250 BEG: t . Clark Nelson ISul): 2. George Coelho (5uz) ; 3. Harry Valland (Hon). 250 NOV : 1. Brent 5hermak (Honl: 2. Gary Hidlebaugh (Yam);3. J eff Wright (KTM). 250 INT: 1. Greg McElroy IYam); 2. Jim Brodie (Han); 3. Bruce Deacon (Yam). 250 EX: 1. Juan Benav idez (C·A); 2. M att Devich (Kaw ): 3. David Behlines (Yam). 500 NOV : 1. Gary Gon zales (M ai); 2. Dave Collins IKaw l; 3. Dou g Rand (Yam l. Lee takes upset win at CMC Ascot MX By Tom Corley GARDENA ,CA .MAY21 Tonight was the last chance that a person had to qualify for the upcoming Off-Road Championships at this particular track . These qualifiers ha ve really helped to bring in the people and build up the participation . There were a few good upsets in the night's program to make things more interesting. Week after week Todd Peterson and Ron Turner trade p laces taking the 125cc Pro win . This time KTM West /Pro-Gas-sponsored Troy Lee walked off with the win on his KTM 125 . In the fir st moto Lee overtook the sm a ll nine man class ahead of Steve Postlewaite (H on), who is still new to the Pro ranks. Ron Turner headed the rest of them off in third and Glenn Page was fourth. In the second moto it was a tighter battle between Turner and Lee . Turner jumped out ahead and stayed that way to the end and Lee had to maintain a healthy second place as Page improved to a third place and so did T im Shelton who made it through in fourth . With a 1-2 score, Lee upset the 125 Pro class and really showed his capabilities. Turner bagged the second place loot but made up for it in the 500cc Pro event where he took the top honors. Page was th ird overall. Results MINI JR DIV 1: 1. RichMd Fleming (Kawl; 2. Jason Matsumoto fKaw); 3. Ruben Padilla (Suz). MINI JR OIV 2: 1. Dann y Tinsman (Kaw ); 2. Trey McFarland (Yaml ; 3. Sco n Moore (Yam ). MINI INT : 1. Duane Summers (Yam); 2. Johnny Whilsett(Yaml ; 3. Gary Ybarra (Kaw) . 100 JR: 'l. Jim Cobham IYam): 2. Bill Delgado ISUll; 3. Steve Moreno (Yaml. • • 100 INT: 1. Terrenc e Mumford (Yam); 2. Jim Boyd (Yam). , 25 JR DIV , : t . Randy Okada ISUl); 2. PIlil Lemmons (Hon); 3. Chris MacKay (Suzl . , 25 JR DIV 2: t , Scan Fellhoelter ISUl); 2. John McNulty ISUl ); 3. M ike All en {Yaml. 125 JR DIV 3: t. Robby Moore ISull; 2. Bill Lunney ISuzl; 3. Steve Rawlinson ISUll. '2S INT: 1. Soon Graham (Yam); 2. Craig Wes tBfgaard (Yam); 3. Dave Bradshaw (Suz). 125 PRO: 1. Troy Lee IKTM): 2. Ron Turner ISUl); 3. Glenn Page (Sun. 250 JR DIV ,: r. Allen Padilla (Kaw); 2. Warren Posey (Yam); 3. Darrell Russel l lHon) . 250 J R DIV 2: 1. Jeff Wright IKTM); 2. Tom Duddey (Yam); 3. M ichaef Tark ington (Kawl . 250 INT: t . C.J. Wenner ISuz); 2. Ron Olson IHon); 3. Dan Arell ano (Yam). 250 PRO: t . Todd Peterson (Yam); 2. Danny Westergaard (Yam); 3. Pete Murray (DMGI. 500 JA: 1. Jim Kesler (Yam): 2. Dave Beard CYam); 3. Mike Bogroff IYam). 500 INT: t. Rick Bradshaw IMai); 2. J im Roy IMail; 3. Timbo Hall (Yam). 500 PRO: 1. Ron Turn er (Suz); 2. Dale Lewis (Mai); 3. Alan Smith (Hus). OVER 30: 1. Gordon Barton IYam); 2. Ed on (Yam); 3. Peter Cook (C·AI. Two days 01 NMA racing at Saguaro By Nancy Keyes TUCSON. AZ, MAY 24 -25 T he Na tion a l Motosp orts Association hosted its first two races of the 1980 Grand National Championship series for the Arizona region in Tucson. There were two action packed days of racing at Saguaro Raceway with ea ch day being a separate race. The final two races will be June 14 and June 21 . Both will be night races. Brother Martinez from El Paso, TX won both races of the 83cc Modified Intermediates. Robert Mason pulled the holeshot in moto one the first day and Brian Bruner pulled moto two . Brother managed to get by them both. Sunday was much of the same with Bruner taking the / holeshot both rnotos . T he 83cc Stock class saw SCOltKeyes win the first moto for the Experts and Brian Bruner take both motos for the Intermediates on Saturday. Sunday Bruner grabbed first in moto one with Robert Mason winning the second rnoro a nd walking off with the overall . Shaun Kales jumped off the gate first in . the Junior Cycle Stock class with Space Shriner right on his ta il. Shriner managed to get by Kalos in th e esses just before the finish of the first moto . Kalos took Shriner in the second moto and also both motos the second day. The Modified Junior Cycle class was won both days by David Bowen of La Luz . NM . . David Martin led the 125cc Novice Stock class from start to finish the first moto with Court Guerin and Brian Addington close behind. Guerin went down, giving Addington second only to lose it to Mike Carpenter in the esses. In moto two Carpenter, Jenny Keyes and Court Guerin were first out. Keyes went down, giving first to Guerin , second to Addington and third to Carpenter. I Buddy Thomison led the 125cc Juniors and Experts in two rnotos only to lose it to Tibbs McCullough, who fell in the start the second moto, McCullough took firsts in the Modified and Stock Experts the first day and in the Modifieds t he second day. Roger McClusky took the Stock class on Su nd ay. Thomison took first in both Modified classes with Bob Jordon winning one Stock and Bobby Ruh winning one. Results SATURDAY J R CYCLE STOCK: 1. Shoun Kalos ISUl); 2. Space

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