Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(I Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Utah-Alaska-Canada- Northern California:Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washirigton-Idaho- Utah-Alas 1:1 NORTHERN DATELINE ~ E Phil Larson (824)and Rick Johnson starred at Mulkey's Regional MX. Johnson, Sun and McKenna master Mulkey Pro Regional Qualifier By Jan Newman McMINN VILLE, OR,JULY 20 .. 24 Mulkey ORV Pa rk hosted the first of three AMA Pro Regiona l Qualifiers to be held in the North. west on three consecutive Su n days. T he Nort hwest has not had a q ua lifier for over five yea rs. T wo lfi -year-olds were the stars of th e day. Rick Johnson and Ph il Larson have both just rec ently rea ched the magical age wh.ich allows the m, with th e wave of a large number of green · backs and page a fter pa ge of paper work, to become full fledged Pro ride rs, hot after the sam e points the big guys are seeking. Bothrode 125cc Yamahas, but Rick may have had an edge with his watercooled model on a day like toda y. Larson led off the first moto with Ron Sun (Hon) ha ngi ng in second. J eff Cropper (Yam ) was right up there , but he was out of it in no time with the fir st of seve ra l flat tires suffered durin g th e day. Just as things sta rted to sort ou t in th e first few laps, Johnson came fro m ou t of nowh ere to zap Sun. Sun got him back briefly bu t was unable to hold him back. Eric Maki (Yam) was holding a co m fort a b le fourth a litt le wa ys ba ck. At th e hal fwa y mark , Johnson was gai ni ng on Larson lap after lap as the rest of the pa ck began spa cing ou t a bit. In the last quarter of the race J ohnson ca me up besid e La rson a nd po wered by. Larson sta yed glue d for a whil e but J ohnson was pulling away on th e final la p . At the two lap wa rn ing , Troy Lee (KT M) pulled u p on Ma ki's ta il a nd na bbed him by t he fla g for fourt h beh ind Sun. Mike McCormick (Yam), Denn is Ost riem (Suz), Danny Diesso (Suz), Charles Aksland (Suz) and Ga ry Kuest ( Ya m) fill ed th e remain ing top 10 spots. Only part of the gate fell for the second mo to when David Crawford (Yam) led those let loose. A red f1ag .'a . regroup and a restart still found Craw - . ford in front . Sun and Larson were .' right behind him and Johnson was . buried in the pack . La rso n handl ed . Sun and set out for Craw ford . T hev L-eper side by . . went through th e to p sW side. Crawford had the lin e corning .ou t the big jum p, but ran ou t of roo m a t th e co rner. He fin all y cut u nder Cr awford in th e sweeper a nd m ade it stick , bu t turned rig ht arou nd a nd ba iled off. Cr awford was ou t in fro nt a nd Sun was now on La rson 's tail. J ohnson 'a nd Steve Corcor an (Yam) . we re ch a rgi ng up be h ind Su n and bo th got him . La rson ca ug ht u p with Crawford a nd passed hi m on th e finis h straigh t , but Crawfo rd 's prob le ms wer en 't over. Johnson was creeping u p on him . Johnson took Crawford in a bar-b anging pass on the big jump . Now we're b ack to La rson and J ohn. son wh o were well ou t in front of th e battle Crawford was a bo ut to lose to Corcoran for third . Johnson sho wed the power of th e wat er cooled Yammie as he pulled righ t by on th e finis h strai g ht, but Larson cut under in the sweeper and sto le it ba ck . The next tim e a ro u nd th ey pulled the exac t same moves. On th e th ir d try , Joh nson wa ited until th e sweeper and trie d La rson 's move but it d idn't work. They went down th e back stra ight side by side but J ohnson found a m inute hole and spent th e last two laps ou t fro nt. Cor coran, Crawford , Sun , Diesso , Lee , Randy Caldwell (Su z), McC orm ick and Aksland follow ed th em in . The 250 class had a di fferent kind of exci te me n t. The in cr easin g dust may have cont ributed a little to the problem, but even on the first lap th ese gu ys were crashing, possibl y proving that all th e nuts were not on the trees which surround the track . Bill Bol dm an (Hon) rode a bobb ling fro nt wheel quite a ways befor e he go t spi t off just ' out of reach of the rest of th e pack on the first lap. Su rviva l was the m a in battle in this grou p as , one by on e , they pulled off into th e pits or sat it out in th e infi eld. Clint H ardi ck (Suz) and L arson fought ou t fro n t with Ga ry Ku est (Yam) running th ird . Sun started workin g on Ku est on the th ird lap a nd started workin g his way up on th e leaders . H e got them by the time the ra ce was t hree -fourths over. C ra ig Praus ( Kaw) staye d ahead of J erome Heiberger (C- A) , Jam es McK enn a (Mai), Pete Snorteland (Ya m). Ku esr , Rich Binckley (Ya m) and Steve Wil ' Ha rns t Yarn). In the second round , Kuest got the holeshot but Snorteland was in front at the end of th e fir st loop . He d id n't last long eith er as H ard ick and Er ic Eaton (Ma i) shot ou t front to ba ttl e for the · Iead . Praus was holding third agai nst the pressu re of H eib erge r and McKenna . Sun followed them . Eaton kept the pressure on Hardick long enough to get b)' and run a nd h ide . Heib erge r kept plowin g through to gain seco nd in his effort to stay in front of McKen n a , bu t th ey were a ll bu t bo l te d togethe r at the fla g . Ha r dick was fourth and Sun p ressed by Prause in the closin g laps . Ernest C abral (Suz) , Bob Klem p ( H o n) , Williams a nd Bin ckley ro un ded it out to 10. . H a r di ck came b ack to lea d t he O pen class wh ile McK enna a nd Ea ton we re prep aring to show how well Ma icos worked in rod ay's track co ndi tions . They ca me p lowing t hrough eve ryone in t h eir paths. McK enna wound up on to p , Ha rd ick seco nd and Ea ton thi rd. Sp ies reported t ha t Bill J ewell (Ya m) wound up being thrown into th e river then he came back to tak e a wild endo a t th e end of th e front str aigh t. He finally decided it wasn 't his d ay, Phil Oveland (C·A), George McN am ara (Ya m ), Randy Pockra ndt (Mai ), Bob Buffaloe (Su z), Wa rren Hi ckm an (Yam) , Chris W ashburn (Ya m) and Mark Hambelton (H us) fill ed t he top 10. Dean Wiggins a nd Washburn led off in the second round . When th e dust sett led around the fou rth tu rn , Mc Nam ara was found h ope lessl y ta ng led in th e banners. They were long gone wh en he got fre e . By th e fourth lap , Wiggins still held a slim lead bu t Eaton was gai ning on him . McK enna had m oved to third and W ashb urn an d H ardick were d ici ng for fou rt h . McKenna pulled up on Eaton at the ha lfway mark a nd began pushi ng him ahead to ea t up what had now become a sizea ble lead for W iggi ns. T hey were real tight at the threequ ar!er s m a rk when McK enna took t he lead as th ey went th rou gh a pack of lappers. Wi ggins and Eaton went by th e towe r side by sid e for two laps, still unable to sh a ke t he la p pe d riders before Ea to n took second in the swee per. Washburn , Hardick , O ve land , Hi ckman , Buffaloe , Mitch Kirk patrick (H us) and Rory Rundle (Ma i) ca me in behind the m . Results 125 PRO: 1. Rick John son (Yaml: 2. Pt'I1t'"Larson (Yam): 3. Ron Sun (Hanl: 4. Tro v l ee (KTM); 5. Steve Corcoran (Yam); 6. Danny Oier SO (Suz): 7. Mi ke J \'\ cCormick (Yam): 8. David Crawf ord r / aml; 9. Dennis Ostriem lSuz); 10. Charles Aksland ( S'I ~) . 250 PRO: 1. Ron Sun IHon); 2. C l in~ Hardick (Suzl; 3. J erome Heiberger ~ C ·AI ; 4, James M cKenna (Mail; 5. Craig Praus IKaw); 6. eric Eaton IM ail; 7. Gary Kuest (Yarn); 8. Rich Blnc kley (Y am); 9. Steve W illiams (Yam ); 10. Bob Klem p rHon} . OPEN PRO: 1. James M ck enna tMai); 2. Eric Eaton (Mail; 3. Clint Hardick tSuzl; 4. Phillip Oveland (C·A); 5. Chris W ashburn (Yaml; 6. Dean Wiggins (Mail; 7. Warren Hickman (Yam); 8. Robert Buffaloe ISuzl; 9. George Mc, amara (Yam); 10. Mitchel Kirkpatri ck N IHusl . PROGRESS IVE PRO SUPPORT 125: 1. S teve Pless (Hon); 2. David VanEpps (Yam); 3. S tacy Thornton (Kaw); 4 . Robby W al lk> (Yam ); 5. MIChael Kinnear Wam ). 250: 1. Phinip Ovefand (Yaml; 2. Arne Henman (Hon); 3. Kelly Whelchel IHan) ; 4 . Rod ney Casper 1 l; 5. 5ul Curus Clark1 5021. OPEN: 1. Steven Mill.. (Yam l; 2. Seen Tyl .. IMa ll; 3. Brian Soderberg (Yam ); 4 . Barney Newman (Yam ); 5. Grant Hudkins (Husl. Westwood Can-Am cash road race to Seddon, Loose, Dick By lane Campbell PORTCOQUITLAM, B.C .. CAN. , JULY 20 There was $6 ,000 up for grabs as the Westwood Motorcycle Racing Club hosted its second annual Can-Am Ch allenge; when it was done, Alan Seddon (Yam), Bob Loose (Suz), Steve Dick (H on / Ya m) and the sid ecar team of Wildman/Wildman (T ri) took home the biggest fistfulls of prize money. Yes, there was $1250 for I th e fea ture 250 cc GP race (won by Seddon), $1250 for the Superbikes (won by Loose), even $1 ,000 for the Sidecars - wh ich, alone , is mo re than th e average American clu b racer sees in a tot al pu rse . This is the wa y th ey do it in Canada - 100 % payback on entry fees , with each class winner ge tt ing 50% of the class purse, the remainder being dis, tributed to' the upper·bra cket finishers. W estwood Ra cetrack is a highly p hotogenic 1.9·mile up-and-downhill circuit laid out amongst tall pines on a plateau overlooking the Fraser River Valley, not far from Vancou ver, B.C. It is definitely a handling track, a rider's track, and its character guarantees an interesting and sometimes unorthodox fiel d of entries. For instance , where else could a converted X R500 Honda dirt bike circula te with a 350cc watercooled Ya ma ha twin in 550cc Cafe? That was the wa y it went in both hea ts of tha t class . as Chris Michak on the throbbing, wh eelie-pulling thumper made Bryan Rolls on the Tonka -sponsored R!l -based waterpumper work for his wm . First 550 heat , it was Rolls all the wa y. Michak was bouncing the Honda off curbs in the esses to pull within strik ing distance, and at on e point do ve under Suzuki-mounted Brad Cochlin in a perfect motocross-style block pass to finish second. Second heat (they use Ol ympic scoring to determine the overa ll) , Michak holeshot the field and held off Rol ls in re pea ted charges into the hairpin until a front disc mount sta rted to work loose. Alan Seddon (who, according to a club flyer , " has been ra cing Westwood so long his bik e runs on prune juice") won both heats to tak e away $625 in th e featu red 250 cc GP class, but it wasn't as easy as th e numbers make it sound . First heat , he had t o outlast early leader Daryl Co rnwell (who dis - , appeared after lap three , but what was that throbbing m enace right on his ta il? It was Seattle's Bruce Lind on a bright red 500cc Wa sco /Honda. Seems they run t he 500cc Singl es with the 250cc GP bikes and it 's a scra p py combination on a short . change-up track like Westwood . The next heat , with the riders gridded on the basi s of their first heat fin ish , Seddon took the lead and held it , whil e Yamaha-mounted Canadian Ken Botham inserted himself in the narrow gap ahead of Lind to take second overall. Perhaps the busiest rider (in terms of classes run and bucks won ) was Steve Dick, from Edmonton, Alberta. Steve sta rt ed out by running second to American Brian Sutton in a close fought 410cc Product ion opener. Then he won the 125cc GP handsdown on a (ge t this) monocoqueframed , monoshock Can -Am single with a really strange ultra -d rilled d isc work ing on a frame-mounted jackshaft , via th e chain , a nd a bare spoo l rear hub . To close ou t th e fin a l ro u nd of heats. he took fou rth in Superbike on a Honda CBX that wallowed frightening. ly and sounded like a bull Furrhairey in heat. In the deciding rounds , Steve went lowline in the Karussel (the big turn had two lines this day - above the oil and below the oil , there was a white line of Oi l-Soak clea r around the track after somebody popped a copious leak in practice) to pass Sutton for the Prod uction overall win . His fortunes took a brief reverse when he crashed the Can-Am out of the 125cc GP ra ce , not once but twice. He dropped it hard in d ownhill tum two , spent just over a la p getting it unbent . and was in the

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