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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126486
Saturday nights in the central
California valley are really great,
right around 11 p.m. when things
cool off to a neat 80 degrees. So
It was another shon night of rac·
ing at Lodi Cycle Bowl as the
Lodi M.C. sped up the s.how for
some easy-does-it racing on the
Berluti cleared the frrst tum one-two.
Again, McElroy faded and Berluti
moved to the lead.
Now the fans were treated to one of
Hannah's patented come-from-behind
drives as he carved through the pack
like a shark through skin divers. He
picked up third position by the third
lap, second in another two laps and
closed on Berluti. The two battled
wheel·to·wheel in a thrilling display of
riding talent for another five laps until
Hannah pulled a brilliant block pass
to move into control to win the moto
and the overall.
Hannah pledged his winnings to the
Muscular Dystrophy .campaign and
deserves a lot of credit for riding Boot
Hill. It takes a big man for a star of
his stature to risk injury in a local race
to help out handicapped kids. Berluti
also deserves a lot of credit for looking
good against the former champion as
he rode two classes that day (winning
Open Expert) racing a total of 60 laps
in that nasty dustbowl.
The Boot Hill MX raised $5000 for
Muscular Dystrophy thanks to Hannah's
appearance and the efforts of DRAN,
the Storey County Sheriffs Jeep Posse,
Sportseycle-Reno, Shirt Jazz, Flying
W's and the many other people and
businesses that contributed work, contingencies and money. Western States
Racing Association, promoters of the
Virginia City Grand Prix, pledged
$1000; the Mason Valley MC pledged
$150 and many other smaller pledges
were given during the racing. All to
help Jerry's kids.
when the temps are around 100 during
the day, the start of Hills Ferry Raceway short track can get a little behind
wailing for the summer sun to set. All
that notwithstanding, another great
night of racing was in store for those
who can handle the situation.
Winltie Freitas did the magical trip
in the lOOcc Expert class winning well
despite an onslaught from P.].
Sanchez and Chris Carr. Jeremy
Chisum continues to wipe up the 80cc
Novice class. It was a full class with
Mike Roehlk taking second.
Ronnie Hayes was the new 80cc
Junior winner over Tony Mitchell. In
the big time 80cc Expert class, it was
Kurt Chandler coming from behind to
pass Aaron Hill for the win with Chris
Carr in for third.
Bart Wilkins won the combined
l25cc Novice/Junior over Roger Kirk.
Jim Eden survived the best of the full
house 250cc Novice class, taking his
Harley-Davidson to the win over Steve
Fishcer and Brian Sansing. Former
Mini whizzer Chris Roelhk was the big
250cc Junior winner in a good fight
with Vance Sherfield and Randy
Fisher. Trading the leads on this track
is tricky, but despite some fancy sliding
out at the end, all were safe.
The 250cc speed guys were next and
it was to be a contest of survival at first
when on the second lap, John Burnett
fell taking Bruce Johnson and Mark
Key to the wall. A red came and went
and in the restart it was Dave Boyles,
Key, Johnson, Moore and Chandler
working on the troops from the middle
of the pack once again. It doesn't seem
to matter where the 14·year-old Kawasaki of Salinas rider is at on the first set
of laps. As the troops got shuffled
around and on the bubble of speed,
Doug worked around each and every
one to win the main fancily with Mark
Key on the McGill Yamaha taking second over Johnson, Boyles and Ronnie
Murphy who was in for fifth on the
Yamaha Sports Center machine.
Mike Milia turned the 500cc Novice
trick over Dave Painter while Chris
Roehlk turned a double win for the
night doing in Steve Nunes in the
500ccJunior main. Ted Davidson had
little trouble winning the 500cc Expert
main on his Bill Campbell· tuned, Bill
Johnson,
ND-sparked
KR
500
Yamaha. Dwayne McCaslin tried to
keep him honest and at the same time
hold off the youngsters like Chandler,
Moore and Jerry Lanning. Tough for
an old man.
one-sixth-mile groove track. Despite a
short entry list, David Boyles displayed
some great racing style in winning the
250cc Expert main and Teddy Davidson is still unbeatable on the Bill
Johnson/KR.framed TT500.
Young Jeff Bingham came out in
fine fashion to win the 85cc Novice
main over Eddie Rose, both SU2uk.i·
mounted. Bob Black. the little, took top
honors in the 85cc Junior class over
Roger Faddy, both on Kawasakis. The
85cc Expert main was indeed a thriller
with Aaron Hill doing a fine job of
holding off Chris Carr for the entire
event. The number one Black Plate
holder rode a truly great race on his
TV Service/Jorgy Suzuki, but just
couldn't find a way around the Spinetti
KX80. Winkie Freitas took the the
third spot over Tommy Knight.
Marvin Dunham won the lightly
contested l25cc Novice/Junior show
while Steve Fishcer had the 250cc
Novice win his way over Drake Schmit.
Hal Hook rode the Jorgy Can-Am to
the 250cc Junior win in fine fashion
over Bob "Kid" Curry and Bobby
Poole.
It was a six·man blanket job for the
250cc Expert main with Kim Jorgensen
leading the foray over Dave Boyles,
Mark Key, Dan Moore and Doug
Chandler. Constant pressure from
Boyles on the Champion CR250R paid
off in the closing laps as he made a
pass sti'ck on the top rated Black Plate
big kid.
Tom Rose had little trouble winning
the 500cc Novice show and Teddy
Davidson was once again unbeatable
in the 500cc Expert main, holding
back Danny Moore's Champion
XR500.
Results
Results
o
00
0')
...
Yes, that's Bob Hannah chatting with the locals at Boot Hill.
..
48
Nevada with AMA District !l6 sanction
as a Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy
benefit. Hannah showed to lend his
support to the MD campaign and to
begin tuning up for the Trans-USA
series which starts next. month.
Another purpose of the Boot Hill
MX was to inaugurate a new cycle
park being built in this Nevada
mountain community, courtesy of the
BLM. This new track was a very short,
gnarly, uphill/downhill trail laid out
in the bottom of a natural bowl that
resembled a stadium course choked
with brush.
A blistering hot day without a breath
of air (except an occasional dust devil)
continued the heat wave of the previous
two months so that the track surface
was knee deep bug dust laced with cue
ball-sized rocks. Two water trucks run·
ning almost continuously had no effect
except to leave a couple of surprise
mud holes.
That these rotten <;onditions did not
affect Hannah's performance showed
that his talent, physical conditioning,
. and will to win have not eroded during
his year· long layoff. You better believe
it - Hannah is back!
Although the Hurricane was cer·
tainly the runaway favorite', the other
Experts were not intimidated. They
were all hyped up to make a showing
against Hannah.
At the start of the first moto, three
Maicos got off quicker than Hannah's
year-old works Yamaha. "Gonzo"
McElroy got the holeshot followed by
National number Allen Berluti, riding
out of S.portcycle-Reno, and Randy
McQuade. McElroy dropped back im·
mediately letting Berluti, McQuade
and Hannah scrap for the lead.
McQuade flat rod.e the wheels of{
his old M'\gnum holding off Hannah
for half the moto. But Hannah did get
around and closed to within four seconds of Berluti - when he fell!
Hannah bounced up without losing
a position and resumed his chase of
B.erluti. Then, Bill Buttram did a
ferocious endo on the bumps leading
to the big uphill and McElroy, in a
gesture of sportsmanship, stopped to
see how badly he was hurt. This created
a minor bottleneck further sLowing
Hannah's pursuit. Nevertheless, Hannah just dialed in some more speed
and passed Berluti two laps before the
checkered flag and took the win.
At the start of the second moto,
Hannah nearly looped out and had to
shut off momentarily so that he hit the
frrst turn second to last. McElroy and
250 EX: 1. R. Hannah; 2. A. 8ertu.i; 3. A. Kondas.
OPEN EX: 1. A. Berluti; 2. R. 8unner; 3. J. Cloutier.
OPEN JR: 1. S. Kenney; 2. 8. 8utler; 3. T. Dyer.
250 JR: 1. K. Truax; 2. R. Bartl..; 3. C. Beck.
125JR: 1. F. Edwlwds;2. MJ:lkins.
OPEN NOV: 1. E. Scha<:ht; 2. L. Caudle; 3. J.
Mak:hski.
250 NOV: 1. W. DelCarlo; 2. W. West; 3. G. Primm.
125 NOV DIV I: 1. J. Guess; 2. T. Fitzpatrick; 3. M.
Riipi.
125 NOV OfV II: 1. S. Harjes; 2. T. Candee; 3. S.
Brown.
VET EX: 1. R. Wyant; 2. J. McClinton.
VET JR: 1. T. Greene; 2. A. 8ray; 3. R. Smedes.
VET NOV: 1. 8. Jones; 2. R. Riipi; 3. D. Aungkst.
OT EX: 1. 8. McClimon; 2. J. Hartman; 3. J. White.
OT JR: 1. L. Dossey.
OT NOV: 1. K. Watts; 2. J. Primmer; 3. J. Helling.
8OJR: 1. R. Kay.
80 NOV: 1. J. Adams; 2. C. Kay; 3. W. Lawrence.
100 SPTSMN: 1. G. Hess; 2. F. FO