Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ing th rough th e traffi c and it looked lik e he went on for the win . T he da y's final event was a team race. john Ferro co m bined th e intim at e knowl edge he had gained of th e track during h is ride in th e Open class with the formidable riding talen ts of his brother, Mike and the two of them won that even t overall, in spite of th e time adv antage enjoyed by th e m an y so lo rider s in the race. • Dubach, McCuistion star in CRC/DG $5000 MX By Lee Taylor Photos by Greg Taylor (Above) Curt McCuistion leads Jim Holley in the MX. (Below) Greg Kammerman and John Ferro (304) fly in the GP. ORANGE, CA, APR. 18 The California Racing Club invaded Saddleback Park with three races run simultaneously. On a challenging, if not treacherous back track, the fifth Annual DG $5.000 got underway. With facLOry representatives watching their every move, the I25cc Pros launched the DG $5,000. Rebello reels in CRC/Coors GP By Terry Rezek ORANGE, CA, APR. 18 The California Racing Club's Coors-sponsored grand prix packed in eight full races into an already crowded schedule at Saddleback Park. The park was so busy that had P.T . Barnum been there, he would have wondered why he s~opped at three rings for his circus. 18 Not e: a ll res u lts in th is art icle h ave 'no t-been co n firmed by the club an d a re highl y, rep eat , hi ghl y unoffi cial. T he Mini s were th e first race on th e fu ll GP track. C u rt is Cannon, Terry Wood y and Randy G at ica were arm in ar m a t th e head o f the pack a fter lap one . Cannon fell to thi rd on lap two and two laps later was back in th e lead and Ga ti ca a nd Wood y had trad ed pl aced. Flat tracker Ca n non seemed a t home o n a m o tocross machi ne a nd proceeded to open up a co m forta ble lead. H owever , h e went down hard slig h tly after m id-race. H e su ffered ch in a nd m outh cu ts a nd was for ced to retire. Gatica had put much a ir between h im self a nd Wood y while tryin g to ca tch Cannon a nd, o nce in he ri ting th e lead , went on to win eas ily. T he Pro Expert race co m bi ned a ll sizes but Brad McLeod 's 250cc was th e quickest off th e lin e. As th ey flew tow ards the end o f th e first lap, Mark Denning and Dallas Rebello were a c tuall y onl y inc hes a way fr om McLeod. About a third of th e wa y into th e second lap was a set of four uphill , nasty, artificial wh oo ps stadium style. Denning hung o n a Iiule righ ter an d passed McL eod for th e lead right h ere. Shortl y th ereaft er , Rebello got by to put himself in seco nd. Denning was beginnin g to build a ni ce lead wh en he went down and got up in third behind McLeod. Apparently shaken , he continued to fall back to a di stant third. On the last lap, McLeod made a d etermined charge at Rebello but I was too far away to see the actual finish. It looked like Rebello was ~ol.ding him off so, until th e results co me out I'll have to gC! with RebelIo as the avera11 Pro wmner. The Seniors were th e next ra ce and I was sti ll too far o n th e back side of th e co u rse to see th e fini sh but I had Bryon Farnsworth in th e lead a lI th e wa y wi th Bob Cro sta in seco n d. T he Open race had th e Ama teu rs, No vices and Beg in ners sta rt ing o n separa te lines. There wa s much crazin ess in this race, much o f it co m ing from o ne ride r wh om I won 't dignify by naming . He led bri efl y a t th e end o f th e fir st lap but ca me do wn th e home stre tch much too hot a nd co mp letely blew th e fin al turn , go ing wa y o ff th e course a n d suc kerin g th e seco nd pl ace rider (w ho was wat ch ing hi s rear fender ) with him. By th e time th ey recovered , j ohn Ferro . wh o was a very close th ird , had tak en th e lead and starte d to m ove away . By th e en d o f lap two, Ferro was joined by Sco tt Kinni er in seco nd and tha t's th e way it stayed to the end. The 125cc race cha nged th e lead more times in 45 m inutes th an th e presiden cy o f a banana republic. Gordon Ward wa s th e fir st one in th e lead with Dave Hussey and Eugene Elzenberger che win g on his axle on either side. Andy Stix led the Novi ce a nd Greg Ferris topped th e Beginners a t th e start. On lap three, Ward went down and Husey to ok th e lead with Elzenberger right with him. Ward was up a nd closing fast; he ca ugh t and p assed Elzenberger an d set o u t after Hussey. H e closed up th e ga p on lap four and retook th e lead on five. Now it was Hussey's turn to play cha lIenge r a nd it a lso took him two laps to catch and pass Ward. By th e time he did, it was lap seven , time was running out and th ey were deep in th e traffic of lapped riders. Hussey seemed just a bit more adept at weav- First mota action saw a drag race to the top' of the hill with Suzuki ace Steve Wiseman, commandeering the lead, folIowed by Doug Gentry. Two Hondas, piloted by Mike Brown for LOP and American Honda racer Louie Franco, fought over the third place slot with Brown, taking over. For Wiseman, it wasn 't meant to be, he crashed and was forced back to last place. A classic Yamaha/Honda confrontation sha ped up for the mota win as Brown and Gentry turned in a sidewinder duel for the win th at carried th em close to th e end when Gentry, in trouble, was forc ed back in th e field . Doug Dubach, riding a Yamaha under th e co lors of Orange County Cycl e, was on th e gas ! He stead ily pi cked up positions a t every turn and flew into second on th e uph ill. He kept p ressure o n Brown , but was not 'able to overta ke. At m ot e 's end , Brown led th e field acro ss with Dubach secu re in second a nd Pat O 'D onnelI rounding ou t th e top three. Wh en th e racers gridded for their seco nd encou nter, Dubach lost no time in gra bbing th e lead . Th e to p o f th e sta rt hill was th e most treach ero us po int o n the entire track. Two men went do wn , but eme rgi n g free of in cident in second was G entry, follow ed closel y by Carroll Ri chard son, Wisem an and O 'D onnel , H onda support rider Steve Sch mi tz had a cru el en d to a beautiful ride. He flipped wh eel over wh eel on the downhill and was thrown over the fen ce a nd into th e pits. Both Gentry and O'Donnell ,locked in to a handlebar banging duel over thi rd, bailed on th e infamous uphill. Brown , in seco nd, tri ed every trick in th e book to ca tch the lead er but with Dubach catap u lting over the crest of th e hill a nd into a ru n -away lead, th ere wasn 't a cha nce. Ri chardson and Wiseman fought vali antly in third a nd fourth respect ivel y. Wh en th e checkered flag waved the men home, Dubach crossed over, out of sight of hi s closest co m pe tito r, to tak e home top dolIar for the class. Brown scooped up second place gold and third overa lI loot went home with Ri chardson. Curt McCuistion, piloting a cool. green machine for Kawasaki Motors, emerged triumphant over the 250<:c Pros in the wildest, tightest, race of the day . Leading off the first mota action was Yamaha Support racer Scott Man.n~ng. Manning had his hands full. For starters he found himself locked into a duel with teammate, john Whelchel. Whelchel finally slipped a wheel under Manning and held on down to the wire. Pomona Suzuki entry ' Rich a rd Sands, in third, found himself permanently attached to Phil Larson through most of the mota, switching the third place slot back and forth until Larson wiped out in a turn and was forced back to fifth. McCuistion zoomed by. Goat Breker, who was off to a rough start, was gobbling' up the turf and by mota's end, was solid in sixth and breathing down Larson's jersey. Whelchel led the troops across and into the pits, Manning close in second, Sands holding down third and McCuistion glued to fourth . On their last round for the day, the pack cleared the ·uphill without incident. McCuistion, made up for lost time and catapulted off the line and was way out in front of everyone halfway through the first lap. Breker was burn ing up the track in second a nd storm ing! A solid blaze of green leading th e way . With Larson firm in third, th e battle was for fourth . Manning and Wh elchel were once more locked in co m ba t. Manning was all over the track tryin g to fend off Wh elchel , with on ly one bikelength separating th em . With no rear fender and half a seat, Brek er fin all y sn aked by McCuistion for th e lead , diving deep in side at th e top o f the hill. Wh en the finish line loomed into sigh t, Breker led th e way and with a 6-1 took home fourth pl ace money. McCuisti on took th e overall folIowed by Mannin g and Wh elch el. • Results 60 NOV: 1. Weslev Klein (Yam). 60 EX: 1. Alv in Manhews (Yam). BO BEG: 1. Tim Young (Yaml: 2. Bryan Pruitt (Yam); 3. David Thacker (Yam). BO NOV: 1. Chris Cole (SU1); 2. Keith Morakito (Yam); 3. Jason Davenport (Yam). BOEX: 1. Jeff Barbacov; (Yam). 100 BEG: 1. Chris Cole (Suli. 125 BEG: 1. Doug Huff (Yam): 2. Dennis Burns (Yam): 3. Lou Gabrial(Kaw). 125 NOV: 1. Michael Lieber (SU1) 2. Dana Nel· : son (Yam): 3. Jon Barrick (Yam). 125 INT: 1. Rob Engel (Yam): 2. Jason Rincon (Kaw): 3. Dave Moore (Yam). 125 PRO: 1. Doug Dubach (Yam): 2. Mike Brown (Han); 3. Corroll Richardson (Yam). 250 BEG: 1. Colin Ryan (Yam); 2. Alan Seeman (Kaw); 3. Pat Manimar (Kaw). 250 NOV: 1. Steve Adamson (SU1) 2. Jeff Frye ; (Hen); 3. larry Woodhouse (Yam). 250 INT DIV I: 1. Gary Adams (Han): 2. Kevin Brown (SU1); 3. Mark Adamson (SU1). 250 INT DIV II: 1. Randv Morales (Yam); 2. Jim Kohara (SU1): 3. Parry Scan (Han). 250 PRO: 1. Cun McCuistion (Kaw): 2. Scan Manning (Yam); 3. John Whelchel (Yam). OPEN BEG: 1. Michae' Burns (Yam). OPEN NOV: 1. Dempsev St_er (Han): 2. Garrie Turcone (Yam~ 3. Jud Oshier (Sull. OPENINT: 1. Randy Morales (Yam); 2. Alan Oloon (Mai) ; 3. John Baumgarnar (Yam). OPEN PRO: 1. Phil larson (Han); 2. TIm Locev (Yam); 3. Ste.. Rhvan (Hon). VETS JR: 1. Ray Swenson (Han): 2. Patrick O'NeiIi (Yaml. VETS INT: 1. Milt Muller (Mai) : 2. John Taneglia (Mai~ 3. Bob Barr (Mai). VETS. EX: 1. Alan Olson (Mai~ 2 . Corl G8Z8fy (Han); 3. Mario _oneil (Mai~

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