Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I; W;;dl e r'---------------------~~~~~~~-------------------------------""! Izona-Southern Nevada- Southern Callfornla;Arlzona-5outhr- - 1IlIevada- Southern California-Arizona ", I ~ I New Pro Tracy Meeks blasted to second place in CRC's Saddleback MX. Don Turk on his way to tierra firma at Speedway 117. Dubach does in CRC Saddleback By Tom Corley ORANGE, CA, APR. 25 Doug Dubach and Greg Zitterkopf made the most of the California Racing Club's small turnout by gathering all the Pro cash they could today at Saddleback Park. Dubach took the largest pile of 125cc cash while Zitterkopf took a plethora of pessos by pounding both the 250 and Open classes. 52 There were seven competitors in the 125cc Pro class , and in the opening moto they shuffled places. Harley Hall is a rookie in the I25cc Pro class, yet he was leading the others for most of the race . Team Green's Tracy Meeks is even less experienced as a Pro, but he is upsetting many of the top riders. Meeks was running second while eventual winner Doug Dubach of Orange County Cycle was th ird. Dubach didn't get the best stan, but his experi ence made the difference as he kn ew right where to pass the leading riders. With two laps to go, Dubach slid by Meeks and did the same trick to Hall o n the final lap. Dubach took a beautiful start in th e final rno to, but faced ano ther dilem ma a few laps la ter. Mark Den ning, a Mo tocross Ac tio n Magazin e test rider, was ru nn ing second till Meeks passed him on a rough uphill sectio n. Steve Donny fell on a n uphill, and th is ru ined hi s cha nces. Du bach met up wi th Donny, and whi le trying to pass, he fell and los t his lead . Then it was a matter of wheth er Du bach wo uld be abl e to catch up to Meeks a nd Denning, wh o got by. Dubach was abl e to zap Den ning, but Meeks was o ut of his sig h ts. When the checkered flag came ou t, it was Meeks, Dubach a nd H all. A 1-2 fin ish gave Dubach the victory over Meeks and H all. Greg Zitterkopf had one of his most successfu l da ys ever. He won all four motos th at he en tered. T he Montclair Yamaha rider powered to th e first 250cc Pro moto win. Ceet Racing em p loyee Jim Brod ie took hi s Honda to second while Kal-Gard's Craig Cable placed th ird. The final250cc P ro rnoto was more exci ting. Cable had a good start bu t slid out and moved back to fourth. Brodie was in second but dropped back a couple of places, although he was able to regain second and trailed behind the leader Zitterkopf till th e end. Two firsts gave Zitterkopf the top money over Brodie and Pat Weber who had a 4-3 tally. There were only four 500cc Pro riders. Premier Yamaha's Gl en Senecal was th e runner-up to Zitterkopf. Glen felt that the track had too many small jumps and resembled a night co urse. He wasn't abl e to go as fast on h is Yamaha 490 because of this. Sam Storer is yet a no ther Mini Expert rid er who is on th e loose and aft er th e 125cc Intermediate class. Storer is a Team Green rider, a nd this was onl y his third 125cc ra ce. H e did well in th e World Mini Grand Prix, taking a second in th e 125cc Stock Inte rm edia te race. Today, he got it together to take first place. Storer won the firs t rno to a head of Rincon Kawasaki's Jason Rincon a nd Ti Swartz. • These competi tors ran o ut of luck in the second mota. Storer had first place secured and was follow ed by Rinco n. Then Rin con fell in a corner before the downhill doubles and DNF. Swartz inherited second, but he came to a halt a nd DN F. Ryan Ro berts, wh o jus t won th e I25cc Intermedia te class a t Ascot took over second. Storer had his go ggl es around hi s arm and looked relaxed as he came th ou gh th e fin ish first overa ll honors. Jim Pea rso n's 5-3 tally was o ne point better tha n Ryan Roberts' 7-2 ta lly, and that decided second overa ll. Results MINI BEG: 1. Gary Trachy (Suz); 2. Bryan Prui tt (y am); 3. Jason Coll ier (Suzl. M INI NOV; 1. Scott Brod ie (Vam); 2. Ramon Dominquez (Vam); 3. Ron West (Kaw) . . MINI INT; 1. Greg Trachy (Yam); 2. Po, Beckley (Yamt 3. Randy Gatica (Yam). 12 5 BEG; 1. Chris Mickles (Kawt 2. 5'.... Je nsen (Suz); 3. Ma rk Gibso n (Yam). 12 5 NOV: 1. M ichael Knapp (Kaw); 2. GregWo~e (S u z~ 3. Josep h Crouche (Suz). 12 51NT: 1. Sam Storer (Kaw); 2. Jim Pearson ; 3. Avan Roberts (Han). 125 PRO: 1. Doug Dubach (Yamt 2. Tracy Meeka (Kaw); 3. Har ley Hall (Suz). 250 BEG: 1. Alan Seasman (Kaw) ; 2. Greg Nash (Hont 3. Monte Smetherman (Vam). 250 NOV: 1. St.... Adamaon (Suzt 2. Mark While ( H o n~ 3. DIIVtl Jonas (Yam). 250 INT: 1. Gary Adam a ( H an~ 2. Kevin Brown (Suzl; 3. Rusty Hannah (Suz). 250 PRO; 1. Greg Zitterkepl (Vam~ 2. Jim Brodie (Han): 3. Pat W_r (SUZ). 500 BEG/NOV: 1. Ruben Falcon (Yam t 2. Mark Leo (Ma i); 3. Mortte Lutz (yam) . 500 tNT: 1. TIm Harris (Yam); 2. TIm Caner (Yam~ 3. Dempsey Sl ocker (Han). 500 PRO: 1. Greg Zinerkopf (Vam); 2. Glen Sene cal (Yam ~ 3. Jim Roy (Suz). VET JR: 1. Kun Solka (Suzl . VET INT: 1. Rey Pisarek i (Hon) . VET SR: 1. J im Bellinck (Mai) . Williams/Sallner bagSNRR endurance RR By Don A kers LAS VEGAS , NV, APR. 25 Mike Williams and John Ballner, on their Honda-Kawasaki of Las Vegas-sponsored KZI000, were the unofficial winners of the ann ual Sou th ern Nevada Road Racers fou r- hour en d ura nce race. (Unofficia l because at this time the score keepers are still addi ng up lap times a nd chec king for errors on lap sheet.) The weather cooperated beautifully wit h a bal my 80 degree day and very little wi nd for this gr ueli ng test of man and machine. The lead changed hands frequently early on in the race with the Will iams / Ballner team tra ding places with the team of Jack Baker/Sl im Stephens on their Nevada Yamaha-sponsored Seca and the Kaw asaki West entry ridden by Bob Betke a nd J on Parisena. As th e race progressed int o the second hour, the Baker/Stephens bike came into th e pits with a low tire. A qu ick sho t of air got it back o ut while the pi t crew prepared to do a wh eel cha nge. Two laps lat er. it was back in, a nd the rear tire was cha nged. bu t the lost time proved to be irrecove rable. Meanwhi le. the Williams/Ballner bike and the Betke/Par isena machi ne were havi ng tro ubl e-free rides . Not so with so me of the other ent ries. T he mai den voyage of the turbo -charged GPz, sponsored by Wi ldlife Performan ce an d ridden by Ed Mal kiewicz and Phil Florian. was interrupted by a cras h in turn three abo ut an hou r and a half int o the race . After carti ng th e rem ains back to th e p its, th e Wildlife p it crew got into som e hea vy fram e straighten ing and general refurbishing. They re-entered th e race way down on laps but determined to finish. Finish the y did, but not witho ut more crash related problems. Blown fuses brought th em into th e pits twice more until one of the p it crew did some artful disconnecting with a pair of wire cutters! Then an oil cooler line broke. Undaunted, they kep t repairing it a nd sending it back out. Hats off to this hard working pit crew ; the y ought to get a trophy for she er determinat ion! Also on th e hard Iuck side were the Bruce Haupt/Tedd Brandes GS750 and th e GPz5 50 ridden by Lance Owens and Henry Tecsa. The Hauptl Brandes bike fried the ignition coils and despite so me frantic pit work, were forced to drop out. The Owens / T ecsa en try also had to drop out wh en ultra-wh ite spark plugs told a tale of a dra sticall y lean condition. Back in th e pack , but still within striking distan ce, were three hard ch arging team s. T he H igh Desert Kawasak i team of Stephen Shelton! Roy Flora from Victorv ille. CA, th e Star Cycle- Kawasa ki Corral team of Mick Frew/Pat Pal mer from Tucson, AZ, a nd loca l riders Bill Reid/Danny Wagner wer e all dicing it out for positio n. The Reid/Wagner team had opted for hard compound ti res for long wear, and the logic held good. The tires went th e distance. Un fortu natel y, th e poor traction offered by that sam e hard compound slowly moved them back o ut of conte ntion. At th e fini sh line, it was Williams/ Ballner first , Baker/Stephens second, Shelton/Flora third. Frew/Palmer fourth . Reid /Wagner fifth and the battered but unbowed Malkiewicz/Florian sixth . (T he Betk e/ Pa risena team was disq ualified when errors were discovered in their score keeping. a disappointing fini sh to a great ride by th ese two tale n ted ride rs.)

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