Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Southern Callfornla-Arlzona-Southern Nevada- Southern Callfornla-Arlzona-Southern Nevada- Southern California-Arizona Western hotline da 's T am T ra cy wa s in fourth , but was passed by Matthews a s th e m ot o progressed . Matthews fin ish ed a d ista nt fo u rth . Lei tinger pulled o u t some br eath in g room over H o, as H o was tboned by a rider from a nother class. H ow ever , Lei tin ger m ad e it interes ting as she too had a d ism ount. H o closed th e gap, o n ly 10 have the checkers wav e a ll too soon. Fin ish in g thi rd was S tu bne r, with a fin e ride. Teixeira takes Mililani H&H By Ace Reporter MILILANI. HI , MAR. 13 H enry Silva led the bomb run, Pat Gouveia finished first, but Jon Teixeira won the Dirt Biker's Mililane Hare and Hound Karen Leitinger on the way to a Wom en's w in at Saddleback. m ade four seri ous attempts at th e h ill, but ca me up short o n th e unfam~l i ar machi ne, givi ng Peterson th e w m s. Stith a nd T u rn er are co nside red serious threa ts 10 Peterson 's Widowm ak er crown th is year with both p ut ting in some fin e riding. The 500cc Stock class wa s ca p tured by Mister Palmdal e H arl ey himself , Ron Standeven , o n hi s 490 Mai co with Don O ro sco lookin g good at seco n d pl ace on a Number One Racing Maico. Peterson takes DeAnza Widowmaker warm-up By Sandee Peterson SUNNYMEAD , CA, MAR . 27 The California Challenge for hillclimbers was cancelled since northern California was underwater, and all the southern Cali- .:i8 fornia 'cli m bers headed for DeAnza for a challen ge of their own. This la st sched u led hillclimb before Widowmaker gav e everyone a chance 10 dial th e bikes before heading north for th e big one . Th e 350-foo t hill gave th e rid ers a he avy dose of Wid owmak er -st yle. rough stu ff. By th e tim e the seco nd round of competition was completed, on ly three riders had managed to . crest th e to p. T h ose three were Kerry Peterson, o n h is Wheelsmith /Maico West /Hi-Point/ND/Works PerformancelTsubak i/KRW 490 Mai co and 1500cc H arley-Davidson, in th e 500cc Exhib ition an d Modified a nd Open Modified and Exh ibi tio n classes, Steve Stith and his Wh eelsmith/H i-Po int/ P almdal e H -D /KRW Mai co a n d 1200cc H arl ev-David son in th e sa me classes and Dave T urn er's Krause Raeing/ O K Ma n u facturing/NGK 800cc Trium ph in Open Exh ib ition. The moved-up starti ng position for these th ree rid ers was a gu lly with a near vertical stretch of ledges, brush , roots and bu shes to climb th rough for abou t 300 feel. . Peterson was first to rid e and looped h is Mai co o u t a t 200 feel. Stith came to th e line an d made a fin e ride, but fell a Iiule short at 150 feel. Both rid ers had trouble with their secon d run in this class, and th e win went 10 Peterson by virtue of his first run high mark. Turner dropped out of Open Exhibition with transmission problems, lea ving Peterson and Stith 10 fight it out, as in the 500s. Peterson crested the hill in both Open classes, leaving Stith with a tough challenge. Stith •.•. • • , •• • t' t •1_. leitinger loose at SMX By Debbie Matthews Photo by Karel Kramer ORANGE, CA, APR. 2 The women's division today a t SMX 's Saddleback motocross was fill ed with ch ills, thrills nd , yes, some spills. As the gate dropped for rn oto o ne, Karen Leitinger (O'Neal/Seer/ Hi -Poin t). led the pack o n the start downhi ll. H ot o n her heel s was the tr io of Debb ie Mat thews (Shoe ilSeer/ Hallman / Hi Po in t), Charleen H o a nd Nata lie Stub ner. Leitinger a nd Ma tth ews opened u p wha t seemed to be secure positio ns, as H o (O'NeaI/Va ns / Shoei) a nd Stubner (M/ C Cou ntry) go t caught in traffic. Mid-m o re. Karen held a firm grasp on firs t. Ma tthews started to fade, as H o closed th e gap a nd , on la p seven, passed Matthews for seco nd. Stu bner had fall en , meanwhile, a nd was working her wa y back through th e pack. As th e m ot o wound down, the finishin g o rder wa s set, Leit in ger took th e m ot o w in followed by H o , Ma tth ews a nd Stubne r, As th e ra cers started in rnot o two Le itinger was in front once again. H o had got ten a bett er sta rt a nd was seco nd . H o , having been assisted by a Yamaha factory mech anic betw een rnot os, used this to her advantage, a nd sh e hounded Leitinger for th e lead. Stubner wa s in third and pushirig tow ards th e leaders. Kolbe Hon-; r ~ : ~ .... __ : ~ -; r » by being the first rider in with all 36 checks. On ly 44 riders pre-entered. Wh en Sunda y dawned clear and sunny, th e . reg istra tion van wa s crowded with experienced rid ers who know of Mil ila n i's notorious reputation for sl ick a nd impa ssable trail s wh en th e red clay din ge ts wet . Over 90 riders lined up in th e desert type sta rt, wa itin g for th e smoke bo m b. A few w isps o f smoke were makin g th eir way inr o th e a tm osp he re as the bo mb valiant ly tried to be visi ble before th e h ordes of rid ers swarmed th e fi rs t check. H en ry Silv a, n ow th e master of H awaiian H are ' n' Hound hol esh ots (eve r try 10 restart a H are ' n ' H ound? ), was asked h ow h e led th e bomb run o n his Yamaha 175 aga ins t a ll th e big-motored O pen m ach in es, " I jes lean ba ck a n' sh ifrin' gea rs." J ohnny Wilson was th e seco nd rider past chec k number one, fol lo wed by J oe y Reveira a nd Du ane J ohnasen . Pat Gouvei a a n d Mall L ym an , a lready in th e top 10 o ff th e line, doubl ed back on a bad flag before rea lizi ng th eir mi st ak e. G ouvei a muscled hi s wa y back into th e top 'fi ve immedi at el y, while Lyman wa s making hi s own trails. L yman sai d " Yo u have 10 go for it to ge t ba ck up th ere, but a lot of g uys were bumm ed because bikes were ge lli ng kn ocked over a nd stu ff." Silva set a bli stering pace, w ith Gouveia clea r o f tra ffic and ga in ing. Wil son , still in seco nd, succ u m bed to the p ressu re. This let Reveira ca tch Wi lso n and pass him. J oey, up wit h the leaders at th e sta n , ha d let th em go on purpose. " It was n uts u p there," he said. Past th e hal fway point, J oe y picked up the pace a nd moved up to challenge Wilson for th ird . Aft er tradi ng the place severa l tim es, J oe y cla imed it for good. lea d in g Wil son by two minutes a t th e end . Gouveia, m eanwhile, had pa ssed Si lva for the lead before th e firs t gas chec k. H en ry repassed , a nd th ey took turns br eaking th e p las tic bags cove ring th e chec ks. After leading a nd swappi ng leads, sudde n ly th e ba gs were brok en aga in . H enry a sked Pat " Who stay in front ?'~ No ne oth er th an Bobby Rodrigu es Sr., a trail veteran o f th e 40s a nd 50s. Only trouble was, Bobby s-. had mi ssed so me o f th e trail a fter he got lost in th e pineappl e field , and moved fro m fifth overa ll to th e ap parent lead. Bobby grumbled a bo u t th e trail marking in th e pine field . Bobby Sr. sti ll finished sixth overall , but missed five checks in his pine field shortcut. : :.~~ . ~ .. .. :.: .... ~ .. _~ ~ ~ :r:l./ ;r....~u~ . Gou vei a a n d Silva, meanwhil e, so lved th e m ystery o f th e " bro ken ba gs," ca ugh t and pa ssed Bobby Sr. and co ntin ued th eir d ice for th e lead. T hey passed and repassed, finishi ng on ly o ne m inute a part, G ouveia with a slim lead over Si lva, loo kin g like overa ll firs t a nd seco nd. Th e check co u nters tell th e story though, both rid ers m issed check number 16. Eight a nd 10 minutes lat er , J oey Reveira a nd Johnny Wilso n , th en Duane Johnasen two minut es a fter J ohnny: Everybody witho u t check number 16. H opes rose. If every one missed th e same ch eck, th en th ey throw it O U I. Bobby Sr. mis sed five ch ecks. Bobby Rodrigues J r. , ridin g stea d ily in th e top 10 fini sh ed eigh th overall, and had chec k number 161So it wa s out th ere! But Bobby Jr. a lso m issed o ne check, number 28. Four more minutes, th en Steve Trinies. Steve had number 16, had number 28, but m issed number 12 and 29. T en sion wa s in credible who would be in with all th e ch ecks? Finally, a lmos t 40 minutes after th e leaders , Jon T eixeira landed fir st overall on a Yamaha 400, all 36 checks and fir st overall. In II more minutes, Steve Proctor had claimed seco nd ov erall , an d three minutes lat er , Ri ck Amano claimed third overall. T rophy positions fell rapidly, but a lmos t 80% fin ish ed. At th e fini sh lin e, stea k a nd lob ster had been prom ised , but riders were g lad to seu le for so me m onstro us " di nosaur" ribs a n d swap stories abou t th eir "el Ilippos" a nd th e race that m ight have been. Res ults OVERAll: 1. Jon Teixeira; 2. Steve Proctor; 3. Rick Amano. 200: 1. Matt lyma n; 2. Raben Teixeira; 3. Lance Furu ike. 250: 1. Ken Matona; 2. Calvin Okamura. 100: 1. Blavne Soma; 2. Thomas Kazama: 3. Shane Kawakami . OPEN: 1. Andrew A iu ; 2. Tom Montgomery; 3. Lawrence Teixeira . Hames hauls to sixth Ascot HM win By Maureen Lee Photos by Dan Mahony GARDENA, CA, APR. I Pete Hames contin ued his domination of th e west coas t Experts as he won everyth ing in sigh t this even i ng, making it six Ascot race win s in a ro w for th e fleet rooki e Expert from Si m i. H e was th e o n ly ride r tr ial in g in th e 22-second bra cket wi th a 22.95, g iving h im the pole in th e Trophy Dash . The Dash became a bit o f a spec tacle. The track was wa tered a t interm ission giv ing th e su rface instabili ty. Mike G arrison shot o ff with the lead, follow ed hard by H ames, Rod Sulliva n and Mik e Inderb itzen , a ll of them ski dd ing arou nd a bit. Then Garriso n got off in an easy fall starti n g into turn four with H ames la ying it down to avoid him. The red lights ca me on , Sullivan slo wed and Inderbitzen beat him to th e finish flag so there wa s ampl e di scu ssion with o ffici a ls over who did or didn't win or sh ould th er e be a restart as Garrison and H ames were both up and ready 10 go. Restart it wa s; two, actually , when the starter was dissatisfied wi th the wa y th e troops got off th e lin e. Garrison again grabbed the lead in exactl y th e same start formation as first time out, and this time he fell in turn two. Hames went on for the win with Sullivan not 100 far behind in second. I'

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