Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.. ada- Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-WashingtonIdaho-Utah-A laska-Canada-~orthern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Ut Polit o, LeBlanc deadlock at Cycleland finish By Randy Scott CH IC O. CA. MAY 2 1 Ri ck LeBlanc got himself off of the line first and into a comfortabl e position - first - at th e beginning of Cycleland Speedway's 250cc junior class. Tom Po li to was wor ki ng th rough traffi c a nd clo sing fast. As th e race matured. Pol ito mo ved in close to LeBlan c and trie d a mov e around th e outside in turn four on th e last lap. It was a neck ' n neck race up the grandstand stra ight to mak e a ph oto finis h a nd a tie. Fred Waybright finished third . Clint Ball en ger go t hi s pick of th e start ing positions for the 250cc Novi ce ma in a nd used it to g ra b th e sta rt . H e led to th e fla g over Mike Fudge a nd Dean Cl ark, who had to work up fro m the rear of the pack. Mik e Gresh a m set the fas t pace in the Expe rt main whi le Dal e Hanson wor ked tra ffic well a nd mov ed into second pl ace. Two laps later . Hanson slipped underneath and went on for the win. Da ve Walden . Mike Cagle and Scott Rose filled o ut th e top five. KTM-mounted Brad Sanders took th e 500cc Nov ice main. whi le Dal e Hanson led start to finis h in the 500cc junior/Expert class . Ricky Moore finished up beh ind Han so n an d took the 500cc Han dicap . Results 250 NOV: 1. Clint Ballanger; 2 . Mike Fudge: 3. Dea n Clark. 250 JR : 1. Tom Polito; 2. Ricky LoBlonc; 3 . Fred Woybright. 250 EX: 1. Dale Han son ; 2. M ichae l Gresham; 3 . Dav id Walden. 1 25 ·200: 1. Don Foldho us. BD NOV/JR: 1. Stoven Hillior (Novl/ Dovid Gre shom (J r l. 500 NOV : 1. Brad Sanders. 500 JR /EX: 1. Dole Honson (Ex)/Ricky Moore (Jr) . PEE·WEE : 1. Jo son Sm ith ; 2. Chod Smith. 250 H.C. 1. M iko Fudgo ; 2. Scott Ruse; 3 . Rondy Blonkenship. 500 H.C.: 1. Brod Sonders. York cleans up at Spillwa y By Jim Pluhar SANTA MARIA , CA. MAY 22 Motorcycles roared at the CMCsanctioned Spillway motocross last Sunday and Todd York was the lion of the Mini Intermediate class. taking a convincing win. Dallen McKenney held on for second place. In the Mini J union. Brad Beaman. Freddy Phillips and Sean Mellick put on a fine show. going 1-2-3. The 125cc Pros were topped by Terry Hampton. fo llo wed by Jim Keese. In the I25cc Intermediate class . first place was captured by Gary Riekki. Tony Toste and Jeff Sills finish ed second and third. The I25cc Juniors put on an excitin g race. as usual. with the top three honors garnered by Troy Pryor. Alan Pierce and Brad Toms. Tony Seibert won the 250cc Junior class, followed by Anthony Amaro. The Open Junior class went to Dennis Stubblefield with Lee johnson fin ishing second and Jon Cegliero third. In the final race of the day. the 250cc Intermediate win went to Mike Pr yor with Randy T ittlemier second. Tim Worth was the class of the 250/0pen Pros. Harpham blazes t o Bitch Gully win By Steve Hammer VALE, OR, MAY 15 Idaho r ide r Curt Harpha m pow ered his 490 Mai co to the overall win in the annual Bitch Gully 100desertrace,sponsored by the Sn ake River Mo tor cycle Association. H arp ha m successfully held ?ff a sc;a of screami ng 250s which finished second, thi rd , fou rt h and fift h overall in the twisty terrain. To p runners over th e bomb hill incl uded Curt Harpham , Brad T urn id ge, H oward Pi ck ett an d Cli nt Steph an . Immediately two factors surfaced; it was horrendously dusty, a nd th e tigh t landscaqe put th e 250s in th e driver's seat. About 10 mil es out, th e co urse dropped int o th e first " Bitch Gull y," a deep tren ch wi th endless curves a nd a single trail in th e bo tto m. Even a fast rider is usu all y in first or second gea r in one o f these babies. The first gully lasted about two m iles and th e leadi ng pack stayed bunch ed together desp ite th e d ust. Shortly, racers entered th e second g u lly, even tight er a nd longer than the first. So tig h t, in fact, th at a few riders ac tually suffered fro m motion sickness a nd had to slow dow n. Comi ng in off the first lap, Stepha n and Ha rp ham were very close . Stephan's performance was especially im pressive, since he was riding a 1981 250 KT M which. although surprisingly fast. certai nly looked as if it had seen better da ys. just a sho rt distan ce behind th e speeding du o. came T urnidge, a nd Pickett. Also movin g up q uickly we re Bill Dowers . R eed Bright. Bob Carlberg and Bob Na nco las. Ron Wehr was ab sol ut ely disa ppea ri ng fro m th e Novice ra nks after a gr eat start. Harpham and Stephan began to pull away from the pa ck as th e second lap progressed , but behind the lead ers. th e battle continued. Toward th e end of the second 32-mile lap, a terrible mud hole began to develop. By th e time the Novices reached it , th e hole had become bottomless, and a few riders sank into the mess, surrounded by dry, dusty terrain! Th inking quickl y, th e club routed riders around th e hole, and prevented a bottleneck. Starting th e third and final lap. Stephan held a slim lead over H arpha m, with Pickett th ird and Carlberg fourth . Dale Demaris had moved up to fifth with som e sano riding. About five miles out, Harpham forced his way past Stephan on an uphill , and although Stephan grimly hung on, he couldn't getthe lead back, a nd Harpham took the win. Dan Huskey inherited the Novice star position wh en Ron Wehr broke his wr ist in a fall and was forced to retire. Results OVERALL: 1. Curt Horphom (Moi); 2. Clint Sephon (KTM); 3 . Howord Pickett (Yom); 4 . Bob Corlberg (Hus); 5. Dole Demoris(Hul); 6 . Bill Dowers (Hus); 7 . Bob Noncolos (Hon); B. Kevin Bi.. (Hus); 9 . Roed Bright (KTM); 10. Bred Tumidge (KTM) . MINI NOV : 1. Bruce Zoon (Kow); 2. Brion Rush (Yomt 3 . Todd Choves (Kow). MINI EX: 1. Troy Lonkford (ltow). 125 NOV; 1. Den Huokey (Suz); 2. Oon Moude (Yomt 3 . Richord LoI..lle (Han). 125 EX: 1. Mike Kelly (Hon); 2. Willis Toylor (Kow); 3. Jeff MUler (Hon). 200 NOV : 1. Jon Dix (Kow) ; 2. Jerry J ohnson (Vom t 3. J im LoForge (Kow). 200 EX: 1. Joe McCormick (Suz); 2. Chuck Wolis (Kow); 3 . Jock Struthers (Kow). 250 NOV : 1. Rick Stoolmon (Yom)' 2. Rich Frorichs (KTM t 3 . Molcolm M illor (HuS).· 250 EX: 1. Clint Stophon (KTM ); 2. Howord Pick · ett (Yom); 3 . Bob Corlberg (Hus). OPEN NOV : 1. Tim Englesby (Yom); 2. Lnoce Englesby (yom); 3 . Doug Sm ith (Yom). OPEN EX: 1. Curt Horphom (M oi); 2. Bill Dowers Chris St ew ard (7) and D w ay ne Chung dice in the Sears Point F-2 race. (Hus); 3 . Reed Br igh t (KTM). SR NOV(30·39); t , Torry Piorson (Hus); 2. Richord Welch (Husl; 3. Ken Boyle (Kow) . SR EX (30 ·3 9): r . Rick McUne (Hus); 2. Lorry Meredith (M oi); 3. Don A ldridg o (Yaml . VET NOV (4 0 -4 9): 1. Deon Hu skey (Suz); 2. Phil W eh r (Yam) ; 3 . Dave Riker (Hu s). VET EX (40-4 9): 1. Gory Gro hmon (Vom); 2. Art POindexte r (Hus) . OT (ISO-UP): 1. Cli ft Brecht (Yam). FOUR·STROKE : 1. Glon Ba"'er (Yom); 2. Gorry Baxter (Yam). W OM EN: 1. Rond o LosseUe (Honl; 2. Ann Fisk (Yom). Klinzmann cashes in at Sears Point By Frank Nellis Photo by Bobby Brannon SO NO MA. CA. MAY 22 Sears Point International Raceway hosted a motorcycle road race as part of the NASCAR Winston West 200 automobile raci ng event. The classes were Formula I (any thing over 500cc), Formula II (AMA rules) and Open Modifi ed Production (AFM rules ov er 600cc). A repaved turn II and lots of rubber laid down by the NASCAR boys made for impossibl e lean angles and speeds th at entered the realm of ridiculous. . The Formula I event attracted so me of the best racers in Californ ia , including H arry Klinzmann, Carry An drews, Kerry Bryant. Frank Mazur a nd John Robertson. At th e sta r t, Bryant. on a SuperTrapp/Shoei 1190 Katana. led th e drag race to turn seven . He was followed by Klinz mann and Andrews. Bryant missed hi s braking mark, allowing Klin zmann to slip underneath him. Once Klinzmann gOI by Bryant, he im mediately ran away from the pa ck. Klinzmann said later, " Ron Pierce taught me never to look back ." After two la ps, he wouldn't have seen anyon e even if he did look back as the Ra ce Crafters, Moriwaki Champion spo nsored rider was turning lap times tha t were faster than many of th e NASCAR racers. Meanwhile, Bryant had his hands full with Andrews, who was riding a Hypercycle/Lockhart/Mitchell Equipment-sponsored Kawasaki. The IWO battled all the way to the checkered flag. Andrews passed Bryant in a lat e-braking move in turn II. setting up a drag race to th e checkered. Bryant had a lillie more horsepower. but Andrews was abl e to hold him off to tak e second place. In the Formula II race Dwa ne Chung was-the favo ri te, but T racy DeMuro took th e hol esh ot on his Bassani/Hang 2-sponsored RD400. At th e end of the fir st lap, Chung crossed start/fi nis h fir st foll owed by Chr~ s Steward o n hi s APA T ruc kingl Arar / Kal-Gard TZ250. O n the third la p Chung dropped off the pace a nd the n pulled off with fuel pro blem s. With Chung o ut, Steward found him self alone in the lead; DeMur o was safely in second with no chance to catc h Steward. Meanwhile in th e battle for third, Brian Vilseth's air-cooled mac hine bega n to fad e, allowing Lo u Vallerga to squeeze by a nd Ra y Carson to ca tch up. Wh en th e white flag came o ut , th e trio wa s separated by two bik elen gths. As they en tered turn II . Vallerga took a classic li ne, wh ile Carson went outside a nd T ilseth went insi de. They rode through the turn three a breast. Tilseth th en drove Vallerga wide forcing Carson to sh ut off. Vallerga powered past T ilseth, who dropped into Vallerga's draft to tak e fourth with Carson fifth . The hottest battle of th e da y occurred during the Open Modified Product~on race. At th e flag Mike Kauzlarich took hi s big Suzu ki into th e lead, wi th Bernd Koegler . Dave Garoute and john Williams not far behind. Koegler and Kauzlarich soon drew a wa y. Koegl er, on a n Interceptor. had an edge in handl in g and braking, while Kauzlar ich had th e po~er on th e stra ight. At th e halfwa y pomt, Koegler made his move. H e held off braking for tum seven until the last possible moment. Kauzlarich tried the sa me th ing, bu t he wa s unable to haul do wn hi s heavier ma ch ine as quickl v, Koegler was into the turn first a nd began to ml?veaway fro m Kauzarich , but the parr soon got to th e long straight, and the Honda. with no draft to ride in. was eaten al ive by th e powerful Suzuki. Wh en they entered tum seven again, however, Koegler was able to get around Kauzlarich. This time wh en they got to the straight. Koegler was able to make it stick a nd kept his lead to the checkered flag. , Results FORMULA I; 1. Horry K1inzmonn (Kow); 2. Corry Andrew (Yom); 3 . Kerry Bryont(Suz); 4. Lee Fleming (Kew); 5 . Ber nd Koegler (Han); 6. Rich Oliver (Kow); 7 . John Robertson (Hon); 8 . Ed Woo (Vom); 9 . Oovid Long (Suz); 10. Oovid Edwords (Suzl . FORMULA II: 1. Chr is Stoword (Yom); 2. Trocy DoMuro (Yom); 3. Lou Vellergo (Yomt 4 . Brion Til· soth (Yom); 5. Roy Corson (Yom); 6. Tom Sero (Yom); 7 . Jay Tanner (Yam); 8. James Stephens (Yem); 9 . Corl Foster (Rotox); 10 . Kevin Gordner (Ar m). OPEN MOD PROD: 1. Bernd Koegler (Hon t 2. M iko Ko,uzlorich (Suz): 3 . Dove Goroute (Hon ); 4 . John W li lioms ( Kow~ 5. Scott M itchell (Kow~ 6 . Kerry Bryont (Han); 7. Kevin Oolon (Kow~ 8 . Steve Ledwith (Hon ); 9 . Nick Nicholson (Hont 10 . Elmer Riddle (Yom). - -41

• Cover