Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126844
a: w :2 ...J ~ ~ ~ ... ;z >- a:l V> ... 0 0 ::t: Q. l.!J 00 0") ..~ 0 C(") .... v ..0 0 -' u 0 (A bove) Greg Zitterkopf grabs the holeshot at the sta rt of the first 500cc sem i. He w on the mota as well as the final. (Bel ow) Billy Frank (73) leads Jim Holley early in the 250cc main . Frank eventually finished second in the 20-lap final. of th e Trans-Ca l series and wa s held a t Ascot Pa rk in G arden a, Ca lifo rnia. H oll ey, who spe nt a ll day p rior to th e s upe rcross a t Ca r ls ba d Ra cewa y (Ca rlsbad. Ca li fornia ) pra cticing for next week 's Superbikers race, easily won to night 's 250cc sem i, but had to cla w a nd scra tch h is way into the lead in the fin al a fter dici ng wi th Ya maha pilot Billy Frank. Kawasaki rider Robert Naugh ton won a thrilling l25cc fin al despite ha ving a midpack start. H on da rider Shaun Kalas looked to have the wi n in the bag, but fell fo ur la ps from th e fini sh and settled for second. The top five riders in thi s rac e crossed the chec kered nag withi n a bikelength o f eac h other. In the 500cc class, Honda rider Greg Zitter kopf cla imed hi s seco nd su percross win in a row , fin ish ing less than a bi keleng th a hea d of Kaw asaki -mo unted Ph il La rson. T he raci ng for mat was the sa me as la st week's Mad er a Fa irg rounds Supercross: two semis, one co nsola ti on a n d o ne 20-la p fin al in each Pro class. Semis CMC/SJlOIIllIGndit LtuJ~ Libert~ Trans-Cal Series: Round 6 Rolle~ tames Ascot Super-cross By Kit Palmer GA R DENA, CA, ocr. 19 Two weeks after winning the Rodil Cup Supercross in Spain, Yamaha-mounted Jim Holley made his first ap pearan ce a t Contin ental Motospor t Club 's, Skoal Bandi t-spon10 sored Lady Liberty Trans- Cal Series a n d ca p tured the 250cc I class win. The event was th e second and Iinalsupercross race The first semi o f the n ight was the fir st of two in th e 250cc class. J oe Wrigh t (H on) capt ured the ho leshot and was closely followed by Ra y Somm o (Kaw).Cagiva's Ron Tumerand Holley. Ho lley fo un d a way arou nd Turner on the thi rd la p a nd passed Sommo a lap lat er. Sho rt ly afterwards, Holley reeled in Sorn rno , took a n o utside lin e throug h a tu rn a n d bli tzed into th e lead. From th en on , Ho llev ex tended hi s lead a nd went o n to ta ke th e win . Sommo held o n to seco n d , while Turner cruised by Wrigh t to claim third. S uzu ki rid er J eff Sills jumped into the early lead in the seco nd semi, but wa s passed by J oh n Ortner a nd H on da rid er Damon Webb (Yam) d u ring th e first la p. Eventua lly, Sills d ro pped back o u t o f the top 10, wh il e Ortner a nd Webb di ced for th e lead. T he bailie la sted for five la ps, th en Webb slip ped by Ortner. Frank jo ined in o n the ac tio n short ly a fter and adva nced to second after passi ng Ortner two la ps la ter. As th e race neared th e end , Fran k sta lked Webb a n d laid him a wa y o n th e last la p . At th e fin ish it wa s Frank, Web b, Suzuki rider Terry T in ney, Mik e Fish er (H o n ) and Ortner. Hon da rider and series po ints leader Will y Simons roosted to the front of the pa ck a t the start of th e first 500cc Pro sem i bu t was closel y pursued by Yam aha-m ounted Gordon Ward , All en Berlu ti (M-S) a nd La rso n. Larson had tak en over third by the seco nd lap and was quickl y closing gro u nd o n Ward. On th e fifth lap, Larson found a n open ing a nd sho t past Wa rd and did the same to Sim ons a few turns la ter. La rso n built h is lead to a com forta ble margin by th e time th e checkered flag appeared . Second went to Sim ons, followed by Ward a nd H onda rider Brian Man ley. Yama ha- armed Jimmy Ellis nailed the ga te perfectl y a nd sh o t to the front of the pack a t the sta rt of the seco n d semi . But lu rk in g a few bikelengths behind were Turner and Zitterkopf, Ziuerkopf was the first to make a move by passi ng Turn er, the n he set after the leader Ellis. By th e third la p , the lead was Zitt erkopf's. H e qu ickly ex ten ded h is lead to a n u ntoucha ble d istan ce, while Ell is held on to second, de spi te bein g hea vil y pressured by Husq varna's Micky Dymond, wh o h a d p a ssed Tu rner thro ug h th e w hoops earli er in th e race . Zitt erkopf eas ily wo n th e moto, whi le Dymond made a last-la p pa ss o n Elli s for second. Yam aha 's Eddie Hi cks th orou ghl y dom ina ted th e first l25cc semi by .Ieading fro m start to fin ish . G reg Vowe ll (Kaw), Ricky Ryan (Kaw) a nd Suzuki 's Bobby Moore fough t tooth -and-nai l for the secon d-place posi tio n. Moore d isp laced Rya n during th e fourt h la p th en blew by Vowell o n the next go -arou nd. By th is time, H icks was so far go ne that th ere was no cha nce a t Moore catchin g the lead er. After a poor _sta rt, Naughton work ed hi s way up through th e pack, a nd after passing Vowell at the midw ay point, the Kawasaki rider start ed ga in ing grou nd o n Moore but co u ld n' t advance. At the finis h, it was Hicks wa y out in front with Moore fini sh in g in seco n d o n ly a few feet a hea d o f Naughton. Sem i two fea tured one of the best dogfights o f th e even ing betw een Ed Arnet a nd Kalos, bo th mou nt ed o n Ho ndas. Arn et gra bbed the hol esho t wit h Kal os in ches behind. T he two ri ders sta yed th is cl ose fo r the next four la ps befor e Arn et lo st traction exitin g a turn letting Kal os slip by. Bu t Arn et wasn ' t a bo u t to give u p . H e sett led down a nd bega n pressuring Ka los for the lead. Man y tim es the two were side- by-side th rough th e wh oops, but Kalos held o n to his slim lead. It wasn 't until three la ps fro m the fin ish th a t Arn et found the hot