Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

125 NOV: 1. Kris Croddy (KTM): 2. Tim Pett it (Hon): 3. Carl Schotte' (Hon). 80 NOV: 1. Frank Conway (Kaw). Cold weather, hot competition at CRCMX By Terry Rezek LANCASTER, C A, NOV. II Cold and blustery co n ditio ns in the high desert at California Racing Club's motocross at L.A, County Ra ceway set th e stage for today 's ra cing action . Robby H ammond returned . aft~r dazzling th e crowd at la st night s su percross to domina t. the Pee Wees, e taking both motos with ease. Hammond wa s ba ck in th e 60cc event, where his age keeps him in a class by " himself, much to th e relief of the other 60s . Jeff Willoh won the Intermediat e class a nd Brian Teets took the Novices, whil e Hammond was in th e under-Svyear-old class. Th e major battle in th e 80c~ race was between Experts Jody T apia a nd Bubba Erickson. Er ickson 's day wa s as gloomy as the weather .vln mo~o one he was abl e to squeeze Tapia hard enough th at T apia went o ff th e track several times but a lwa ys reentered a t th e place where he left . Erick son a lso left th e tra ck a nd wa s penalized one lap, cos ting him th e moto. Det ermined to m ake up for that error Erick son flew to a n immed iate lead in m ot o tw o a nd held it for m ost of the m oto . One a nd a half laps fro m victorv his chai n ca rne o ff a nd h e fini sh'e'd seco n d aga i n to T ap ia ' s double fir sts. Dane Broe sel put to gether a second a nd a firs t to win th e Stock Beg inn er class while R yan McAli ster took th e Modified Beg inner. Corning from a third p lace sta rt in rnoto o ne o f th e 125cc Beg inner class, Mike Pennick swoo ped past ea r ly leader s Kanard Lipscomb a nd Levin Noble to take th e win . Pennick hol eshot th e second mota a nd never looked ba ck. Li p scomb had so m e tough luck on th e table top jump and fell back , letting Torn Wil son take second a n d second o vera ll. N obl e had a no ther third. T he 125cc Nov ices had a n explo sive sta rt with Er ich Bro esel a n d Mike Crosby side -by-si d e fo r a half lap. Bro esel ~inall y ~u lled a wy a n d built up a n Impressive lead. Brock Suter had a poor sta rt but was clawing his way to th e front and soon snuck up o n Bro esel. Broesel was dogging it , thinkin g he had th e race in the bag, when he looked down to find Suter's front wheel in his a rm pit. With th at little in centive, Broesel lit th e fir e and held Suter a t ba y to take the fir st m ota . Bro esel won a three-w a y d rag race a t the start ~f m oro tw o a n d appeared to be on hIS way to a nother w in . S u ter was following him in a di stant second when Broesel went down for the first o f three times. Suter had no problem getting by th e fir st time and Broesel kept falling back , giving Suter th e overall win. The 125cc and Open Intermediates ran together, with the 125s sta rt ing first. Mike McCleneghan and Scott Murphy were first o ff t~e line and were joined by Gary Canvau before the end of the lap. McC leneghan he ld the lead for four laps but finally went too high on a very soft berm and fell through . Before he recovered, he was in fourth to stay and Murph y w~s leading. Carivau grabbed the lead m the next lap but also fell victim to a disappearing b~rm. Murphy.was ba ck . in the lead again. then Canvau, ~nd again, Murphy. When th e shufflll~g was over, Murphy had the moto wm and Carivau was second, Moto tw o i m m ed ia tely turned into another contest between Murphy and Carivau. They were pushing each other so hard that th ey sta rted to cl ose o n th e seco nd -row sta rt er s by the end of the th ird lap. Murphy was eit her better , luck ier, o r both, at p assin g th an was Ca riv au . Ever y time they ca me to a lapped rider , Murphy wou ld get by and Cari vau would lose a co upl e seco n ds looking for an o peni ng. A t one point, Murph y' s lu ck either ran o ut or Murph y' s law st ruck and a lapped rider went down, ta king Murph y with h im . Carivau shot p ast, but Murph y wa s up a nd cha rg ing. Carivau tried goin g through so me deep whoops sideways and 'Murp h y regai ned th e lead , the win , a nd th e o vera ll. The sta rt o f m oto one o f th e 250cc Beginner s wa s a drag race" between David Fr anco and Russell Clutter until th ey ran o u t o f room a nd Franco fell back to seventh . David Collombe m ov ed into seco nd a nd fini sh ed ther e behind Clutter. Clutter was barely ahead o f Steve Edwards at the beginning of moto two but went o ver m ore co rners than around th em and Edwards took th e lead. Clutter tri ed too hard to get it back and looped his bike ov er a jump. H e fin all y slid t.o a stop stra dd ling a Yu cca tree a nd being grateful h e wa sn 't going faste r.. Edwards went on for th e m o ta wm as Coll ombe m ov ed u p to second aga in . T hose two seconds were good enough for th e o vera ll win. Jay L ytell a nd Mer le H a m m er we re first th rough th e first t urn o f mota one of the 250cc Novices . Everyone els e d ecid ed to ru n arou nd o u t in th e desert for a while before going arou nd the tu rn. Lytell blew a co m mand ing lead wh en h e dropped h is bike in lap six. H ammer took th e lead a nd kept i t as L ytell go t stuc k behind a wi ld la pped r id er. It looked lik e H ammer a nd L yte ll were goi ng to repea t in the second m o to sta rt bu t J o hn G ersjes banza ied o u t o f the firs t turn to enjoy th e ea r ly lead . H a mmer first got by L ytell a nd then m ethodically reel ed in Gersjes, p assing him right a t the en d o f lap four to ta ke th e lea d, the m o ta , a nd the o ver all. J eff Mabery shot to a n immedia te lead in moto one of the 250cc Inter m ediates a nd had fi ve seconds o ver second pl ace Matt Nati on by the end of th e first full la p . With Maber y out of reach , J eff Black moved up to ch a llenge Nation. H e litera ll y bou nced past Nati on in t h~ tri p lej u mps in the middle o f la p ftve to run seco nd . Close to th e end of the race, Mabery's rear br ake a rm ca me o ff a nd h e was fo rced to reti re. A s u rp rised Black inh erited th e m ota win , wi th Doug All en working his wa y up to second. Although Mabery did not .reappea r for th e seco nd m ot a, it was no sim p ler. All en wa s just ahead o f Bla ck a t firs t, but Nation was in the lead a t th e en d o f th e fir st lap. Jim Ryder jumped into th e lead just o ne -ha lf lap lat er and All en m ov ed back up into second. Aft er three laps o f va lia nt effo rt, All en c u t d eep in sid e, took th e lea d o n lap six, and went o n for th e win and th e o vera ll. Bla ck spen t th e rest o f the race looking for a wa y a round · Ryder but never found it. His third in mota two, however, was good en ough for a second overall. The co m bined O pen Novi ces and . Beginner event was a lmost uneventful. Novice David Bagwell had no .problem putting everyo ne else far behind him in bo th motos for th e ov era ll. Tom Smith hooked to gether a second a nd a third to get seco n d . Mike Wright was th e most consistent of the Beginners, with a secon? and first earning him the overall wm . The Open Intermediates ran with th e 125s and were almost o bsc u red by the furiou s battle in that class. Art Oliver was the early leader in the first Eric M arno ch (1 4) an d Ken Za hrt go at it in the 250cc Pro class during CRC 's MX race at the L.A. County Ra ceway . m oto but when I looked ba ck agai n, Ra y G ibbs had th e lead.a t:tdkept it f~r th e win . G ibbs a n d Oliv ier wer e a t It agai n a t th e start o f m o to tw o. G ibbs tumbled back to midpack a nd Olivier led until m idrace w hen G reg g Blechman , w ho h ad fin ish ed th ird in m o to o ne, m o ved u p, oc cas iona lly cha llen ged , a n d fi.na lly sq ui.ru;d by Ol.ivier for th e wm . Bo th finish ed with ide n tica l sco res but Blechman 's bet ter seco nd m o ta ga ve h im th e wi n . All th e P ro s ra n togeth er , but Kenny Zahrt had the drag bike, popping from th e m iddl e o f th e start line a n d h itt in g th e fir st turn ya rds a head o f th e o thers . Eric Marnoch was ri ght beh ind h im , th en th e 125 leader , Mike Kiedrowsk i. Ron Lewis a nd Tim H anna topped the O pen class. By th e end o f lap o ne, Kiedrowski' s Answer Kawasaki wa s right o n th e tail o f Zahrr 's A XO H onda , and Kiedrowski was really p us h ing . Within two la ps, th ey wer e a p p ro ach i ng slo wer rid er s a nd Kied rowski push ed Zahrt into a p ock et behind a lapped r ide r r ight a t th e start o f lap three. Kiedrowski j u m ped into th e o verall a nd 125 lead, leaving Zahrt 'the 250. After leading th e O pens for eig h t laps , L ewis sli p ped a bit in th e sa nd a.nd H anna slip ped past. That set th e fin ish in g order; Kiedrowski to ok th e I 25cc class a nd th e m o to win , Zahrt got th e 250cc win , and H anna hung o n for the Open. Marnoch got th e h ol eshot in m o to tw o with Zahrt o n his back in fifth . Mark Nation smoked th e Opens a nd led th em o ff th e line. Lewis was runn in g third and H ann a wa s a lmost last. Aft er two tight laps o f position jockeyi ng, Zahrt hung o n th e o u tsi de o f th e tabletop j u m p a nd took .th e lead from Marnoch. It took Kiedrowski to m ore laps to d o th e sa me to Zahrt but d o it he did and had the o ver ail lead o nce more. Meanwhile, back a t th e ranch , H anna was pi cking o ff riders and finall y got th e lead. From there on it was a repla y of moto one a nd finished the same way; Kiedro ws ki first o vera ll and first 125, Zahrt firs t 250, and H anna fir st Open . Res ults PEE WEE 50 : 1. Robby Hammond (Yam); 2. Jerry Aleman (Yam): 3. Tony Catalde (Yam). 60 O-S YRS: 1. Robby Hammond (Kaw ). 60 NOV: 1. Srian Teets (Kaw) ; 2. Joe Hicks Jr . (Kawl; 3. Johnny Chamberlin (Kawl. 60 INT: t . Jeff Willoh (Kaw). SOSTK SEG: 1. Da ne Sroesel (Kaw) ; 2. Jeff Ratzloff (Hon); 3. Joey Curti s (Kaw). 80 STK EX: 1. Jody Tapia (Kaw): 2. Subba Erickson (Kaw) . 80 MO D SEG: 1. Ryan MeAlister (Kaw ). 125 BEG: t . Mike Penn ick (Kaw) ; 2. Tom W ilson (Hon); 3. Levi Noble (Yam). 12S NOV: 1. Br ock Su ter (Hon); 2. Jeffrey Oinkin (S uz); 3 . Mike Crosby (Kawt. . 125 INT: 1. Scon Murphy (Kaw); 2. Ga ry cenvau (Kaw); 3. Mike McCl enagha n (Suz). 125 PRO: 1. M ike Kiedrowski (Kaw); 2. Randy Johnson (Kaw ). 250 SEG: t . David Collombe (Hon); 2. Steve Edwards (Suzl; 3. Dav id Stahaski (Hon). 250 NOV : 1. M erle Hamm er (Su z); 2. J ay l yte ll (Kaw ): 3. John Gersjes (Kaw ). 250 INT: 1. Doug Allen (Yam): 2. Jeff Slack(Hon ); 3. J im Ryder (Hon). 250 PRO: r . Ken Zahrt (Hon); 2. J im Send elbac h (Suz); 3 . Eric Marnoch (Hon ). 500 SEG: t. Mi ke W r ight (Kaw ); 2. Kell ey Wad e (Hon); 3. Rob Pankratz (Hon). " 500 NOV: 1. David BagweIl IHon); 2. Tom Sm ith (Yam); 3 . J oh n Adams (Hon) . 500 INT: 1. Gregg Slec hma n tAXO): 2. Art Ohvier (Hon); 3. Russell Garcia (Yam). 500 PRO: 1. Tim Hanna (Kaw); 2. Mark Nation (KTM); 3. Ron Lew is (Hon). " WOMEN : 1. Tina Zahrt (Hon); 2. Kelly Hafh,lI . VET JR : 1. Fred Wachter (KTM); 2. Andy Gr een (Yam) ; 3. M ick Mistretta (Suzl . VET INT: r . Joh n Hard (KTM); 2. Robert Cooke (Ho n); 3 . Tommy Pearl (Hon) . VET EX: 1. KenZahrt(Hon): 2. Ron Gibson ; 3. Ken MeAhster (KTM). Word, Harsha, Horban hot at ExpoST By Clay Light MEDFORD , OR, NOV. 9 AMA Expert flat trackers Ri ch Word , J effrey H arsha and Ro bert Horban took top honors a t th e Southern Oregon MOlOrcycle Club (SO MA) indoor short track 'a t th e Medford Ex po Pa rk in Com p to n Arena in the o n ly sched uled shan tra ck at th e facil it y fo r th e 1985-86 season . Word won th e 125cc A m ain, w h i le the 250cc A a n d P ro money m ain eve nts went to Harsha. H orban thumped to the O pen A m ain event win o n hi s 500 Ro tax a nd wa s second to a se ns a tio na l H a rsha in th e P ro m oney rnam . Word ca me from wa y back on an XR 200 Honda to nab Kawasaki pilot Ri ck Beck to top th e I 25cc h eat race, with third going to Wayne Frampton wh o put in a n incr edible perforr'n ance on a n RM 80 Suzuki. Harsha (P a u ls Sport Center ) to ok ca re o f th e 250cc Sportsman a n d Pro money preliminaries, battling with Mayfield Enterp r ises-spons ored H orban a nd Word for sta rt i ng positions in the P ro money, six-lap h eat that also took SteveCroucher.Tunior Pro Bob 23 _

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