Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Gary Jones (2 5) leads Rex Staten (1 R) and Danny LaPorte (193) atthe sta rt of t he Vet Pro class. David Lynch (131) got the jump on Ken Erb (E27)·and John A nderso n (3 3 ) in the Over 25 Intermediate class. but Erb got by for the w in. Fun for old and not so old guys at Vet Championship MX By Nate Rauba Photos by Kinney Jones and Rauba PERRIS, CA NOV. 6 I fel t kin d of fu nny sitting there on the line, waiti n g for the first m o ta to start at the White Bros. World Veteran Cham pion sh ip s at Perris R aceway. O n ly 25 years of age and a veteran? Well, I have been racing for 10 years now but di k ibbi 'II my e itor ept n mg me a week abou t that one. " I though t you had to be a t least 30 to ride the Vet class," he kept sayi ng. "I can ' t believe it , they keep lowering th e age every year. " And the Vet classes keep growing every yea r, too . It 's a class that's growing so quick ly that the White Bro s., T om (a vet racer himself) a nd Dan , decid ed that th e veterans needed a specia l, cl as sy eve nt just for themselves . "There's no t much for people in th e veter an age group," sa id 3l- yearol d 1982 250cc MX World Champion Danny LaPo~ te , wh o was o n hand to com pe te in th e Vet Pro class . " We' ve been negle cted. " But more people will take no te as the class con tin ues to grow and th ey realize that th e vets com prise a big place in th e motorcycle marketpl ace. For it is the o lder vet riders wh o can often most afford th e new bikes a nd gear to go with it. But not everybody was on new ma chinery. There were a few , like the guy unloading th e new H ondas wi th th e tags still dangling from the clutch levers, but it seem ed like a lot of riders were satisfied to compete with year-old or older bikes. The White Bros. were afra id that th ey wouldn't get a large turnout, esp ecially with several other big local events taking p lace simultaneously in the same region. Even . th e track owner didn't give them much hope, said Tom Wh ite , when he said they'd be Iucky to get 150 riders. "We made a bet ," Tom said between his Vet Expert class motos. · " Fo r every entry over 200 he 'd pay me one do llar, and for everyone under 200 I'd pay him a do llar. " T om White was the winner and rak ed in nearly 150 bucks since there were close to 350 entrants posted. White added an extra $100 to th e Vet Pro cla ss purse and figured he'd use the rest for dinner. And it was good to know there on the line th at I was in the first division o f the second-largest class of th e day , the Over 25 Novices. Only th e Vet (30-40 year-a ids) Novice Class had a few more entries at 60. Although I may have been one o f th e you ngest riders th ere, I felt, and I'm sure many others also, like I was . much older after two motos on a very rough and demanding Perris course. But altho ugh sore and a little battered, I had a lot of fun , j ust li ke practicall y everyo ne else there. In fact, som e guys in th e Vintage class es had so much fun that they didn 't even make any fuss about being disqualified for havi ng bikes th at were a little too new . Charley Starr went 2-1 in th e Vintage Novice cla ss, but he didn't - mind handing the overall win to J ohn Boote when he was disqua lified because his Kawasaki didn 't meet the rules. " I haven 't raced in a few years and I just turned 30 so I'm just happy to be out here a nd don't care that I was di squalified because I had so much fun and .. ." Starr went o n and on, his enth usia m sho wi ng in hi s sm ile. Perhaps the rider who had th e most fun o f a ll was 34-year-o ld Rex Sta ten , since he won the Vet P ro class and ended up being paid $300 for h is day of fu n. Sunwest Yamaha/Yam aha Intern ati omi l/Bel l/Gear R a cew earspo nsored Staten began his da y with the holeshot in th e fir st Vet Pro mota. Warren Reid was right beh ind un ti l Mark Whi te did a gi ant swa p per .a nd took Reid's front end o u t. La Porte started fourth and worked his way to second o n th e first lap. But Staten was a lready a few seconds clear o f th e pack and wo uld stretch hi s margin over LaPorte to more than five seconds at th e finish. Gary Jones put on a hard charge to mov e into third just past th e halfway point of th e eigh t-lap mo ta , whi le Reid ca me ba ck from last to claim fifth behind Clark Jones. Gary J ones put his ATK out front to start moto two followed by Clark Jones, Staten and LaPorte . T he four riders stayed in a tight group for most of the first lap u ntil Jones fell. Sta ten had moved into the lead by lap two with LaPorte following him around Clark Jones, and th e two riders quickly moved away. As Staten and LaPorte waged their ba ttle for first , 125cc World Champion J ea n-Michel Bayle, ridi ng .on exhibition status.creeped up behind and mixed it up with 'the two for the specta tors. LaPorte stayed right with Staten until th e halfw ay po i n t o f the shorte ned race, then Bayle slipped by a nd La Porte backed off th e pace. " I wanted to pass Staten, but my arms pumped up so bad a n d I cou ldn' t," said LaPorte. " Re x isn 't easy to get arou nd, ei the r." Ba yle found that ou t as he rod e in Sta ten's wh eel tracks for a while before Sta ten let him go. " I heard him on my tail," said Staten, " b u t I was n't going to let him by. O ne time 'I slowed way u p in a corner and he hit me ; there're tire marks a ll over the swingarm." Staten was able to cruise to the official win a few seconds ahead of La Porte. Mark Wh ite spent m uch of the race inthird while Gary Jones passed Clark Jones on the last lap . for fourth and thi rd overa ll. Despite the presence of Bayle, neither LaPorte nor Sta ten were upset that he was rac ing with them. "He pushed both of us," sai d LaP orte. " It he lped to p ut on a show." " I didn't worry, I knew he was there a nd I just tried to hold him off ," Staten said. "I got used to it." Rod Richardso n took th e lead on the firs t lap and held it all the way to tak e th e first Vet Expert class moto. J on Mill er rode a lonely second whil e Kinney J o nes tir ed and was passed for third by Greg Winters late in th e race. Mota two was a ra ce-long du el between Miller a n d R icha rd son. Miller took th e lead on th e first la p but Ri ch ardson stayed with him for a lap , dropped back sligh tly then moved in at th e end. Mill er held him off for the win. Winters took th ird again while Kirt Goldie, ass isted by Over 25 Expert class winner Willy Musgrave, held off a late charge from Jones for fourth. The Old Timers MX Cl ub was also a .pa rt of th e White Bros. sho w, and Kurt Sofka led the first Amateur class moto from start ' to finish. Sam English spent th e entire mota in second a nd a t one po int came under fire from Ga le "MX Mom" Webb until Webb tired and backed off the pa ce. Engl ish controlled mota two as Britt Wu est moved around Sofka for second. All three riders crossed the fini sh line very close and in the sam e order, but Wu est wasn't officially sco re d since h e was still bein g initiated as a new member. So Sofka go t seco nd a nd second overa ll behind English while Webb rode to a nother third a nd th e sam e overall . Steve Gordon jumped out in front of th e Vet Nov ice Division III class and led Mark Thomas for half the race. That's wh en Gordon crashed a nd dr opped back in th e pa ck, giving Thomas the lead which he would keep to the finish. J ohn Ritchie held second u n til th e last turn whe n Jim Stentz set him up a nd mad e the pass. Gordon grabb ed the hol eshot again in moto two b ut was passed on the first lap by Steve Vincze. Vin cze led for a lap before he fell off the pace, th en Stentz moved up to tak e the lead and eventual win. T im Mink passed Gordon la te in the

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