Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Organizer Pat Owens (left) and AMA Pres ident Ed Youngblood address th e nearly 200 riders who took part in the Ted Boody Memorial Ride. Earl Bowlby fin ished second behind Jeff Yoder in the 800cc class at the Devil 's Staircase and in the f inal point standings. AMA National Championship Hillclimb Series: Final Round Titles decided at Devil's Staircase By Maxine Casey Photo by Debbie Sims OREGONIA, OH, OCT. 9 When th e day's competition ended a t Devil 's Staircase, Indiana 's J eff Yoder had both the day's 800cc class win and 30 the series ti tle to h is credit. In the 540cc class, it was Canad ian Greg Williams scoring th e day' s win, bu t runner-up T im Frazier of Ohio is th e rid er wh o 'll be carryin g the number o ne plat e in '89. H a rl ey-David son-mounted Yoder's seco nd blast up the five steps o f Devi l's Staircase wa s th e fast est of the da y at 5.998 seconds. Multi-time Na tional Champion Earl Bowlby and h is BSA logged the day 's seco n d fast est climb a t 6.14 seconds. Yoder had more th an h is fir st Nationa l Championship to sm ile abo ut as he an d his wife Gina were celebrating th e birth of th eir first child, daughter Brittany N ic hole who was born just three days befo re the final rou nd o f th e series which was promoted by th e Dayton M.C. Britta n y's b irth made veteran hillclimber Lou G erencer and wife Gail grandparents for the first time as well. Wi lliams held th e 540cc class lead at th e .end of th e fir st ro u n d, but Fra zier made a great ride in th e fin al ro und, ta king his BSA between the ti mi ng ligh ts in 6.43 seco nds. Wi lliams came back and rode h is ST P Special Honda ove r th e hill in 6.27 seco nds for th e class win. But Fra zier ha d a five-point lead co ming into the mee t a nd with o n ly one po int differe nce between a firs t and seco nd p lace finish, th e title a nd n u mber one plate belonged to Frazier. P e n n syl va ni an _ Jo h n Hisl op placed th ird in th e 540cc class with a 6.83-secon d cl im b aboard hi s BSA. T riumph-m ounted David H a le of Michigan finished fourt h and Massach use tts ri de r Pa ul P inson nault was fif th aboard a two -stro ke H onda. Fin ish in g th ird through fifth in th e 800cc'c1ass be hind winner Yode r an d ru n ne r-up Bowlby o f Ohio were H arl ey p ilots a nd Ohio residents Randy Gabriel a n d T om Reiser and In di ana 's Gerence r. Alt hough he didn 't score a win a ll seaso n, Bowlby finish ed seco nd in the point race for th e seco nd tim e. H e co ns isten t ly fin i shed hi gh enough in th e class to ea rn th e runner-up spot in th e series co m peti tio n. Yoder 's wi n ni ng poi nt total was 104 w h i le Bo wlb y h a d 93. G abriel finished third on the year with 91 points, w hi le Reiser a nd G eren cer each earned 87 points a nd had one win each so th e tie breaker was the number of second pl ace fin ishes each had sco re d a n d Geren cer had two to Reiser 's one. Gerencer thus finished fou rth on th e year while Reiser was fifth . In th e fin al point standi ngs of th e 540cc class, Fra zier ea rned th e ti tle with a total of 115 points while Williams was second with II I. Eq ua lly as close was the fight for thud th at went to Paul Pinsonnault with 96 points, four m o re than fourth place finisher Bruce Sweigart of Pen n sylva n ia. Results BOO: 1. J eff Yoder (H-D): 2. Earl Bowl by (BSA); 3. Randy Gabr ie' (H-D); 4. Tom Reis er (H-D); 5. Lou Gerencer (H·Dl; 6. Wade W ill iams (Han); 7. Jim Clar k (BSAl; B. Conley New some (Honl; 9. Robert Casteldine (H-D); 10 . David News ome (Tri). 540: 1. Greg Williams (Han): 2. Tim Frazier (BSA); 3. J ohn Hislop (BSAl; 4. David Hale (Tri): 5. Paul Pinsonnaun (Han): 6. Larry Licht (BSA); 7. Bruce Sweigart (Tri); 8. Ernie Pelli n (Hon); 9. Douglas Klont (Tr;); 10. Leon Everett (Tri). FINAL BOO POINT STANDINGS : 1. J eff Yoder (104); 2. Earl Bow lby (93); 3. Randy Gabr iel (9 1); 4. Lou Gerencer (B7): 5. Tom Reiser (B7); 6. Wade W illiams (77); 7. Ric k Hu nt er (61); B. Dav id Newsome (58): 9. Conley Newsome (50); 10. Steve Nafe (48). FINAL 540 POINT STANDINGS: I . Tim Frazier (I I 5): 2. Greg Wi lliams (I 11 ~ 3. Paul Pin sonn aun (97); 4. Br uce Swe igart (92); 5. Doug Klan. (65); 6. Ern ie Pellin (64); 7. Scan Everen (62); B. John Hislop (53 1 9. Doug Kreeger (48); 10. Ralp Kreeger ; (481. Boody Memorial.Ride in L.A. a success ~y Anne & Tom Van Beveren LOS AN GELES, CA, NOV. 6 T ed Boody - Kin g o f th e Pri vateers. L et 's keep th e memory alive. That was the message fro m frie nds a nd fans of -th e top-ra n ked d irt track' privateer as th ey ga the red a t H anson Dam for a Brit ish bike road ride, dual sport ride and fund ra ising ra ffle to h ono r th e mem ory o f thei r co m patrio t who lost h is life in a crash a t th e Asco t Half Mi le o n May 7. T he Sapu lpa, O kl ahoma , racer was a "12-yea r vetera n of Gra n d Na tional Championsh ip/ Ca m el Pro Series racing. Although he n ever wo n the Grand Nationa l Cham pi onship, he finis he d seco n d i n th e . sta ndi ngs twice, o nce in 1977, rid ing wit h th e Harley-David son fac tory tea m, an d again in 1985 as a privat eer. Boody's last win in Na tion al co mpetition was a t Asco t in Ma y, 1985. . Event orga n izer Pat O wen s sa id, " T ed was such a contrib u tor to th e sport of motorcycling, I though t it was fittin g for so meone to do th is." Mo torcycle enth usiasts from a ll over th e co u ntry obvio us ly agreed. Ma il-in ra ffle entries ca me fro m as far away as Ala bama a nd T exas, a lmost 200 ri ders took part in th e me moria l rides, an d m any o the rs rode to H ansen Dam j us t to spectat e an d pay tribute to Boody's memory. The industr y p itched in with so me hea vyweight su pport too. Am eri can H onda got th e ball ro ll ing by donat ing a n NX250 dua l purpose m ot orcycle for th e raffl e, a n d o the rs soon follow ed sui t - Suzu ki with a street legal FA50H, Yamaha with a TW200 dual sport bik e, and Kawasaki with a KL250 dua l sport b ike. Shoei, Bell , Ar a i an d Bieffe donated helmets for th e fund -raising effor t, a nd ca rs were . added to the lineu p of prizes by former dirt track sta r Eddie Mulder , who once held th e Na tional number 12 p lat e th at Boody ca rr ied a t th e time of h is death, a n d by L.A . Trad eT ech Eng lis h teache r G enevieve Meyer. T he day got off to a n early start for participants in the organ ized rides. Dual- sporters headed out as early as 7 a.m. for their 70-m ile tour of the Angeles Nationa l Forest , a nd the 75-m ile British road ride got underway soon after. " We had a great time riding, " said Yama ha XT500 p ilo t Roy Coe, who is a regu lar part ici pant in AMA/ District 37 d ua l sport events, "but I came mainly for the mem oria l side of it today. If it hadn't bee n for the Ted Boody Memoria l I would've stayed in bed this morning. It was all foggy a nd I was rea lly comfortab le, bu t it 's turned out to be a bea u tiful day for ridi ng. I thin k th e memorial wi ll become a n an nua l event a nd I wan ted to be h ere for th e firs t one." Terry Pratt go t th e best of both worlds by ri di ng th e dual sport co u rse on a 1970 T IOO T ri u m p h. C "Th is is th e first tim e I'v e ever been o n a dual sport ride - I usu all y do vintage m otocross," said Pra tt , " bu t this was th e kin d of ride th at T ri ump h had in mind wh en th ey bui lt this bik e. It's street legal but has a few li ttl e amen ities for o ff-road lik e fold in g foo tpegs a n d a h igh er exha us t p ipe. I had a lot o f fun toda y. It 's a lot different from motocross .:.... co mplete ly enjoyab le a nd rela xin g because you're goi ng at a pace where yo u ca n tak e in th e scenery. " Even AMA President Ed You ngblood was o n ha nd fo r th e' event , and was pleased to see so -m uch rid er invol vem ent. "Th is is th e ki nd o f thing th at m o torcycl in g ha s always survived on - organize d events like this keep th e motorcycle industry a live," he said. "Let's ge t th e motor.cycles ou t of the garage. " It's good to see a ll th e di fferent groups togeth er here, too. In th e last 10 years we've seen motorcycli ng ge t very fra gmented - th e H arley riders don' t ta lk to a ny body else, th e dirt riders don't talk to the stree t riders. Here, peop le o f d ifferent interests are ge tti n g to co me together an d meet o the r riders. We ar e learning th at we are not th a t far a part. We a ll have th e same co ncerns a nd the same in terests. The rides were ove r by 2 p.m. a nd a crowd ~thered a t Hansen Dam to hear a tribu te to Boody from orga nizer O wens a n d to wa it for th e drawing of th e raffl e. Bood y's wife T eri, hi s par ents a n d sisters were on hand as th e winn er s wer e a n nou nced , a nd big names in motorcycl in g like Edd ie Mul der, Ed Kret z a nd Skip Van Leuu wen co u ld be found a mong th e specta tors. Owen s was pl eased with th e support th e fund -raising effo rt received. " I esti mate th at with th e mail-in entries a nd the tickets th at were sold tod a y, we've ra ised in excess of $8000 for th e Ted Boody Mem orial Fu nd ," he sa id. ''I' m happy with it . but we're not done with the fund raiser yet. We have pins left over fro m the Boody ride and from th e Briti sh ride today and we will ma ke these avai la ble for a dona tion , so th e fu nd s wi ll co ntin ue to co me in. " We 're goi ng to make th is an a n n ua l event, too. I want th e first Su nday in November to become kn o wn as Motorcycle Sunday." H Johnson jets to Carlsbad MX win By Mike Koger CAR LSBAD , CA, NO V. 6 T eam H onda's top g u n Rick J ohnson made th i ngs look easy as he j cued to a I-I tall y to win the Pro class at the , Co m motio n by the Ocea n MX at Car lsbad Racew a y. T he Life's a Bea ch , Mi ll e r Beer , Crus h , P ro Circuit, Scott USA, Answer, Bo yesen -sponsored even t was p ut on by Racin g Enterprises a nd featured

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