Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'~~~!~~n~DazeViniageMotocross Thurston County ORV Park 250cc heat win s, but the mother of all qualifier s came in th e Open class, which featured ' a tough b attle between Gran t and Murphy. At th e end Murphy narrowly e d ge d Gr a n t. Northw es t M a ic o /CZ rid e r s Ron Po meroy and Greg Blazek spent the en tire race deciding the o u tcome of hea t tw o, a spot which went Pom er oy's way by a wheel. " I h a ve to fe el p retty good abo ut winn in g that one," Pomer oy said. "It's only the seco nd tim e I've eve r ridden a ' CZ in m y lifetime." In 30+ qu ali fyin g Nyblod top ped the fir st h e at o n a 1974 Ya maha YZ 250, whil e Hond a-mo unted M ickey Fa y, wh o pro v ed to be an ex ce p tional m ot ocro sser, w on h eat 'two. Hart won , th e third and final heat race. The firs t in a series of 22 m ain eve nts was the 125 cc A fin a l. N ybl od ' s CR refused to run on th e starting line, giv,ing Hart what ap pea red to be an uncontested win. Hart, th ou gh , go t a su rprise from Honda rid er Jeff Pugh, who wa s a strong challenger and on se veral occas io ns led th e r ace . H art, h owe ver, pulled aw ay la te in the race . LaF aye McCarver picked up third. Larson pulled ou t a lea d when th e 250cc A final was unleashed, putting on a g re at show which inclu ded amazin g air over some of th e bigger jumps. Quite By Clay Light ' MCCLEARY WA, JUNE 1 , a shington rid ers Bu ck Murph y a n d Doug , Grant re li ved the glory days of the 1970s after , scoring impressive wins at th e 12th an nu al Dina Da ze Vin tage Mo tocross, Murphy, a former m ember of the Pento n and Can-Am powerhou ses, was th e big winner, takin g hom e top brass in the elite Open A final, as well as adding the Dina Daze Champions Perpetual Trophy to h is co llection a fter picking u p the Northwest version of th e Past Masters w in over last year's wi nner, Grant. Bu t fo rmer AJS / Bul ta co teamster Grant d id n't go away em pty handed, co llecting a w in in the 40+ A final aboard h is trusty AJS, O the r stars of th e 70s on hand w er e the Pomeroy b rother s, Ron and Jim , both of w ho m made the Bultaco mar qu e so pop ular in the early and mid- 70s. Making things more interesting were a bunch of "modem-d ay" riders, m ost n otably Oregon' s Grayson Hart, who won two classes . Hart, who rode a pair of 1974 Honda Elsinores, captured 125cc a n d 30 + A win s to foll ow in Dalla s Nybl od 's footsteps as one of a select few riders wh o can chall en ge the former fae- . tory stars. N ybl od, wh o d omin ated h ere th e past se ve ral years, had a tough day, overcoming m echanical p rob lems an d what he referred to as "getting too old for thi s stuff." Nyblod still managed to chase Hart all th e way to th e fini sh in th e 30+ final. Mike Larson, a top '80s pro and former ma ga zin e test rid er, po sted a strong performance in the 250cc A fina l riding a near- stock 1974 Yamaha MX250. Whi le down slightly on entries from last ye ar's record-breaking turnout, th e event, he ld at the Thurston County ORV park near sta te capital Ol ympia , w as still nothing sho rt of spe ctacu lar, drawin g 200 rider s from Wa shington , Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Montana and two Canadian Provinces. Wr (Above) Ter ry Hyde (80), Mark Envolsen (4N), Doug Grant (10W) and Buck Murphy (85V) fi re off the line in the Open A class at the 12th annu al Dlno Daze vintage motocross. (Right) Murphy (85V) and Grant were this close throughout the Past Masters race ; Murphy went on to win . (Below) Mike Larson took the win In the 250cc A class aboard a 1974 Yamaha MX250. Din a Da ze, th ough, is m uc h m o re than just competition. A sw ap meet and bike show add to the atmosp he re of the ev ent. "Th is is th e largest swap m eet we 've had," said Bob Lindsey, a member of th e host Tacoma Moto rcycle Club. " Las t y e ar' s rid er turn o ut was a bit higher, but each year th e qu ality of the event gets better." The tw o-mil e course, located at th e base of the Cap itol Lake forest, w as basically identica l to last ye ar's layout and featu red some incred ible ra cing. Several classes - 30+, 40+ and 250cc Sportsman had nearl y 40 entrie s, thus forcing three , qualifiers to be run for each to trim the fields to 12 for the elite A fina ls. Joe Cas ey, Hart and, Larson posted a task with just seven inches of travel up front and four at the rear. Larson went unchallenged to pick up a big win in th e class after last year's heart-breaking lastcomer DNF which cost him victory. Th e battl e for seco n d t o ok pla ce between four rider s. Casey, Hart, Blazek and Fay were ne ver m ore than a wheel ap art, and all try ing to reel Larson in. By the time Hart m o ved p ast Casey into sec ond, Lar son w as lo ng go ne. Case y trail ed Hart for thi rd, followed by Fay, Husky rider Rob Flagler and Nyblod, Th e closest first-p lace battl e of any of th e classes had to have bee n in the Prem ier class. Five rid er s spent the entire race battling for th e p oint and the outcome was always in d oubt, despite the fact that BSA-mou nt ed Bob Lindsey led the m ajo rity of th e ra ce. Rob Iverso n challen ge d h is every m o ve, while Roil P redmo re, Kevin H amilton an d Ross Poitras loomed in his shado w. Lindsey 's lead would last to the final lap , when Iverson took over coming into th e home stretch. Hamilton , who rode a 1957 BSA, also dropped Lindsey back a notch for second, Linds ey, Mark Julian,

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