Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Motocross (Far left) Cassidy Anderson rode his CZ to runner-up honors in the Pre-'72 Expert class. (Left) Charlie Richards on, shown here on his 250Cc CZ, topped both the Pre-'70 Expert and Pre-'72 125cc Expert classes. (Below) Actually in the photo for once, photograp her Joe Bonnello, representing Team France , was...well... not a facto r among the leaders in the MX des Nations race. But he did have fun. requirem ent of this class is that moto rcycles mu st have drum brakes, which opens the door for man y tru ly evo lu tion ea rly link age a nd w at er-cooled bik es, some of wh ich are now nearly 20 years old. A total of 20 riders took ad vantage of the new class. But the sing le most popular class by far was the regu lar Evolu tion ("2") class, w hich saw two nearly full gates of riders co m pe te on the track a t th e same tim e . The fir s t wave o f Expert s a nd Int ermedi ates featu red abou t 40 rid ers, a nd the second wave o f Novices had a bou t 30 rid ers. The re w a s pl en ty of action, to say the least, but keeping track of who m was lead ing wh om was a sco rer's nig htma re. Even t promoter Rick Dou ghty said of the lar ge ga tes, 'Tha t's the way racing u sed to be - fu ll ga tes - and we wanted to emulate histor y the best we could, so we d idn't br eak up the classes." As m ention ed ea rl ie r, Sco tt Bu rn wo rt h ca me ou t o n top o f the Exper t class, while Ca n-Am rid er Joel Hansen won the Int ermedi at e class over Steve Go r d o n a n d Ly n n Sh oup . Ya maha m ou nted Bra d on Du dl ey to p p ed th e Novice class, which was the largest class of the day. Marv Ad am s finished second Just do it fter missin g the 1998 Vintag e Iron World Ch ampi onshi ps, Chris Ala mangos o f Lagu na Beach, Californi a, vowed to stop at no thin g in order to race this year 's edition of the Yamaha /Vintag e Iro n World Championships . For this yea r, th e 32-year-ol d pain ter from Laguna Beach , California, had found a bud dy to loan him a Hond a Elsinore with which he had planned to dominate the Pre 7 5 125cc Novice class. Then the time came to pick u p the bike a couple d ays before the race, at which poin t the owner sheepish ly admitted that the, uh , engine was missing a nd he d id n't know where it was. Instead, the sa me fri end managed to locate a 1973 Suz u ki TM125 for Alaman gos to ride . He migh t ha ve been better off pu shi ng the Elsinore around the Glen Helen course. 'T he gu y who own ed it [the TM J hadn't rid den since the old Sadd leback da ys," Alamangos says. "Every thing that I touched either broke or fell off. It had no carbu retor, the up per left-sid e shock clevis was broken, the airbox was missing, and the kickstart er wa s stripped inside the cases ." Und au nted, Alam angos we n t to wo rk, fabricating an airbo x A en en en ~ 8 ou t of a fi ve-fi n gered , ti n "Open H o u s e " sig n. A 34m m ca rb wa s loca ted a nd shoehorned in p lace, and a nything else th at needed rep lacing or rep airin g was comp leted in as close to workmanlike fashion as Ala ma ngos' tim e, talents or treasures wo u ld allow , which might explain the strap tha t was u sed to hold th e top of th e lef t s hock in place - it was fashioned from a ga rden- hose reel. The d amaged kick sta rter me ch a n ism r en d ered the bike push-sta rt only. All the work was comp leted not one moment to soon, either. "1 wou nd up jetting the car buretor in a Costa Mesa pa rk ing lot at like 11 o'clock the nig ht befo re the race," Alamangos says. 'Then I forgo t abou t the Idaylig ht sav ings! time cha nge, an d wound u p show ing up a t the track so ea rly that I was the only one there." With the aid of a ton of betweenmoto mai ntenance, the bike never faltered, and Alamang os - an d the little TM tha t cou ld - pu t toge ther 21 fin ishes to earn the overa ll w in in the Pre-7 5 125cc Novice class, just exact ly wha t he hop ed . And by th e way, he asked us to say th anks to his pal s at O ran ge Cou ntv Suz u ki for their ass istance wi th his little project. You go tta love it w hen a plan comes together. Scott Rousseau to Dudley, followed by Brian Davis and David Dinkm an. Th ere w ere p le n ty of Vin ta ge (74 and ear lier) bikes to go arou nd, as well, and one of the most success ful riders on th e s horte r- travel bi kes w a s Cha rl ie Richardson , who rode off wi th a cou ple of wi ns . He pil oted his CZ to the Pre-70 Expert class w in over Pe te r Villa caro and Cha rles Beck, and he blew everyone a w av on h is o ther CZ in th e Pr e- 72 125cc Expert d ivision . Richard son was followed across the fin ish line by tw o o the r C Z-mounted r id ers, Cassi dy Anderson and Kvl e Holkoa. An other notable ri d er in "th e class w as Bruce McDouga l, w ho w as a top motocross rid er in th e 7 0s. McDougal rode to a fifth-place finish on a Pen ton. And then there was Clarke Coleman on his Matchles s, who gave everyone fi ts in th e Pre- '65 Expe rt class . He top ped bo th mo tos, an d all Gene Boere and his Triumph cou ld do abou t it was to settle for ru nner-up honors, but that was n' t too bad at all. Greeves rider Tom Roa ch topped th e In termedi a te class, while fell ow G reeves-mou n te d rider Roger Broph y won the Novice class. eN Glen Helen Raceway San Bernardino, California Res ults: October 31, 1999 PR E·7 0 EX: 1. Charlie Richardson (CZ); 2. Pet er Villacaro (B/S); 3. Charles Be (Ma i); 4. Michea l Owens ck (Hus): 5. Kvlc Ha lko la (CZ) . · .PRE· 70 INT: 1. Bob Spicer (BSA); 2. Cary Egloff

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