Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/140924
;;; ., co '" Q. N " '" Houston Test? By Buzz Baty EL TaRO, CA L., jan. 9,1972 - Dennis Briggs has to be one of the most c .., improved riders on the Sportsman '" scene. About August last year, Dennis 3£ was riding HRA as an Expert, and as a w junior in the ACA at EI Toro Z Speedway. He was moved up to the W ...J Expert class in the ACA in the se cond U >- week 0 fA ugust. U I don't know if Dennis was nervous, or awed by the EI Toro Experts, but he jseemed to lack fire, and didn't seem to really be with the program. Well, that's all changed now. He is full of fire and determination, and with the ability that he has had all the while, he is winning and big. Here's today's score: First-Open Sr. IT, Fi rst-Open Sr . short track. First-250 Sr. IT" Second-I 00 Sr. IT, Second-I 00 Sr . short track, Third-250 Sr. short track. Why the headline "Houston Test?" Deductive reaso ni n g, and being just p lain nosey. Dennis Briggs is the son of Windy Briggs, chi ef wr en ch for Al Gos lee, the Western Region Service Manager for Kawasaki Motors Co rp . Trying to keep Goslee and Briggs out of racing is like trying to keep Richard Nixon ou t of politics. Windy was all smiles after the way th e 250 and 350 ran, an d was h eard to say, "Well, get the other two engines as good as those two and we 'll be ready for the frame ." . (Results on page 28) co $ 4 00,000 P A ID TO PROFESS IO N A L MOTORCYC LISTS IN 197 1 The 19 71 Grand National Cham p io nsh ip year was highligh ted not o nly by increased attendance at each event, but prize money and contingencies. Of the season's 21 National Championships, more than $300,000 was paid in purse money alone. In addition, contingencies paid during the year brought the prize money total to well over $350,000. The 1972 championship season promises to provide even more prize money and contingencies to AMA professional racers . I Dennis Briggs (above) has shown great improvement over the past year. Sunday. he collected three first. two seconds and a third at EI Toro . (Belowl Tom Doty. winner of the 100 and 125 classes in TT. Hawks a Fox HERCULES GETS BING Ted La padakis, presid en t of Hercules Dist ributing, 9825 Mason Avenue, Chatswort h, .Califo rn ia 91311, h as announced tha t the firm is now the exclusive distrib utor for Bing Carburetors for the United States. A complete lin e of Bing Carburetors and parts are in stock and fast shipment ef orders is assured. Bing Carburetors are original equipment on DKW, BMW, and many other European motorcycles . Hercules sells to dealers only. BABY PRO WINN ER Since the onslaught of mail was pretty heavy, both for us to open an d the postman to deliver, we held off annoucing the winner of the last "Baby Pro" contest to insure everyone a chance. It seems the Kirby family of Mira Lorna, Calif., (all five of 'c;m) decided they had the correct answer in naming Ron Moore, 3 7R, as the Baby Pro (pictured on the left). They were right and it happens that Kevin Kirby got his card pulled out of the vat and won $5 in the process. We've got to call time-out in the co ntest series so that we can build up a file on the baby pictures. So, if you or anyone in the fa mily, has a picture of a little tyke who is now a big name, send it discretely to Cycle Ne ws, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach , Calif., 90801 and we'll ma ke a copy of it and return it to you p ro nto . To Dotti Gree nstreet, "Yeh , we're sorry we made it so easy." AMXT CONTR IBUTO RS GARY GIL BERT , Westland . MiCh.; G.N. L oc ust Grove, va.. SCOTT Denville, N .J.; BR IAN Vegas, Nev.; SOREN J. UHRENHOLDT, Shreveport, La.. CHUCK WILSON. Cooeville. Tenn .; RICHARD AN D ER SON , B E RC H A K , CO U LTER, Las STADLER, R.D.. Flan ders. N.J.; DICK YOUNG, Buckner , Mo.; THOMAS D. YOUNG, Wixom, MiCh .; C .P . TALLEV, Corpus Christy . Tex. ; SAM KNAPP, Riverside, caur.: DANIEL R. SCHI MPF EM3, FPC San Francisco, caru ., J.E. MtBRIDE, Ripley, Miss . • CARL PIERCE. L incoln Park, M ich.; MARK PHILLIPS. Webster Groves. Mo.; MICHAEL GREGORY, Salem, N.J.: LEE W ILSON III, Arroyo Grande. Cali f.; THOMAS A. OGLESBEE , Muskogee, Okla. ; TED MOORE, Redtand , Calif .; STEVEN E . CHVTRAUS, Sa lt Lake C ity. Utah; ROBERT HUBBARD. Ventura-,_Calif. : LES EARGLE. Arwortn, Ga. ; JAMt:..:) GRAGG, Oklahoma City, Okla. : DOUG PI PE R' Santa Ana, caur.. JERRY MARCELL, Costa Mesa, csur.. GARY PAUL SCHULTZ: Stanton. csur. . BEN HITE. Pomona. Calif.; WAN DA LOU HITE, Pomona, Dysart, Iowa. c aur., and PETE WILLIAMS. ... Mini-Bikes, Big Bikes in Hawaii By Paul Maddox HONOLULU, HAWAII Hawaii Raceway Park closed out its 1971 bike racing seaso n wit h a comb ine d mini-bike motocross a nd big bike Flat Track event. The popularity of the dual show proved tha t mo re similar events are feasible in th e '72 season. The kids, in two age groups, had a fine time and wer we ll rewarded, t hanks to the merchandise awards from Honda of Hawaii and Yamaha of Hawaii. Raceway Park provided first through third p lace t rophies for the Honda SL -70 and Yamaha Mini-Enduro rid ers. Capturing the first place trophy in the 11-14 year old division was Ainsley Lopez. The 12 year old "Club Mascot" of Waianae's Ka Moi a Makaha M/C rode a Yamaha Mini-Enduro to his victory. It looks like Ainsley isn 't a mascot an ym o re, now he's a full -fledged trophy-winning racer. Other up and coming MX stars are Alfred Carreira, who took second place. and third place Tom Shipman. Both rode Yamahas. In the junior division, Fred Pereira gave notice to his older brother joey, who rides motocross as an Expert, that the family now has two winning riders. Fred took first on his Yamaha. Guy Komori is the youngest racer in Wahiawa's Komori family, a nd he started h is young riding career with a second p lace win . Boy Paradis blasted his Honda SL-70 into third pl ace honors. In big bike action, the Open Class was grabbed by Main Event Maico-moun te d Terry Wood with Mo ntesa rid er Brian Ode r taking second and Nelson Greer holding down third place. The 1971 250 class was a clean sweep for Kailua Yamaha's Larry Robidea ux. jeff Cutter rode his Husky to second and jerry Fowler, also out of Kailua Yamaha, won the third place gold. Fowler didn't feel too bad about "just" third place in the 250 class, because he swept through the 175 class for top honors on his 175 Yamaha. Mike Latimore rode a Bultaco to second. and Leon Madeiros held down third in his 100 Honda. However, Leon didn't feel too bad either, as he copped first place in the 100 class Main Even t. Mike Latimore came in second on his Kawasaki. and Ivan " Hagi" Alexander was third. By R . D. Lewis INDIO, CA L. , Dec. 12, 1971 - Gregg Hawks, riding.a Baja 100 , o utclassed a dozen o r m ore of the b ig b ikes in a field of 26, to take first overall in today's ' Hare Scrambl es staged at Ch iriaco Su m mi t by the Coachella Va lley M.C . T he rambl ing deser t course, d ip pi ng into rocky washo uts in th e tricky Mecca Mud H ills north of Indio , took its toll in lost riders, busted expansion chambe rs and b roken collar bones, b ut young Hawks, 16, left the competition behind including the big Huskies and Kawasaki bikes . Hawks, the No. 12 Expert in Southern California 100 class , was running a hot second in the first 15-mile lap, then closed the gap and stayed out in front to take the first checkered flag and two firsts: first overall and first 100. jim Francis on a Kawasaki 250 raised a cloud of dust as he curled down the trail out of the rocky hills which comprised much of the course to take the No. 2 spot in the overall competition and the No . I trophy for the 250 class. Greg Turk on a 125 Rickman rumb led off the rocks to take the third overall spot and the first in the 125 class . Kawasaki compentron, h owever, proved keen as the field of win ners narro wed dow n and Don Hullett of Indio on a 100 Kawasaki grabbed fo urth overall. j immy Elkins of Indio o n a Ya ma ha 360 t oo k fif th overall and first in the Ope n class. T he course was tagged in red, b ut as the ri ders zigged in and o ut across th e desert, so me lit tl e orange ribbo ns looked like red. Unfortunately for the "color b lind" racers the motocross course was a route to nowhere. By the time the mistake was realized, many a rider lay tumbled in the d irt, or scanning the horizon for a familar cloud of dust. Many of the lost simply waited for the jeep sweep at the day's end to catch a ride back to the pits. The loose soil, so typical of the soft Mud Hills . however, spelled many an "endo" for the unwary racers. Larry Cochran, of Palm Springs, an 18 -year-old who didn't want to give up, spilled into the dirt three times before b reaking a coUar bone as he neared the pits on his second lap.