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/141010
M " '" '" Q, N r-. a> ,..: - '" ::< ~ w Z W ...J U >- U to 'see'. John Y5. Rich: Elbow-fo-elbow, peg-fo-peg, knee-fo-knee, ete, By Buzz Baty WIL1>UNGTON , CAL. , Feb . 25 , 19 72 All the good stuff for the riders to take home, as wel l as track improvements every week, to go with ever-increasing spectator crowds is making Lions Drag Strip the psace to be on Friday nights. The largest crowd of the year was on h an d to watch 250 of the best 'crossers in Southern California stage a real barn burner. wit h every class being up for grabs o n t he last mo to . The firs t and second p lace j uniors in eaeh class received goodies in the fo rm of numb er plate ' sets donated b y anno uncer, Bruce Flanders. T om Rapp , Chuck Bo we r a nd .lim Scott all received a case of oi l through the courtesy of Va lvoline O il Co mpany. Dave Rodgers was the winner of one of those bright red CMC jackets donated by St u Peters and Kel Franks. Now dig this guys, all of those goodies that we re awarded tonight will be given to some rider each and every week for t he next 10 weeks. Track impro veme nts are showing up al most every week. Some are easy to see, others are fel t , like las t week Stu put 30 truck load s of that good sandy lao rn d irt on t he track, m an th at's like 9 00 yards o f d irt , t h e eushion and b ite are reall y there. A lso look for so me very 'ill umi na ting' im provements in th e next co up le of wee ks th at will b e very easy Rapp just has to be one of the very best on the sce ne these days. He reserved his spot at th e pay window tonigh t with a first overall in the 250 Expert class an d a t hird in t he 125 's. He wasn't rid ing with any slugs o ut th ere eithe r. Bob Messer pressured him all nigh t lo ng; in fact Messe r got one of t hose d reamed of starts in the third rou nd , an d pushed his Ossa und er th e nag to ea rn a second overall. Brad Lackey journeyed south again and lo o ked a b u nch bette r than the first time h e rode Lions. Despite some wheel proble ms with his CZ, Brad rang the bell for third in the 250 go. People keep te lling me that j oh n DeSoto and Rich Thorwaldson are teammates (?), and 1 heard Rich did a rad io interview with Larry Huffman, he said he was giving up the desert for motocross because h e likes the elbow to elbow competit ion! But elbow to elbow with your teammate. Wow! john and Rich came o ut of the hole in the second mo to so close together th at if they had been up in Hollywood, the vice squad would h ave booked 'em. T hey stayed th at way ove r the big jump and into the n ex t right h an der , wh ere j o hn gave Rich no t only his elbow, but h is knee, foot , boot, h andlebars, pe gs, wh eel and anything else that wo uld fit. j ohn got the lea d, but it was sho rt lived as h e fe ll about 200 yards further along, and Ric h b lew past. john got going again and then lost fire as Ricktookthe win . The overall was up for the tak ing and take it DeSoto did. Rich could've won it with a third place finish to DeSo to 's win, but the b est he co uld do was a fo urth, so it was a one-two sweep fo r the S uzuki team wi t h Dave O'Haver in for th ird . With teammates like this , Rich and jo hn ca n sure ge t along witho ut any o ther dedicated competito rs. (Results on page 40) AMXT CONTR IBUTORS T I M L A N G N E R , San An tonio , Texas; KENT MI CH AEL BE RN ST E I N. Thousand O aks, c aur ., PAUL MERZ . Waukesha, Wis.; N.J . WESEMAN. Haleiwa, H a w aii ; GEORG E B O US QUET, L u d l o w . Mass.; AL SETTLES SR ., West Palm Beac h , Fla.; BETH SETTL ES . West Pa l m Bea ch , F la . ; JAMES H . PFUEG ER . Honolulu. Hawaii; RUSSELL AL LEN TO N EY. Great L a k es, III . GARV KR ANZ U SH , A p pleton . Wis.; KEN WILLI AMS , S y ca m o re . III.; B . ROT HWELL , College Po i n t. N.V.; DANIEL O'DONNELL , Lake Vi ll a. III.; JO N A N I E L L O . Har tf o rd , C on n.; DUANE GER D ES, Lltcnftet d , III .; R AN DY C OF F MAN. Scottsdale. A riz .; STEV E SCOTT . Hazelton. Pa . ; JOE STASYSSEN. T ecu mseh , Okla . JOHN CONTA R I O , Zion , III . ; J .M . BONNER . T u c ka h oe , N .J.; GAR Y L. PATTERS ON, D es Moi nes . I o wa ; MICHA EL W. R I N~ , H agerstown M d .; A .N . A NDERSON" N . B runsw lc k, N .J.; JIMMY D A V IS , Jac kson vi lle, F la . ; R ICHARD M ac P H E RS O N , Sea t t le, wasn.: R OBIN R . E. A uro ra, N .Y . ; STU A CQUA R D , CRE EPOU S . Pro sse r , Wash.; WM . D O N HEN D ERS ON , H o usto n , T e xas. SORRY ABOUT T AT, BILL. H Taking second overall on a 175cc PUCH is pretty good. Particularly in one of the roughest races in the desert - the Four Aces Moose Run. After all, they had 922 entries and over 400 couldn't even fin ish. No wonder you expected to be first 175 - when was the last time anyone. on less than a 250 won overall? But don't feel too bad, BILL FRIANT - you had a fantastic ride. In fact, JEFF WRIGHT had to have probably the greatest ride of his remarkabl e career to beat you. And don't forget, Bill - Jeff was riding a 175 PUCH too. D EAL E R INQUI RI ES INVI TED PUCH DIST R IB UT I NG 9825 M A S ON AVE. CH ATSWO R T H , CA. 913 1 1