Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

dampened pants, but not (heh-hehl dampened spirits COLORADO ICE RACING-- ,..: - ' s" ~ w Z w -' U >- U By J im Bensberg RAI N BOW FALLS, COLO ., Feb . 20 , 1972 - Despite compe tition fro m two ot he r events, ice racing was at its be st today . No sing le rider do minated any of the eigh t classes. The near ideal weather cond itions p rovided the most slippery, slushy co nditions ever rac ed upon by man o r beast. In the 100 class, the lead changed man y times b efo re Wes A llen too k the checke red ahead o f h ard cha rging Elliot Sch ult z. Eac h of the classes w ere ru n in heats, se mi-main, and main events. T he 12 5 class saw Ed Roderic k dazzle the fa ns and riders alike with his devil-may-care style. Nearly entirely s ideways corner after co rner, Ed appeared as tho ugh h e wo uld u nload at any t ime . Scr eam ing his Honda sing le thro ugh the straig h ts, h e p roceeded to back off co mi ng into a co rner setting up in a slide, then mid wa y through he'd whack it on again repeating the 'cycle.' Bill Williams aced Slidin' Ed o ut at the finis h ho weve r . Wal t J an tz battled Gordon Love in ano ther fie rcely contes ted class . Walt an d Gor d on fin ishe d 1-2 in t he 175 class. Do n Pa lmgren, brother of na tional racer, Chuck Palm gren, took to p ho nors in t he 250 class edg ing out Paul Garber. Merly n Plumlee's consistent ri din g put him a n o tch above Bernard Burdett in th e Open class . The lead cha nged man y times b etw een th e two , b ut , the "Plum ber" (Merlyn's local ni ckn am e) fina lly wo n. T he three-wheelers did so mething they are not accustomed to doing tod ay . Some crashed. It is truly amazing none were hu rt as more than one multiple crash threw rid ers to the ice. Dave Co rriker, Joh n Ca me ron, and Fred McGlo chli n wo n t hei r classes in the 12 5 , 17 5 , and 250 th ree-wheel categories respectively. (Results on page 40) _ . Utah Readies for Changes By Terry Ne wfarmer SA LT LAK E CITY, UTAH - A new and AMA District 26 cha mp ion sweeping rule changes headline Utah's competition thoughts as racers prepare fo r the co ming season. Named as Utah portsman Riders Assn . an d District 26 No. I plate holder was . Ken A rch ib ald , a 16-year- old Yamah a rider from Bountif ul. Th e champio nshi p was det ermin ed fro m season point totals in hi llclimb , IT, motocross and desert events. The district's top nine nu mber plates, and troph ies to each class winner in each t ype of co m petition were p resen te d at th e SRA b anquet , hel d in Januar y. F irst of the ma jor rul e cha nges for th is season is t ha t all SRA rid ers have been d ivided into Novice, Ama teur and Ex pert d ivisions. Th e season point system is structured so that Ex perts get credi t for all Amat eu rs they b eat in co mb ine d races; and credit for all Amateurs signed up when th e d ivisions are sp lit, while Amateurs get p oint credit o nly for beating Amateurs. However, one can b ecome an Expert only by a vote of the SRA Bo ard of club representatives. A noth er ma jor change is t he ado ption of the A MA noise reg ulation o f 92 db for all events, except hillclimbs, where four-cycle engines only have been exempted by the board. In other changes, Novices will start after the others in large desert races; the location of the 'rid er rat h er than the bike w ill determine h o w h igh yo u got in a hillcl imb ; an d th e AMA scori ng sys tem has b een adop ted fo r mo tocro ss. Highlights of the season's first half, beginning Feb. 6 , will be the famous Widowmaker Hillcl imb, Cherry Creek Hare and Hound, and new t his year, a Grand Prix - a la Elsinore , t hrough th e d irt and st reets of Eureka an d J uab Co u nty. TOP T EN U TAH PLA TES K en A r chibald, Woody L awhon . Craig Wi ll iam s, K ev in Croft , Pr est on Ger ber , L ama r F ow le r , E r ic G ray . Mike Wa lker , K e rr y Pearson, S tev e B urgess. D I V ISI O N W INNE RS M O T OCR O SS: 100 , L ama r Wa lk er ; 12 5 , Warren Sp encer: 2 0 0 , K ev in Croft; 2 5 0 , K erry F o w ler ; 5 0 0 , D on Fu lle r. T RACK: 1 00 , D el Brown; 125, Phil Bernard ; 200 , K ev in Cr oft ; 2 5 0 , W oody Lawhon ; 500, Bob Br own. HILLC L I MB : 1 0 0 , D o ug Brown ; 125, Gregg L arsen ; 2 0 0 , c ontest ed; 2 5 0 , Ken Ar chib lad; 500 . Al I verson; O pe n. Gran t Th om as. DESE R T : roo, L ama r Walk er ; 125. Ken A rc h ib ald ; 2 00 . Wayne Spencer : 250. Woody Lawhon ;500 .Pr est'on ~ erber . rv .ea\ e.. A· ) Boat Stays on the Bike! By Ned Said PHOENIX, ARIZ., Feb . 13, 1972 - The big race of the day , the 250 Experts, helped by a nicely prepared surface and a littl e san d, provide d some super fast ridi ng with h ot sh o es lik e T om Burcham and Rob Da mero n laying leath er on th e track. Noone hurt. J im Boat, famous . for his slides and not win n ing, fo un d out it p ay s to stay on th e b ike in taking the w in. Nice go ing Jim. The first couple of lap s it was J aye Ch an ey pouri ng it o n when h is bike quit and Boat to ok ov er. A h andsome little blond, blue-ey ed , eigh t-year-o ld b o y by the name o f J immy Morgan displayed his smooth rid ing st yle b y w!nning with a sizable Min ibike Sweepstakes. Imagine the kind of rid er th is boy will be by the ti me he is 18 years o ld. The tr a c k operator, "Sonney" Spe ilm an is to be congratulated on th e man y im prove me nts he has intr odu ced at Beards ley. In cluded are sp ectator s ta n ds , a n no u nce r an d boo t h, concessio n stand, riders and p it cre w . stands, reduct io n in dust , smooth IT track, motocross . track and engraved trophies, The new ru bb er band start certainly speeds up starting the rac es and solves the creeping che aters, too. Mo st imp ortant a fri endly atmosphere for th e rider s both new and steady. Wh en d o we get th e ligh ts fo r summer night riding Sonney ?

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