Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'" '" -s . 0. . Understanding .... '" '" .::< Landlord Hosts ~ w Z W ...J U >- U - .. Hare Scrambles By Ge orge R all , Jr. HELOTES , TEX. , Feb . 20, 1972 Mud, water, ro cks, so me d ry ground, more mud, water and rocks and a co urse of approximately 1.5 miles in length make for a wild a nd wo olly Hare Scrambles. A nd Hare Scramb les it was at the Family Circle Ranch lo cated tw o miles north of Hel otes, T exas. With b eautiful we ather, 72 entries distributed in five motor classes, and an understanding landl o rd and landown er ( Frank Malda) made fo r so me of th e best racin g and rider talent in T ex as. The 100cc class was completely dominated by local Hodaka rider and deal er J im Diggs . Scott Elliot p ulled off an even more co nvin cing win in the 125 race. With such a co mmanding lead o n a new Penton, Scott was ab le to ease off th e p ace co nsid erab ly . In this event, as with all oth ers, waterproofing wa s th e answer. With the exceptio n o f th e fir st few lap s, Al C arn er h ad t he 175 class all to hi msel f. Old man Peanuts McComb s gave Al a few gray hair s u nt il wat er clai me d his moto r. And sti ll another o ld man, Ray Po ch er, did it to all in th e 25 0 race r id ing a Hu sk y . Th e expect ed co m pet itio n from San Ben net n ever materialized as th e water claimed his Pursan g o n the first lap . Open clas s w in ner as usu al was Mile Wendrock rid in g a 36 0 Husky End uro . Wendrock h as everything but the d eed to this co urse and has y et t o be b eat en. .. White water expert and t hird 12 5 at t he Family Circle Ranch : Pea nuts McCombs . R ESULTS 0-100 Jim Di ggs H en ry Arn eck e Buddy K utz er 10 1 · 1 2 5 S c ott Ell io t - H arry R ltt i m an Gera ld McCom bs 126 -175 A I G ar ner Gl en B tunqu tst Do nal9 .0ates Free , Muddy, and Over 30 176 ·2 0U R . L . Pocn er Ha rry R itt ima n R o ber t Naylor 251-QPEN Milton W en drock Harr y Gregg Do nald Kn o ll 106 Race Sprockets, Again By C ar ol Witt Photos by Kar en H artman WICHITA, KANS., Feb. 20 , 1972 Once again 106 rid er s turned out fo r th e regular races a t Sprockets Motocross tr ack . The weather cooperated, and it was a bright, glorious day, just right for racing. The enthusiastic crowd go t th eir money's worth today. There were ties in all three Expert classes for first place after the sec ond motos, so therefore when the third motos were run, spectators were sitting on the edge of their seats, and it was anybody's guess as to who would win. This was one of the most exciting day's racing th at we've seen in a long time. Eddie Morgan has seen to it that the track is changed from race to race so that everyone has an equal chance. In the 250 Junior class, three guys from the Derby area brought home first , second. and third places; first going to Larry Kaufman. who rides a CZ. second to Ken Peoples riding a Suzuki. and third to James Martinez who rode a Hsuky. Winners in these classes receive only trophies. The 250 Senior and 250 Sportsman classes were run together and sc o red separately. Rob Knoettgen (CZ) took the first moto .in the Senior class, then Loy Burnett (Kaw) took first for the second moto, but in the third lies a tale. These two raced side by side, even-steven, One would come out of a turn a sec o nd ah ead , o nly t o b e caugh t immediat ely b y the o ther, for sever al ti ght laps. Wh en t he checke red flag fell , Kn o ettgen wa s ah ead and t o ok fi rst for the d ay, second go ing to Burnett, and third to Barney Barrett (Mon) fr om Omah a, Nebraska. The Open Sr. and Sp ortsman wer e also run together. Cary Witt was first off the line in the first moto . Witt had the throttle wide open and never shut it d own until he got the ch eckered flag. Bill LaValley (Mai) got a bad start , but by the fifth lap he had moved from eighth spot to second. He had his ey e o n Witt, but h ad to settle for second. In the second mo to , LaValley got off the line first with Witt second. Now the tables turned - LaValley opened up his machin e just as Witt had, and was smiling from ear to ear when he got the checkered flag . Now it was "now or never" for Witt or LaValley . Witt was first off the line with LaV alley second. By the first lap LaValley had taken first back. They held this for two laps u n til Witt took LaValley as they went through the trees. Around another lap with Witt stretching his lead. Then on the fifth lap, LaValley went down into the ditch. • and that. is where he and his bike parted as he s ai led up over the handlebars and o nto the bank. Nick Warren was then in second, where he finished. (Results on page 3 2) Saint Valentine's D ay: Marathon or Massacre? - By Dic k Ai nsworth ' WICHITA, KAN ., Feb. 13, 19 7 2 - The Wichita Jeeps M.C. held their annual two-man team six-hour hare scrambles co mmonly known in t his area as the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre". Warm temperatures caused t he snow-and ice-covered track to thaw, thus, became quite muddy and sloppy. This caused q uite abit of problems to the 200 riders and 100 machines but after two hours the track go t ironed out and lap times became faster. Joe Wilson and W.J. Persinger of Kansas City teamed up on a 250 Bulaco to take the overall win. Steve Twineham of Wichita should be commended for his ride as he did it "solo for six hours and ended up fifth in the Open class. U The big talk at the even t was the upcoming Elsi nore-type race to be held o utside of Wichita near the end of May or first of J une. The small town of Florence is holding their cen t en nial and want this type of even t, so through the streets and out into the c oun try for ten laps/lOO miles they will go. RESU LTS HI-QVERALL Ii; WilsonfW..J . Persinger Elbert Swartz/Stan Swartz Charles wnuez-r cm G raham ~Oid Dixon/Bill Dusenberry Jack Tan ner/Mike Kre bs Merlyn Michae l/J.L. Harvey Jim Berry/Bill Uzzell OPEN • Sonny Walker!Larry Kennedy Tom Long/Roy Scott Bob Ely/Rod Wickwar By J ane t West HO USTON , TEX., Feb. 13, 1972 A ft er seve ral d ays o f wet, m urk y weath er , Houston finally saw the sun. Howeve r, it wa s not quite warm eno ugh to dry u p the muddy Fai rbanks trac k , an d s o contin ued another super mud o cro ss. Robi Holb ert was o ut with tw o Yarnah as. T he 250cc Yam ah a had t ro u b le off t he line, so Holbert to o k t h e advice o f an o ld sage: "If at first y o u do n't succeed ·-- " . Since th e 2 50 Exp ert clas s was lo st , Robi was determined to hang in th ere fo r the Open class, and his determin ati on p aid off ro yally ; fir st place . For quite a whil e Doug Maxey managed t o stay fairly clos e t o Holbert _ as close, in fact , as anyone came that day . However, Maxey blew it when he stalled aro u nd a turn and Ho lbert was go ne, mud flying and Ya maha sin ging . Maxey, unable to get his bike started, found Bob Graham (CZ) , was aro und him and gone, for second. Ricky Jones rode an excellent race. having to push it to keep Skip Kennedy (Mai) from getting past him in the 250 Expert . J ones had st art ed n ear the middle o f t h e p ack while Kennedy was away fir st . But R ick y and muddy cond iti ons must r e all y be a c om b in a t io n, 'ca use he w as mo ving on up and arou nd eve ryo ne until -he go t t o Skip - that's where th e work came in. But, with som e care fu l riding, he got Kennedy for th at first pl ace. A new concep t in m otocross w as begun Sunday - th e Over-Sf class ! It really was a bunch of fu n, with a ll th ose gu ys o ut there reall y b ent o n te aring you know, no each ' o t her up 16 -year-o ld smart-a lecky kid co ming screaming b y! It wa s reall y neat! Lynn Hensley thought one o f the ha y bales was an integral part of th e trac k as h e came b lasting down t he straight and over the bale, grin ning a ll the time, red beard waving. Joe DiLorenzo was a brave soul - a 125 DKW among all t hose Open bikes! And he passed several on the straights too! Cary Anderson (Hus) and Bob Helms (Hus) were really looking good. Cary went on to ride in the O pen Experts - how's that for stamina? Steve Stackable Can Most Definitely Race a Bike By Janet CHAPPEL HILL, TEX., Feb. 20, 1972 _ Lynn Hensley and Bob Helms have d one it again - they h ave changed the Ch appel Hill track for th e millionth time, and it is really super. Steve Stackable, riding a 125cc Yamaha, came down to prove to the Houston boys that h e can most definitely ride a motorcycle. In the first heat of the 125 Experts. Stackable had a bit o f misfort une , causing him to finish fo urt h . However, when He at 2 came around, Stack was read y - reall y geared. Righ t off the line he was okay , and as t he heat wore on, he widened h is lead tremendously, giving him an easy first place. The even-t of the day had to be the 250 Experts. Roc ky Timmons (CZ) came down fro m Fort Worth, and for a while, it lo o ked as though he might have . it on Robi Holbert, now riding a Yamaha. Holbert suffered a bit of bad luck around the fir st tu m off the start, and as a res ult, lost several places. He began making up time, though, and soon ~as pushing Timmons. By the time the SIxth or seventh lap came up, Holbert was hounding Timmons, when a freaky thing happened - Timmons lost control and flew into the barbed wire fence along the back straight . The bike went on over the fence, but Timmons was caught in the wire and badly scratched, putting him out for the rest West of the day. This left the field open fo r Holbert; but to be sure he was not left without a playmate, Steve Stackable grabbed a Husky and proceeded to ch ase. Holbert was comfortably out front when he dropped the Yamaha right in front of th e scoring- stand, allowing Stackable to go aroun d. Holbert was right back up and after Steve full forc e within minutes, and powered on his Yamaha down the straight to take that first place position again. Crazy Robi had a beautiful day his riding was fantastic, and he wa s flying and doing his usual thing, thrilling the spectato rs. T he Open Experts was the crash-a nd-burn class for the day. First heat Bob Graham crunched his new CZ with a Suzuki, costing himself several places - eigh t to be exact. However, Bob was soon up and away, regaining his ground, and trying hard to catch the front ru n ners. For most of the h eat , Bill Kas son (CZ) had the lead, with Brian Fox (CZ) close behind, and nearly clo sing in several times. Jack Hicks ran a good third, and before long, Graham was pushing Hicks. but never being quite able to take him completely, having to settle for fourth in the first heat. Even though he finished in the fourth spot, Bob h ad to have the fastest time after making up so m uch ground. (R esults on page 32)

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