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/141014
STUDENT, JOHN LONG (YAM) By Jack Mangus DA YTONA , FLA., March 10, 1972 John Lo ng, a 2 0-year-o ld Miam i co llege student, o u t-dueled Ca lifornian Pat Evans and a field of 8 0 to win the 76-mile Novice Road Rac e. Long, a five-y ear Novi ce road race specialist, carried on a fast mo vin g batt le with Eva ns u ntil Evans dro pped out wi th three laps to go . Long, along with the first 28 finishers, was aboard a Yamaha an d the victory automatically advances him to the J u nio r class. He had won the 250 Amateur road race and finis hed th ird in the Novice race last year. Taking seco nd pl ace behind Long was one of those Varnes bo ys from Pen nsylvan ia, Dennis Varn es. Mike Devlin to o k th ird with Tim Ro ckwoo d an d Pet er Baier taking fourth and fifth pl aces resp ectively . Pat Evans comp leted 19 o f th e 21 lap s to even tually finis h 17th. Si xth pl ace finishe r Tom Bovaird and eigh th pl ace ma n Ro bert Rec tenwald j oi ned Va rnes, and Baier to p u t four Pennsy lvan ia riders in the top 10. R ES U L TS : 1 . John Long 2 . Dennis Varnes 3. M ike Devlin 4 . Tim Rockwo od S. Peter Baler 6 . T om Bo valrd 7. Phil McDonald 8. Robert Rectenwald 9 . Jessie Bya rs, Jr. 10. Robert Jandlbeur Mike Gerald (center! was second Friday night ahead of Robert E. Lee (541and behind Gary Scott. Sat urday he won. Scott Wins 1 but Gerald Stars in 2 Shorties By Jack Mangus DAYTONA, FLA., March 10- 11, 1972 - The usu al sell-out crowds were treated to some of the finest short track racing in years at the Friday and Saturday night events. Gary Scott won the feature Fr iday night but it was Mike Gerald who was the star of the weekend. The likeable Louisiana rider p laced second to Scott on Friday night, stuck around and won the American Challenge Race over Scott, Clif! Keene. a nd England's Barry Briggs, then ret urn ed Saturday night to win the Main . Gerald, who h a d won the .Jacksonville, Fla . indoor short track t he weekend before, had to co mpete with Barry Briggs for the crowd's approval as the former World Champion speedway rider's style really turned the spectators on. Briggs had no success with his own machine but borrowed Larry Kennedy's Yamaha for Saturday night's challenge race and ran away from everyone. Barry was heard to remark that, perhaps, the Yam Vam Vam Vam Yam Yam Vam Vam Yam Vam Frenchy Le Blanc powers through a S ho rt Track turn. ~ .\ .. .. I j l i t . 't...... '! ~~ ¥~ "' ",¥ J,{,. ':i~ American style short track b ike is rea lly the way to go. Gary Scott's Kawasak i worked perfectly Friday nig ht as the California rider mastered the hard-packed groove and set fast t ime for the semi's and all but ran away with the feature. Robert E. Lee finished third behind SCOll and Gerald w ith Mike Kidd and Keith Mashburn finis hing fourth and fif th. Just as Friday n il(ht was Scoll 's, so was Saturday's program a ll Ossa-moun ted Gerald's. Mike h ad t he fastest semi of the weekend and the n beat Rex Beauchamp and James Raw ls to the checker for the feature win . FRIDAY RESULTS 1 . Gary Scott 2. Mike Gerald 3. Robert E . Lee ASS ASS Gary SCOll pulls out the lead in the Friday night Short Track. MOTOCROSS: Weinert Wins on . Kaw SATURDAY RESUL TS 1. Mike Gerald 2. Rex Beauchamp 3. James Rawls 0- yup, (Yam) DA y rONA BEACH, FLA., March II, 19 72 - Jim Weine rt, poss ibly America's b e st rn otocrosser, fell twice and recovered to win th e fina l in the 25 0cc dass of th e Winter-A~IA Motocross Series fur Yamaha on the man-made course in front of the Speedway grandstand. Mark Blackwell of California, the other likely candidate fo r bes t in the U.S., took the Open Class fo r Husqvarna. Weinert, a 20-year-old Middletown, N.Y. junkman, signed with Yamaha two weeks ago after successfully campaigning Maico in the series. His w ide-o pen , berm -blast ing sty le contrasted sharply with llIackwell 's smoot h, h igh ly orchestrated speed ing. Now it remains to see th ese two Experts d o h a tti e against one another. This obligatory scene may take place at the Tw in Falls, Idaho motocross promoted by Evel Knievel I\lay 6 and 7. fA i • RESULTS 2S0cc FEATURE 1. Jim Weinert 2 . Tim Hart 3. Wyman Priddy 4 . DeWayne Jones OPEN The Husky team do minated the 500 class ex cept for Yamaha m ounted Gary Jon es . Here Jim West (5 th overalU holds off teammate Mark Btackwel! (lst overall; 500 series winner!. ez a6ed l LBl 'l l -JelN SM3 N ",. Jim Weinert en rout e 10 a 250 MX victory in the Florida W inter -AMA finale . 1. Mark Blackwell 2 . G ary Jones 3. Bob.Gr oss! Dill Clements 5 . Jim West 4 Yam M ai CZ Yam Hus Yam Hus Hus Hus 31 ::lA ~ .j ~ ,