Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By R . Miller Photos by Jim & Robbin LAS V EGAS, NEV., March 5,1 9 72 - It was a ty pically b eautiful Las Vegas da y. Wann su nshine a nd no wind enable d sp e c t a t ors and racers t o fe el comfo rtable with a minimum of at ti re. R edh e ads , blondes, and brunettes l o o k i n g " Las Vegas good" w ere scattered about th e b leach ers . LAS VEGAS GOOD Firs t moto cross race o f the day had I1 -year-o ld Mike Walli ng (Yam) riding in his first race , showin!! class b y finishi ng third MIni-bik e, behind t wo superfast kids . Lake Havasu Cit y se nt some good riders up to race in the 100 and 125 Novi ce class es , but Las Vegas favorites Ke vin Davis (100 Yam) and Daryl Maso n (125 Yam) have go t th is track wired . Exci tement and laugh s were the o rder of the day in t he 25 0 Novic e races. J im Keeton (Hu s) wo n ove ral l, but Craig Carpenter , d o wn fr om St. George , Utah , pushed h im hard to earn second. About halfway th rough in o ne of the heats, three or four of t he leaders all fell down. It looked like a Keyst o ne Kops scene as each tried to get up away first . Some of the crowd swore up and down that two of the riders finis he d the heat on different bikes than they had started the race with . That would make the scoring a little hard , I wo u ld think. T he 250 Expert race was hard fo ugh t wit h John Malone (AJS) and Dick Barner (Yam). John picked up the gold, but Dick , from New Mexico, was really getting it together. Tim Allen (Mai) came from behind in two of his three heats to win the 500 Expert class. For an old man he doesn't go half ba d . Joking aside, Tim told me t ha t his go-fast secret is running miles everyday, of course knowing a little about riding helps too. (Results on page 36) N '" $: w z W ...J U >- U Boys Chase Girl at Beardsley IT; Debbie Puts It To 'Em By Ned Said PHOENIX, ARIZ., Feb. 27, 1972 - A pretty girl by the name of Debbie Selby, wearing Gary Well's old leathers (b lu e with white stars and red trim), rode like the famous kid and left all th e boys chasing her in the IOOcc Novice Main Event, and winning b y a large margin. Ah, fast women... A bunch o f the boys got to gether for a buddy race on I25's with riders switching after three laps. Some o f them forgot they had riders on the ba ck and really poured it on. Alan Watson with Bob Dias on the back poured it on and over the jump the buddy foot pegs flew in all directions. They kept stretching the lead with I~ laps to go out of six when the bottom end let go, letting Larry Barrington and Mark Mitschelle grab the win . CMC Opens with Salt Lake City MX By Bob Swenson California on a skiing holiday, reall y SALT LAKE CITY, lITAH, Feb. 27 , zapp ed the local boys in the 250 Junior 1972 - Fuller Racewa y Park was the scene o f The Ice Breaker, Utah 's first as he won all three motos for a grand slam. He showed what 52 w eeks a year CMC motocross, under the promotion ' of riding can do for a racer. of the Blumenthal brothers, Don and Don Fuller (Yam) and G.C. Bill. Mikkelson (CZ) put on the best show of Even though patches of snow were in t he afternoon in the 250 Pro class as evidence on the infield , the track was in t hey d ueled race after race just inches perfect condition; longer, wider and apart. However, Fuller just managed to very much improved over last year. edge out G.C. for the win. Bob Brown and Don Fuller, Open In the Open class there weren't and 250 Pros, led a contingency of 70 enough riders to make the Expert and riders which in tum put on a great show Pro classes, so they ran with the Juniors. for the 533 paying customers who Bob Brown (Mai) once again proved he braved the co ld and wind. was king o f the hill by riding flawlessly Yamaha mo unted Todd Harrison to capture the Pro title. Open Expert won the 100 Junior while being ho tl y went to Clarence Pollard (Hus). John pursued by a whole posse of Hodakas. Whaley (Hus) and Rich Bungay (Mai) 125 Junior and Expert were won by Henry Smith (Pen) and Charles Reid finished first and second in the Ju nior Open and also beat most of the Expert (Suz). Jerry Davis captured the 125 Pro and Pro riders. on his new Yamaha. Steve Burgess, one of last year's 25 0 Everyone enjoyed Utah's first CMC ho t shoes, has st epped d o wn to the 200 promotion an d wit h the schedule of class an d showed everyone h e was th e events coming u p for this season it looks like there will b e pl en ty of action in o ne to beat as he easily won the Pro them thar hills. Division on a Yamaha. Rich Bungay [Mai}, o ver fro m (Res ults o n page 36) Crashem, Bashem at DCA Premier By Larry Knop Some of th e u tah Expert s have b een OGDEN, lITAH, Feb. 20, 1972 getting serio us, and it showed. Their Rumor said bring your water wings to rate of travel around th at course the Ogden Cycle Association's season bordered on the frightening, j ust ' opening motocross, but by race day watching. Yours truly and ab o ut 1000 there w as no more mud to be flung on a 0 th er people had no des ire to good race. A spell of mid-May weather experience that sort of speed first-h an d . in Febru ary cleared up the problems Probably the fastest and smoothest o f and led to the OCA's biggest ra ce ever. the Experts was Bob Brown, in th e . Super traction on a new longer and Open class. Dennis Packard did his b est faster co urse was the order of the day, to push Brown, and did, but it was and all the 171 riders in attendance Brown's t rac k and Brown's da y. Don were ap p reciative. Fuller was the best o f the 250 Experts, To co mp o u nd the possible problems, winning o ver the classiest field of riders in the event. Peter Crandall co ntinued this w as also the first moto cross 'to b e r un under the new Dis trict 26 , his d o mi nation of the 125 Experts, b ut Novice-A mateu r-Expert three class he had to work h arder than las t y ear to defeat a class that was prob ab ly seco nd set-up, but OCA too k everything in strid e and th e races w ere run wit h o nly to the 25 0's in talent. In t he 200 d ispatch an d a minimum of hassl es. It clas s there was no o ne to keep Kevin Croft co mpany. Ditto for the 10 0 class was a long day th ough. The three clas s set-up d id seem to and Del Bro wn , al though things were work well, however . T here was su re a closer there. The real b attle in that class was between Tony Jacobs and Lamar d ifferen ce between the clas ses. Th e Novices were the mos t exuberantly Walker for second - and a real battle it inept, except for a couple of incipient was. Amateurs. One Novice rider went home OCA got the Utah motocross scene, after the r a ce an d immediately 1972, off to a good start. March 12 they'll do the same for the track season pet itio ned to be moved to Amateur, "to escape the crash 'em, bash ' em clas s." with a Ro u gh Scramb les at the same T he A mateurs were sm oother - still time and place. O nly the track will be pret t y slow, b ut smoother. The Exp ;.:;rts _ -"d"if",e=. ".e., o.;e = :"f re",n"t were another st-Ofy-~- - - -- ==~-::-:=:70> 6) The 125 Novice race had three riders tied to a string with Tom Young doing the pulling and Eric Mathers and Glen Palmer hanging on. This mad dash continued with but a fraction o f a lap to go when Tom Young and Eric Mathers got tied up in the right hand hairpin and Glen Palmer suddenly went from third place to first for the big wi n . The 650 Open Expert class usually finds Rick Kraft, Ron Sellers and Ken Kellelrew out in front in a race of their own. Current point leader Kraft on a Norton took the lead and held it until his brakes failed . He ran o ff the tr ack. Now it was J on Sellers leading with Ken Killebrew in hot pursuit. Coming over the jump Ken's downshift found only netural and he slid off the track in a giant cloud of dust ,while Dave Stettler went by for a second. Ken still came back for a third. Last week Tom Burham in th e 250 Expert class had problems. Not this week ; he put everything together in both the heat and Main to win by a nice margin which is difficult to d o with all those go fast boys in this class. (Results on page 36) Dirty Numbers Hamper Wheelsports By Lyle Fergus LAWRENCE, KAN., Feb. 27, 1972 The second Wheelsport motocross at Baldwin Park turned out to be one of the biggest in the mid west with 308 riders and over 1800 spectators. Races were run quickly and efficiently. Over 50 trophies and prizes were given out, but the B Division riders will have to wait for their's due to the large tu rnout. One 0 f the f e w proble ms encountered was with number plates. Many riders eit her had illegible or di rty number plates or none at all. If they can't read you, they can't score you. Another new innovation at the motocross was the exh ibitio n area by the tower. This area is roped off and set aside to exhibit bikes or new products. Dealers (or anybody) can use t his area by buying a small amount of PA time. The first dealer to do so was Blevins Honda demonstrating a tube sealer. So don't forget March 26 the next motocross at Baldwin Mo tocross Park. (Results on page 36) H theMnat R ravo anna a ioB By Janet West HOUSTON, TEX., Feb. 27,1972 - Rio Bravo is Texas' newest and best motocross park. Although it is no t quite o ne mil e long, Rio Bravo has a very good straigh t , about an equal numb er of ' righ t and left-hand t urns, seve ral nice jumps, an d two san d y cree k crossings. It is a good tr ack fo r specta ti ng an d has excellent facilities. T he whole day was one big b all of excitem ent. In t he 125 E xp ert, even Steve Hackney (Pen) found himself wi th some comp eti t io n in th e firs t h eat. Stevie shot off th e lin e lik e a flash, and there was Craig Glover (Mon) right b ehind him, grinning from ear to ear . Several times it looked as though Glover would do the trick, but Hackney was play ing hard-to-get, and finally wore Glover out, easing on in to a first p lace finish . T he second heat was almost a ca rb o n copy, with Steve off th e lin e and gone. Ab out th e only change was Glover's st arting position - he was made to start ba ckwards, sin ce he had go tte n a bit ove r-anxio u s and had jumped th e lin e. Even tho ugh h e got suc h a rank start, h e mo ved up to third place; Craig was fai rly haulin' , b ut h is Montesa wasn't, and he retired fo r t he rest of the day, leaving a very clear field for Stevie-Boy. Jerry Fr ed erick was second overall; Jerry has been doing nicely lately, really ge tting after and trying. He still is not fast enough to catch Hackney, but he gives everyone else a good run. The 250 Expert class was nothing short of beautiful. Freddy Hanna was The Man. Somehow this kid manages to be so smooth he looks like slow mo tio n - but he's definitely anything but slow! Fred took to the track like a duck takes to water, an d proceeded to blow everyone e se in tlie weeas.-Excep for Robert Tuggle, that is. Both boys we re on n ew Huskies and moving! Tuggle wa s ru n ning a good second to Hanna, wh en on the last lap , about ten feet from th e finis h line, he sheared a woodruff key. T uggle j umped off the b ik e and b egan to p ush it u p the hill and over the finis h. In th e p ro cess, only one bike p assed Tuggle. Tuggle's run of bad luck did n't las t tho ugh , and in the seco nd h eat , he was o ff th e line first an d main tained his fro nt positi on for three laps. In second was , of course, Ha nna, plugging right awa y. Perserverance wo n out, and Hanna got aro u nd T ugg le. In more ways th an one the Open Expert class was th e to ast o f the day. Brian Fo x, who is famous for his cras h-and -burn sc en es got it all togeth er Sunday and sto rm ed h is wa y to first. In th e first hea t it was Bob Gr aham (CZ) , Robie Holbert (Hus] , and Brian Fox; th en Ho lbert's bik e took ill, leaving him behind Fox, and finally putting him out of th e ra ce co mp letely . Fox decided this was the d ay. He fin ish ed in sec o nd the first h eat , but th e n ext heat was to be a d iffe re nt story. Wh ile in first place , Graham go t hot and crashed, pu tt in g hi m b ehind. T h is left Fox way o ut in front. It was really grc- t to see Brian a win - he works so hard at it! Mr. Fernando Segura, well-known figure in the Euo pean au to racing circuit and w inn er of the Mexican Grand Prix , was on hand and offered a b ottle of champagne to the winner of the Ope n class. T his really added to the whole day - a celebrity! A huge thanks goes out from all the riders and spectators to Jake King, who made it all possible by his enthusiasm an d love ,fpr motocross. The s p ort mo st certainly needs more men like Mr. Kin g. (RCsiil son page 36)' . ..

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