Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. Q> '" Q. N Will the-FAA Have to license Kenny Zahrt's Bultaco? r- '" . ~ ::;: ~ w Z W ..J U >- U Here th ey are at the finish line, folks: 500 Juniors Robert Morgan (63B) and J. Langston. Whoever gets there first wins the race. Naturally, they are a bit excited about it. By Buzz Baty WILMINGTON, CAL., March 10, 1972 - I understand how hard it is for anyone, who was not there, to believe some o f the happenings that I report about these utterly fantastic 'Lions Fast Cats '. Be that as it may, I'll bet my house, car, dog, mistress, and oh yes, almost forgot , my wife, that anyone who was here and was paying attention won't disagree with my story of , tonight's action. By now, most o f you h ave seen, o r at least heard ab o u t, the famous L ions j um p . Let m e tell you about Ken Zahrt. A picture of Ken in m id-air wo uldn't do justice to this jump, b ec au se all yo u would see would be Ken and h is Bu ltaco wit h t h e b lack nigh t sk y for b ac kgro und. The first 125 E xpert mota got off t he lin e with Ch uck Bower b omb ing in to the lead ,on h is r apid Mettco sp onsored Penton. As they ro und ed the first t urn, Ken Zahrt grabbed second spo t when D ave Rodgers u nloaded . O ver the j ump the first lap w as just t he usu al Friday n ight Lio ns ac tion as both .Charlie a nd Ke n m ad e long stylish ju m p s. Bo wer had about a te n yard lead o n Zah rt as they h it th e jump on th e second la p. Mr. Co nsist ency , Chuck Bo w er , made his n ice no rmal fly in g leap off of 'th e top o f t he jump. I was foc use d on Ch uck with m y Has selblad, p an nin g with h is actio n, ready to im mortalize Ch arli e in b lack and whi te. Well , I d id n't pull t he tr igger, because at the top of m y viewfinder I see this blur, so '1 lowered my camera to see what co uld b e up th at high and I hear this tremendous oooo h from a record Li on's crowd. Ke n Zahrt must have h it that jump WFO! H e was a m in im u m of fift een fee t high , and a good six t o eight feet above Bower. Now , get th is, h e held that Bultaco in perfect sh ap e all the way up, and thro ugh a j u mp and lan d in g th at me asured a fa n ta stic eighty feet! Eigh ty feet from t he top o f t he ju mp to h is landing spot. Wh er ever yo u arc Eve l, if you hear a thump behind you, it may be one of t h e s e ' Li o ns Fast Cat ' motocrossers trying to break your record. Later, t his same jump, taking a lit tle easier was Zahrt 's undoing. Bower went on to win this mota, as well as th e . second, picking up a th ird in thef final round to take firs t overall fo r the second straight week. Scott Skelton go t in to the m oney line fo r the firs t t im e, getting second ab o ard h is Suzuki, as Dave Rodgers recovered fr om his firs t rna to spill to take t hird. I b elieve that a great big hoax has been pl ayed o n all of us b y Bill Payne. I d on't b el ieve t hat h e ever had a broken leg. I think th at wa s a story he lai d on eve ryo ne. What he d id was co ns pire with someb ody to p u t a cas t o n t hat had a zipper , then h e wo uld snea k o ff to his own private course t hat has b een b uilt for h im by this fab ulo usl y rich female ad mirer, and practice. Last week was his firs t race since t he broken leg and h e looked good. He came b ack to night wi th tw o scoots, and p roceeded to win the 25 0 Expert class. Then h e hau led o ut the big Maico and d id it aga in t o the 500 Experts. Last week 's winne r, Bo b Hershey settled for second with his CZ, a nd R ich Thorwaldson no tched the sh ow spot ab oard his S u zu k i. All in all , it was just the normal, r un-of-th e-rnill , Friday night CMC , L ions Looney Bin! Four J u ni ors in a 250 Divisio n race trying to cross the finis h line together. O ne unlucky rid e r tried to run d own L ion 's ma nager, Steve Evans, as he pulled th e co urse banners around the legs of CMC Prexy and finish line c h eck er-waver, Stu Peters, at las t unlo ad in g back o n th e track. He was about to b elieve th at his wild moment was ov er when h is b ik e exp lo d ed in flam es righ t in fro nt of th e grandstands. Don't fo rget fo lks, same time, same statio n fo r th e n ex t t h rilli ng episode o f th e ' Lo o ney Lions Fast Cats! (Resu lt s o n page 3 6)

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