Q.
U
Th ey left wh en n o rain fell.
Brian K ing shows how he got out of the Amateur ranks with only three rides.
Story By Ed Dr echsler
Photos by Al Duke & Ed Drechsler
..
;
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ADELANTO,
CAL .,
March
26,1972-Tad Willis, looking like he had
lessons from Terry Dorsch , j e ll e d
around the course to take first place
go ld in the 250 and 500 Novice classes.
Not o nly that, he ch arged to a
hard- earned second place in a h andicap
sweepstak es
race
foll owing
the
co nclu sio n o f the da y's events. Rick
Milner emerged as th e best of 140 rid ers
.
b y winning the swe epstakes rac e.
T he race, staged b ackwards o n th e bi g
co urse , appeared to favor th e sma ller
b ik es. T he lon g straigh tway a was now
d own hill an d th e distan ces b et we en the
turns was too sh ort fo r the hor sepower
b ike s. T he top 5 pla ces from each class
w ere invi ted to participate, but most of
th e smaller bikes went home. Thank
God . If not there would have be en 65
bik es of all classes hot-shoeing it around
the slick com ers . As it was, abou t 17
riders ch ose to co mp et e. The handicap
set eac h group o f b ik es about 100 y ard s
ap art with th e 100cc machines a full
half lap ahead of the o p en.
Scott Smith probably would have
won it if it would have gone o ne more
lap. He managed to ' jet past two riders
within yard s o f the finish lin e only a
few feet b ehind' rubber legs Milmer and
Willis.
Brian King, th at Ex -Amateur, aced
out Jim Connoly but could not quite
catch Smith in the 125 Expert class.
Connolly (Bul) was riding his first
scrambles event since he broke his hip at
the Dunes earlier this year testing a bike
for one of the monthlies. He rode a
Motocross prior to the Mint 400 and
won his class.
The
fence
after
250
Novice
Jim
Wrigh
soectecular crash. Jim got up and walked aw
from it .
Cy cle News presents an exclusive view into th e working innards of Jim Wrights 250 Yamaha fork
tub e afte r st riking the fence (see photos on right).
Danny Hockie, Connolly 's Mint
teammate, did his tum at shap ing up the
250 Experts. He seemed to ride like he
was the only one on the tr ack. Last
we ek's winner, Cary Tanner, placed
third while smilin' Mike Myers chased
'em down for a second pl ace trophy .
Charles Soderstrom cleaned house on
the 200 class again. Hear tell that he did
the same thing last night at Elsinore.
We final ly got a look at that hot
Yamaha twin that Doug Perrault is using
to win the 125 Novice class with. It is a
T ad Willis won the 500 Novice classwith an amaz ing display of control.
