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/141017
Re-Organized AF.!FQpens at Vacaville . ri, Ph otos by Dave Sc hoonmaker & Art Friedma n ~ w Z W ..J U > U - VAC AVILLE, CAL., Mar ch 26, 1972··The AFM held its first rac e today since it became affiliated with th e AMA . The ch anges in organization were not too severe, but not all w ere app ro ved of by th e riders. Some o f th e ch an ges were minor like " C P" classes b eing ch an ged to " Fo rm ula " classes. The biggest ch ang e, and t he one that aroused the most d isconten t, was the rule th at a rid er may not compete in both pro d ucti o n and Formula classes on the same machine. The new rule b eca me pa rticularly unpopular wh en the Formula class es came to the line. Four 50's arrived at the line for th eir ra ce and by the end of the rac e one had dropped out. Thre e well -spaced bikes is hardly racing. Eight bik es showed up fo r the 125 Formula event. When the nag dropped one ea ger competitor dropped the clutch and wheelied into David Scott who won the race a fter the restart. However, once again only three bikes were still go ing by lap five and the race lost some of its excitement. T he lightweight p roduct io n race finally provided some competrnon. Early leader; Stephen Campbell (Suz) , amazed sp ectators for four laps with his slides coming out of the last tum . Finally th e in evita ble happened, and the rear wheel stepped out a little too far, puttin!! him down. He was up i~ a flash, but fo und himself so.hdly In third p lace. When only four bikes sho wed up fo r the 3 50 Formula rac e rumblings o f co m p lain t co uld be he ard from 350 production riders. "Only fo ur bikes and they won't let us run. n I ro de in th e He avyweight productio n even t. I was so mewhat inclined toward cautio n sinc e I , lik e the rest of the field, had o nly go tt en five laps of pratice. I see med to forget ca u tion when the n ag d ro pped, tho ugh , and was fift h away fro m the running engine st art t ha t was used in all events. Sprintin g ah ead of th e field was Mik e Wentel on his Kawasaki 500. Even running off the co u rse o n th e - last tum of th e first lap did n't slo w him do wn much. I found that the strong tail wi nd d own the straigh t was giving me quit e a push, and my Kawasak i 5 00 was running u p to 2000 rp m o ver redline at times. I also found that I had more top-end th an A rt Chambers on his Kaw asaki 750 , much to th e suprise of us both . He was o u t-ridi ng me an d coming o ut of co rn ers faster , but I would pass him at th e end of th e straight. That would k eep me in fro nt b ecause no o ne ban k e d, bump y, likes t he I-used-to -t al k -in -a- d e e p e r- v o ice, first tum . One the last lap Mik e WenteI apparently had some trouble and dropped back to t hird o verall. Dave Scott (No r) took o ver the lead to the nag ahead o f th e field of 26 starters. Chambers finally got aro und me for fifth o vera ll. b ehind Steve Kerr o n a Su zu ki 35 0. The Open Formula class was highlighted by Paul Bostrom's interesting method of starting. As the starter p repared to drop the nag Bostrom clamped on his front brake an d lit up the rear tire. He sat there smoking it for about five seconds until the n ag fell. He was last away. (Results on page 36) ... N~U- TO'E"' E YOU .ErrE. . . . \ilC'" ,,~ ~ 0 TO " NE" ANO L" . OE. FACILITY WI .. TH BiggER A DBETTER INVENTORY! N COME CELEBRATE WlTHUSATA GRANDOPENING SALE FR OM MAR H 10th THRU MAY7t , 1972 C .lit PRICES EFFECT IVE ~ TH RU MA Y 7, 11172 (CLOSED EASTER , APR IL 2) * GRAN O E IN D P N GWEEKEND GR EA T SALES OFFERI NG f ~ TASTIF BARGAINS OUR GRANO oP ENING SALE Wil l END wtTH A SPECIAl. ~ SATURDAY, MAY 6 Bnd SUNDAY; MAY 7,1972 FEATU RING MOVIES . DOO R PAIZES . SU RPRISE P AICES. * Mu isia Stagg (T d) didn' t fin ish a nd had t o h itch a ri de h o me for both herse lf an d her bike. ' SEE OUR NEW SHOWROOM • . AND ENJOY OUR IR E IS R S TIBLE BARgAINS I! iC .. ~.~. $ 15D WORTH 0 PROTO TOOLS '1 ') 0 WO RT H 0 " PROTO TOOL.S SE L.ECTED ESF't:ClAL.L. V FOR ~O T O ACVCLE WORK . SE T INCLUDES SUCH IT E M S , A!I !lOC "'£ T!I, !>CR E W D R l v E RS . FEELEA GAUGE-So E TC . AL!l O I""C"-UDED P AO T e) T OOL 80)( WITH "-' FT O UT TAAV . IC,",O'CE 0'" S T A N O A A D O R I\II T R IC T OO,,- S ,I £ "" 0 Il'VR C ... AS[ N EC E S SA R V . D RA WI NG I\IIAV 1JII',I'J1. MA IL IN ENTRY BLANK BELOW N A .. I!. ADOR U S CITV TV PE C VC U STAT E OWNED P.O . Bo x 10059 . San ta A na , Ca l i f 9 2 7 11 Bob Harrington ape xes the las t t u rn o n h is way to second overa ll in th ; -H avywe ight Production e gcwound .