Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.... ~ '" '" '" e, '" .... '" Numb er On e plate . I had a good winning streak going and I didn't lose many." a What did it cost to become num ber one? "The last four years. all the money has been put into racing. Like the family has had to go without a lot of things like furniture . We have had to scrounge pretty hard just to get gas money to go to the races. At times I've had to write checks with not enough money in the bank to cover them just to get out to a '" race. Jell ~exto~ ts looking " E u U ~ " w > -a '" 0, o '5 . J:: e, "It costs me about ormachlnerv By Ed Drechsler Very few people know Jeff Sexton. At 17 yea rs old. he is the District 37 Heavyweight Scrambles Number One Rider. Quite an accomplishment for this quiet. shy person. His appearance of shyness stems from the fact that if he "starts talking and getting jazzed up and all that stuff, everyone is going to start t hinking t hat I'm a big head and all that crap." He quit high school to operate his own shop, making expansion cham bers. He plans to go to continuation school for his diploma but has no plans for college. He is now heavily involved with Jeff Sext on's Track-N.Travel, located in Chino. Calif. TNT is a family effort requiring hard work and total dedication from all. They sell and service Maicos and have a good line of parts and accessories. Jeff wants to make his living with what he loves most, racing motorcycles . But here, let him tell his own story: "I was 12 years old and my first bike was a Honda 55. I'd tra il ride, climb hills and stuff like that . Later on we traded an old Model A truck for a super-fast Hon da 50 that won 22 main events at Prado Park and 18 at Elsinore . "I went to Perris to race one night and ch ickened out. The following week was my 14th birthday and I went again and placed second to last. From there I got a 100 Kawasaki and started riding. Went good for two years. Ended up with number 17. still a Novice. High Point District 37 Novice for that year. Then I moved up to Amateur. The Amateurs rode with the Experts, so I had myself moved up to Expert so I could get the Expert points. " I rode the Elsinor e Grand Prix on a 50cc Honda. It was the only bike I ha d at the time, so I rode it. Th at was the year that we had all the flo ods an d it was mu ddy down th ere. " Went do wn th ere with K-70's front an d rear and no air cleaner on it. The carburetor just stuck up. right out of t he engine . Never ran it with an air clean er. Th at was th e thing in th ose days. " I used a quart of oil for every lap. Th e mud just fried on the cy linder and stu ff. T o get it to co ol, we had to get a screwdriver and a hamm er and chisel it out from between the fin s on each lap. " My frien d and I started at th e same time. He mad e two or three laps and ble w up. He came in and helped my Dad pit for me the rest of the race. I was th e first 50 in but the results were all screwed up. · Th ey had my friend listed second place and didn't even list me. He went down to the club meet ing with us and den ied getti ng second place. He to ld th em what th e story was and how I won th e 50cc class, but the y said the y couldn't accept it and any way the results were ou t and we shouldn' t snivel. Afte r a small hassle. we left. " I got sponso red by Yamaha of Pomona. I had a 125 Yamah a MX and a 12 5 Yamaha twin. I started racing at Trojan in South Gat e. I sho rt trac ked at Orange Co unty Raceway (now EI Toro) against Gar y Scott . Sco tt Autry, Stan Ro dgers, Ray Vanderpool an d all the ho t dogs. Made some money against them. I was a consistent third. "One night. I was on my 12 5 twin and Gary Scott was riding a 125 Kawasaki - it was a 100 punched o ut to a 125 - I got off in third place. Scott was leading, Autry was in second on his 125 twin. In t he secon d lap I got past Autry and in the last lap down the back straightaway I passed Gary. I went into the comer a little b it too hard and Gary came up underneath me. Going to the flag he beat me by six inches . The crowd stood up and cheered. That was the most I ever got stoked about a race . That 's when Gary was really going. "I started riding motocross on my 125 MX. They had a six weeks series at Deadman's Point. We missed the first race. I won the 12 5 class in the series by 1.000 points. "My 125 got stolen out of Yamaha of Pomona. They could n't replace it, so they gave me a 250 Yama ha MX to ride . I won on it at Deadman's Point and CMC at Ascot. "I had two tanks for that 250. A psychedelic paint job and a stock 360 tank. I would win in the 250 class, come in and change to the 360 tank and win in the 500 class. I kept winning week after week and finally someone caught on to the trick and protested me. But they were going to disqualify me for riding a 360 in the 250 class. After they checked my cards and serial numbers and everything, they ended up d isqualifying me from the 500 class. After it was all over. there was a big hassle in the pits . They ripped the antenna off my buddy's EI Camino and scratched it all up. They raised all kinds of hell. "A few weeks later I went out to Deadman's Point and pulled the same trick in the 250 and 500 classes. I won my first two motos in both classes. In my last 250 mota, I drowned out at the mud hole. First time it did th at . I was leading but all 21 riders got me before I could get started again . "I rode over my h ead an d moved up to sixth place in One lap. I was passing a guy on an Ossa and hit a steel pole and to ok us both ou t. Broke the ball joint in my shoulder . " I was rid ing a Hon da 65 back and fort h to wo rk at Yamaha of Pomo na at th e time. I got bo red walkin g so I pu t the clutch lever on the right hand side by t he th rot tl e and I rode all over with my arm in a sling. " ' Bout thr ee weeks later , I took my arm out of th e sling and rod e 125 an d 200 Expert class at Perr is and won . Been riding with th at shoulder ever since . " St eve Mint z from Upland Cycles gave me a rid e on a 250 Maico one day o ut at Perris. I ent ered it in the 500 Novice class and won. Th e following week th ey gave me a 400 Maico to ride and I rode Amateur class. Bob Gre enstr eet and I were going at it. The last mo te , I got around Bob and won it . Afte r th at , they woul dn't let me ride Novice b ecause of the Amat eur ride. So a poi nt run came up. I entered in th e 500 Novice class an d th e 500 Expert class. I won the 500 Novice class going away and I whipped it on Scott Smith , Jim Connolly and Chuck Wheat in th e 500 Expert class. Scott pr ot ested me for riding the Expert class an d a Novice protested me for ridi ng Novice. At th e end of the day they dropped the protests. So I talked to the Heavyweight Steward, Sam Crooks, and had him move me up to the Expert class. "I got a late start in the season. Missed five point runs and a Grand Prix. I went oUt to win that 20 for one day of racing. That's for gas, oil, fuel for the bike. eating. entry. gate fee and all that stuff. It gets pretty expensive for a few lousy points and a trophy. After a while even trophies don't mean anything. I have about 120 of 'em here but I haven't picked up a lot of them and I gave some away. They mean something at first, and you are all pumped up about them, but that gets old. "Maureen Lee, she doesn't like me very much. I never did anything against her. 1 think she is always stirring things up, you know? Just try ing to get something going. like argume nts here and th ere. That's what it seems like. "Anyway, she had an arti cle saying howysh e didn 't use my name, but she pointed it out to be me, yo u know - a 501 rid er, me and Chuck Wheat, Two kissin ' counsins or something - easy, I had it. And that I never have to work on my bike , just put on my little white gloves and get on my machine and go, you kno w? She was insinuatin g tha t I didn 't have to pay for anything. I don't part icularly like her. I don 't feel she cares to know t he tru th. She hasn't even talked to me directly." What does number one mean do you now? "Last year itwas neat, trying for it and all. T his year it is a bummer. We can't keep machinery ru nnin g. The hassles of getting money together j ust to get t o t he races, the truck blo ws up, everyt hing is a bummer. But all the Numb er Ones are having a bad t ime with their machi nes this year. Once you are Number One seems like the bad luck sets in. Look at Mert LawwiIl. He had mechanical prob lems. Look what the peop le thought . "I'm not sorry I made Number One. It was neat doin' it, but once you are Number One. everyone is out to beat you. People t hink you are ;l Superma n and can't make any mistakes. They ex pec t t oo muc h of you . If you have a two-digit num ber like I had last year. you can go ou t and ride and win or lose, no body thinks anything about it. It was more fun . "It bothers me when I get beat . spectator wise. I'm supposed to live up to it, being Numb er One. I worry about what people are saying whe n it 's not my fault . "When I win, I'm not pumped up any more. Not like when I was lo oking for Number One. "When someone comes up and asks for your autograph, you just get all choked up. You don't know what to say . You have never done it before. You feel weird. Like they think that you are something great. But yo u are just on your way up and you con't think that you are that good yet . . "There are a lot of guys riding right now that could be really good if they had the iron to ride. It tak es publicity, back ing and mo ney to get out fro nt and stay there. Yo u can't do it without hel p on anc ient iron and no gas money ." What are yo ur plans? "Right no w, I'm go ing to concentrate o n speedway. I plan on running six nights a week this seaso n. I want t o get th ings going and get up t o the first division where I can win some mo ney. With that mo ney , I won 't have t o get a j ob - I can live off my raci ng. Act ually, my goal in speedway , if I get good, is to get eno ugh mo ney togeth er t o go over to Europe and race against th e dudes over ther e. Probably gain a lot of experience. I' d like some day to become World Champ ion on some t yp e of mo torcycle. "I chose spe edway b ecause I couldn't locate a Class C sponsor that would come through . BSA and Triumph went belly-up and a lot o f veter an rider s are look ing fo r rid es. I didn't have th e money t o finance my own ride. I kn ow I can win, all I need is th e machinery. " Foothill Hon da offered me th is ride and I took it. I'll be racing o n th e Big Fo ot Racing ream for th em. I haven't had my first Class A race yet, but they say I look goo d in practice." In his first-ever Speedway race at th e Indio . Showgro und s on March 25, Jeff was placed in the secon d (not third) division. He won his heat race. He looped his ESO doing a burnout prior to the start of the Main. Despite the resultant embarrassment, Jeff raced well and finished third. C. U

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