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/141018
e> 1j, " 0.. N l"- e> :: C- « ~ w Z W ..J U >- U 100 N ovice Expert winner Jack Jones finds tr action on th e no-tr action surface. Champs Sorted at,Sprockets' 10th Tri-State Scrambles by Sportp hoto BAKERSFIELD , CAL. , March 19 , 1972 - Nearly 270 eage r compet it o rs were on h an d t oday for the Sp ro ck et s Tenth Annual .Mo to rcy cle Club 's T ri-State Ch am p io nsh ip Scrambles. Per h aps h ungry w ould b e a more apt de scrip tion th an eager, as all of the old, ti red clic hes co uld b e used; " hot an d heavy ," " th rills and spills." "crash and bum," ; all wo uld be very fitting. Changes in the track created problems for many, as the front straight h ad been lengthened an d the first tum both narrowed and tightened, in preparati on fo r th e upcomi ng sh o rt track eve n ts . One thing was n ot ch ang ed, h owever, that wa s the hard, slick , no traction sur face t hat this t rack of late alway s seems to d evelop in to by th e time the mains ar e starting. T he guys in the I 25 Novice Divisio n T wo Main were mo re th an j us t a bit upset as Elai ne Smith st ruck a telling b low fo r wo mens lib. Elaine, who has b een raci ng fo r q uite so me ti me, started out as a Powder Puffer, b ut when t he o ther girls dropped out , Elai ne kept on racing with t he guys. She has won several other district even ts, b ut somehow a lo cal win has eluded h er . T hat wasn't the story today th'bu gh , as Elaine charged off t he line, grabbing an im me diate lead an d j ust kept on going, right to the checkered, never eve n being re motely chal lenged. Meanwhile, back in the pack, wh ile attempting to get b y Larry Melton, Curt Bahr hit the fir st tum o f lap tw o way too h o t an d had no where to go b ut over th e b erm. Bahr definitly had no t given up th ough and was on t he gas, charging h ard . G eo rge Thornburg slipped o ut h igh and Bahr was right t here to tak e ad vantage, moving back into th ird . At the ch ecker ed, Elaine Smith received a well deserved and long overdue win , fo llow ed by Melton, Bahr and Thornburg . T h e 50cc Novice-Junior Main saw Ricky Pearce grab the lead right off th e starting line, chas ed b y J immy Midge, Mike T aylor, Rick Taylor, Joey Bell, Vern Salyers, Wayne J ohnso n and the o nly Junior, Mike Leming. After h andily winning his heat race, so me how Mike was put in th e b ack ro w o n th e o u tside. This had both Mike an d his fa ther q uite uptight as the ru le b oo k reads so me th in g to th e e ffec t that the heat winner sh all h ave the po le p ositi on in th e main. Perhap s this pl acemen t h ad so meth ing to d o wit h t he fac t th at Mik e h asn ' t lost a race in abou t fo ur or fiv e mo nths. Mike Taylor encounte red so me problems in the right-hander on lap o ne and mad e a close in sp ect io n of th e track surface , ad vancing Rick Taylor to t hird, Bell to fo urth, Saly ers to fifth , Johnson to sixth and Le ming to seventh . Exiting , the right-hander, Leming got the drive on Johnso n, moving into sixth, then fla t went w ild and went around the o utside of Saly ers, Bell and Taylor in tum three, advancing clear into third. . J ohnson found the way aro und Salyers thro ugh the sw eeper, then p assed Bell in th e right-hander on lap two. Again in th e right-h an d er , Salye rs go t by Bell o n lap t h ree, moving to fif th , then was passed by Mike T aylor in turn o ne o f the last lap . Once again in the righ t-hander, Joh nso n went to ea rt h , puttin g Taylo r into fourth and Salyers in to fifth . Coming th rough th e sw ee pe r fo r the checkered, Le ming d ro ve aro und Midge to finis h second ove rall. (Result s on p age 56 ) Team Meet Sees Grumph D p um 100 Novice To ny Bradley smok es i n his heat on the way t o second overall. BEND, OREGON , March 5,1 972 - T he Cascade MIC tried something di ffe rent in t he way o f cro ss-co un try events . They decide d to have a team event with tw o riders and one or two bi kes . A 30 mi le co urse was laid out with abo ut half of it in new trails. The course was open for practice and it was decided th at each rider m u st ride two laps for a total of 120 miles. Rider turnout was n ot great (110) d ue to other events be ing held in the Northwest, bu t many riders that never raced before sho we d up fo r the fun. And fun they had . A beau tiful 60 degree day and lots of excitrnen t as partners wa ited for th eir tu m . The race started at 10 :30 with a tw o mile das h to the smoke b o mb. At the end of the first lap , it was Dick J ago w on his 500 Triumph powered ' Greeves wi th about a five min ute lead. Dick elected to ride the Triumph after seeing so me of the fas t roads on the co urse . Figu red h is 250 would not mak e the 100 m ph mark like his Gru mph . C Z mo un ted Larry Fel ix was five mi nutes behind Jagow. T racy Lant z fo llowed on his CZ with Ch arles Stand eford right behind also o n a CZ. On the se co nd lap Felix's team mate,Frank Sunad a, m oved p as t Jagow's teammate, Bob Camb y . Dic k Jagow was a nervous wre ck knowing his teammate h ad dropped back to third positio n. Camby ca me flying in to the pits in h opes o f regaining th e lead, but managed to fin d th e o nly rock wit hin 200 y ards of th e start in g area and did a fantastic endo . Di ck is now in th e Gresham, Ore. hospital wi th a seriously bro ke n leg. The CZ 's of Sunada and Fe lix went o n for the win follo wed by th e CZ's of Standeford and Heeter. Ke it h Ne rseth and Tom Montgomery riding DKW 's were first i n the Ligh tweight class and seventh overall. They would have finish ed mu ch further up, except that Nerseth b roke a front axle and came riding back to get his tea mmate's bike. It was figured t hat he rode 15 miles o ut of his way bu t still managed to ta ke the win . A last minut e t eaming o f Steve Stotesb ury (Hon) and Wayne Morinvi lle (Kaw) resulted in se co nd pl ace ligh tw eigh t. This was Cascad e MIC's firs t try at team cross -country racing and since everyone en joyed it , t hey w ill su rely have more. Cascad e MIC's n ext event is a cr oss-coun try April . 16 I 50-mile utilizing a 75 -mile co urse.