NEW FACES IN WINNERS' CIRCLE AT TROJAN
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C.
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Danny Co rb ett (9 )leads Chu ck Gan n (239), A llen Sw ett (43) and T om Dot y (78 1.
By Art Lo ya
Photos by Dennis Greene
SOUTH GATE, CAL ., April 6, 1972
It should have been a time of joy and
handshakes for visiting rider, Scott
Erickson of Lewistown, Montana, who
had just outclassed the finest at Trojan
Speedwa y by charging to victory in the
250 flat track Main event by over a
quarter of a lap in his first time out on
the fifth-mile clay oval T hursday night.
Instead, Erickson, 19, who was the
winner in the Novice short track finals
in the Daytona 200 recently , would
have lead you to believe that you were
in the presence of the runn er-up, "I was
really sq uirre1y o ut there," he kept .
repeating again and agai n while being
by
num ero u s
new
co ngratulated
ad mirers 0 f this yo ung an d modest
rider. " I was m os t ly lu ck y and I'm sure
that 'so me of th e other fine riders must
have b een having th eir p roblem s
to nigh t," co ntinue d Erickson.
Bultac o mo unted , and looking fo r a
sponso r, Eri ck son, wh o is lookin g
forwa rd to' staying in th e West Coast to
co mpe te at As cot Par k if h e ca n find
so me k ind o f emplo y ment durin g h is
stay, gave th e fans only an insta nt
dis p lay o f h is brill iance in traffic as h e
weaved thro ugh the p ack o n th e first lap
to tak e the lead . A fter that , it was all
over as far as Ericks on was conce rned. .
Eric kso n co ntinu ed to stret ch his lea d
ove r seco nd p lace Larry Furu (Oss)
fro m Lo n g Beach .
T he 250 IT Mai n even t saw Miller ,
wh o is a p olice officer with th e LAPD ,
in o ne o f h is fines t performances as h e
held off Corb et t an d Eric kson for the
checkered flag fo r h is first maj or wi n of
the season. Miller, co mpeting in one of
his rare off-duty n ights, really showed
his m astery in meeting a strong
challenge by Corb ett fo r th e lead.
Erickson, still trying to find the right
form ula in IT co mpetitio n, was h aving
his t ro ubles with the do uble-jum p
course, but came t hro ugh with a
brillia nt effort in the final lap to take
third .
It was refr esh ing to see new riders in
the winner's circle, but it was even mo re
refreshing to say the very least , to see
Ju nior rid er , Elbert Turner and h is
Yamaha, lead Bob Sanders (Kaw)
lap-after-lap in h is q u est fo r his first big
win of the year in the 125 IT Main.
Sanders, u nquestio nabl y one of the
to ughest to b eat on the Trojan o val,
fo rce d Elb ert to p erfo rm his best w hile
attempting to slip under for the pass,
b ut Elbert's R Pl\·I' s we re mo re than
San ders co uId h andle o n this given
ni gh t .
Sanders, sh owing h is famo us w inni ng
ab oard h is Kawa sak i, was
form
victo rious in t he 100, 12 5 IT and 100
IT fea t u res.
Corbett, wh o 'd j us t as soon forget
th at he ever cam e to ra ce af te r going
win less in the entire p rogram whic h in
itself is very uncommon, nailed d own
second in the 100 IT Main finishing
ahead of Lujan, Roy Widener (Kaw) ,
an d Hopkins.
One
of
th e
evening's bi gges t
disappointmen ts ca me wh en San de rs
was unable to mak e any o f the 250
Main events due to a fa ulty engine that
needed repairs b efo re competing th e
foll owing ni ght at Asco t. With t h e
presence of Erickson amo ng the field , a
h ot-duel was alrea dy b eing talked up b y
the fans b etween th e two h ot-shoes. If
all go es well for th e next few d ays, the
best FT Main eve nt is still a po ssibilit y
fo r Thursday n ight's p ro gram wi th the
expected classic d u el of Sanders and
Erickson.
(R esu lts on page 39)
Broken Eggs at Baymare
By Art Cox
MOORPARK, CALIF ., April 2 , 1972 What will management think of next?
They are always ad ding so me extra
excitement fo r riders as well as
spectators d uring intermissio n. Usually
it is a hill climb. Easter Sunday an egg
race was held between motocross
events.
20 riders p aid a 10 cent entry fee to
have two raw eggs tape d to th eir cycle
seats. T he race co nsisted o f tw o lap s an d
the first and second rid er over th e fin ish
line without b ro ken eggs wo n a $ 15 and
$ 10 p rize . The start was h ilario us! Can
you imagine 20 riders st arting wi tho ut
b eing able to sit do wn? The lead was
taken by Mike Pace on a CZ, but his
pace was too ro ugh . After flying o ver
the tunnel jump he was first over the
fin ish line but his .front egg was
smashed. Ken Janson (CZ) was second
over but one of his eggs hatched
prematurely, With both of their eggs
intact, Richard Kaeding (Mai) won the
$15 first prize and Jim Burnet (Bul)
took the S10 second.
While we're on the subject of R.
Kaeding (Mai), the best battle of the
da y was during the 250 Pro ficient
Novi ce motos. Riding three 15 minute
mo tos, Kaeding and Ken Janson (CZ)
fought it out. Both ' riders gave tile
crowd a few "ahs" with their speed.
Kaeding won the first moto with Janson
taking a second. Janson won the second
moto with Kaeding taking second. It
was tied for first going in to th e third
mo to . Janson ma naged a great start in
the third mo to with Kaeding getting
box ed in. This p ut h im in eigh th
position fo r the first
lap . Wit h
unb elievab le riding, Kaed ing moved up
to second spot du ring the next two laps.
J an son st ill had the lead and with less
than o ne lap to go, J anson , wh ile trying
to lap a slower rider ta ng led with him
o n th e " off-c am b er " h ill and w ent
down, a llo wing Kae di ng to take the
ch eck ered for first o verall. J ans o n, even
tho ugh finis hing 11 th in the thi rd mo to
ma naged a t hir d .
In th e 250 Beginner class, Joel
Shedden on a brand new Yamaha MX
wo n a large trophy wi th th ree fine first
pl ace rides for a "Gra nd Slam " . Ke n
. Hayden (Suz) did the sa me, riding in t he
Open Proficient Novice class.
The Pinerri Brothers (Hod), Steve and
Tom, always seem to top t he 100 class .
Today they did it again with a first and
second o verall respectively. Tom might
have ca ught Steve, except he stopped on
the other side of the start hill during his
second moto for a drink of "root beer"
from a friend. Some friend!
A report from Baymare would not be
complete without a mention about ho w
fast the 125 Experienced class winners
move out. Riding a new Bultaco
Pu rsang, Paul J an so n won first overall
displaying a fine riding style.
.
T he team "Grand Prix 72" motocross
is scheduled for next weekend (April 15
and 16) at Baymare. A few entries are
still available.
