Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i Mighty Joe Mighty Fine .... a> N Q. -c '" ~ w Z W ..J U >- U By Bill Spencer S AN FRANCISC O, CA L ., A pril 9, 19 72 - Sacramento's Joe Henry put together one of the fin est performances an ind oo r rider co uld possibly do and clean swee p ed a mighty fie ld of riders at the Husqvarna Pen,ton 'ochrs Sa'es & Service .6624 Atlantic,Bell,Ca. (2J3)58' -3983 Cow Palace d u ring the International Sport Cycle Exposition, Cycle '72. The migh ty J o e H enry has had an extensive background of indoor fame , without the fortune, but su rpassed anything h e had ever attempted t o d a y with his first trophy dash win and h is first major Ell 1831 ARTESI A BLV D.,G A RDENA CA. 9 02 4 7 PHON E (2 13) 3 27-0131 • . Sponso ring Tim Hart @;ltI1IJI1WW flJ FUL L MAl eC PARIS STOCK ........ ~ ~ ..................•. .-. ~\i\\t,~tl'_-'"~ "tt IBas~9.2~J ~;~:~I 103 2 W. BROOKS ST.· ONTARIO.CA 9'762 ·714 983-5871 11 17 Fountai n W ay. A nah ei m, Cal . 9 2 806 ...................................... WARDS RIVERSIDE MOJAVE' By BeneUtI PAR llLA CAPRIOlO MV AGUSTA 250 BIANCHI CAPRI SCOOTERS ~ PARTS W orld'i largest inn olllry lor lillian motorcycles Rebli n Elgin Excbngel -.nU~8C. Hatboro. Pa. 19040 (215) 672-9100 N:~u~~R~Rly:EST SUZUK I GENUINE PARTS AND KIT· PARTS THROUGH OU R M~ l l ORDER D EPARTM ENT . DEPT. CN ·W·P.O. BOX 2446 SAN A FE SPRINGS, CALIF. 90670 T Cow Trai' Jour a a ENDURO SPROCKETS 2 T OO TH CZ Counter Sp roc kets $9 .25 Ca t. res . ad d 5 % sales ta x. C&M SPECIALTIES -P.O. BOX 717 MOUNT AIN VIEW CALIF . 94040 ACK PRODUCTS, 6 76 Auz erai s Ave. San Jose Ca 95125. 408,29 3 ·511 1 Sales ... Ser vice cu stom w o rk '" .til I11 J I.. C ~ · .~p hY . CYCLES 8 SUZUK I MAI CO 184 SJ n Anto nio Rd. c. ur. 9 4040 9 4 1-73 17 :\11. View , vic tory o n th e indoor circuit. So m e m ay remem b er Joe in h is Yamaha Silver Cup perfo rmance at Long Beach in 19 70 wh en he sat on the pole as a J u ni or and took a second when J im Odom m ade h im j ust a little ne rvous a nd got by . He also won a Co nso latio n event at th e Yamaha Silver Cu p races in J an . '71 at th e Madiso n Squar e Garden, b ut nothing that wiuld co mpare w ith the p erforman ce he displayed today. "I didn 't h ave a lo t 0 f con Iidence in mysel f when I started , b ut I got better along the way ." J o e Henry has always been one of the best short trackers in Northern California Sportsman racing . and in the past three years has made an impressive greeting to the professional racing circ u it. The dirt brought into the aren a of th e Cow Palace was well used for the entire week o f sh ow activities a nd by race time Sunday morning, was showing signs o f distinctive wear with ru ts and h ol es ap p eari ng regularly. This co uld be attributed to the Speedway bikes that ran earlier in the week to a good Bay Area crowd ., b ut the nearly 4,000 spectators for today we~e really ready for a dirt track indoor and were well treated with spectacular feet-up slides that one normally can only see fro m afar at half-m iles a nd miles. Despite th e holes , the action was the greatest and the talk is n ow about mo re indo o r d ir t races. When the 120 p lu s riders signed in for the days $2 ,100 meet , the p rogram was to have been a pro gressive qualify in g heat, b ut wi th th e large a m o u nt of en trys, referee Wal t Mas te rson changed the show to a q ualifying on the clock one and the res ults were ra ther asto u nd ing . Turning in the fastes t time of the day w as Dave Aldana on th e Dall as Baker O ssa w it h a heavy 1 1. 696 . Hen ry was th e o nly other close rid er with an Il: 70 1. , Com ing off a recent w in at Portlan d and q ualifying eighth fastest was H-D fact ory ace Mark Bre lsford and in the Iirst heat Mark did a super number of laps on th e o u tside c ushio n for the win over Aldana and brother Scott. The two Harley sprint riders seemed well in control and went on to a one-two win in the semi that seemed to set them up for a cert!in o u t st andi ng performance in the I Solap Main. Doing a splendid job in th e second heat was Don Castro on the Golden West Montesa. Castro is another of the seasoned scrambles racers that ran around this area some years back doing all sorts of strange racing that m ak es the Northern California guys hard to co m p et e with . Bob Scally easily won the last heat wi th some great hold ing o n th at left his arms nearl y sei zed fro m the bumps . Nick Theroux pulled in a w ell d eserved second afte r having to wait some three m onths to mend a b roken a n k le from an ind oor at Sa n Jose. The first semi was a Harley b en efit with bo th Brelsfords d oing absolutely great fee t -up slid es o n th e o utside th at kept the fans o n the edges of their seat s. The seco nd was easi ly as easy for Bultaco ac es, J o e H enry and Bob Scal ly . This was to set th e p ace for the Main an d proved to be an eye-op ener for o ne and all . D u ri ng th e b reak between races, th e asse m bled were inspired with so me great trials exhibition that Bob Tyson of San Jose handily won. The Sp anish Cup presented by a m emb er of the Spanish consulate of San Francisco was a great gesture. The Silver Cup was indeed a treasure. Nick Nazzisi led off the ten lap co nso lat io n but succumbed to a case of the nervo us Novices and was passed by Jim Foley and Expert Russ Po well before the checkered fell. In the heat Nazzisi was running a strong fifth in a transfer spot in front of J im R ice b ut a sligh t gla nce o ver the shoulder saw th e veteran Expert a nd Nick was relaga ted to the Consol atio n, as were many othe r notables th at a re normal ly seen runni n g the Ma in . The 15 lap Main was a real th riller and j ust go es to prove th at short track racing is growing quit e w ell . Bob Scall y led off Mark Brelsford on th e first start b u t a ft er two lap s, Bob Goo dman hi t a fa lling rider, nece ssit ating a rest art. Scall y led off th e inline restart b ut it was Joe Hen ry who got the ju m p from inside Brelsford and came o ff th e first t um in th e fir st spot. From there he . merely stretched th e lead o u t and too k the money and th e checkere d fr om starter Hoy Odo m , .O n t he second re start lap Scott Brelsfo rd go t a banzai ch arge going and nearly got und er Scally for the pass but h igh-sided off the Bultaco a nd was relegated to th e rear of the pack. Mark Brelsford held o nto t hi rd fo r the dista nce with Don Cas t ro p u tting o n the p ress ure at the close. Bill Morgan, J im Rice, Bob Goodman and Ric k Ho ckin g all put o n a great display of pacing in between laps a nd the fini shi ng order remained the same. If this ra cing is any indication of the P9tential of indoor dirt type racing, then more shows of this cal ib er should be considered. Desp it e the duration o f different racing each day and night, Harry Oxley has to be congratulated for keeping the track in reasonable condition. (R esults on page 39 )

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