Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Blair Blares at the Dunes By John Grout Motorcycles, as he outsped the crew VALENCIA, CAL ., April 9, 1972 which was airing the big-bore bikes. Young Brad Blair, an Expert-ranked Though an elite member of the moto motocross racer from Ventura, Ca. Pros - Tom was entered strictly as an brought a 125 Bultaco to today's exhibition races. He, nonetheless , did program at Indian Dunes Park which create more racket than h ell walking had more snort and agressive behavior barefooted on a platform, while st uffing than a picador-pricked toro at a Tijuana dirt and exhaust fumes down the matinee - one worth of El Cordobes' throats of Experts. Swiftly-improving talents! Bill "The Goer" Tilstra zipped to a thi rd Blair, facing one of the toughest place ove rall in this event - and he 's lightweight fields that this writer has sti ll rated as a Junior. Might be a fine seen in ten years of motorcycle p ro sp ect for Ya maha International. You competition, wasn 't able to win all of listening? h is three heat races - "Joltin' " J o e Tracy Oswell, u nable to win h is third Granatelli an d Ron Acevedo , riding a moto after leading wire-to-wire in th e pa ir of Bultacos for Cycle Parts of Santa earl ier heats.! was still able t o pull Monica, split wins in two of t he m o t os something of a majo r u pset as he - but, b y virtue of a 2-1-2, Brad zip ped whipp ed last week's gra nd slammer of to the day 's overall divisio na l victo ry. the three Can -Am rac es, Fran k Giardina. And w hichever of the roaring crew the nat ion's best Man y of would have w o n, made little d iffe rence. p rofessional moto crossers ar e exp ec ted Se nor Bulto wo uld b e smili ng at a lat er to r eturn for th is Sunday's all-class, da te wh en h e so ld m ore machin ery to program at th e Dunes. First rac e sails im p ressed an d eager novi ces. fro m the sta rt ing tate at 9:00 a .m, Granate lli Joe, of the fa mo us STP racing family (also a p o ten t t hreat wh ile riding fo r the American team, duri n~ last w eek 's ini t ial Can-Am round ) regi stere d a seco nd place overall fin ish be hind Blair . By Elai ne Jo nes Tom Simpson, still ano ther memb er PE RRIS, CAL., April 1, 1972 - Bobby of the A merican Can-A m rid ing squad, Sanders made th e Perris scen e fo r the displayed a s uper talent on a well first t ime in a long while and rod e two and won two. Bob's first wi n came in prepared CZ from Ted Eva ns the jOO-I25 cc A/E class b ut h e go t a stiff fight fro m Rick Milner wh o put the pressure on right away by winning the first moto, Bob came back in the seco nd heat, taking advantage of Rick's lo usy start and took a commanding lead which Rick couldn't do anything abo ut. The third heat had Bob wire to wi re an d first overall. Rick was second an d Way ne Whisenant and Steve Bale s tied for thir d. Win number two was the 250 Am/E x. and with the absence of Doug Mason, Bo b mad e it three for th ree wi th no p roblem. Steve S tricklin and F rank Baldozier ro unded o ut the field. Two Novices got their grad uatio n p apers Saturday n ight and th ey are sponso r and sp onsored rid er. Bill T ro tt , o wner of Bill's Cycle an d J o h n Sandona will now ride their 501 Maicos with th e big boys. Bill j ust started rid ing Perri s th is year and he starte d win nin g righ t away . Wes McG ee ga ve him a good run fo r his money an d stand s a go od ch an ce of becoming the guy to beat in th e Novice moto cla sses now that Bill h as tran sferred. G erald Ho ff is an o th er o ne worth watching. J ohn Sandona, sponsored by Bill's Cy cle won th e first Novice Moto riding lik e an Ascot E xpert. Mike DuBont, h is second time out o n a Kawasaki Big Horn showed the fans what 's coming. J ohn was su per quick o ff the lin e and go t some fantastic drives through th e sw eeper but Mike got h is number in th e final moto , even though it was a b it lat e and he had to settle for second. Ran d y Hoff, son of Ge rald w o n the second Novice Moto an d should b e pretty clos e to his transfer. Tim Abshier who used to b e a Yamaha man was mounted on a C Z an d had enough fo r second. Kent Wilson was third . Big bike Expert Walt Foster did his thing again and lo ok ed like a National super sh oe, b acking in to the sweep er an d letting it all h an g out. Vince Graves, a flashy rider in anb od y's book hung it altogether but to o late and p icked up his first for the ni gh t o n the fin al rno to , stretching a big lead th an ks to Walt being hung up in traffic. Frank Schnetz and N orm Blake took h ome the go ld in th e two divisio ns of 250 Novices as d id Stan L udwig in t h e 175-2 00 class. J eff Clar k h ad his work cu t o ut for hi m in th e 125 Novice cla ss wit h Jim Joh nson all recovered fro m his fall and Eri c Engen h o t o n his ta il. J eff, fo r all his y o uth, kept his cool and h ung in there for the win. J im was seco nd -and Eric third. Dere k Katani c ran h is win streak to tw o in th e 100 Novice class so he should start watch ing h ow th e Expe rt s do it. De rek lo o ked real good riding a smooth ' race out in fro nt mo st of th e time. The downhill sw eep er is his biggest problem but he seemed to get it under contr ol. Jim Wood wh o was second, zapp ed Derek at that downhill spot but just couldn't hold it . Jeff Sore nson, De rk e's teammate was t hird . T hanks to Yo unger Bro thers House Mo vers, Perris r iders will b e getting second place trophies. T h is does not , ho wever, in clu de the min i-bik es and min i-cycles. ell 8> '" .... '" ell Q. U Sanders Bpltts High speed jump. Th e re they go.

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