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/141021
YIPPEE-YAY, lOTSA FUN AT SPILLWAY '" > '" ::E ~ w Z W ...J U >- U By John Bethea. SANTA l\IA RIA, CAL., April 23 , 19 72 - A young 16-year-old Expert showed up today at Sp illway Par k and devasta ted th e Op en In ter/ Ex. class . R o n Bass, a very sty lish and darin g new sunburst-finned-Maico rid er , took the lea d in eac h of the three motos and was never challenged th e entire day. In th e second m o to he eve n finished the seven lap race w ith a co mm and in g 5 0·second advan tage ove r second p lace and set a n ew track reco rd o f tw o-m inutes flat in th e pro cess. T h e story was n o t so easy in th e 250 Inter/Ex . showdown for District 35 poin ts . After flo ppi ng first an d sec onds in th e ini tial two rounds, J oh n Gro ssin i an d Sh erm an Schneller , b o th CZ mounted, h ead ed in to th e fin ale and immedia tely wer e runn ing one-two aga in in th e early lap s. As h e h ad d o ne in th e first moto, Schneller began h ounding Grossin i for th e lead an d midway through fin ally found a mi st ake an d shot to th e point. In a tigh t b attle fo r third over all, District 37's top motocrosser, T on y Rogers, today sporting a nifty n ew Greeves, pulled out a pair of thirds and had a last round tussle with J ohn Caldwell and LeRoy Cush awa y wh o forced him d own to fifth; good for third ove rall , however, and a fourth place tie for John and LeRoy . Jack Kebse, an Intermediate , stack ed up against some very impressive Experts, did some flashy riding in the 125 combined show and came out the overall man with two wins and a second. Mike David, who dumped his Suzuki in the first few laps of the initial round and later fought back to fifth, won the second and was in a desperate battle with Kebse in the final , But Jack just wouldn't shut off and David decided to tuck into second and hold it. He didn't and was soon fifth, locking up th e overall for Kebse . On-again, off-again Dean York (Bu l) tried giving the 125ers a stiff go and wa s successful up to the point that he blew a piston midway through the second race while leading. York, who was injured here at Spillway near Christmas time, spent two months recuperating from a broken collarbone. York admitted that after that center-punching crash he has been getting spooked by having riders near him. Two months after his spill , "I started riding again but didn't have it in me." So he quit but returned today. "I really felt good out there. I didn't think at all about th e accident; then again, I wasn 't close to anybody, either." Joe Nunez (Yam) and Greg Stewart (Kaw) locked handlebars, footpegs, gas tanks, and everything else more than once today while clawing for the 100 Junior win. A ncar photo finish in the first race had Joe in the lead. Two races later, they w ere at it again, but this time Nunez went down near the end of th e mo to , giving Stewart a comfortable lead to nourish. Nunez, however, outpointed everyone to take the win with J im Flowers (Hod) sneaking in to take second overall ahead of Randy Schwalenberg (Ho n). Stewart dumped ,back to fourth. Cherry Stockton (BuI) topped the Powder Puff class run jointly with the 100 Juniors. After a p air of o verall fifths, she cased off the pace in the final and was aced by Sue Bowen (Suz) in that one. Sherman Schneller got that CZ a-buzzing and dipped past John Grossini to win the 250 Inter/ Ex . class. After Butch Linden (Bul) won the first 125 Jr., he putted into the pits and said, "Whew, I really lucked into. that one. I'm good for two or three laps so if someone would have pushed me, I'd -, Ron Bass. At 16, watch for him to be a top Expert in a few years. Dean York (65 returned to motocross and did well until his piston blew in the 125 Inter/ Ex. class. Jack Kebse (162 - behind York) was the class winner. Bob Haroth (14) and Vincent Clark (240) are running strong in the start of this mota, too. ~ \ The student (Cherry Stockton ) came in first PowderPuff . The teacher (Doug Grand was offered the trophy by her. When Doug said she could have one of his, Cherry said she didn't want it. Doug exclai med , " l 'm crushed !" have had to give it to them. Yeah, that heat out there really saps you." In the next show, Bill Keese (BuI) must have h eard him and the two battled for most of the race until Bill got by. "I was just too tired to catch that kid," said the 28-year-old Linden. To make m atters worse for ' Butch, half-a-lap before the ch ec kered , h e ran ou t o f gas. Bu t h e st ill finished second. "The ne a t thin g ab ou t this Bul is th at it will run wh en it 's out of gas.. .! gue ss it runs on th e fumes.,Linden th en h ad more h assles in th e fin al, this time from Pu ch -rnou n tcd Mike Pettit, Bu tch lost it twice , o nce wh ile lea di ng, and had to se ttle fo r second , bu t firs t in the tally . Steve H igh (Suz) easily wo n all three 250 J r . Div . I moto s to take th at class but Bob Schwartz (Bu l) had to u se a fin al moto win to eek out the Div, II cla ss over Scott Vi ct o r (H us) . A fter Dave Harrell smoked the clan in th e first Open Jr.. h e d ropped wa y off th e p ace in the next tw o and allo wed Mike T ucker (Y am) to take over and go o n for the win. Herb Waite (Mai) pu t three fin e m otos toge th er fo r sec ond. Spillw ay Par k will hold a $5 00 p ro motocross on Mav 14, an d with the aid of th e Santa B.u=bara S tarters l\I.C. , it shou ld be a fin e show. Ch eck Cal endar next week for details. (Res ult s o n p age 36)