Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Kassen Klan , Bigley Bros. Zap 'Em Cl :>~ :; ~ W Z W ..J CJ >CJ T eeth clenched, foot down, Stev e St ack abl e com es in for a land ing. Bv Pa ul Hanson Ph o t o~ : Hug he s & Cre ed LOCKHA RT, TE X. , Ap ril 23 , 19 72 T he moto cro ss ca ts of ce n tra l Texas were at it h o t 'n he avy wh en the spe ctat o rs tu rn ed o u t a t I :0 0 (a fte r ch u rch and S un day d in ne r) at So u th west Moto cro ss Par k at Lockhar t, Kasso n Ra cing Team turned in a ste llar performa nce las t S un d ay as Bill Kasson ( King of the T eam ) too k h om e top b uc ks in the Open Experts runnin g. R.L. Bigley (who re m in ds me of a Wes tin gh ouse refrigerator with arms, legs an d a friendly smile) fin ished second. Th at's what th e final res ults said anyway. R .L. just co uld n' t get going in th e Open m o to and fin ished second-to -last, Kasso n was far e nough in fron t of the othe r b ike s th at he could have coasted aro un d on the fifth lap . In the second moto, Bigle y wasn't a bl e to mak e a mo ve unti l th e last lap, b u t me managed . to edge b y Kasso n in th e w anin g m oments o f th e secon d h eat. The th ird go-rou nd w as an ins tan t replay of the first, except it was Bigley wh o go t up fro nt and Kasson w ho got buried in the p ack. Bill kep; on tru ck in ' and managed a third a t th e chec kers . That gave Kassoo a 1,2,3 finish and th e best overa ll score . J ack Hic ks, former Kasson T eam n ash, mad e h is d ebut on a lim e green Open-sized Kawasaki, an d wa s sh ad o wing Kasson in th e ea rly m ote s. Hick s, who p ulled seve ral muscles and ligam e nts a t San Anto nio last mon th , hung his fo o t a ornewher e o n the course and tw eak ed h is leg an ew . The Kaw a looked pre tty fu nky (with a sidecase mounted ca rb u n it ) bu t seemed to handl e we ll eno ugh , and wen t like blazes in th e straigh ts, Kasso n Kl an ma n S teve S tackable (S teve "Short", fo r sho rt) was u p to snuff with his usu al 125 and 250 Expert sp lit wins. So uthwest ~IX Park is no p icn ic e it her. With a freeway-wide , m ile lo ng co ur se th a t featu res a liberal sprinkling of fist-size d rocks, sandy lo am , red clay , b lack di rt, fine silt, and pl en ty of bordering oaks a nd m esqu ite trees - anyone th a t can win d ecisivel y is a good ride r. An yone wh o sp lits consisten tly at Lo ckhart is to p d raw e r tale n I. Of cou rse Steve h ad co mpe ti tio n . In CHILLIIGBRS C UP IlmDD! MOTORCTCLB BICB the 125 E xperts, Danny Weir ca m e down from Big Springs, Tex. again to make sure what he saw last month w as fo r re al. Brad y Bo oth, a 19 year-old from Temple, Tex. (who wears o u t a pair of boots a month practicing) and Weir were both Penton mounted and kep t up a lot of pressu re. But " S h ort " kep t h is Yam ah a up front, and Bo oth ca me h ome second with Weir third. When th e 250's lined up, it looked like a su re-fi re duel between Stackable , Ga ry Bigley (R .L. Bigle y's you nge r bro the r) an d Kent Howerton of San An to n io . In the first moto, Kent b u mp ed into the re taining d am b eh ind th e stoc k p ond an d wasn' t hea rd fro m agai n . Lockh art se em s to be a jin x for Kent. Ga ry Bigley was ab out a quarter o f a lap ahead of th e pack in all three 250 Ex pe rt mo tos. Stackable was any where fro m 20 to 50 y ard s ah ead of Bigle y. " S hort " was just too far-o u t. Lit e rall y . "When Short co me s ou t of a tu rn, th at Ya m aha just leaps o ff'a the be rm . Why can ' t I d o that?" Bigley lamented. Don't worry Gary . If you 're dri ving through Short's dust you' re a lot closer th an any one else ge ts. Bigley, wh o rides CZ number Two on the ce n tral Tex as ci rc ui t, is lik e Avis, number two bu t getting o ne-er all the 'tim e. Biigle y can be recognized b y his sm ooth riding style . Even wh en h e unloads, it lo oks clean. A bout the o n ly T ex as m otocro ssers with th at type o f elan a re Bob Graham w ho "glides" ove r th e bump iest ground, and Wyman Priddv who " flows" aro u nd comers and see m; to Ilv lo w over th e cour se. In fact , 'i f yo u abstra ct so me of th e forego ing d at a, you ' ll see tha t so me o f th e Tex as ' crossers ar e on a p ar with many of the nat ion al "narne" motocr oss riders, and th at ain' t T ex as pride sticking through - th is m o'sicle writer hails from Modesto, C al. .. Floods Over, Track Dry By Rita Gun ter CORPUS CHRISTI , TEX .. April 16 , 1972 - At long last, af te r a dela y of ove r nine mon ths, moto cross races were held today a t Forest Glades Cyclesports Park . Floods on th e river, combined wit h the usu al wi nte r ra ins , kep t this track idle for too long. Now all is dried up (a little to o mu ch , co nsi d ering all the du st a t th e ra ces ), the tr ack has been mended. re -routed in so me pl aces. and put back in A -I shape . A good number o f riders, both lo cal and o u t-o f-to wn, showe d u p for th is o f te n-postponed even t. Qu it e a fe w ca me th e ni ght b efore and ca mped out. The t rac k is o pen on weekends for ca m p ing, fishin g and swimming in the rive r , a n d pl aying o n th e tr ac k o n no n-race d ay s. J ack Warren ' (lIo d ) t o ok firs t p lace overa ll in th e 100 class. lie pu t o n a show for the crowd d u ring the second rno to when he back ni p pe d a nd went d own at the start. lie ju mped up a nd worked h imsel f fro m .last p lace to the n um ber 'o ne spot be for e the checkered n ag fe ll. Xlan, th a t was so me rid ing! Bill Bry an (1 9 6) rode h is Bultaco to second pl ace wit h Byron Dryden ( I) o n h is 11 -0 Baja co mi ng in th ird. The 250 Senior races were wild ! Greg Laves was flying on his Bu lt aco fo r the first few laps o f the fir st moto until he went down in a cl o ud of dust an d Harold Wrigh t went ahead to win this moto. Robert A bbott bashed his new Yamaha when th e thro ttle jamme d an d went halfway u p a big h ill . T he trip back down that hill was a real b one-rattler. R obert was sh a ken up but n ot injured. After a resta rt, this m oto was won by Harold Wrigh t on a Suzuki . Th is was Harold's day . lie won th e third moto hands d own. Vincent Villareal , a Husky rider from ~1ission came in se cond overa ll. T om Way land riding a CZ and Lonn ie Plough [Mai] dueled it ou t for third place. T om was the victo r, but Lonnie m ade h im work for it. Bill Fowler ridin g a lIusky in the Open Junior class blasted his co mp etitio n to take fir st in all three m oto s. Rider :0-: 0 . I fin ished second overa ll, bu t he will rema in anony mo us becau se he mu st h ave neglected t o sign up so n o o ne kn ows wh o h e is or where he co mes fro m. A C o rpus Christi ride r , J eff Ge o rge finished third beh in d the ph an tom. ( Resu lts o n p age ·H ) Switching Drivers at 60 Per DAV E ALDANA, STEVE HERNANDEZ, AND THE BEST PROFESS IONA L RIDERS COMPETE FOR $3,000 - $6,000 PURSE JUMP R STONE AND DUFfEY ATTEMPT IN O R RECORD DISTANCEJUMP. ES DO PH O EN IX COLISEUM FRIDAY, MAY 19,1972 SAN D IEGO SPORTS ARENA J U N E 3 , 1972 SIGN UP AT 5:00 P.M. RAC ING STARTS AT 8:00 P.M. CHAMPAGNE SERVED IN THE PITS Prcscnted by Spectrum Prcsrntnncns , Inc. By Ned Said PIIOENIX, ARIZ ., April 16, 1972 T he 125 Novi ce riders put on a good race in th e ir Main Eve n t with T om Young in th e lead fo llo wed h y Harold Burton a nd E ric Math e rs th ird on th e initial lap . On the next lap Eric trie d th e ou tside on the shor t sweepe r with a ll th ree ride rs c om in g abreast on to the stra igh taway . Constan 1 pressure an d ha rd ridi ng by Mathers brought him to the lead with o ne lap to go fo llowed by Young. ~I e anwhile Bill ~ Iax son waited his o ppo rt u n ity to m ove in for th e th ird ma n to the ch eckere d nag. .\11 in te resting side race w as th e 125cc Buddy race, wh er e Expe rt ride rs Larry Barri ng ton and ~I a rk ~Iitsc h e ll e ran off with firs t. T he second place team • .\ma tc u r Bo b Blo se an d Xovice Steve Ph illip s, gave the spec ta to rs a th rill by switc h ing riders at 60 mph down the straigh taway in fron t of the grands tan d rather than th e stop and go type of change. Blose steps o rr the fr on t position with only hi s right fo ot o n the fON peg and righ t hand on the throttle while the rear rider Steve Phillips slid fo rw ar d letting Bob swi ng in behind h im. A real time saver (I think, I hope) o th erw ise ...d own . The 250 Am ateurs battled ha rd in a chan gin g tigh t p ack wi th Dough Dill ard taking ch arge. Th e po int lead e r, Mike Selby. t ry in g for th e ou tsi de on th e left ha nde r, u nl e ad ed ha rd wh ile Scott ~l un s moved li p from fourth to secon d leavin g Sta n Fo ster an d Bill G ord on cha ng ng i p la ces in a rac e o f th e ir o w n for third . Bill Iinallv edged Stan . The anno uncer , 12-vt"ar-old Tracy R oh iso n . st a te d th at ~ I i ke Selby was' OK and ~I ike ' s sis te r De bbie h ad p reviously u nloaded in the lef'thander af te r the ju mp in the 125 . class. T he refo re the le fth and r r was bei ng re n am ed Selb y 's Comer. T h e second 10 0 :-.: ovice race was fast and fu rious incl ud ing a n a m b u la nce ca ll. Pete ~I t-eurdy was re all y flying for a fair lea d wh ile Tracv R obison and Mike J ordan chan ged pl aces a coup le o f times in th eir race for se cond place. It lo oked like Mike had it made but Tracy got it back with one lap to go . ( Resu lt s on page 44)

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