Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

"' :g, '" ~ Bad bresktsst, bees, whatchamacallits, super novice and cold hot dogs... ,; Cl >~ ~ ~ w Z W ...J U >U By Mo nty Evert ~ IO NTE RE Y , CAL., Apri l 16 , 19 72 Monday came ea rly a t this ~ [RA track. T he Mond a y Blue s w as ca u sed by ei ther the number of Novices ridi ng. the Zodiac sign changing or so me thing we a ll h ad fo r bre a kfa st. Hik es fell like las t w ee k's rain . bees st ung lo o kers and riders al ike , and to top it off, a grass fire hel d u p th e race fo r nea rly an h ou r. Frea ky d ay ! For so me ride rs. the first m o to w as enoug h , an d th ey w e nt h ome to se ll th e ir bik es. T he di e -h ard s took th e m oLDS like pr o s ; it was N ovi c e day at Lagun a... Five rac es o r less" , an d "n ev er raced" bu lged the ros ter of p a te n tia l wh a tch am a ca llits. But w e all started so me where . Ei the r th e Backyard Na tiona! o r h ere in th e sa nd. An unfortun ate mi sh ap too k t racti on from ten rider s a t th e sta rt of th e 25 0, five -or-le ss cla ss . Th e 27 N o vic es l o o k off li ke th e ir b ike s h ave been sponsore d for y ea rs. But th e dow n hill told ano ther story . A squ irre l to uc he d o ff a chain reac ti on o f riders fall in g from one side o f t he lan e to the other. Wh en th e dus t settled, Rudy Leon lay as silen t as h is mot or. Pe op le pan ic ked, as they usuall y d o du ring a crisis . and others stared as if the y w ere w a tc hin g' th e Bo ob Tube. The Me a: \\'a l(~n Man did wha tever a nd Rudv shoo k it o ff. li e climbed back o n to 'fin isb second overall in bac k. of Trent Monk, That's d e termin atio n. Th c 25 0 N ovi c e was the bi ggie. Ron Als op , a fte r winning all th ree m oto s in the 125 di vision , too k the same Bul an d ate the 2 50 cl ass. Wha t ge ts m e is th at thi s Novice no t o n ly bra sscd twi ce bu t him b ein g a X ovice and ridin g like he docs, makes me wonder how lo ng he's b een an ac tual Novice. li e cuts through a b erm lik e a n Ice Racer with no spik es. His fron t tire is on ly ou t o f hi s groo ve , v h en p assing - th e las t riders, an d to put tb e che rry on the top , I've never seen OT he ard of hi m ea t ing turf. [ hope the o th er Novices to ok notes for w e h ave an oth er test n ex t Sunday. A s for th e lo okers, rumors were going aro u nd Ih at th e h ot d ogs were c o ld . Ventu ring to find the truth, [ purchased thre e, a te half of o ne , ca n ne d th e rest and found It to b e fa ctual , More than lik el y, it Was ca u sed b y the ab sence of th e pretty red h ead in tb e b o oth. Sh e is th e o nc tha t ad ds moth er 's touch to th is famou s c o nc ess io n ite m. - --- ( Resu lts o n p age 44) ... ' ,* Coming right at you , it's Ron A lsop (l OB) eati ng up the foes. Vallejo Faced with a Late-Night Problem By J ames Bram m e r VALLEJO, CAL.. Ap ril 2 1, 19i 2 Under w at ch ful eyes for tb e Na pa County Planning Com mission , the scrambles se t t iptoed in to V all ejo Speedway Friday nig h t for a se ason opener. The o wne r has b een to c o u rt for a 11 ocloc k cl osing . Th e coun ty \..an ted ' the races to stop a t 10 and th ere arc no Sunday rare dates op en at V allejo Speedway for moto rc ycl e s this year. Cars w e re a llo tte d on ly th ree Su nd ay s. Operating under the pres sure o f th e new res tra ints . o pe n ing night co nfus io n ha l ted at I t o'clock with riders fro m the 500 No vice class on th e line awaiti ng a restart of the ir final. Fjf'tv-Fivc races of a 64-racc p ro gram fo r 384 riders h ad been c o m p le ted . Po in ts and tro ph ie s for the unran races were assigned by finish ing position in h eat races. Th e races moved fast on a w ell -prep ared tra ck w ith few o f the usu al o pe n ing nigh t sp ills. Confu sing cl eme nt s wert' m o st Iv clerical w ith so me cl asses mi xed an d i s ~l atl'd error s li ke an Expert being assigne d to a N ov ice class rac e . N' cw 1': o vicc riders and ride rs from di st ant to'... ns w e re n o t familiar w i th th e r ou tin e progr am and wer e un abl e to find anyo ne wh o cou ld answe r th e ir questions. Some expected five lap fina ls and we re ca u gh t off gu ard w ith th e checkered flag c o m in g down at the end of th ree laps to speed u p the program. Bill Trum bu ll of the promqting club believes they w ill ge t th e racing u n d er control next wee k b y stopping sign-ins a t 6 :3 0 sha rp to a llow ti m e to se t up for a 7 o 'cloc k start. li e also expl aine d tha t m ost of th eir help that ha ve expe rience from last year arc in new jobs . Ex ample. . Will is lI' eber , a Speed wa y e mp loyee wh o d id a lot o f the p ro gram se t-u p last ye a r is n ow th e announcer. Thirty-fo u r Experts e n tered th e 250 cl ass: 13 , th e 3 5 0 : an d II , the 650 . J o hn II leb o , Denni s Robin son , Butch Davidson and Larry Drew won the Expert qu al ifyi n g h eat s in th e 25 0 cl as s, and that se t them up fo r c ho ice s tarting p o si tio ns in the 3-lap Ma in wh ere Dennis Robin son led th e e igh t-trophy ra ce to the checkered n ag followed b y II lebo , David so n , 60S , ~ Iikc Kularna ra s, J erry Ka le, Kirk Tardiff , and Gary Ton da. Bill Huddc an d Duane Spen ce were cred ite d with the 6 50 heat w ins wh ile Expert Ph il A n d er so n wh o origin al ly was programmed to ride in a Novice he a l says he w on an Expert heat and ther e for e sh ou ld get points in the 650 results. lie is credi ted fo r fou r tb place se cond in a heat. A more difficult o ne to res ol ve is the 500 N ovi ce cl ass who w e re on the st artin g lin e at the 1 1 o 'clock gong. Two riders had fall en in th e fir st co m e r req u iring a restart . Only three rid er s had re turn ed to the st art ing lin e for that four tr ophy race . Should th ey, or sh ould the hea t winners who were un ab le to return to the line a fter the crash get the credi t for the Novice class p oints? (Results on page 44) Winne r, Mike Va n Lien den 181 and Bill Calicu ra (BSAI batt le in 500 Exp ert heat race. .-

• Cover