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/141023
TRACK LOOKS LIKE GRAND CENTRAL STATION co > ::;; '" ~ w Z W ..J U >U By Bill Spencer FREMONT, CAL., April 29, 1972 For the third straight week, Fremont Raceway's TT track resembled Grand Central Station as 475 riders got together to do their thing on the super fast trac k. The crowd of race rs and specta tors is encouraging as the loss of t racks and ridi ng areas is putting a distinctive pi nch o n Bay Area racers. The big race to nigh t was again the 250 Expert Main with nine pain ts going to the winner toward the black plate total. Rick Hocking was the easy winner in this one with a super start that left the field just gasping. Hocking read the starter and was long gone. Corning up to give some good competition was Jerry Kale, but he couldn't get close enough to try any sort of passing. lIis style has made him the hero of the pro short trac ks and the next event on the 13th of May will pi t him against the greatest short trackers aro und. Behind Kole was a fight between Larry Drew and Butch Davidson . T he co mpetition is so tough here that last year's n umber one pilot and National Sc rambles champ, Jim Fo ley is having troubles just making the Mains after having switched to the professional stuff. While Hocking proves to be the tough one to beat in the 250 class, Ted Davidson, little brother to Butch, put him down with style in the 125 race. For the distance, Ted could keep Hocking at bay w ith little trouble. This puts Ted in a class with the big boys. J ust wait till he ge ts to be old enough to ride with the pros. to sweep all th e C on tinuing co mpetition in the 250 J unior class is Bruce Han lon on the A & A PurSang. Hanlo n m ust h ave learned the slide and feet up stu ff from J ohn Ge nnai as he can seemingly do t!'em at will. T ed Davidson presses on with Rick Hocking in hot pursuit at Fremont Scrambles. The 250 Novice class was do wn to only 77 riders. Still two divisions . The excess of riders shows wh a t is needed to keep the sport alive and the action is hot and heavy. The likes of Joel Goldsmith, Milt Hemmlich, Mark Protz and others will be the ho t shoes of tom orrow. Mike Van Lienden continue d hi s swe ep of the 500 class with an other wir e to wire win on h is Selby Mon tesa. Mark Asb ill ke pt him close until th e last lap when h e dropped h is BSA 500 MX going onto the last tum . He managed to pick i t up w it hout kil ling it an d ge t a fo urth. Pat Hennen co nt inues to amaze the assembled with his sanitary 350 Honda. Returning from a long vacation from the world of fas t wheels was Conrad Saxelby. With his return carne h is winning ways. lie looks fast enough to become Expert at any time, and wi th coaching by King of the 650's, Rick Ott o , he is a cinch to be a wi nne r in tha t de partmen t. Bill Budde took the win in th e 650 Expert bash with a sligh t lead over Du an e Spence. Spence pu t o n th e pressu re ea rly but h ad to set tle for th e second p lace spo t while Ph il Ande rso n pu t on th e pressure ;" th ird . Kelvin Deemer di d the th ing in th e 200 Junior Mai n on his 175 Bultaco over Larry Alexander. It was a good clean shot and a surprise to some, but Deemer had been handicapped a half a lap in one race early in the year and still managed to make it look fairly easy. (Results on page 44) PHOTOG UNCOVERS MOBIL E PLOT Byron Rob eck and W ayn e M a t he ny du el f o r the w in i n Fr emoo t' s 2 0 0 N o vice C lass. George "urnps 'Ern at Chovvchilla ~y Sportphoto CHOWCHILLA , CALIF., April 30, 1972 - A beautiful cloudless, sunny d ay, an almost full grandstand and some tremendou s racing were clements in the Br o ad s li d e rs Motorcycle Club 's sc r a mbl e s at the Ch o wchilla Fairgrounds. 01 ' uJ u mping George " Francisco couldn't keep a very large grin off his face in the 250 ' Expert Main, as h is fifteen year old son Tommy wrapped things up in a convin cing fash ion with a wir e to wire win . Tommy came righ t off the start with the lead, with Rodney Halstead, Dave Hodges, Kenny Hale in a ra re appearance, and Rick Reed all close behind. Hodges got super crossed-up in the righ t-h ander an d bo th Hale an d Reed zappe d past. Hale and Reed moved up close on to Francisco's rear wheel, attemp ting to fo rce an error, only to have T ommy fo rce Ha le in to one that almost pu t h im into th e fe nc e. three At th e ch ec ke red , th ese b lu e-p laters were close en ou gh to be co vered with a very small bl anket. Steve Hollingsworth ch arged off the line ;pta th e lead of th e 125 Expert, Rod ncy Halstead and Wayne Howard. H ollin gsw orth got a u t in to the mar b les in tum o ne and Mathews took over the lead. On lap two Steve m ad e a su per close in spection o f the track an d dropped b ack to last. Exiting the last tum on lap fo ur, Mathews go t into the loose st uff an d Gr eener d ro ve under for th e lead. At th e flag the o rder was Greener, M athews , l\1cCracke n , Halstead, Hollingsworth, Keith and Howard. (Resu lts o n page 44) By David Swift FOU R CO RNE RS, CA LI F., Ap ril 3 D, 1972 - David Swift, a 23·y ear-old writer / ph ot ographer from Lon g Beach , Cal if. b ough t a rep orted 7.4 gallo ns o f gaso line here to day fro m David L . Griffith, a local Mo bil d ealer. The purch ase, whic h carne to a to tal of $3 .10 , was the res ult of a 150-mi le-pl us tri p from his ho rne to cover a desert race near here fo r Cycle News, a weekly mo torcy cle newspaper. It was la ter rep orted that S wif t, who d rives a conspicuous bri gh t yell ow imp orted pickup , also purch ased even more gasoline upon th e termination o f his trip . T he second purch ase, a t an other Mobil dealer on Paci fic Coast Highway, Was of a lar ger amount of gaso line - 8. 7 gallo ns - bu t, oddly , the actu al cost was less a t $2 .70. " I feel the d ifferen ce in p rices can be tra ced to vari ation o f gas price s in one are a to an o th er ." explained Swift.