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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141025
iSEl l ERS EVENS SCORE N :; ~' ~ ::; (/J ~ z w d ~ By Jeff Coker PIIOEXIX. ARIZ ., April 12, 1972 A llison in the h eat, a n d first in th e Wed n esd ay nig ht, April 12 , w as the Ma in, Mark to ok th e lead off th e line th ird race of th e cur rent summer se ason and h eld it to th e finish wit hout any at Manzanita a n d for the th ird time a seriou s th re at. Larry Barri ngton and different rider w on the Open E xp ert Cli ff Alli son fought it o u t for sec on d for Main. J on Sell ers , Rick Kraft, an d Bu tch th e seven lap s, Larry just barel y edgi ng Beard h ave n ow all tak en turns a t th e Cli f f. winner's ci rcle. All en Watso n sn uc k b y th e tw o Butch Bea rd too k th e first race of the contend e rs for first pl ace in the Open season, foll owed by Ric k Kraft and it Am at eur class, Ken lI egla nd a n d Cliv e was J on S ellers' turn Wednesd ay . Ri c k Fray ling , and w on th e h eat a n d Main b y took the heat w in b y a n a rr ow margin fairl y co mfortah le margin s. Cliv e to o k over Se llers with T ommy Halfo rd some sec o n d in both races an d Ken lo ok di stan ce beh ind. Bu tch Bea rd is tryi ng third. out a Norton in anticipa tion of hi s soon Somebody besid es Dave Meeker to be finished Super Nor ton and d idn't finally won t h e 250 Ama teur Main fare to o well in either race. Event. After winning the heat , Dave h ad When the Open Expert Ma in st arted some sort of hike trouble and didn't everyone was on th eir feet. Kraft ra ce in the Main. G reg Wilk es worked jumped to a n early lead and led slightly his way t.o t.he front ~nd st a yed there for ab o u t three laps when he bobbled for the wm rn the Main, A lan Cranson a nd S ell e rs got around him, After that and Mike Selby took se cond and third J on was lo n g gone. Ri ck and Jon are respectively, . tied fo r th e points le ad , with Butch Ma nzy ran h al f-mile races a fter the close b ehin d . regular TT p ro gra m was over Wednesd ay I n the 250 Expe rt races , Kraft fare d a night in p re p arati o n for p lanned little be tter b eatin g Tommy H alfo rd in h al f-mile n igh ts late r on th is su mmer. th e Main. Byron Boaz finished third on The cro wd really seemed to enjoy the his Ossa. Byron tries to fak eout fast-paced action. Rick Kr a ft m ad e up everyone he passes and make them for his lo ss in the Open Expert Main b y think the race is over b y wavin g his taking a very close w in over Jon Sellers. che ckered leathers. In the 250 Expert ra ce , T om Halfo rd Mark Mitsch ele co n tin ue d hi s held o n to a slim lead over Jeff Coker for dominan ce of the 12 5 E xpe r t class, th e e n tire te n laps with Cliff Allison ta kin g a second behind a renewed Cli ff com ing in a distan t third. 1'111 I.w. Central Lackey Fastest By Larry Knop Ph o t os b y Terry Newfarmer MANNING CANYON, UTA H, April 3 0 , 19 72 - S unny skies and a cold w in d gree te d rid e rs fo r th e U ta h ve rsion of th e A MA Mo toc ross Q ua lifying races. S ite of the race was Mannin g Ca nyon Cycle Park, 50 miles so uthwes t of Sa lt Lake City, a nd an estimated 3000 SASS DOUBLES By Jim Bensherg STRASBURG, CO LO ., April 16 , 1972 - Afte r a cl ose race w ith Bill Os taff in the 250 A class and a ru naway win in th e 125 A class, Bru ce S ass left Sand lIil1s Motocr o ss track a d ouble winne r. Sand lIills is an ap p ro p ria te n ame for the tr ac k in Stras b u rg as m an y specta tors we re see n w earin g goggles just to w at ch th e race . The wind an d dust left man y w ith only p art ial vision aft er th e race w as o ve r. Dust and spee d at Sa nd Hills. An open le t t er f'r-o m Bob Gill Ma y 1 I. 1972 To the spec ta to rs of the Ru st y Bradley-Dennie Hardwick Mem o rial Mo torcy cl e Races, Fort Wort h. T ex as : I hav e just be co m e aw are of th e adve rtis ing p ro m o ti ng m y ap peara n ce at t he Green V alley Racew a y. T h is ad vertisi ng is not in keep ing wi th my personal policies as regard s my re prese n ta ti o n to the pu b lic. I a m no t a stu nt man affil iated w ith a ca rnival show . It is true t ha t I p e rfo r m ed the w o rld's fir st ca nyon jum p for a di st an ce of 152 feet : t h e furt hes t a ny o n e h as eve r j um pe d on a m o to rc ycl e . My jum p at G ree n Vall e y wo u ld n o t b e an atte mpt to bet te r tha t perfo rm a nce. I am no t in co mpeti t io n with anyo ne . Wh a t I d o is un ique. Nor am I in competition with Evel Kni evel. Wh at Evel does is also u nique a nd h e must be admired as a p ioneer in his fiel d . Fo r th ese reasons I cannot co ndo ne th e ty p e o f adver tising t h at is b eing used t o prom ote m y app ear an ce a n ti will not perform for th e public wh e re competi ti o n is a llu d ed t o . but in fact . d o es not ex ist. I hope th at each and eve ryo ne of yo u will st ill e njoy th e Rusty Bradl ey -Den nie Hardwic k Memo ri al Races in m y ab sen ce as th ey were my friends also . S incerely Finish ing secon d b ehind h is broth er, Eu gene S ass turned in a very respectable ride edging o ut Bru ce D unavin in the 12 5 A class. After ta king th e lead in th e fir st m ota. Bruce S ass nearly ran away fro m th e pack. T h e secon d mo to sa w Gary My e rs g-i ve S ass a run fo r h is m on e y , but an improperly tuned Hu sky p ut My e rs out o f th e runn ing. Mik e Sp ar k ma n fai rly n ew in the 50 0 A class. Gary My e rs g~ve h is 250 Husky a rid e in th e 5 0 0 class just f or fu n a n d w as ' th e on ly real com p e titio n for Mr. Sp ar km a n : BISBEE MOTOCROSS BISB E E , ARIZ .. Ap ril 17 , 19i2 Bisbe e, A rizon a is a gen uine wor kin g \ \'c s tern minin g town, co mpl ete with narrow. w indin g stre e ts and o ld false fro n t bu ildings. It also has a so me w ha t sh o rt-b u t -neverth elcss-Iine rna tocr oss cou rse loca ted in the in fie ld o f Bisb ee Aut o Sp orts En te rp rise' s quarter -mile oval. S aid course h as a ll th e requir em e nt s o f a goo d track , suc h as m an y t igh t turn s. sh ort rough st rai gh Is , several uphills, as many d ownhills, a cou p le o f n eal jumps c usto m m ad e for gr andst anders, and . yes, T f fan s, j 1 even has a fast. smoo th sweeper. Legend h'LS it th ai Sunday d oe sn 't o ffi c ia lly s tart until n o on in S ou th A rizo na...the refore racing a t the BASE trac k com me nce d a i 1:00 w ith th e mi n i-b ikes. Randy S oss o n g o nce again dom in ated th e gang i he mini ranks as he has do ne several times in reccn t mon ths. Aftc; th e min i-ra cer s did their th in g, th e tr ail bike boy s got th e ir chance . Du e to t he limi ted turn out o f 100's, th e .Ir .' s an d Sr.' s were co mbi n ed as in th e 250 an d Open classes. L . Weil and work ed hi s w ay to the 101' in the 100 Jr. clas s, wi th B. Cashman h ard on h is heels. In the Sr. go , D. Rh odes w as p ro cl aim ed the victor with lo cal fast guy, Sam Redman only a sp oke width behind . Rh odes and Redman did an ins tant replay in the 125 Ex . class, finishin g in th e same order as before . Man-of-S teel Redman th en wen t on to w in not only the 25 0 Expert can le s t, b ut th e Open Ex pe rt bash as well. All told , Re dman rode 12 m o tos o r a to ta l of 60 laps . Ilrian Greenwood d id th e tw o class tric k too, garnering a second in both the 250 Jr. and Open Jr. cl asses , (bo th on a 2 50) . A bunch o f fine riders and a first rate trac k outweighed a minor pit racing problem to make S unday a good day of racing. spectators mad e the drive to wa tc h U tah's smal l band of professionals compe te agains t some top a u t-of-state tal en t. It was a sobering ex pe rience. Fastest ride r o f the d ay w as Open class winner Ilrad Lackey - by a hair ove r fourth p lace finisher Gary J o nes . D uring th e first tw o rno tos Ga ry may ha ve actually been going faster, bu t it didn't count mu ch be cause Brad was cruising in front while Gary fouled a p lug the first m oto and then di scov ered a flat tire one minute b efore th e s ta rt of the second. It to o k him tw o minutes to sw itch tires . In the third mo ta there were no p rob lems tho ugh, and t he res ult was th e best ra ce o f th e day. Brad cap tu red th e lead, G ary took over .seco nd , an d they went at. it. Brad w ou ld open up 3 0 feet one lap an d th e ne x t lap Gary wou ld c u t it to three . A ft er ov er 3 0 minutes of racin g, Brad was five feet faste r th an G aT\'. Th ird a n d fourth in the class wen t to Jim West an d Gary Chaplin, who had a go od duel eve ry m oto . G ary always won the sta rt , bu t after 15 or 20 mi nu tes of pushing .l im wou ld pass, op en a sma ll lead, and hold it. Top lo cal rider w as Bob Brown in fifth place . Th e fastes t an d fla shi es t 2 50 clas s ride r w as J im Wein ert , wh o t o ok four th overall. Jim w as doing everythin g b ut crossing up o n the stra igh ts, an d he mi gh t h ave d one th at. Jim w o n th e secon d and th ird m o tos, b ut a first mo tu DNF put him d own overall. Gunn ar Lin dstro m w as th e 25 0 winner , an d his methodica l, cons iste n t riding was as impres sive in its o w n way as We incrt ' s. True or no t. it seemed th at Gunn ar w as ou t to win , and e ve ry th ing else w as irrelc van 1. Wein ert w as in th c lead th e las t tw o motos b ut tha t d idn 't coun t be cause he w as ou t of th e run ning, and Gun nar w asn't allowing anyone who had a chance to stay cl ose. V ery impressive . Jim Wilson parl ayed a coo l h ead , go od con d itio n ing , and some las t lap passing in to a se co nd overall , ahead of .l am es Wicks of Colorado . Top lo cal rid er was Kerry Fowler. fifth overall. Ilit s And Pie ce s: Quic kest thinking award went to Jim C ook . On th e line fo r th e third moto it was n o tic ed th at there w as a stream of so me th ing running out th e h ott om o f J im ' s b ike. T here was le ss than a minut e be fore the st art, so the referee ran ov er to J im and asked, " Wha l's that stuff?" "G as" was J im's answ er. "Y ou can't race tha t way. It's dan gerou s!" "Okay," Jim rep lied, "I' ll turn th e gas off." And did . The gas stop pe d run n ing, the rubbe r hand sn ap p ed, a n d J im to o k o ff. man aging to ge t the gas turned o n agai n before th e first comer. On ce u nde rway the leak (o verflo w?) stop pe d and Jim was seven th place mone y riche r as a result. Rich Thorwaldso n, d es ert number two. tried his hand a t motocross Sunday, an d lo oked very, very go o d. A fla t front tire in the se c o nd mota p ut h im ou t of a possible top four fin ish . The cool we ather and a re lat ivelv short ยท program led to three 3 0 minute motos in the pro classes. It didn't seem to b other the visitors, but the local riders were hurting. It was als o a bit of a shock to spectato rs and riders to see Utah's favorites not on ly beaten, but trou nced. Earl ies t DNF o f the race we nt to T im lI art a nd Bru ce Ila ron wh o to ta le d th ei r bikes (a n d van) o n the w ay to th e t rack, The rep ort is th at th ey' re okay. Worst DN F was U ta h rider Den n is Packard . De nnis took fourth at the Sea ttle q ualifying ro u nd, b ut Sunday he went down hard eno ugh to break an ea rdrum. He still finished the rna to before th e p ain se nt h im to the h osp it a l. Inc re dible.