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/141027
Henry Ups His Winning Irwindale Opens B ig By Randy Baile y PlIOEi" IX, ARIZ., ~I ay 19, 1972 - J oe Henry o f Sacramento . Ca lif., sw ep t all the horfo rs a nd to o k home th e winner's sh ar e of a :lOOO p urse a t th e Ch alle n ger s C up Ind o or race in :llemo rial Coli se um, Il cnrv , riding a Bul taco, led all lap s of the sec o nd Semi -Main , th e Trop h y Dash a nd the Ma in Even 1. Pr e-ra ce fa vo ri te. Steve Hernande z. was invo lved in a crash in the firs t Sem i-Main and then faile d to fini sh th e Main because of mcchan ica l p roblems. ( Resul ts o n p age ~ 8 ) "ast and F Second Di vi sio n runoff : scene o f the sta rs of tomor row . Don't forget, Cycle News will be closed Friday, May 26 for our Memorial Day Weekend. N u tter , Cod y. Sh aw and Woods try f o r th e h ol e shot in the Sc rat ch Mai n opener at Irwin dale. Nutter t__ _ I . OOk_i_ the tra ck mu st h ave take n pl ace around the o u tside o f th e cra sh wall. Ac tu all y this is the o nly t ra ck on th e circ u it th at w ill m eet th e FI:II requiremen t o f 3 00 me te rs p lus or m in us 5% m in imum as stated in th e ru le book, b ut it is probab ly sti ll go ing to have to be measured with a short tape. T he racing itsel f was "first class" or even be tte r if yo u are a Sonn y Nu t ter fan . T he riders adap ted to the new size and shape quickly a nd put on a show th a t w ill surely d raw many new fans to th e exci ting speedway action. Starting. o r gates as the y are ca lled , made the maj o r difference in many of the races even though the riders could usc any line through the wide corners. The abi lity of many of the new riders keeps putting more pressure on the likes of Nutter, Wo o d s, the Basts a nd Cody. Mike Ko n le , although not showing up well in th e fin als, was definitely getting around th e tra ck fast and looks like a force to be reckoned wi th in weeks t o co me at Irwindale . Larry Moon is return ing t o fo rm an d p ut everybody away in the Handica p Main with sty le. Bobby Hardison has fo u nd a tr ac k th a t he can pu t all h is racing sense to work o n an d he did t o win the Divisio n T wo Main . The Divisio n T wo Main is usu ally a ve ry good in d ica tor of th e way th in gs ar c p rogre ssin g and th e handw rit in g is o n the wall that the re will soon b e so me gian t c h anges in th e up per ran ks wh en th ese pro m ising riders get their ch ance fo r th e money . ' It see ms st ra nge th at w ith almost all th e S oC al tracks trying to copy the magic formula from Co sta Mesa th at the promoters d idn ' t have tw o t rac k d rags to speed up the su rface repai r. With two drags to hurry up the shaping o f tha t neat track maybe everybody co u ld have arrived home on time . Track ligh tin g was fir st cabin a nd th e gates into and o u t o f the p it a rea a re well design ed . The sound sy stem was adequate, at le as t where we were si tt ing. Kudos \,() Meist er an d Gibson , eve n with the above me ntioned p roble ms th at was th e fine st firs t ni gh t of raci ng ever see n . It is a track th at requ ires re al h orsep owe r an d e ngi ne reli abili ty wh ile s till showi ng th at ta le nt can make up for a sm a ll h orsep ower d ifferen ce . The ac tion is ve ry d iff er ent frum th e LD _ smaller tracks that m a ny of th e S u nday o n ly type rid er s th in k is speedway and it w ill se p ara te th e race rs from those who th in k they are. A th o ught th at m ak es a true speedway fan 's pa lms turn mo ist, after a couple of months p rac tice on th is bigge r track it will sure be wi ld to sec the act ion when some of those big n ame Eu ropean riders come over on th eir yea rly jaunt. RESULTS SCR A TCH MAIN Sonn y N u tt er B ill C OdY Rick wcoes Larry Shaw H AN DI C AP M AtN Larry Moo n Guy Waterson Larry Shaw Mike K onle Billy Gray Rick Woods DtVtSION 2 MAIN B o bb y Har dison Jeff Sexton K urt L ew is J im Ashworth ~riW~o~~ite Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Ja w Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Jaw Ja w Jaw NOR CA L SPEEDWAY SEASON OPENS By Patrick J ones T he No rthern Cali fo rnia Cl ass A Sp eed way racin g sea son began Saturd ay, Ma y 2 0 , in Nap a wh e n 24 p ro fession al riders ch ristened the new tr ack at th e fair grounds. A& I. En te rp rise s, promoter s o f th e even t, ex pec te d close to 4 ,00 0 fa ns for the firs t event o f th e su m mer-long racing season. The fiel d was headed by las t year's Northern California Cla ss A S peedway ch a m p io n . Cus Lauer. operating with a 60-yard handicap this sea son. Lauer will be joined b y Sa cramen to's Rooney bro thers, . Pat and Mike , who joined Lauer in the top three spo ts in N orthern Cali fornia last year. The new track at the Fairgrounds w as set up a nd gro omed b y ,\1 Lauer wh o handled th e ma ni cu rin g a t Cal-Ex po for the speed way season las t yea r, :ll an y of th e rid ers v o visit ed th e Sacra men to ....h track at Cal-Expo las t season p rai sed it as th e best p rep ared in Calif orn ia . La uer will p r o m ote sp eedway racing a t C al Expo a~ai~ this y ear b eginnin g Junc 9 . NATION AL DIGS IN - with Mo to rcycle Re pa ir T rain ing ... heavy with sol id basi cs _ Speed Tuning fro m the insid e o u t ! .._ Metric .. to ols a nd equipment ... " hands-o n" Bike Shop ex perie nce ... even up-t o-da te Hi-Performan ce modificat ion s. If yo u want real nuts-a nd-bolts ACTION .. let NATIO NAL help you rev up yo ur EARN ING POWER in just 4 months. LA. is MACHINE COUNT RY .. with over 175,866 bikes for tra il, track or touring ! Each year cycl e sales soar 67.4% .. crea ting a non- stop dema nd for top wrenches. And here's whe re NATIONAL 's Motorcycle Repair pa ys off. / You 'll have the kno w-how to mo ve up in a ny Cycle Sho p. Ready to match t he Competi t io n. Don 't id le. 'GET YOURSE LF UP ON THE POWER BAND with NATIO NAL 's all-new Motorcy cle Repa ir. An d let MIKE PATTERSON fill you in o n t he latest fac ts .. PHO NE NOW! (21 3) 2:1~1 . !tttti1 • DAY a nd EV EN ING S HO P T RAIN ING GI BIL L APPROVED NATION AL TEC HNICAL SCHOO LS 4000 SO UTH FI G UERO A at SANTA BARBARA AVENUE LOS ANGELES , CALIFORNIA 90037 o '" > ~ ::E Ul ~ W Z W ...J U >U