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/141037
(.COII/ ·d. f ro m !mg(' 7) In the final it was Jeff March away first with Jerry Greene in pursuit. So it stayed for three laps until a crash on the squirrelly h orsesh oe tum sen t four riders down in an oil slick . The oil flag came out . a bit late. then the ambulance flag. Two riders rerno un ted and we re back out. The -leaders came through safely. and Greene had moved in to the lead . March go t it back o n the nex t lap. and Jim Deehan (Ka w) m o ved p ast Greene into seco nd p lace. Howard JOHN LONG SCOR ES AGAIN 8, By Gary Van Voorhis Joh n 1.0"" continue d his winning ways in Novice racing with a total domination of the entire field in both the heat and final event. The day started with Long leading from the pole for the entire five laps of the heat race. Ted Hen ter and Mike Devlin provided the excitement for the fans as they dueled, remained in sec on d and third. co n te n t to chase Lon g. T he real bailie cen tered aroun d Dave Wat kins. T im Rockwo od. an d Ralph a.. '" N .... '" .... N " ., " c '" w ;;: Z w -' U > U John Long won the only really dec isive victory of On the grid . 54 Novices anxiously awai ted the flag with J oh n Long starting from the pole and Pat Evans, Bill Labrie. Ted Henter, and Den ny Varnes fillin g out the front line, all aboard Yamah as. Lon g led the fir st wa ve down th e lon g st raig ht an d in to th e first of fiftee n com ers o n the tw o- an d one hal f mile course fo llo wed b y Labrie. V arnes. Herner, Evans, and Ralph Stafford, wh o moved up from his second row p osition with a go od start. Passing in front of the tower at the end o f lap one, Long had a three -second ad vantage and was turning it on while th e rest o f the field stre tc h ed out more , th an a minute beh ind. Th e real 1ace , on ce again, was for second and third pl aces as Long be gan to cu t co nsisten t I :55 (u no ffic ial) laps and stretch his lead ou t to a co mfortab le 'margin , Evans and Herner weren't h aving such an easy time with Fast company among the Juniors. . Lyngaard (Yam ) took the cue and grabbed thi rd and began breathing on Deehan and March. They were all glued tight coming on to the straight for lap 10 as Lyngaard got good draft and swooped into first spot coming down the drag strip . March and Dee h an h ad exchanged the lead a h al f dozen ti mes. and h ad to be surprised at Lyngaard's sudden appearance in fran t. Lyngaard hung in front fo r three laps. but l\larch was right on him. Deehan and Greene were eigh t seconds back as they got into tr af fic. March regained the lead in the nasty horseshoe (now de -oiled with rice hull stuff). Lyngaard go t to the fran t again on the ba ck straight; March was next to lead through the rush hour turns ; Lyn gaard drafted into the lead again on th e front straight; March again in the infield. co m ing up o n the last lap . Damn . Whatta ra ce . Whatta race ! They h it th e h o rsesh oe . l\la rch by ma ybe two b ike len gth s, in to th e little switch back at the exi t and setting up for the slow left-hander into th e str ai ght aw ay . March hi t th e straigh taw ay an d tucked in as Lyngaard grounded it in th e tum an d slid o ff in a spray o f fib erg lass. Th e gas tan k came off and Lyn gaard was ou t. Deeh an an d Green e were a good ten seconds b ack as l\l arch swept through th e esses and o n to the back straigh t in the last lap . T h ere is a slight hump a t the end of th e st raight. just before the markers signalling a tigh t righthander . March . hampered by a dislo cated shoulder h e suffer ed in p ractice at Louden. lost it a t th e hump . He pl ain ran ou t o f st rength ge tting d o wn on gears and brakes. and ca me loose tryin g to d o th at tum. li e re-inju red the sh oulder in wh at h ad to b e th e bummer of the d ay . March lat er said he didn' t real ize th at Lyngaard had gone down. J im Deeh an crossed th e lin e in fro nt. w ith J erry Greene secon d an d J im Evan s third. Deehan averaged 2. 18 mph . It was the be st rac ing o f the day . Stafford wh o were. trying to de cide wh o had possession of fourth pl ace. Stafford hung on with Rockwood and Watkins close behind at the flag . ....;..-- But for a bad plu g Yvo n wou ld have had it. As it w as, he almost made In th e second h eat Pa t Evan s sho wed wh y he w as chosen to represen t T eam Yamah a o n the Novice circuit. Evans and Ilill Labrie b egan lapping rid er s o n the seco nd lap and o pening up a lead on th e rest of th-e fiel d . Denny Varnes stayed in th ird close enough to capitalize on any mi stakes tha t migh t h ap p en . b u t the fin ish ing order did not ch ange. JUNIOR·EXPERT COMBINED 50-MILE FINAL· By Tod Rafferty T he Junior/Expert comb ined race o n Saturday was a tussle twix t Ron Pierce (Yam), Ken R o ber ts (Yam) and Kel Carruthers (Yam) , with Gary Fisher (Y am) in a strong sup porting role. I. ' " " " J I .. .. , Pierce and Carru thers had both won heats, and Pierce bro ke to the lead at th e flag . Rob erts quickly moved up to cha llenge as Carru the rs and Do n Emde (Yam) contested third a tad further back. Carruthers motored Emde on the fr on t straigh t to move in to third on lap fo ur. 0,:, the fifth lap they hit th e straigh taw ay tigh t and Carru thers held it open longer to pass both Pierce and Roberts. Fisher was in fifth and on the move. Roberts got righ t ba ck around Carruthers, bu t Pier ce fo llowed h im through and took the lead on the ba ck straigh t at the h urnp er, T hey wen t through this number several times as traffic began building ahead of the m. Fisher: Lordy, the kid w as in tenth place a few minutes ago , and now he's busting Emde for fourth pl ace. Pierce and Roberts are still having at it, and Carruthers is still in th ere. swapping p laces with whoever has second spot on it. each o ther though , as first Evans then Hen ter shared seco nd afte r Labrie . sta rted to slo w o n lap seven. Labrie settled d o wn in to fo u rt h ahead of V arn es. Rock wood an d Staffo rd. eac h running their ow n littl e race as th e res t of th e field en dlessly st raggle d o n. Lon g co n tin ued to ride as if hi s wheels w ere at tac h ed to th e tr ack and won by a nice safe margin . In th e winner 's cir le , J ohn lo oked as if h e cou ld h ave gon e o n an d o n wh ile Pat d efini te signs of Evans showed exhausti o n. Tire wear was a defi nite proble m fo r Evan s while Lon g crea ted a problem of his own by overin l1ation th at ca u se him to slo w in the closing laps. Th is is where Lyngaard made his mistake. March mad e his a lirtte late r. the weekend. a given lap. He gets by Rob erts, and th tly go by on e len gth apart a t fo urteen lap s; Pie rce , Carruthers. Roberts and Fisher. Fisher p asses Roberts in the first tu m . bu t Roberts is bac k around q uickly, an d Fishe r is falling b ack. Ro be rts is now moving swiftly . He p asses Carru th ers an d Pierce and stre tch es o u t down the ba ck straight. putting five bike length s between himself and them guys. Th ree laps to go and Carru thers a u t-corners Pierce and moves o n Robert s. Two ' Iap s left , and Carruthers p asses th e kid . but Roberts st icks close all the way aro und . Pier ce is not far back in th ird . w ith Fisher eight seconds behind him. Carruthers put a little more margin on his lead o n the last lap to take th e nag with an average of 83 .13 mph . another tr ack record. Ro berts was a soli d second going in to the final tu m . but he appeared to overeager th e th rottl e going after Carruth ers, an d Pierce slip pe d by on the inside to grab second p lace . Fisher fin ished fourth well off th e p ace , foll o wed by Mike Lane an d G ary Scott. Finishers one through nine were Yamah a mounted ; Pau l Smart (Kaw) finished tenth.