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/141039
b y Barge Char ger SUNJI.' Y:\IE A D, C A L.. Dec. 10 , 19 72 A ll d ay lo n g th e tem p e rat u re h o vered arou nd fr eezin g a nd sn o w w o ul d fa ll from tim e to tim e but th at didn 't -deter th e h illcl im b ers as De Anza Cycle Par k ha d seven ty en tran 15, more th an at any previous h illc limb h el d th e re. A n ew run w as used today a n d although it was a Iit tle longer than th e ol d ru n it was smoothe r and not quite as steep. '" '" Q> '" '" e, M .... '" cD tJl ;:: W therefo re not as man y m achines w ere Z d est ro y ed on th e w ay ba c k d own the hil l. Fro m the start ing p ain t t o th e top of the hi ll is a dis tan ce o f 33 0 feet. Th e fir st 50 fee t is almo st flat w ith just a sligh t upgr ad e th e n a stee per gra de to the 10 0 foot m ar k wh ere th e cou rse takes a sha rp ups weep u ntil it begin s t o crest at around 3 10 feet. No machin e un d er 2 0 0c c h as eye r go ne ove r th e top and o nly three 250's h ave made it so far bu t m o s t of th e larger ma chin es are capa b le of cl im b ing th e hill. In th e Minicy cl e class Gary Il al l ro de his Il o n d a 16 8 feet , 12 fe et farther th an se cond pl a ce T im Bre ckenridge 's Yam a h a. G ar y ' s d ad rid es a 25 0 an d W ..J U > U they are bot h co nsisten t wi nners in thei r cl ass . In th e 100 class Dav e a nd Mi ke Powell u su all y ga rn e r First an d second o n- the same S u z uki an d tod ay looked to h e n o e xcep tio n as a t the en d o f th e first run Mike w as one foo t ah ead o f Bru ce Kra n z' s sp ecial frame d Kaw asak i at 2 08 feet an d on the se cond run bro the r Dave wen t cl ear up to the 220 foo t mark w hil e :\li ke cou ld do no better th an 215 feet. Then , o n h is last run. Bruce Kranz went an amaz ing 244 fee t to win . D ick Coo k m ad e o nly one run w ith hi s Bultaco an d flip ped it at th e 2 18 fo ot ma rk . brea kin g off th e h a ndlebar s and lo sin g th e J 25 cl ass b y on ly tw o feet to Brent Coffe y ' s Y am a h a. The on lv b ik e in the 175 class th at w asn't a Yam aha w as the O ssa Bill ' Co rrell ro de 268 feet to win th e class. As usu al D oug Hall w as firs t ove r th e h ill w ith a good fir st run on h is 250 !luI taco . No ne o f th e o ther 25 0's m ad e it o n the first try but Ne al Ma ck el and Clyde Peterson made it o n their second attempt. Mo st o f the 3 6 0 's and " OO·s and nearly a ll o f the la rge r ma chines made it o n th ei r fi rst tw o tries. Up and Over.. The M ike Powell gets that extra foot for a run of 21 5 feet. Muntz MX b y Mar k Milf ord MOO RPAR K, CA L. , Dec, 10 , 19 7 2 T od ay d awn ed bitte rly cold an d windy o ve r 1\1 un tz Cy cle Park an d , as a res ult , o nly the grim and de termin ed ' c ross ers s h owed up f or WSM ' s all-cl ass mot o cro ss. Howe ve r, d espi t e th e ch ill, th e ) 00 Jun ior cl ass p rod u ced a h ot b attle (a li ttl e p lay o n wo rd s, th ere ) as Yamah a-m ounted Casey Wasem and Steve S m ith d ic ed fo r first. G o in g into th e last m ot a , th e y b oth had a firs t an d second unde r their belt s, se tting the stage for the proverbial "al l-o r-no th in ' .. d u el. But h al fw a y through the final ro u nd , S m ith dropped o u t (w h o knows wh y ) for a lap, an d Wasem took it all ! Ken Po st (Pen ) easily w on th e 125 J un io r class over the rather lim p chal lenges of Alex Solis (H od) and, for Th e fi rst H ro lls. _ o ne m o to , Greg Thom sp on (H us). Bill y Po stel (Ya m) , a rid er for S im i V all e y Yamah a, h owe ver , d id n 't e ven h ave it t h a t h ar d in th e 12 5 Ex pe rt cl ass an d was th e on ly grand-sla m m er of th e d ay. V o n Pete rs on (Mai ) see me d in co n trol of th e 25 0 Ex pe rts but los t th e ove ra ll.c.b y a quirk ! In th e firs t two goes , you see. he w on twi ce. ove r. . amo ngs t o thers , Ken J a n son (CZ ) wh o h ad two se conds . S o, in the fin al moto, h e cooled it, too k third , watch ed Ken w in , an d, be lieving A:\IA scorin g to be in effe c t, tho ught h imself to be the Big Winnah . But, alas , the low-p oin t sy s te m was b ein g used an d Von virtua lly h an d ed the win t o J an son. A b itte r b umme r fo r one, an d a odd bit of luc k for the other. But, then again , that's w hat raci ng is all abou t. " H ow do yo u get on one of t hese thin gs?" Gary Parsons wsthi rd 360. a 'Til wa it til it comes bac k do wn and tac k le it:' Gene Paq ue tt e was 500 winn er.