Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i DIffERENCE M ,... Ol Of NIGHT AND DA Y- CORONA R.A .C.E Night MX g' . e b y Maril y Hart Photo s b y Earl Topham CORONA , CA L., De c. 22 , 1972 Little David Oll er again swept the Minis ahead of Brad Dutoit and R ay Currie, all o n Hondas, and then Brad wen t on t o win th e 125 Junior class o ve r th e DKW's o f E vere tt A ng le an d George S hafe r. AI Can cin o (H us) took h ome the win in th e 125 In termedia tes wi th Lin Pickens (Pen) finishing sec on d , while th e 125 Experts saw Tim Lunde (Bul) , Morris Malone (Ho n ), and Mike Paulsell (Pen ) finishing in that o rder. Lin Pickens picked up another second in the 500 Intermediate Division with his Husky behind Gen e Martin (Hus) . Tim Carmack and Greg Griffin and their CZ 's were back battling it o ut again, only this time Ti m enjoyed the first spot with Greg settling for second over the 250 Inte rmediates. The 250 Ex perts h ad their work c u t out for th em .., ~ w Z W ..J U >- U _ as Ken Zahrt (Bul). Ra y T opham (CZ). and Bob Haag (H us) outrode the like s of Bruce Baron, Morris Malone, Ken Ehlers and Rick Valentine. The best show o f the n igh t had to be th e 5 00 Expert rno tos. R ex S taten and Ray Top h am , both CZ m oun ted (R ex o n his 400 an d Ra y still o n his 250) were tied for th e win headin g into the final mo t o , As they were so far ahe ad o f th e field, they d ecided to give th e cr owd a little extra ac ti o n - both Rex a nd Ray did beautiful ON ·TH E .SEAT WHEELIES WHILE FLVING DOWN THAT BIG DOWNHILL! They really gave the fans something to shout about, not to m en ti on so me of the riders who at times have a little di ffi cult y negotiating that hill seated with the front wheel down. S ta ten wo n the pay ro ll, Topham finishe d second an d Ken Eh lers (Hus) brought it h om e for th ir d . This super-trick CZ -engined Co mpetition Cycle Special d ld - it to the 250 Experts with Topham at the contr ols. RACE Night MX at Co ro na b y Marilyn Hart Photos by Earl Topham CORONA . CAL., Dec. 29 , 1972 - The talk at the track this weekend was Ray Topham's shining silver CZ, designed and built fo r him by Gary Blandin of Competition Cycle in San Clemente. With an alu m in u m gas tank under the seat and a false aluminum tank resembling that of a Maico mounted forward , everyone did double- takes. The first question was, "What kind is it?" followed by, "Where the Hell d o you put the gas in ?" The bike has been in the works for many months and can definitely be dubbed prototype, courtesy of Blandin, as Gary has made so m any modifications on it making it su pe r light and quick that the only semblance to a 250 CZ is the engine itself and even that has had some changes. With sp onsor present, Topham took it out for a smooth victory over Trans.AMA Support class winner Rex Staten (C Z) an d John Hrykiewic z (Bul) in th e 250 E xpert class. . Ray then proceeded to back up that win with a th ird overall in the Open Experts behind the 4 00 bikes o f Ra y Lo pez (o n h is new ligh ten in g Maico ) and Re x S ta ten (o n his used CZ ). Top ham was to p m o n ey win ner of the n igh t. Another Blandin /Competit ion Cy cle · s ponsored CZ ride r, Ed die Sa nc hez . also s we pt the 5 00 . Intermed iate fiel d to p rovid e a m o st rew a rd i n g evening for a certain extremely p leased sp on sor. J eff V id ic (Pen ) led the first m oto of th e 125 Ex perts un til Bru ce McD ougal (Pen) de cided h e wanted th e win and took th e c hec kered in a close duel-to-the-finish , From then on , there was no sto p p ing Jeff as h e bl az ed aw ay for th e nex t two wins tak in g first overall with McDougal finishin g secon d, an d Bru ce Bar on, third on his H onda. R.A.C .E. Ser ies MX _ by Marilyn H art Photos by Earl Topham CORONA, CAL., De c. 30, 1972 - The co m ed y act of Mosier and Topham in the 250 Experts was really som e th ing as the ra ces began seriously and end ed up a bundle of laughs. Ray T . kept pulling super-quick hole-shots only to be passed later by Galon . Mosier high-sided on the back sweep of the long uphill but cam e from way back to pass R ayon the last lap of the second long moto, The third moto was a riot with T opham out in front the first three laps, then Mosier took over, then Topham and so on back-and-fourth - each pl aying "catch-up-and-wait" so they could zoom ove r th e jumps together and then wheelie ac ro ss the fini sh lin e side-by -side ea ch time. As they cam e out the gate, both had grins a mile wide. Gaylon took the win on his Mai co, Ray was second on hi s new CZ , and John Barclay finished thi rd on his Maico . Mosier (Mai ) enjo yed another gran d slam win in the Open Expert o ve r Bryan Breker (C Z) and Gene Martin (Hus). With series leader Kenny Zahrt go ne (recuperating from an injury whil e raci ng Su n d ay), th e Pen tons of Danny LaPorte an d Bry an J ust ice diced it o u t wi th Danny on to p fo r the 125 Ex p ert w in . Terry Wo o d ru ff really scra m b led for this wi n in the 25 0 Ju ni o rs since he is defini tely in th e runn ing fo r so me of the big p rizes. Terry (Yam ) sim p ly outrode Ed Gember (Mai) and Davey Carlson (C Z) fo r th e overal l win, tro p hy , and ad d itional 1,000 points added to hi s series total. Little David Oll er (Hon) clobbered th e Minis again to put him in a tie with Zahrt fo r th e series lead. The Min is d on 't qualify fo r the car, but th e p o ints are re ally getting tight! Rex Staten wo n the 500 Expert in one of his last rides on a CZ. R.A.C.E. Series MX by Marilyn Ha rt Photos by Earl T opham CORONA, CAL ., Jan. 6 , 19 73 - An unusually ligh t cro wd sh ow ed up for today ' s racing, b ut th e seri es leader s we re b ack agai n . David Oll er smo ke d A ndy No rt h ru p in the Mini class an d Ken Zah rt ran o ff and left Val T am ie t ti in the 125 E xpe rt Division , leaving Oll er and Zahrt st ill t ied fo r th e lead. By far , the lar gest p ack of rid e rs and tightest m o t o s of th e day we re the 25 0 J u nio rs since all three leaders are in co nten ti o n for th e bi g prizes. Mar ty Gresham {Vam ) too k the trophy and 1,000 p oint s with a beautiful _ three-for- th ree wi n , fo llowed by Terry Wo o d ru ff with an ever improving 4-3-2 o n a Yamaha, and Davey Carlson (CZ ). with a 3-2-4 , claimed third . Actu al ly , T erry . and Davey ti ed , but wi th th e fin al m o to breaki n g any ties, Terry was well sa tisfie d t o se ttle for second an d th e extra points. With suc h a scarc e field o f rider s and no 25 0 or 50 0 E xperts racing , even t ra ck m an age r Dale T ue b ne r and announcer Geo ff go t in o n the actio n. Geoff sp lit hi s p ants ov er one of the jumps, and as Dale put it, "Th at's the first time I' ve ever seen duct tape used as a jo ck " . . View of the night cou rse at Corona just after the 25 0 Experts have left the Infield; lens cap was left on camera to create the special effect. R.A.C.E. Night MX at Co ro na Bruce MacDou gal pulled ou t a 125 Expe rt win o n the MelteD-tuned Penton. by Marilyn Hart Photos b y Earl Topham CORONA , CAL. , J an. 5, 197 3 Stat en's CZ wore pl at e N o- I and Rex sho wed by with a p er fect three fir sts ove r th e 5 0 0 Experts. Bryan Brek er (C Z) foll owed Rex wi th three twos while R ich Frankl in (Vam ) fin ishe d th ird with a nice 4-3-3 ride. T he n Bruce McD ou gal and h is Pen t on took th e p ayroll away fro m Bruce Bar on (H o n ) and J eff Blix (Bul) in the 125 Ex pe rt moto s. The Currie brothers were b ack fr om Placen tia with R ay winnin g th e Mini class on h is Ho nda ah ead of Lin d ley Kistler (Ind ) and Dan Hryn kiewic z (Ho n). Big b rother Charles and hi s Bul took second 125 Jr. behind Eddie Coulter (CZ) as Dave Daum (Pen) finished third. Dan's big brother J oh n was third 250 Expert on his Bul behind Randy Myers (Bul) and Rich Eierstedt (Mai ). The 250 Intermediates and Ex perts went o ff the line together with Ray _ T oph am on the heels of R ich Eierstedt until th e first tum wh ere Topham got sandwiched. He got off as one rider rode over his head and more used him for a ber m (N one could p ossib ly have avo ided him as the pack was haulin') . R ay was still lying there wh en they came around again . so severa l riders pu lled off t o see if he was o kay . eve n though th e ambulance an d a tte nd ants wer e there . l 've always belie ve th at s ports m a ns h i p in m o t o c ro ss in so mething else, es pecially am o ng th e Ex per ts. This nigh t proved the p oint even more. Of the several ride rs who pulled off, it proved very cos tly to two in particular: Rich Ei er stedt lost money in the Ex pert 'class and Tim Carmack had to settle for second In termed iate (I'm quite su re Tim and his CZ woul d also have won had he not been so concerned ). Reade" shoul d know why both were second overall. Topham didn't take "the ride" and is just a little p unchy.

• Cover