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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141045
'N N .. 1l. 0.. M .... Instant MX - Just Add Water AME MX at Indian Dunes Ol o N .ri " LL ~ w Z W ...J U >- U A roar of engines, a cloud of smoke, clod s of mud and a horde of flailing motocrosser sog off th e line. s by Tom Corl ey VA LENC IA , CAL., Feb. 10,197 3 - It starte d out j ust rig h t d urin g practice wi th the t ra ck setup p erfectl y but with each moto th e track b ecam e m ore slick un til , by th e third m oto, th ere were tw o to three foot m udhol es j ust waiting for so me racers to · keel over during Saturday's AME Motocross on the Dunes' In te rnational track. The rai ns kep t coining wi thout stopping. It mad e super fun to sp lash through the water if y o ur bike didn't h ave plug p roblems or if yo u didn 't keep fal lin g at every comer with no way to get tracti on . It Was a differen t kind of race fo r everyo ne with so me of the faster racers bein g held back because of the rain or wh en so meone h oldin g a good posi ti on wo uld slide o u t and lose it. T he racers wh o kep t co ns iste n t wo uld have a su re bet o f ma kin g th e top re sults . Some of th e biggest stars ever in AME showe d up for th is Mud·O-Cross marathon. In the 250 Senio r, Peter La mppu showed his co n tinuing AME win streak over Gary Hube r and Mid -Vall ey grea t, Greg Robertson. J oining the se three were a full pack o f J 25 Senior racer s th at were su pe r fast all th e way d own th e starti ng lin e wit h probabl y th e most compe titive racers in this clas s th at anyone 's e ver see n on a Saturday . Bob Messer, wh o won the big event, just nipped second and th ird pl ace big guns WiII Harper (D KW) an d Gene Cannad y who was a Penton racer, also . Other Am erican Mo tocross En terp rises 125 Senior grea ts were Eddie Cole, Dave Miller (Suz) and Frank Rowe (Yam). All just missed th e boat by a lit tle ye t in this race so me one had to lose even if they were the guys that usually win and have the checks to prove it. ***** t· Larry Watk ins (CZI sto le th e 500 Expert show, Th e skinny guy with the beard is not Ho Chi Minh. It see ms that Incision Cycle, or some such place , won the top AME award for best Rac ing Team - 1972, AME MX at Indian Dunes real run fo r his money before it wa s all o ver. Teku t to o k second and Wes t third, when the dust settled. The speedy Intermediate race found John Kraus (CZ) a winner, with Michael CRCMX Ruby (CZ) fin ishing second. A lot of action in the 250 and Open Beginners, with Jack Myers (Yam) a by The Shadow winner in 250 Beginners, breaking a DEVORE , CAL., Feb. 3, 1973 - The best went with the last here today as the deadlock with David Kampling (BuI) in California Racing Club played host to the final moto, Mark Lansford (Mai) its regular Saturday motocross race. - grand slammed the field in the 250 Action was plentiful to say the least, Beginners" under 16 event, and James as the Novices and Intermediates were Bell (H us) did likewise a t Open combined due to a light turnout. Beginners. Despite the fact the two groups raced The 100 Beginners, under 16, race together, they were scored separately. Was strictly a battle between Gary In the 125 Novice class, it was tight Scheidler (Yam) and Larry Wilkerson all the wa y between Dennis Rose (Car), (Hod), with Scheidler taking the win and Mike Kooiman (Mon), with Rose and Wilkerson settling for second place. finally coming out the victor by, get A DNF fo r Terry Heald (Hon) made this, 25 points. Dennis grabbed first things easy for Kent Lothringer (Kaw ), places in his first two motos, with as the latter rolled to a first place finish Kooiman finishing secon d both times. in the 100 Beginners. Despite th e DNF However , in th e fmal moto, Mike took on his first mota, Heald came on stron g the victory and Rose settled for third to take second place overall . Finally , Daniel Wade Jr. was reborn a place. That's cutting it pretty fin e, winner Saturday, piloting his Yamaha to Dennis. Another real s truggle occurred in the a grand slam victory at 125 Beginners, 250 Open Nov i ce, where Roy under 16. It was the finest job ever for the yo ung rider who hails from Edwards Holsheimer (C Z) tu rned first places in his first an d final mota in to a first place Air Fo rce Base. Pete Hall , incidentally , overall fin ish . How ever , Ken Tekui Was a grand slam winner at 125 Suz , and Bill West Oss], gave Ro a Be inners. b y T o m C o rley VA LENC IA, CAL, Feb. I I , 197 3 Whe n AME arrived a t Ind ian D un es Sunday th ey p lanned on d oin ' some real rnud-o -crossin ' o n MX tr acks w hic h ap peared to b e more like irrigati on can als than the usual fast smokin' Dunes tracks. With th e fas t th in kin g of 'AME promoter Jim Apple by, p ark officials and a little h elp fro m ye olde Bulldozer, a new mo to cro ss course across from Shadow Glen was wh ipped together to save th e day fo r th e S unday racers . T he t rac k, wh ich was j ust a stri p of ri ding area , was turned in to a full race co urse exclusively fo r this me et. N atural terrain wh oop-de -doos were all aro und while th ey designed so me fast straigh ts and ma chined in some jumps with th e bulldozer. The ground was just perfect as the earlier rains didn't wash out eve ry th in g. This made the racing action a heck of a lot more fun than trying to hassle around the International course as on Saturday. All of the ra cers were surprised and hopefull y satisfied , Probabl y even more would have turned up if they would o f known Appleby Was going to de sign su ch a nifty fill-in trac k. Larry Watkins, wh o win s every time he enters the AME Saturd ay races , gain ed two more checks today b y winning the 12 5 , and the 500 Senior sm oo th ly o ver Bob Callum (CZ). He cam e out on a white Richman 125 an d terrorizing CZ and it lo ok ed lik e he was h avin g fun pas sin g up the Juniors, and o the r trailing nipper s, as h e lapped bo th fields . Ra cing o n th e track a t the same . tim e as Watkins w ere tw o fas t 12 5 In termediate racers, R obert Elliott too k first pla ce o n a newl y-b ought Monark over Bob Harcouter o n a Yamah a. At the same ti me, th e 125 Ju nio r was wo n by Mike Calabilib etts on an o th er Monar k , Dave Krikac (Bu l) and Alan Khul o n a Yamaha. Don Bridges raced a red Penton 100 th at mo tored ar o und like a 125 ma ch ine and Was th e only 100 In termedia te co n test an t , T wo racers who h ave st uck with th e AME and usually are th e fas test co mpe ti to rs in the 100 Beginner classes on an y Sunday, Gary Den ton and Bill Harer, led their class today wi th Gary winning it overall as Bill took th e th ird pl ace spot behind John Mongillo. AME should find the ground to b e in better shape at Indian Dunes on the Shadow Glen track next Saturday and at Elsinore's fine Rawhide Park Motocross track next Sunday. Mother never told me abou t this !