Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

..... N ~ ~ :;; ~ W Z W ..J U >- U Steam ing back on to the motocross course. - Er nie A lexand er Photo . AME GP at Indian Dunes b y John Gr ou t Photos and Results b y Tom C orle y VALENCIA, CAL ., Mar. II, 19 73 D off yo ur crash helme ts to the official lap checkers , bo ys and girls. T he th ird annual "Valen cia Grand Pri x " floated o n to an all-terrain course tod ay at Indian Dun es Par k near Sau gus. It was a presen ta tion th at began in a d riving rai n sto rm an d got inc reasing ly worse as th e d ay wore o n. Though Ind ian D un es more or less enjoys a mo nop oly wh en it co mes to tracks that are ab le to support a rainy-day asse mbly of two-wheeler racing machin ery , it is ru mored th a t th ey have missed the boat (no funny in te nde d) . At th e very leas t , it wo uld seem, th ey should in stall o ne of th ose gian t fran chi sed car wash operations. . ' We ' ll try to set down wh at we saw... or at least thin k we saw . All o f th e events. four, w ere run 45 minutes each. Th at 's a total o f 180 minutes, if I'm to believe this n ew mini-deluxe catcula tor, an expe nsive little $ 29 .8 9 p o ck et m odel. 1 2 5 / 2 50 / 500 c c S eni ors a n d Intermediat es : A m ere case of too mu ch Mr. Bultaco : Kenny Zahrt, When thi s gro up stage d fo r a smo ke bomb- ty pe start , spec tat ors - of which the re were a good ly cro p - cro uc he d ben eath a sea of umbrellas an d , whil e attempting to draw focus th rough the do wn pour, were rew arded with o ne of the weirdest, most edgy p ic tu res in all of racing history. Those poor b lokes out there on th e start ing line were miserab ly h un ch ed over their handle ba rs, garbed in the dam n dest display of seldom-used castoffs ever worn. A fe w wo re rain s lickers; s o m e . sagge d be neath op pressively water-logged leathe rs; wh ile still o the rs chose th e confines of Saran -wrap, baggies or whatever else was close at hand . An d wh en th e b anner slapped at t he frigi d wind like a tub-so ak ed towel ; Jimmy Wilson's tw o-stroke Honda 250 too k fire as if it had be en electric ally prodded. He was creating more ruckus than a rote-roote r service callan clogged hospital piping. T hat Honda du g a t renc h ' deep eno ugh for th e Ow en 's Ri ver p rojec t. As th e Exp er ts plunged in to th e Intern ational co urse , wh ich o ff ere d all of th e benefits of a buffalo wall ow, Wilson 's ro cket was angrily sp it ti ng silt at 5 0 unfo rtunate bikers, am ong them : Zah r t, Larry Watkins (CZ) , Ro n A c evedo (CZ), Jim O'N eal (Ric) , Pete Mal y. (C / . and a host o f other number s th at' we didn't have names for. Zahrt was con ten t to allow Wilson to strip o ff line for the better part of a lap , then the gam e grew serious. Zahrt unleashed his Bay Area-tuned Bultaco upon th e p ack as they slid in to . th e fr o n t ch ute. The results o b taine d b y the 326cc mach ine wer e a lmost unreal. " I was ha vin g fu n, " Kenn y co mmen te d afte r the races. " Along th e back straigh t, th e Bultaco must have been hitt in g 70-8 0 ... " (O h, ye ahl_.Ed.) That was about 5-20 MPH q uicker th an any thing else - at th at particular time! While splash ing past fo ur ride rs at the end of the fro nt straigh t, Zahrt m o ved right up to Wilson 's rear treads , and then scooted by as th e pair entered the san d flats. As the field rip pe d in to lap four of the do nnybrook; Larry Wat kin s (eZ) also go t by Wilson and in to sec on d p lace behin d Zahrt, a posi ti on he w as to hold 'til th e flag. Larry , h ow eve r, was co mpe tin g in the Op en class a lo ng wit h Zahrt so th e overall 25 0 victory went to Honda rid er "Gentleman " JilJ1 Wilson. .Runners-up to Wilson included Shan e McDo n ald (Gre) , Ric k Jones and Pete Maly , with Ron J on es (lion) so me whe re close in t he hun t. First two in the 125cc Seni or bunch were Keith Ludwig, fo rme r Junior ch ampion at th e " O ld Reservati on ," (D KW) and T om "The Mudcat" Grant (Ya m) . 100/125 /2 50/500 Junio rs: Pier Six brawl that fea tured a field numbering upwards of I 00 co n tes tants. . Ken Bat es again cam e through when the chips were scatter ed in the slop , gainin g a close win in the I OOcc division. Among those finishing closest to the DKW rid er a t th e final wir e, were Charles Gr ov es (Ric) and Kent Parkinson -fYam] . Overall victory am o nf;st th e 125s went to Ric ky Park (Hus ), as h e o u t-m udde d Ellis Harlin (R ic) and Scott Farris, wh o was tr ying hi s luc k on a Pen ton . Dave Arnold, again cam paigning one of the n ew Hon d a two-s trokes, co llec te d hi s th ird straigh t overall vic tory -agains t th e . mid-bo re Ju nio rs. Ron McConnell an d D ave Martin ez, bo th on CZ s, wer e closest run ners-up. J am e s Bern th (CZ) grabbe d the win for J unio rs o n 500cc bikes. T oday 's " Gran d Pri x " presenta tion, was sanctione d by Ameri can Mo tocros s En te rprises (A. M.E.) with ra ces run like clockwork. T he riders we re able to enjoy it and th e spectato rs left th e 'Dunes smiling and soaked. And' will th e crumb who abscon ded with th e fo ur-foot trophy , pl ease relinquish your d isco very ba ck to the A.M .E. ?? No questions ask ed .. .

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