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/141052
o Gary the Starter Does His Thing At Salinas C. « ~ w Z W ...J U ~ U D-36 Rough Scrambles by Patrick Neil SALINAS, CAL., Mar. 18, 1973 Virgil Byers, J ohn Schaffer, an d Ro nald Alsop we re the fastes t Ex perts at the Salin as Sand Pit this fin e sunny Sunday . When th e rider's m eetin g was held , all the rules we re explained leavin g no doub t in anyone's m ind when an d where they should be in order to get o n the starting line at the proper time. Thank y ou ! Enough riders in the Expert and Amateur classes w ere signed up to justify separate heats. The first part of this day was spent in qualifying the fastest riders of each class during which some very fast riding took p lace. I n oticed that when th e re d flag came ou t during o ne heat, since the heat was half over, all riders were scored in the positions in which they were when the red flag .was put out. Gary the starter cleaned up his act a little too! Starting off the Main events was the 100cc class, with Ron Po wers (Hod) laying in second place until the last 30 yards, to take the win awa y with style. In the 125 Expert class, Ronald Alsop (Bul) took his ma chine all the way, with a clean start an d finis h, winning the six lap even t. Eigh t riders appeared for the 250 Expert Main. The starter had three of them start on the p en alt y line for letting their clutches heat up. Whe n the green starting flag popped John Schaffer (Yam) took the lead. Coming down the hill was touchy for some, but nothing compared with the jump at the finish. 'Even the 'good guys' were having some tro uble with it . A front .wh eel lan ding was near certain disaster because of the 10 inch layer of sand. Puttin g the rear down w as o u t because o f th e ease one could p er fo rm that stunt called the ' loop'. So, the only thing left was the straight-on, put your rear over the taillight and keep on th e gas in fourth , approach. I tried 'em all. My best effort came when I almost nailed the flag man at th e finish . True Novice form! In the Open Expert Main , Virgil Byers (Mai) got a very good start, kept on the gas, made six p asses at all the p it-tootsies an d went h o me with the trophy. Very good! . Australia n Pursuit ? Ok ay . Take all the win n ers of t he Main eve nts, stagger t hem o n the start accordi ng to disp lacem en t engine size, give the m six laps and run the course in reverse! Sounds like fun ; let's do it! They did ! Thomas Walton (Bul) a Novice was p u t at the front, on his 125cc machine, then an Expert on a 125, then a 250 Novice, then an Amateur, an d so on. When the start flag came down, Thomas twisted the throttle an d tied it ope n with so me wire . Only two other guys , b oth Novices on CZs, came close to catching T h o mas. Dan Ford an d Bruce Manzoni tried to ove rtake the fast 125 , b ut Ford's 400cc unit an d Manzon!'s 250cc mach ine just couldn't do it. The rest of the dozen or so Experts and Amateurs lagged behind and let the Novices have their fun . Nice ride Thomas Walton! A few weeks ago , I tried to ex press my feelings an d impressions about my first time at Salinas. I h ave had quite a few people ap p roach me an d th ank me fo r putting the ir feelings d own on pape r. An d th en some o th er fans have told me what they th ink of my journalism in clear fluen t En glish . On e such person, Wylie Wilson a member of the SRMC, nailed me wi th the fact that Gary the Starter is n o t a clu b member and n eith er was the guy who wo n the 25 0 Expert Main on the d ay that I implied such. I d o now retract the implication that was ma de concerning Gary and the win ner of that even t. I welco me criticism an d am sure CN would p rin t any reb uttal submitted co n cern ing any thing I have wri tten. 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