Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

TOUGH MAN TO KEEP DOWN co . >- ::; b y Ed Bailey DIXON, CA L., Apr. 21, 1973 - T he Valley Climbers M.C. from Na pa go t toge ther wi th the Sacramento Racin g As s o ci atio n to th row a benefit mo to cross for rid er Randy Ri chardson, who w as inj ured las t ye ar durin g a motocross. Alth oug h th e money he gains fro m the race may be li ttle o r none at all , Randy doesn 't want anyon e to thin k that th e day wasn 't a su ccess . Th ro ugho u t all, Randy h as staye d cheerful and when I asked hi m, " wo uld y ou do it again if yo ur attemp ts at co mp lete recovery are successful?", He said "You bet! As a matter of fac t 1 th ink 1 w ould b uy one of th ose new Honda two str ok es or ma ybe a Maico ." Where do es Randy go fr QJtl her e ? If a j o b as a ma chinist ever turns up that can accomidate th e sp ecial req uir em ents o f a man in a wh eel ch air he says he will ' tackle th at. Special projects that are in the mill now are a Honda th ree wh eeler, he already has th e fro n t-en d and a 350 Honda motor an d pl an s to build hi s own frame. en ~ z W ..J o >o Cra ig Scroggins leads t he charge, but th at 's Ne il Ma cDa nnald lurking there in 4th . Righ t , Nei l's broth er D arrell , just out of the A rm y . P.5 . He saved it! by Bill Spencer OAKDALE , CAL., Apr. 2 2, 197 3 Neil MacDannald held onto his lead in the Blac k p late list b y winning both th e 125 an d 25 0 Expert runs, holding back ch allenges fro m Te d Davids on in the 250 an d Greg Greener in the 125. Ma cDannald h as said that he is n ot in the ra ce for the top tw en ty hon o rs, b u t as long as th e tracks run th at he likes, he will .race no ma t ter what p oin ts are up for grabs . T he 2 50 run was worth 6 points, and that was enough to kee p exactly that di stance between him sel f an d Ted Davidson finishing seco nd on the Za kari an Bultaco. While Mark Smi th didn 't carry any p ain ts fro m hi s fourth place finish, he is tied with T ed for second wi th 35 poin ts. T he pain ts will b e ch angi ng drasticall y tho ugh , as th e smoo th , hard tracks take over an d th e super slider s ge t ba ck to wo rk. T he Oakdale rodeo gro un ds will change with th em as track ow ne r Jerry Griffith is go ing to be puttin g in clay and other goodie s to make this terrific facili ty , a class "C" co urse and will t ry for so me p ro fessio nal shor t tra ck dates. Mark Asbill re turn ed fro m a lo ng rest an d won th e Open Expert on a 45 0 Kawasa ki th at really ge ts out of the turns an d combined wi th last nigh t' s win at Lodi, he moved into a tie for nin th spot in the top twe n ty standings, righ t alo ng with last years National Amateur ch am pio n A lex Jorgensen an d only o ne pain t beh ind pe renn ial b lack p later Ray Huff. Ric ky Pappas rode his last Novice ru n in th e 125 class an d whil e his DKW is up for sale , his Junior ca rd is on its way. He h as won th e last five outings and the total point co unt is near 50. Some where along the line, his p oin ts got fo rgot. Minibikes were o ut in fo rce. T h e cen ter o f a ttractio n h ere was on Bobby J ones, the World Minibike cha mp , wh atev er that means. Young Mr. J ones ge ts it good but had to work fo r hi s win in th e little wheel class wi th Steve Orozco ge tt ing th e better part of th e first few laps. Jones is goo d and reall y proved it in th e big wh eel class astride an Indian b y lapping most of th e en tries. RESU LTS: MINI "A" : 1. Jon Haan (Chi); 2. Randy Burgess (Honl. MINI "B" : 1. Shawn Cody (Yam); 2. Chuck Aksland (Honl. MINI "C" : 1. Bobby Jones (Indl. MINI "0" : 1. Bobby Jones (Tarl; 2. Steve Orazoco (Yam); 3. Larry Kruseman (Yaml. 100 NOV: 1. Rod Greener (Suz): 2. Roger Rush (Hod); 3. Randy Grenig (Yaml. 100 JR : Mike Ihrig (Hod) : 125 NOV: 1. Ricky Pappas (DKW); 2. R•ck Frost (DKW); 3. Bill Rose (Pen), 125 JR : 1 . Doyle Cook (Riel; 2 . Henry Ackerman (Kaw), 125 EX: 1. Neil MacDannald (Pen); 2 . Greg Grenner (DKW), 175 NOV: 1. Ricky Johnson (But); 2. Jon Smith (Puc); 3 . Rich Smith ( Bn) . 200 NOV: 1 . Dennis Bradshaw (But); 2. Bill Martin (But). 175 -200 : 1. Mike Ihrig (But); 2. Ken Brown (Pen), . 250 NOV: 1. Don Rauls (Ric); 2 . Steve Terry (Man); 3 . Steve Rodrig (Yam), 250 JR : 1. Don Ney (Han) ; 2 . Ron Murphy (Kaw} . 250 EX: 1. Neil MacDannald (Han); 2. Ted Davidson (But); 3 . Chuck Erlenbach (Yaml. 350 NOV: 1. Rick Eklund (But); 2. Don Kirby (Bull. OPEN NOV: 1. Steve Parker (Mai); 2. Steve Wallace (Mail. OPEN JR : 1 . Mike Sexton (But); 2 . Rick Hatler (Suzl. OPEN EX: 1. Mark Asbill (Kaw); 2 . Dale Mathers (Mai); 3. Bill Landsborough (Bull. Just because Randy is con fined to a wheel chair it doesn't mean that he still cannot enjoy the sport that he used to part icipate in. It has onlv been eight months since th e accident t oo k place but Randy is- already completely independent. Utah's Motocross season opens by Terry Ne wfarrner MANN IN G CY C LE PARK , UTA H , April 15, 197 3 - T he track that will be the scene of a T rans-AMA qu alifyin g ro und and an Inter-AM."- m o to cross go t its first test th is season with th e lar gest atten dance ever expe rienced at a Utah mo tocross . It was th e season's first MX toward the Utah Num ber One pla te . The Manning track laces across an old mine dump, just over th e hill fro m a ghost to wn . It off ers ex tr eme var iety in t e rr ain , in cludin g two very st eep downhills, but the tr ack surface is uniform, co vered with so ft sh ale. When th e sh ale was fresh, it gave a slightly yielding su rface and did a good jo b of keeping the dust down. Fo r Sunday 's run the sh ale h ad been p ounded to fine dust on top, resultin g in a fir m su rface but very dirty faces. Leon ard Ault said a new do se of shale and, hopefully, so me sand will go o n th e tra ck before the Pros co me to town . T he results su ggest wh ich rid er s Utah will pin ' its h ope for glo ry on in th e p rofession al events. Bo b Brown fen de d off attacks from T ommy Dicke rson in th e Op en class to fini sh a h alf lap ahead of some re sp ectab le talen t. Dickerson is qu ick on th e start , bu t he st ill is learn in g ho w to keep up th e pace an d he tends to fade . I n the 25 0s, Bo b Plumb h as establishe d himself alread y as the man to b ea t thi s year in th e 25 0 class, wi th h ard-fo ugh t wins in th e past few races. All o f th e ab ove ride Plaza Cycle Mak o s. Dennis Packa rd was n o t present, perhaps sti ll trying to glue toge ther h is p ro to type Kawasaki wh ich he broke in hal f th e week before. Other 25 0 ride rs in th e runnin g co uld be Phil McDonal d an d Kerry Fow ler. A lot of us h ave been wonderin g how Pe ter Crandall would fair i' one of th e real big-bore hotd ogs too k a n otion to rid e th e 12 5 cla ss, wh ere Peter has been the kingpin fo r over a year. (You know, drop it at t he start, ta ke th e lead before th e third lap st uff.) This Sunday, Kerry Fo wler turned up on a screaming fast 125 Bultaco, and de cisively pulled away fro m Pete r in b oth motos. Peter and his Penton seemed a little o ff their usual super smooth st yl e and one race doesn't set a tren d , but th e 125 class is starting to get in teresting again. T he d ay 's only major pr oblem was time. T h e riders vo ted fo r th ree rno to s, but th ere was n 't enough ti me to run all th e, classes befo re da rk, so th e sche d ule was cut to tw o mo to s. One good thing abo ut Mann ing : it's fas t but pre dictable. Th e ambulance sat id le all day . G YAMAHA of CORONA Mike Patrick 's 1101 E_ 6th St . - Corona (714) 735-77 21

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