Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

M N ." '" b y Mike Stan MEDFORD , ORE., Apr. 28, 197 3 Th ough bill ed as the Oregon S tat e Ch am pionshi p s, th e meet he re today attrac te d 197 riders fro m m o st of the West ern U.S. Peo pl e like Bill Grossi, Santa Cruz, Cali f.: Dave Bun ker, Sumner, Wash.; an d Ed Kuykendall, Lewiston , Idaho to pped the list o f visi tin g riders. . M rs, Nancy Thomas (girls m a ke m u ch cuter m oto cro sse rs) p u t the hurt o n 26 m e n in the 125 Juni o r class. On ly Lan ce R ob in so n aboard an absolutely sizzling Suzuki was able to fen d her off. T he 125 Sen iors won "M o st exciting Bugs scratches at riders' meeting . C1. M .... Cl '" . > ::;; ~ w Z W ..J (.J >(.J Here Bugs plays with Da ve Czerwinsk i 067Z) and Gary Roberts (203 1. race of th e d ay h onors " b efore th eir first m o t o w as five mi n u tes o ld . Out of town heroes Grossi. Ku ykendall an d Bun ker fo ugh t local ch amps Ted Saures , Do n S utphin an d :l. ike Deck er in a l no-holds-b arred race . The first two laps lost a p ack of a bout 10 riders in a tw o -wh eel ve rsi on of d estruction d erby . Bill Grossi 's ex perience an d ability sh owed as he ease d away fro m the o thers. The secon d m o to go t exciting in th e first tum, firs t lap . Some one m ade the mi st a ke of d ropping it in fro nt of a bout tw en ty -five other rid ers. T he resulting m elee was escape d b y on ly five bikes and Grossi among othe rs was kn ock ed down. All were ab le t o restart with out losing a lap . Whil e Ku ykendall was one o f the lu ck y five and was able to ass u me a co mfo rta ble le ad, Grossi go t go ing agai n d ead last. His ch arge to regain p ositi on h ad th e c ro wd o f 1200 sc reami ng lik e school girls at a Stones sho w. Gros si didn't b ank off b erms, he explo de d o ff th em ! G oing ov er "Husky Hill ," a 150-fo ot long, l Sv o t hi gh , man-made fo o bstac le, Grossi would absolutely devastat e fell ow riders. Every lap he flew 4 5 fee t be fore touch ing down . His p oint of impact n ever vari ed m ore th an a fo o t or two but hi s fli gh t atti tude a p pea re d t o b e under constant ex peri men ta tion ; one lap he'd throw the bike nearly ho rizontal, the ne xt he 'd cross up sideways an d at ' leas t twice during the day he p assed other riders while in mid-ai r! Lo ts o f rid e rs co llected tro phies, a bunch picked up bruises and th e Motorcy cle Rid ers Association ? Well, th e y we nt back t o work p re paring fo r th e next day 's Al\1A Na tional Pro Q ualify in g Round. OREGON MOTOCROSS SVPERSHOW other th an Dic k "Bugsy" Mann , AMA's perennial G rand N ati o nal Cham pion . O regonian s fel t honored . As raci ng got under w ay with th e 25 0 Se n iors, spectators kn e w th e y we re going to see so me un real raci n g. Bill G ro ssi (Mo n) blasted in to an al m ost im me diate lea d fo llo we d b y J im T urner, Bill Cook, R on Self, Tom Rapp and othe rs. Other ride rs had di ffi cul ty jus t SUNDAY T he second day o f racing fo r the weekend was a sp ecial kind o f d ay fo r Med ford , O rego n . Lat e o n Saturday nigh t a n on-descr ipt red van pulled into Medford Mo t o cr oss Park that st ood Motorcycle Ride rs A ssociation official s o n th eir ea rs. T he van co ntained none Dick Burgett becomes Junior Birdman on his way to the th ird moto win . 395 CYCLE PARK FOR SALE WHITTIER HONDA OSS~ ~ Motorcycle T railers WHITTIE R H O N D A 1 4324~: Wh ittier Blvd . (213 ) 6 9 8 ·0055 (2 13) 773-4836 '\...../J Complet e ste en °afc~:;:~r~~~ Acres O n 395, Modern Facilities, Pe rm a nen t Un rest rict ed Permits . 1 1011 R a c e Rd . , Adelanto, Cal if . IIIA111111 Still has a flock of New 1972's in Stock! ! Do Your Part HELP Empty Our Showroon . Downey, Cal if. Ask Dick o r Fred Cycle Trend West . In c. 709 W . Stuart St .• Fresno, Ca lif. 9 3 7 0 4 . (209) 4 3 9-333 0 . (213) 862-6418 - 5 SUJ 8851 South Lakewood Blvd. NOGUCHI PRODUCTS GO FAST AND SELL FAST . . . 40 714·246-6109 kee p in g G ross i in view but Rap p made a st ro ng charge a nd soon wo rk ed his wa y to second p lace . . T he second moto belonge d to R app. He and h is screami ng Bu lt aco just d isap p eared from the pursuing pack. G rossi, m eanwhile , had h is turn at p la ying chase. T he th ird 25 0 m o to scrip t must h ave been written b y Sen or Bul t o , be cau se agai n Rapp called all the shots and held Gr o ssi to second pl ace. Th e Open class won the heart o f th e cro wd . A f te r all , who could resi st cheeri n g for Di ck Mann ? N ot only that, lo cal h er o es J ohn Sc h we n de ne r and Bob L aFontain e ne eded all th e m oral sup p ort th ey could ge t, an d Bu ck Murphy see med t o ha ve br ou ght his own ch ee ri ng sec ti o n d own from Seattle . When th e)" dropped t he hammers, firs t t o the turn was lo cal fav orite Schwendener, He took a co m m an din g lead for the fir st fifteen minutes wh en all of a sud de n , fro m o u t o f n owhere , came Dick Mann . For th e nex t five lap s Mann and Schwenden er had th e ove rflow c ro wd off th e ground. E very charge by Mann w as repulsed b y a burst of sp eed fro m Schwe nd en er. Fin ally bo th riders got too close an d poor Bu gsy go t dumped. J ohn b urned hi s cl u tc h o ut a nd Bob Bro wn mov ed in for th e ki ll. The n ext 'tw o mo to were pretty m u ch a Brown an d Dic k Burge tt affair . Brown sn agged first in the 2n d m oto and Bu rge tt walked a way fro m t he cr e w in the th ird m oto . T he fi rst -ever A M A National Quali fier fo r Oregon ended o n a h appy note. Eve ry one saw pl en ty of super ra cing action, th e amb ula nces co llec te d dust and lo cal rider Bob LaFontaine acc u m ula te d enoug h points for a fifth pl ace . (JU ,,1 N ortli of Sallta ..J na Fury ] f 'NlU.,. .. s te p · by · step Introd uc tiOn 10 motorcycling _ new , eoIorful sport MOto -Cross Th" booII leU, , "beg,nner w het' 1lI to begin. w ,lh c!'lap t"'. on MOlo ,voss 8 .1<. An •• Pfep"a'lOn &- M . 'Rl .~nc. . Physocal y .... ~' lo()tM~ Wr.a t To W • • r , Fl 1"V Tec hn oqv•• Wh e t K 110 To h pec;t . Rke S I,. tegy R. ce 0.'11 1 1 .11 the'. ora t h.$ l t 2 ' ~ge 8 ' 1. 1 , " booil. Cf.mmed lIIt' lh pho l~ and on'OI "'41loOl"l If s '(OU's, pa s'P41 od. tOf $ 5 95 tA dCl S 1 " YOu Wish . ,r m • •1 ' . ' "I-C. l Or d ., h o m IAGNALL rulLISHING co . IoJl SO?, Lake Arrowhead, Co lil . 92 352 PENTON SERIE S lAC" CLUJ, D""IlA.U. • •M"'I II ..1l1li$ a .. , .. TOM 11,000.00 1M.. . IZII • alGI_I e OIl. ...0 ... TIUIIII OU.TIEO. $1 "'0111 • lU lL U .OO "'CST SL OO ..TOlI2.00 e-e I,.ICI MSI " ' O. I MTIIIII ,.. GII.L CYCL. "'.... IUOO."IT' lOCI I D. GUll T"""" IIS -oYO$"OIIT . "'C. 1I1:1iIO. NeVAD. ...'" 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