Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

New Mexico-Colol'ado-Wyo.iDg-Montana-Nol'tb Dakota-Soatb Dakota-Nebl'uka-Kansas-Oklabo.a-Texas- Ne'; Mexico-Colol'ado-Wyo.iD ~ Central Pipeline three of the last lap beh ind Herndon, who was working har d on Shobert. H erndon had to go too wide up into th e hay, and the clean fin ish saw Shobert leaving Herndon to ch eck ou t the am bulance crew , wi th second to Poovey followed by Bradley , Jones, Rush and Charley Roberts. Results EX MAIN: 1. Bubba Shobert; 2. Terry Poovey; 3. David Bradley; 4 . Ronnie Jones ; 5. Bubba Rush ; 6. Charley Roberts ; 7. Michael Roseborrough; B. Jay Beach; 9. Lance Jones; 10 . Bill Brow n; 11. Billy Herndon. JR MAIN : 1. Eric Rausch; 2. Matthew Rozow icz; 3. Sammy Swee t; 4. Sammy Pott er; 5. Bria n Anderson ; 6. Todd Rat liff ; 7. Rusty M istovsky; B. Kirk England ; 9. T.J. Hought on; 10. Steve Labrodos . NOV MAIN: 1. Ron And rews ; 2. Kris A rment ro ut; 3. Randy Tr iplett; 4. Ross Dunca n; 5. Danny Haney; 6. Wes Long; 7. James Barn es; B. J ay Halpain; 9 . Kenny Peal; 10 . Erni e Louis. BO AM : 1. M ichael Hale; 2. Greg Teag ue; 3. Michael Weed in; 4. Steve Power s. 125 AM : 1. J im Pollard; 2. Willie McCoy; 3. A lan Case; 4 . J im my Thompson; 5. M ichael Hale; 6. Gino Brienz; 7. Steve Powers ; B. Clay Carroll . 250 AM : 1. James Harrington ; 2. Max Wi lson; 3. J im Pollard ; 4. Chuck Prichard. Jr.; 5. John C. Gladwill ; 6. Tubby Dotson ; 7. Terry Newman; B. Gino Brienz . 750AM: 1. Max W ilson; 2. Ma rk Kumle; 3. Chuck Prichard , Jr.; 4 . Gary Jones; 5. M ichae l Jay Hughes ; 6. Bill Watson . Merlo, Horton ' haul Austin 'brass By Donald Mueller AUST IN , TX, JULY 16 Tonight witnessed the return o f som e familiar figures to Aus t i n ' s River Cit y Night Motocross . Absent but not Bubba Shobert was the Expert winner at the Oklahoma Regional. Andrews, RaUSCh, Shobert sizzle at Oklahoma Regional HM By Frank Harrison OKLAHOMA CITY, OK , JU LY 18 The old sa ying " O kl ah o ma Ci ty, she is m igh ty p retty" was n ever more true for a chan ge as it didn 't rain a t th e State Fairgro und s for a change, but hot was the word both on the track and off as a lmos t 3000 fans gathered fo r 'the only AMA flat track event in this area so far this year and a Regional Ch ampio nshi p no less with ama teur raci ng thrown in for good measure. New promoter Larry H ill seemed happy as a top fiel d of 17 Novices, 21 J uniors and 21 Experts turned up along wi th 25 am a teur ri ders for a beautiful aftern oon of racing. Wi th a slight delay due to an overwate red tra ck, Experts on ly lined up for time tria ls with Texa n Terry Poo vey turning in the fastest a t 24.79 as the track settled down to the usual red clay narrow gr oo ve in the turns with lo ts of marbles up h igh , and the full afternoon of raci ng was under- ' way, non-stop, no intermission with the amateurs filli ng in the gaps. The loca l Novices were shown how to do it as Petersburgh , VA, rider Ron Andrews (Jack Da nn en berg/B ills Pipes/ Co lonia l Cycles) won his hea t, semi and the Novice main . From the start of the main it was Andrews all the way foll owed by Kris Armentrout on his Staracer swapping p laces with Danny Haney and Randy Tripplett early in the race. By lap eight, Andrews had a full turn lead on the field as Ross Duncan picked off H aney for the fourth s ot, and the finish was An drews, Armentrout , Triplett, Duncan and Haney. East coast riders again domina ted the Jun ior events with Eric Rausch of . Midd leton , DE, do ing the honors in hi s h ea t, semi and main . Second J unior hea t was won by Matthew Rozowicz and third heat by home town boy Samm y Potter, also winner of th e other sem i. . T h e J u n ior main kicked off with Todd Ra tliff showing the way into turn one followed by Brian Anderson and Sammy Sweet. La p two saw Sweet move into second followed by Rausch , and Anderson moving into fourth . Rausch the n took the lead as Ro zowicz moved into thrid. Ha lfway sawall kinds of changes in mid-pack wi th Po tter, Roswica and Anderson dicing it out to the finish. Behind Ra usch at the checkered it was Roswicz, Sweet, Po tter and Anderson. T exans finally got the ir licks in as L ubbock's Bubba Shobert, coming fro m a third place finish in his heat race, was ready and q uickest off the line on his Jack Sizemore Harley for the Ex pert Reg io nal mai n, with Houston 's Bubba R ush on his tail, David Bradley of Tulsa in third and O klahoma Cit y home town favorite Ronnie Jones in fourth. Second lap turn one, however , brought out th e red flag as Scotty Ada ms was a victim of the crowded back pack a nd narrow groove as hi s fron t wheel stuffed int o T erry Poo vey's rear, ending up in the ha y with a taped el bo w anda Harley th at couldn't restart. The restart agai n saw Sh obert set sail , but this tim e Bill y H erndon was on his tai l. Bradl ey and Jones in third and fourth , and Po oved starting hi s mo ve through th e pack th en di cing with Jones. By lap 10 Poo vey was losi n g pa tience and p ut o n a charge for the finish whi le Shober t and H ern don foug h t it out for fir st'. Poovey pushed by Bradley and stuffed it into turn mi ssed at the homecoming were the pat riotic strains of Foghat that sh ivered th e loudspeakers on J uly Fourth weekend. Also failing to atteni were th e julybugs that had been doi ng double-twisting half-gainers into cups of liquid refreshment. Mike Mer lo returned to the Mini Senior class after being out for a month with a bro ken arm. He still had his cast on , but that didn 't stop him from leading the whole of bo th ' motos. Coming in with two seconds was Scott Scherb. Bo th riders were on Yamahas. Return ing to the O ver 30 class was tra ck owner Lee Bigga rt, who day lights working for the governor. Biggart followed the philosophy of letthe-paying-customers-win and stayed , in th e middle of the pa ck during bo th motos. Next week he plans to try the philosophy of if-I-win-I-save-moneyon-tro p h ies. Bill Kasson of Kasson's Yamaha won bo th moros. Wylie Evans was leading th e first moto until he crashed, hurting hi mse lf badly enough to be unable to sta rt the second moto. Walter Burch field moved up to the 250cc Interm edia te class after devas tati ng the Nov ice class last week. R usty Burns took and held the lead in the first m oto on his Honda. Second went to Paul Horton , also on a H on da. Horton threatened Burns until the white flag, where he fell. overcome by the ap o the osis of beau ty - one of th e numerous nubile nymphs (AKAflag girls). Burns claims to have heard H orton gasp, "Arethusa! " im mediate ly before falling. H orton recovered qu ickly eno ugh to hol d onto second, ahead of Burchfield 's white KTM enduro . Perhaps the headlight snapped H orton ou t of his stupor. Horton took th e hol eshot in th e secon d rnoto, but Burns was soon in the lead. Burns went 'down in th e sweeper before the end of th e lap and ca me up in las t, regai ning on ly on e position by the end of the race. Burchfield the n led for two laps but lost th e lead to H orton , wh o kep t it for th e rest of the mota. Burch field took second and second overall. Jack Beckham returned to th e Expert class after auditioning his rib cage for a rol e as a landing pad som e months ago. Beckham led the first rnoto, followed by Mike Farmer, who had moved up steadily on his Yamaha from fifth , and Casey Loftin on his Honda. Carl Beers was doing well in his first Expert appearance until he fell. Beers started the second race but was unable to finish . Casey Loftin led the whole second moto, shadowed by Beckham. Riding third was Mike Farmer. Results MI NI JR: 1. Derek Hanson (Yam); 2. Robert TIemann (Hon); 3 . Chad Bailey (Hon). MIN I SR: 1. M ike Merlo (Yam); 2. Scott Scherb (Yam); 3. Laurence Mo rris (Yam). 125 NOV A : 1. M ike Mewhart (Suz); 2. Jo n ny Crain (Hon); 3. Danny Hoff (Suz). 125 NOV B: 1. Donald Ross (Yam); 2. David Morri son (Hon); 3. Kirk Swoboda (Suz). 250 NOV: 1. Bret Burns (Suz); 2. Rocky Frenc h • (Hon); 3. Blair Bedford (Kaw). OPEN: 1. Rusty Burn s (Hon); 2. Mi ke Beers (Hon). OVER 30 : 1. Bill Kasson (Yam); 2. Smokey Joe Milian (Yam); 3. Leo Anderson (Hus). 125 INT: 1. Donny Joe (Suz). 250 INT: 1. Paul Horton (Hon); 2. W alter Burchfi eld (KTM); 3. Rusty Burns (Hon). EX: 1. Jack Beckham (Hon); 2. Casey Loftin (Hon); 3. Mike Farmer (Yam). Wet track wreaks havoc at Suntana MX By Eric Raits SPRINGVILLE, UT, JU LY 23 The Experts a nd Amateurs slung mud and the Novices m os tly wallowed in i t, ra cin g on a course made treachero us by a stea dy downpour a t the Su ntana nigh t MX. "I got lucky and go t ou t front and p lastered (Roger ) Zeeman wi th clods so he couldn't see," la ughed Sco tt Jewett after taki ng the first O pe n Expert race. Zeema n ha d the last laugh though , passing Jewett and throwi ng some clods of his ow n for the overall win. . Dirk Clayson continued a winning streak in spite of an upgrade to Ama teur. Cla yson was born with no thumbs and severe defects to hi s arms and shoulder, elbow and wrist joints bu t wo rks hard on his raci ng skills an d has become an accomplished ri der who is a joy to watch. Clayson rode a tent a tive race in the firs t rno to behind Jeff Barn es but overcam e the jitters in the second to bea t Barnes by two bikeleng ths. T humpers had most of the traction' in the Open No vice class as the soggy track swallowed Novices all n ig ht lo ng . Randy Gray and Sp encer Lunt, both on four-s troke Suzukis, were 1-2 over Kevin Gordon. Na than Ro berts was able to catch G ray in the first m o to, fell in th e lead and p u t h imself o ut for the night with a broken chain tensi oner. Jim Q uist was the only 125ccAmateur to finish two motos, everyo ne else had at least one DNF. Veri O vard beat Q u ist in the firs t moto, then didn 't show for the second. Cra ig Wa yman didn 't finish the first moto but was the onl y pressure on Q u ist in the second and they ended up Q uist, Ovard and Wayman. Mike Robinson won the first division of 125cc Novices, beating Peter Davis and Gregg Greenha lgh. Davis had an inspired ride in the second moto, working up from th ird to first to squeeze Greenhalgh into th ird overall. In division two , Bret Ro wley beat Merl an Bowan in th e first moto, Then Bowan fell while leading the second and Rowley seemingl y had it a ll won. H e fell while in the lead, go t

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