Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. .. , I ,! I I I 1-. . . ~ . ~ Northern California-Northern Nevada·Oregon-Washington-ldaho-Utah-Alaska-Canada- Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Utah- . -. NORTHERN DATELI~~ . 125 PRO: 1. Tim M ich litsch (Kawl; 2. Cory Klaudt (Hon): 3. Gary Kuest (Vam); 4 . Ron Sun (Hon); 5. David Hett inga (VarnI. - McCrory wins two at Little Okie By Beverly McCrory MAD ERA, CA, J ULY 17 With three races to go, the CMC series at Little Okie is half over. First place winners at th e end of th e series will earn Tim Michlitsch won the Mulkey OH V Park Gold Cup 125cc Pro class . Mlchlitsch, Burgett, Larson top Mulkey ORV Gold Cup round By Clay Lig ht Phot o by De lbert Lo ngbrake McM IN NEVILLE, OR, JU LY 25 The McM in nevill e, O R rou nd of the Yam ah a Perpetual Gold Cu p series saw some spectacula r racing despite the scorch in g tempera ture. DG/Kawasaki rider Tim Mich litsch , rid ing a KX l 25, Rick Burgett , on his Yamaha supp ort YZ250 and Washingto n 's O pen Pro Phil Larso n (American Han ) each won two motos, mak ing it a I- I swee p in all Pro classes. The firs t P ro mota was th e 125s, which started 33 riders . A m assive p ile-u p occu rred , and on the seco nd try, it was Do ug Lange (Yam h ill Yam), Cory Kla ud t (Sea ttle Han). David H ettin ga (R W Racing Yam) a nd Don Gores (Ol ympic Ya m ) ho ldin g down th e top five posi tions. H etti nga worked by to lea d at th e en d of two laps, b ut Michlitsch q u ickl y swoo ped by. Kla ud t rode o n a lo ne in seco n d for th e rest of the mo ta wh ile Robb Mann in g (H i-Po in t/ T o tem La ke Han /Am erica n Han) do ve into th ird, displaci n g H ettinga . A mad dice between Mark Gregso n (L O P / Yamhill Yam ) and Da n n y Diesso (Burien Suz / Answer Products / Suz) put them into fourth p lace ra nge, although q u ite a ways beh ind th irdplace Manning . At the fin ish it was Mic hli tsch, Klaudt, Manning, Diesso and Gregson . Ro n Su n (H a n 'su p p ort ) led the m ota two warfare over Mich litsch, Er ic Hall (LOP Raci ng Yam ) a nd Klaudt. Sun and Mich litsch continued to di ce for the lead with Hall sett ling into th ird ea rly in the mo ta, ahead o f Kuest, Lange and Go res. At th e h a lfway point, Michli tsch had swooped u p on Sun for th e lead and a ga in p u ll ed away, as in m o ta one. Sun seemed content with second spo t and spe d merrily on his way wi th H all all a lo ne in third o ver Kuest , Kla ud t and Lange. Michl itsch took a no ther dev asta tin g win for a I-I mota bl itz and $300. Sun to o k seco nd, bu t h is firs t mota 10th put h im o u t of the to p three overall. It was the sam e fo r Hall who was third , but 12th in mota one. . Fourth in th e mota was Kue st wh o had Klaudt on h is heels, and La n ge was sixth. Kue st took th ird overa ll with his 7-4 m ot a scores. The 250cc Pro class wa s the largest and fastest pace. Ro bby Watilo (R W Racing Yam), Kues t, Arne Hettman (Han) and Bob Bu ffa loe (Hi-Point! Highland H an ) came into turn one wi th to p positio ns. Michl itsch was ta ken out in a pile up and got off dea d last. Kuest led after two laps wit h Burgett movi ng by Watilo for second. Larson launched himself through traffic to settle into a position behind Burgett with Buffal oe right th ere to hound him. Scott Tyler (NW Mai ) a nd Eric Eaton (Husqvarna Motors ) also came through traffic to settle in behind Larson and Bu ffa loe. Behind them rode Watilo and a Rodney Keller /Diesso clash. Burgers got a round Kuest and proceeded to see how big of a deficit h e could put on th e pesky Yamaha support rider who wa s now in second fo llowed by Bu ffa loe, who took over third at Larson 's expe n se. Burgett blasted the pack with Kuest second, Bu ffal oe third, Sun fourth a nd Larson fifth . Eaton, Wa tilo and Keller rounded out the final money spots. . . . The second o uting had Kuest lead Loch Names (Euge ne Suz ), Sun and Eaton. Names was then in a pile-up, putting Sun into second while Kuest pulled away. Bu rgett and Larso n fought tooth a nd na il for third spot which had Larson gaining gerund on the jumps o nly to have Burgett drive into the corners and snatch it away. Burgett eventuall y got Larson for good and set h is sights on Kuest, who cou ld hold off the " L u m berjack" on ly briefly, but too fell prey. Su n, no w lea di n g, was next in Burgett's sight. Bu rgett landed his catch and wen t to the ch eckered flag for the win after co n tac t wi th Sun and got his 1-1 ove ra ll. Foll o wing were Su n, Kuest, Larson a nd Buff al oe fifth , who held Michlitsch off on the la st la p. Open Pro was a 20-rid er slug fest which had Mann ing manhandli n g th e start o n h is big bore H onda wi th Burgett, Larson a nd Scott T yler gi ving chase. La rso n got by Bu rgett and took th e lead wh en Ma nning we nt down. Ea ton settled into third on Manning'S mi sfortune and it became Larson, Burgett, Ea to n , Bu ffa loe a nd Warren H ickman (Ya m support) at th e half. Buffal oe crashed bu t sti ll managed to remount for a fou rt h behind Larson, Burgett and Eaton. Mota two ha d Manning leading Burgett , Larso n and T yler. Larson was first to go around Mann ing ; next was Bu rgett. Larson had a huge lea d on Bu rget t who had Manning hot o n his heels with T yler settling into fourt h and Buffaloe into fifth . Larson to o k the win fo r a I-I tall y. Burgett was runne r-u p with a 2-2. Results OPEN PRO: 1. Phil Larson (Hon); 2. Rick Burgett (Vam); 3 . Bob Buffaloe (Hon): 4. Scott Tyl er (Ma i): 5. Warren Hick man (Yaml. 250 PRO: 1. Rick Burgett (VarnI: 2. Gary Kuest (Vam); 3. Ron Sun (Hon); 4. Bob Buffaloe (Hon): 5. Phil Larson (Honl . . a five foo t trophv, Leading th e 50cc Junior class is six- year- o ld Chad Go uld (Ya m) . Gould and Bob McP herso n (Itj) have been ba ttling it out the last two races. Today's first mota started wi th Gould get ti n g th e holeshot. McPherso n was in second a nd br ea thing dow n h is neck. The gap bet ween the m na rrowed as the two came close to the check er ed fl a g. G ould took first, Mc Pherson second a n d another new comer, Ernie Moren o (Suz), took third. The second m o to began a little different, wit h Mc Pherson getting th e holesho t. Gould was in seco nd a nd Moren o in third. Soon after th e first turn , G o ul d took h is sta nd to pass McPherso n for the lead. G ould th en left McPherson and Mo reno to battle it o ut fo r seco nd. But o n th e last lap, . Goul d spun out in a turn and McPherso n and Mo reno flew by th e d isappointed ex-leader. McPherson took firs t a nd fir st overall, Moren o gelling seco n d for h is first troph y win. Wh a t h appen ed to Go uld? Well Dad tri ed, bu t couldn' t get his bike started. The n ext race was th e 80cc Inter med iates a nd 80cc J uniors. The first 80cc start was staggered, th e Inter mediate class starting out in fro nt of th e , Junior class. . When th e green flag dropped, Int ermediate point-lead er J ohn Garcia and T yrone Ea rl (bo th Ya m) were jammin ' do wn the straigh ta way . The ho lesho t was Garcia 's, Earl tight on his back tire. Ea rl sta yed close ' all mota , bu t Garcia di d n' t make an y mistak es. Garcia won, fo llo wed by Earl. H alfwa y through th e first la p , the g reen flag dropped for the Jun io rs. Ka w a s a k i moutn ed " R o o s te r " McCro ry holesh o t, T o ny Hardgrove (Ya m) and Ricky De La Pen a (kaw ) d ue ling for second. On the fir st la p , McCro ry was trying to ge t a little brea th ing space between h im a n d th e o th er riders when h e came bl asting over the do u ble jum ps a nd landed wro ng. H is leg s flew a bove h is head with his h ead touch ing the front fender; he didn't lose it. McCrory stunned , but still on the bike, fell back to fifth. H ardgrov e took o ver first place, De L a Pen a and Junior Earl Ri ch ardson (Yam) now in battle for seco nd. Richards on passed De La Pena in a tig h t turn, wh ile McCrory moved up to fo urt h place. McCrory nex t reel ed in De La Pena and Richardson , passing th em both without incident. McC rory next had to catch Hardgrove to regain his first place position and did so by the checkers , foll o wed by Hardgrove and Richardson. The Intermedi a te class second mota found Garcia win n in g firs t overall. Earl developed bike trouble and was unable to co m pete. The second mota for the J unior class was a fla wless race for McCrory, who almost caught up with the Intermediates. McCrory took first and first overall. Hardgrove was second and Richardson third. Results ' 50 PEE WEE THRU 8: 1. Bob McPherson (Itj); 2. Ernie Moreno (Suz); 3 . Chad Gould (Yam). 70 STK JR 9-11 : 1. Todd O'Rear (Yam): 2. Renee Valles (Yam); 3. John Culwell (Suz). 80 STK JR 9-11 :1 . Todd Pipes (Vam); 2. Tim Prichard (Hon); 3. Todd O'Rear (Yam). 80 STK INT 9 -11 : 1. Steven Hunter (Yam). 80 STK JR 12-16: 1. Rooster McCrory (Kaw): 2. Tony Hardgrove (Vam): 3. Junior Richardson (Vam). 80 STK INT 12-16: 1. John Garc ia (Vam); 2. Tyrone Earl (Yam). 80 MOD JR 12-16: 1. Rooster McCrory (Kaw). 125 JR DIV 1: 1. Wayne Schott (VarnI; 2. Aaron Pipes (Suz): 3. Mike Ewers (Suz). 125 JR DIV 2: 1. George Logan (Suz): 2. Phillip Northamer (Suz); 3. Derek Nott (Yam). 125 INT: 1. John Frampton; 2. Aurelio Siracusa (Suz); 3. Dan Hannah (Suz). 250 JR DIV 1: 1. Greg Weeks (Vam): 2. Brad Huffer (Suz); 3. Bob Barron (Suzl, 250 JR DIV 2: 1. Mark Townsley (Han): 2. David Dueser (Han); 3. Mark Meadows (Vam). 2501NT : 1. Glenn Drummond (Suz): 2. Pat Sparks (Suz): 3. Brad Bryan (Hon). OPEN JR: 1. Ern ie Reid (Vam): 2. Terry Deegan (Vaml: 3. Robert Horton (M ai). OPEN INT: 1. Gary W ilson (Honl . VET JR : 1. John Cook (M ail: 2. Mark Meadows (Vaml: 3. Gary Trower (Mai). OT: 1. Ken Beasley (Yam); 2. Gary Melvin (Han); 3. John Wasson (KTM). OPEN PRO: 1. Ti m Diaz (Han). 125 PRO: 1. Derik Sandr idge (Honl. 250 PRO: 1. Damon Webb (Vam). Keller/Pennington get third Ridge Runners marathon • win By Gerry Reagan WAT SONVILLE, CA, JULY 18 It takes a lot of preparation and luck to win a two-hour marathon, but mos tly it takes a -lo t of hard, co n sistent riding. Scott Kell er a nd Greg Pen n ington (H a n ) p u t it all togeth er today to win th eir third straig h t mara thon , rid ing in the 250cc 'class at th e R idge Runners ' Trackat the Sa n ta Cruz County Fa irgrou nds. It wasn 't a n eas y task, and this time a lot of hard riding and co nsistency rea lly pa id o ff. The two riders ba ttled co nt inously th ro ugh out the two hours with eventua l second place fin ishers Mike Brum it and Scott Fen dorf (H a n ) swap p in g th e lea d with them a few times bu t mostly following the h ard ridi n gBru rni t/Fendorf team. P it stops a n d rider cha nges are impor tant in a marathon , and the two teams seemed to have picked an eq u a l combina tio n , as th ey we re wi thin a few seconds of each oth er a ll th ro ug h th e event. Fendorf and Kell er took over the rid ing for the las t sectio n of th e ra ce, and the two were within seconds of each other with Fendorf holding th e lead . As mentioned earlier it sometimes takes a little hick to wi n a race, and it looks like luck was riding with Keller. With only four laps to go, Fendorf saw the white flag wh ich had been shown in error and o n the next lap, when he didn't see the ch eckered, he slowed down just a litt le to take a second' look. This ga ve Keller the edge he needed, and he slipped by Fendorf to take over the lead. Fendorf fought hard but wasn't able to overtake Keller on the next two laps and finished about three seconds behind him when the checkered flag did come out. A tough break for Fendorf, but h e'll never forget again that the race isn 't over until the checkered is flyin' . Four strokes have a reputation for being a lot slower than thehot twocycles, but Gary 'Murphy and Ron Powers showed the crowd that fourstrokes can be competitive. The team . rode a Kawasaki thumper in the 250cc class and gave the two leading teams a real run for their money. They led for quite a few laps during the early going and came up' with a fifth-place finish in the 31·blke class. .... 23

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