not hit her and lost eight spots
but still took third overall.
Stu Peters and Kalvin Franks
walked the Carlsbad circuit
to figure out the track layout.
This was also the start of CMC
(California Motorsports Club) and
their races held at Carlsbad for
two Sundays a month. Grismer
said the ABC money is what
kept Carlsbad open for so many
years because just putting on
local races barely kept the facility
afloat.
Billy "Sugar Bear" Grossi was
on hand at the reunion for the
first time and had some great
stories about being on Team
Suzuki in 1975 and riding and
hanging out with DeCoster,
Gerrit Wolsink and his American
teammate Tony DiStefano. In
1976, Grossi said he really en-
joyed getting to know and hang-
ing out with Belgian 125cc World
Champion Gaston Rahier.
Billy Urban told everyone on
hand how he got a chance to
ride for motorcycle manufacturer
Puch with the help of Belgian
Harry Everts. Urban came into
the pits after winning a race and
Mr. Puch was trying to get his
attention because he didn't want
pictures taken of Urban, at least
not yet. Urban was not sure what
was going on until Mr. Puch
came over and put a Puch t-shirt
over the Maico jersey Urban had
on. The Puch factory bike was
amazing, but the production bike
was never as good, and he had
to wait for parts to show up from
Europe. Urban, also at Carlsbad,
said he would race three differ-
ent classes on three different
brands that shifted on different
sides of the motorcycle.
KTM's Sel Narayana was on
hand telling how he got involved
in motocross and working at
Maico with Adolph Weil and how
Gary Chaplin was the U.S. rider
for Maico.
The best story was having
"Radical" Ron Turner, the local
boy who did everything from
testing for the factory to racing
every race he could during the
week and weekends from CMC
to AMA National races. Turner
did it all. When he was a Suzuki
test rider, his job was to test
the Suzuki motocross bikes at
Carlsbad, and he would ride day
after day, 100 laps on each size
Suzuki, and then race Carlsbad
on the weekend for the 12 or
so laps and win more than not.
Turner probably has more laps
around Carlsbad than anyone.
Other riders on hand were
Donnie Hansen, Mike Tripes, Jim
Holley, Jim Beachamp, Grant
Langston and locals who raced
Carlsbad over the years.
The MC duties were handled
by Broc Glover and Matt Watson.
Todd Huffman and his crew
were on hand telling all about the
Carlsbad Monument Project and
how it is coming along. If you
are interested in donating, visit
https://www.facebook.com/
carlsbadracewaymonumentpro-
ject/.
Mitch Friedman
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 P33
Glover interviews reunion
attendee Donnie Hansen.
Billy Grossi attended
the Carlsbad Reunion
for the first time.
