Everybody Shows for CMC Bucks Race
CMC
at
Saddleback Park
Sunday February 2, 1975
By: Mike Molletta
CMC has got to have the best racing around. A super-prepared track, extra large Grade A turnout of riders, and a $1,500 purse helped keep things that way. With such a large purse there was an ample turnout of Experts. It looked like the Who's Who of Southern California racing. Jim Weinert, Jim West, Rex Staten, Gary Semics, Tommy Croft, Gary Jones, and Gaylon Mosier-just to name a few. The 250 class had to run qualifiers due to an unexpected 48 rider turnout.
The Mini's and 100's were the first to race on the built up track today with most of the action taking place between Corki Moore, Mike Musson, and Dan Dilkey in the first moto. All three were Suzuki mounted and within a few feet of each other most of the way. In the second moto Tony Gomez brought his Yamaha out in front and was never headed-he was followed by Moore and Musson with Mike edging Corki out at the checkered. Corki took the overall with a first and third followed by Mike Musson and then Tony Gomez. First Mini was Ron Utaski as he swept both Mini Experts moto's over Lance Sloan and Mark Richardson. John Duenas won the Junior class without a moto win. A second and fourth was good enough to do the trick because the moto winners weren't consistent in both races. He was followed by Gary Tomlin and Willie Zamzai, all on XR's.
The Pros's were running Tower and Banzai hills today with the 125's being the first ones to try them out. Tim Lunde, Tommy Croft, and Dave Miller were among the first down Banzai at the start with more than 25 riders hot on their heels. Danny La Porte, Ray Lopez, and Gary Jones were moving up at a steady rate along with Warren Reid, Dave Eropkin, and Tag Turner. Tim Lunde, whose FMF-tuned Honda looked to have the most horsepower of all the 125's, soon retired with a flat tire. Fellow FMF'er, Dave Miller, lost a rear brake, worked up, and then stuck an engine. This left La Porte, on Kelvin Franks' bike, chasing Tommy Croft, who used to ride it before going to the Honda factory.
Ray Lopez and Gary Jones began a terrific duel for third when La Porte threw a chain making the battle for second. Jones also succumbed to mechanicals putting him down in the pack. Somewhere in all this fighting Warren Reid brought his Honda into third with the finest piece of riding I've seen him put in to date. When Mr. Croft gave the checkered, it was Tommy way out in front followed by Lopez, Reid, Ron Turner, Tag Turner, and Dave Eropkin rounding out the top six.
In the second moto it was once again Croft, Lunde, and Miller up in front followed by La Porte, Lopez, Reid, and the pack. Lunde showed part two of "The Flat" while Miller, who was flying down Banzai like no one else, had gear box problems. Danny La Porte also suffered gear box gremlins ending his chance for the day. Meanwhile Tommy stretched out his lead over Lopez and Reid while Dave Eropkin and David Williams raced for fourth. Once again it was Croft ahead of Lopez and Reid. David Williams came in ahead of Eropkin for fourth and Terry Turner (that's the third Turner in the 125 Pro class today) took sixth. Overall it was Tommy Croft, like last week, sweeping both moto's for the win. Ray Lopez and Warren Reid both turned in good rides for second and third. Dave Eropkin, looking back in style, took fourth with a consistent 6-5 tally over Terry Turner's fifth placing 8-6 score.
Alan Smith took the Intermediate first division win by sweeping both moto's as usual. Tome Settle was second and Dave Burgess third. In the second division Dave Maas combined a not-so-hot fifth with a first for the win over Steve Hartley and Rob Zamore. All were Honda mounted as were all the 125 Pro's and Juniors. The 250 Pro qualif iers were expected to be hot racing and no one was let down. Tommy Croft won the first division with a win plus a second. Rich Graf ton won the second race of qualifier one to counteract his poor first race placing and put him in the main. Bob Hannah, Jim Weinert, and Danny McKee rounded out the top five in qualifier one. Rex Staten took both moto's of qualifier two while Gary Jones and Morris Malone traded second's and fourth's to take second and third. Dave Carlson and Bob Stem made up the top five in qualifier two. The top 14 riders from both qualifiers were eligible to race in the main which counted for the bucks.
The main was the last race of the day and in the last hour of light Tommy Croft blasted to the lead with Rex Staten and Gaylon Mosier in closest pursuit. As the moto wore on Rex made repeated tries for the win but just couldn't get past Croft who was really flying. The whole crowd was lining the fence. It was Croft vs. Staten, Honda vs. Maico. About half way through, Rex didn't come around in second. He had lost some places and was now frantically working back up through the pack. This left Gaylon the job of catching Croft but he started too late, loosing by about a bike length at the finish. Rex had worked his way up to third at the end of the race followed by Kenny Zahrt on his Bui, Rich Graf ton on his old YZ, and Dave Carlson on yet another Maico. Bob Hannah put in a good ride coming from a mediocre start to top Gary Jones on the Can-Am for seventh and Bob Stem B.S.ed his way to ninth (that's Bike Shopped, as in George and Gary).
Richard Anderson won both the 250 Junior one moto's aboard a swift Ossa leaving Mike Harms and Bob Winters in second and third. Luc DeLey and his CZ won the four foot trophy in the second division of 250 Juniors. Dennis Brown and Jerry Wolfinbarger completed the top three placings. In the Intermediate one class Mike McClung took first with two consistent seconds while Dana Slater was second with a seventh and a first. Joe Bonnello put in a 3-5 tally for third. Division two was won by Mike Ward with a fourth and third. The moto winners Aaron Bassett and Rich Asch finished second and third with 1-6 and 8-1 tallies. Smallest Pro class of the day, the 500's, didn't lack excitement. Right from the start of the first moto it was a Rex Staten-Jim Weinert battle. Jim West, BUI Rubly, and Doug Sherman were next in line. On the last lap it was Staten and Weinert about two bike-lengths apart and Rex held it for the win. Weinert was second, West was third. In the second moto it was West, Staten, and Weinert at the start. Rex soon passed West and so did Weinert and the race was on. Gary Semics and Jim Snow were moving up while Doug Sherman had gearbox trouble. Rex and Jimmy were keeping a fast pace when Rex failed to pass the score tower due to a fall. This gave Weinert the needed chance for the win ahead of West, Semics on his Kawasaki ride, and Jim Snow. Jim had the overall which coupled with his second last week let him get in on the $100 bonus put up by CMC for the overall winner of the two events for each Pro race. Jim West on a Maico followed in second spot ahead of Gary Semics and Bill Rubly riding for Wheelsmith. Jim Snow was fifth.
One last note before we close. When you have 403 riders turning out like today with 108 Pros on the roster there are bound to be a lot of spectators. And it seems that with every increase of spectators comes the increase in people getting hit by riders. Today Wayne Boyer was denied his chance of competing in the Open Pro class when he hit a spectator on the track. This was an unfortunate thing to happen since Wayne, whose bike was wrecked along with his chances for a win or a placing. I have seen many cases of people running in front of bikes with near misses happening and this is just plain stupid. It would be far better and safer to use common sense and to cross only where there is more than enough visibility and when there is no chance of interfering with a rider's progress, such as between races, instead of during them. Everyone concerned, please relay this message to any spectators you know as they often don't think of it. We want to tell Mike Bell to hurry and get well so he can compete again soon. He has pneumonia and didn’t get to race for the big money.