CMC-MX at Irwindale Raceway
CMC
at
Irwindale Raceway
Friday February 28, 1975
By: Buzz Baty
It looked as if Terry Clanton wasn't going to rule the 100 Junior class as he had, lo, these many past weeks. Jeff Maas, Suzuki mounted, after two rounds, was tied with Terry with points, each with a win and a second place finish. But coming into the final round, it was all Terry for yet another win in the 100 Junior class Division one. Talking to Terry after the races, I asked him when he was going to move up, he said "probably next week, my sponsor is putting together a super-fast 125 Honda for me." I certainly hope so, I believe the young man can move up rapidly through the ranks.
Bill Fancher's Honda, the screaming little XR-75 put together for him by MSC, didn't seem to have quite the horsepower that he had last week. Lance Moorewood seems to have found the missing horsepower for his Yamaha. Lance won motos one and three, but in the second round he suffered mechanical woes and had a DNF. Ricky Simmons put together finishes of second, first, and third to take first overall over the Mini Expert field, Fancher getting second. Morewood, after getting his Yamaha prepared, with his two wins took third overall.
One of the pleasant suprises of the night occured in 100 Junior division two. Mark Wiedeman for all of the 1974 season and the 1975 season up to tonight has been riding a crapped-out Hodaka, consistantly telling everyone who would listen that it wasn't his ability or desire that was holding him back, but a machine that wasn't making any horsepower. Well, tonight Mark was on a sano 100 Yamaha, and to say that Mark acquitted himself admirably would have to be an understatement. Mark was some ten yards from the win in round two when he fell. Round three and he was in a handlebar, peg rattling with the eventual winner, Dave Meloy, where Mark ended up second. Meloy had two firsts and a second for the first overall, while Jeff Berry got second and Dean Knapp third. Mark was fifth overall behind Mike Hantke. If they do a few more trick things to bring the stocker up to snuff, Mark Wiedeman just may surprise a number of folks.
The Mini Juniors were out in heavy force again, thirty-four of them split into two divisions. Geoff Brooks took first overall in division one, as the overall wins in each moto was won by a different rider. But it was Mike Palumbo taking second overall without a win. Two seconds and a third did the job for Mike. Last round winner, Mark Maxstadt took third overall. Shon Andersen put together two firsts, winning rounds second and third, but a very bad first round showing kept him from the overall victory. Johnny Duenas with a first round victory, backed up by a pair of seconds, took the overall with Robert Gray getting third behind Andersen.
Rex Staten, whether it be a night time ride or the longer Sunday events, is definitely the man to beat. Beating him was something that none of the 250 Pros nor 500 Pros could do tonight. Rex had four wins out of six motos, finishing third in the two motos that he didn't win. But the two wins in each class, 250 and 500, were both good for first overall. Jeff Vidic, getting an unbelievable hole shot in round one for the 250 Pros, stayed out in front the entire five laps, with Staten unable to get around Val Tamietti. In round two Vidic got another hole shot, but got passed by Staten in the last one-third of the last lap. Coming up to the last round, Vidic had three points, Staten four points, and Tamietti five. Off the line, and it was Vidic again jumping out in front with Tamietti second, and Staten third. But before the first lap was over, Vidic's transmission went south on him. Tamietti inherited the lead, Val then got all the pressure that Staten could put on him. Tamietti knew that if he could beat Staten to the flag, he'd get first overall. But Staten put such pressure on Val that coming over the Steve Hurd jump, Tamietti got so out of shape, that for one fleeting moment, he could read the brand of tire on his rear wheel. How he managed to save it is beyond me, but in doing so he wasn't set up to make the last turn and Staten just motored under him for the win. Finishing second overall to Staten was Tamietti with third going to Vidic. Virtually the same situation existed in the 500 class, except here Staten won the first two, while Messer and Rubly settled for seconds and thirds, except for the last round, where Messer got the win. Rubly was second and Staten third. The overall going to Staten, Messer second, and Rubly third. Watching Staten set up the rider in front of him is to watch a real Expert at work. He kinda hangs back, dives in as if he's going to go under the rider in front of him, backs off, feints to the outside, making the rider in front totally unsure as to what Rex will actually do, when the real pass occurs.
Taking the measure of the 500 Junior class tonight was Phil Serjeant and his best finish was a third, but only because the two fellows Steve Huth and David Throgmorton each had crashes resulting in eleventh place finishes. Huth won rounds two and three and Throgmorton won round one. But with a third and two fourths to go with it, it was Serjeant getting the first overall, Huth second and Throgmorton third. Tim Wyant, teammate or prodigy or just general friend of Staten, put together two firsts and a second to best the 250 Intermediates. Maybe I'm all wrong about him being close to Staten, but his riding style certainly reflects a close observation of Rex. Finishing second to Wyant was Tim Silva, third going to Kevin Rodgers.
The biggest field of the night was in the 250 Junior class and Roy Holsheimer, who was absent last week, put together a pair of firsts and a fourth to notch first overall. Second went to Floyd Haas with Dean Jocic getting third. Three divisions of 125 Juniors, again divided into seventeen riders per division, went through the evening without a sweep by anyone. It is ironic however, that all three overall winners, Jim Harris in division one, Jim Lowe in division two, and Mike Reina in division three, all earned their victories the exact same way. Each of them scored two wins and a third in notching the overall win. Second overall in division one went to Bill McFarland, while third went to Armand Escamillo. Second in division two went to Greg Rodriguez with third going to Ron Maas. In division three it was Kelly Carlisle in the runner-up spot, third going to Jeff Lammers.
Steve Cross, again bested the 125 Intermediate division one racers, Lance Bryson getting second, and Darrell Hutchins third. Vince Van Hook and Rick Fiore have really been battling each other for wins in the 125 Intermediate class. Tonight it was Fiore's turn besting Van Hook by one point after three rounds, finishing third to Van Hook with three thirds was Doug Anderson. Tim Lunde, riding the Zundapp engined, Penton-framed whatever you want to call it, finally got himself a win over the 125 Pro field after a lot of good rides that went for naught. But tonight was Lunde's night, and he did the job in two out of three motos, notching the overall victory ahead of David Taylor and first round winner, Don Bongiorno. The quite one does his thing without frills or fancy rigamarole when the race is over.
