Howerton and Hart Haul In the Hail at Hangtown - Part 2 - Mud Slows Many In Northern California
Dirt Diggers
at
Hangtown
Sunday April 6, 1975
By: Scott Heidbrink
The 250 Expert class was almost completely made up of riders from the northern areas. But the sore thumb in the bunch was Dave Haugh. This is one of Al Baker's latest riders and he is mounted on a new Honda 250. It is the production model that will be on the dealer's floors soon. Dave was looking good until the bike sucked some water into the ignition, then it went belly up and Dave had a nice walk to the pits in the mud.
In the meantime, the class was won by Dan Brown from Puyallup, Washington. He brought his Bultaco down to show the locals just now it's done in Washington. Second place was Charles Halcomb from Santa Cruz. He was riding a very fast Husky. Third was Rick Beneck, from Tacoma, Washington. This was the out-of-stater's race, or so it looks. The 500 Novice division was topped by Bob Salvatore from Sequel. Salvatore was riding a swift Husky as he grabbed the big brass for the day. Second and third went to Peter Lewis and Dan Sullivan. Don Wilson topped Division two of this class followed by Van Lawrence and Guy Ben, who came all the way from Reno, Nevada.
The 500 Expert class was another one with loads of talent, with riders like Chuck Lanzarone and Dan Barnes from the So Cal area. But they couldn't dent the locals edge on this track as neither ended in the top three. The big winner was Danny Leet, from San Rafael. This racer was also riding a Bultaco, like many of the other winners today. Second went to Delino Becker, from Oroville. Becker was riding the perfect mud machine, a CZ. Third went to Chris Williams, on a Maico. The Sportsmen had a trophy presentation while the sun was starting to set and then the hail started in. It looked like snow and in many places it was snow. But now it was looking bleak for tomorrow's Pro racing.
PROFESSIONAL The morning started like any other this past three days, WET! Many of the Pros didn't like this too much either. One problem was getting the team vans in the pits. This idea was abandoned quickly when the pits had filled up and half the teams were still left outside. Out side the official pit area was Team Husky, Team Yamaha, Team Kawasaki, and many others, like Steve Stackable. There was loads of action in the pits as everybody readied their machinery. The first races of the day were the qualifiers. They went quickly, since they were only three laps long, then the consolation races were held. Two riders that got bumped were Ray Lopez and Russ Darnell. Ray and Russ both got stuck in the pits. Ray had bike troubles in his qualifier and had to try to make quick repairs. But he and Cliff Hughs couldn't get their machine together in time so Ray got bumped. Darnell had his troubles as he took too long to get up to the line. When he finally arrived, the rest of the pack was 100 yards ahead. Russ tried his best and Worked all the way up to fourth, but only three made the transfer. So he loaded up his bikes and watched the rest of the day.
125 PROS The 125's pulled up to the line, and it was anybody's guess who would come out ahead at the end of the first 40 minute moto. Away from the gate and around the track they rushed. Tim Lunde had the early lead on his D-G Honda, with Tommy Croft in close pursuit. The Team Honda rider made short work of Lunde in about '2 lap. Behind these two was wild riding Marty Moates. Moates was really going WFO to stay right up there. He was smoking. Smith got a bad start and was back in the pack. Weaving their way up to the top was the Yamaha team of McDougal and Hart, with Timmy pulling away.
Right up in the front runners was a very unfamiliar name, Doug Raines. Nobody seemed to know just who he was, but a quick check of the program found that he is from Belfair, Washington. The battles were raging as Croft had the lead and was trying to make the best of it. Tim Hart had pulled up and was trying to make a move to get into the lead. Finally, Hart just gassed in on by and took over the lead.
From here on it looked like Tim was going to run away and hide, lie hau lead. Then the attrition rate started claiming riders. Tim Lunde dropped out after throwing a chain more times than he can remember, Tommy Croft slowed with the same problem. Eddie Cole was out with a broken throttle. In the front runners were Hart and Raines, Marty Smith had finally started making his way up to the top, but he was still back a few places. Warren Reid was also making time on his Honda. This young rider really looked fast as he was running about fourth.
The racer that the crowd was for was Danny Turner, riding a Bultaco. He came from nowhere and all of sudden was right up in second place. He had passed everybody and was now drawing a bead on Hart. Then trouble hit Tim as he lost a chain and dropped back. This was all Turner needed as he took over the lead and the crowd went wild. They were making so much noise, it was amazing. Turner smoked in for the first moto win followed by Raines, then Hart, who only lost the two places by his bum chain. Fourth went to Reid, who is being coached by Paulette Napoleone. Smith was able to take fifth in this moto, even though he looked the fastest out there. Mark Tyer took sixth. McDougal was running right up in the top three for the entire moto until he had chain troubles. He was in second when he lost it for the first time. That dropped him back, then he lost it three more times before this moto was over.
For the second moto everybody was on the line except for Turner, who had bike problems as he crossed the line finishing the first moto. Danny's crew worked quick trying to finish the job, but they left a rag where it didn't belong and that took more time trying to straighten everything out. He started late and dropped out early, much to the crowd's dismay. On the other hand, Hart again got into the lead early and started to make time. He was on the move as he pulled away from everybody, he was so smooth. This time Hart was ready and nobody was going to top him. His chain was on for good and it wasn't going to move. And that's exactly what happened. He went wire-to-wire in the lead. But this time Smith had a good start and was right up there. He didn't have half the troubles as the first moto. Right on his tail was Eddie Cole. Eddie DNF'ed the first moto but he had things together and he showed why he is considered such a hot 125 rider. He smoked! He was making his Bultaco do things that nobody could believe. Cole came from out of the clear blue sky and into third place. Again, this moto was another race looked more like an enduro. So man riders were dropping out. Lunde went right from the start. McDougal was up in the top standings when he lost his chain three times, the last time it came off for good, as it broke. It is a shame, since Bruce would have been in second or third overall had he finished. When the checkered came out, Hart was still in the lead, passing everybody on the two mile track except Smith and Cole. Speaking of which, Smith took second and Cole third. Back in fourth was Doug Raines. Overall, Hart had the points to win it with a 3-1 finish. Doug Raines must have been a very happy man since he grabbed second overall with his 2-4 beating Marty Smith, who ended up third. Fourth went to Warren Reid, who could only make it into eighth in the second moto. Fred Joehnck took fifth riding his Sambo's sponsored Honda. He was looking good out there on this machine as he took a 9-7 for the day. An impressive rider was Charlie lott, a new rider for Can-Am. This 19-year-old racer looked very impressive as he worked from the back of the pack up to seventh in the first moto, then had troubles in the second. But watch for this guy, he looks quick. His style is just like teammate Jimmy Ellis, and he is about as fast. This was his first Pro race.