AMC-MX at O.C.I.R. Raceway
AMC
at
Orange County International Raceway
Friday May 24, 1974
By: The Wasp
Tonight at AMC's weekly night motocross races here at OCIR a young 125 Intermediate by the name of Scott Clifton (Hon) did something that I have found to be quite unique be it with what ever club that you happen to race with. Clifton just turned Intermediate tonight and with that in mind, I have found that when most racers get moved up to the next higher division in their class all thoughts of winning for the next couple weeks completely vanishes from their minds and is replaced with the one basic plan of trying to somehow keep up with the other guys. To even beat one guy out of the group would be somewhat of a victory to most. As for Clifton though, this was not the case. He decided to get right down to the nitty-gritty of the matter and proceeded to blow off his new bunch of competitors just to prove to them that being a newcomer to a certain class of racers does not necessarily mean that you're going to be left eating the dust from the rest of the pack. Clifton breezed through each one of the three motos taking an unchallenged first place each time. Chuck Brown (J&B) took a fairly easy second place for his evening of racing as Norman Gomez (Hon) hung in there for the third.
At least, in the 250 Junior class, it looked as if it were going to be a replay from the week previous as in the first moto it was Greg Glitters (Kaw) taking the checkered flag. What Greg did not reckon with, though, was that Tom Cross, an ex-Suzuki freak, had recently purchased a new YZ. Tom decided to see if his new bike was really worth the bread that he shelled out for it, and it turned out to be very much worth it as he took the first for the next two following motos. This is not to mention the first overall for the evening too. I guess Glitters got a little "psyched out" because of this change in events because he didn't grab second either. Ex-CZ freak Jim Nasser had gotten his hands on one of the new KTM's and found it to be just the thing to race with by taking a nice steady second for his troubles, if you can call that troubles. Glitters, in the meantime ended up in third which I guess is sort of a come down from usual first places that he has been recently obtaining out here.In a short summery of the Expert class, in the 125 group it was Mission Honda's Dave Carlson (Hon) who swept the class for a landslide of a victory with a second going to his teammate Brad Dutoit who was mounted on the same. Third was awarded to the only YZ that was out in the field, not to mention being the first place winner from last week, Ron Turner. The 250 class saw Bryan Breker (KTM) do it to his group in the first moto, but that was soon to be a forgotten thing from the past cause in the following two motos, it was Wheelsmith Engineering's Morris ("it's din-din- time") Malone (Mai) cruising around the track for the first overall for tonight. Breker did manage to pull off a second overall though. Third was taken by a lad who just turned Expert tonight by the name of Ollie Senechal (Kaw). That's not bad Ollie for your first time in this group of "heavys", keep up the good work.
In the Open class it looked as if Malone's teammate, Mike Yorba, also on a Maico, was going to have easy pickins', when he swept his class clean in the first moto. This was not to be though, cause it seems that Yorba's bike transmission blew out on him which quickly ended his night of mx'in. In stead it was David Boydstun (Bul) who took over the controls and from there on it was smooth sailing all the way. Yorba still managed a second because of his high scoring in the first moto and was content to just motor around the track in the third. Speaking of third, Randy Elevens (Suz) had his siege of bad luck too, as he DNF'ed the first moto and ended up with a third for tonight. Oh well, better luck next time Randy. Later.
