SAM
at
Corona Raceway
Friday May 24, 1974
By: Tom Blattler
High School Motocross returned to Corona Raceway for the second in a series of school motocrosses in the months of May and June. The first school motocross came about on April 26th, as North High in Riverside came from behind to capture the overall title over Ramona and Arlington High School.
North, being the winning school on April 26th, was then asked to return on May 24th to challenge four different schools in Riverside County. However, North would have to compete without one of the heroes of the first motocross, Kevin Callaway. Callaway led his team to the win riding a Yamaha YZ in the 250cc and Open classes. Kevin is in Mexico for the month of May on an exhibition. Along with North, the other schools competing were Corona, Norco, Rubidoux, and Notre Dame with 100 riders representing the five high schools.Corona was without some of it's top riders, such as, Jim Wright and Brian Tolson, both excellent TT riders, and the other teams were a littie fearful that the Corona Raceway course might suit both Wright and Tolson too well. Wright, however, was competing at Ascot Park with the professional half-mile riders, and Tolson was to go to the Colorado River for the Memorial Day weekend. Rudiboux High was represented by one of the top young motocross riders in Southern California in the person of Dave Williams. Williams was competing in the 125cc Super class and the Open division, as Dave rode a Penton in the 125's and a CZ in the Open class.
In the opening motos, Rubidoux took a surprising lead over North and Corona with Tom Baltazar winning the first 100 Beginner moto with another Rubidoux rider, Larry Soria, taking second. Yamaha-mounted Alan Thompson (Rub) captured the 100 Junior moto over Norco's Jim Walthall (Kaw). Then came the 125cc Super with some of the top riders in Riverside County competing, such as: Williams, Jim Cupp, Eddie Boyd, and Ruben Durazo. Cupp took the lead in the first moto over Boyd and Williams, and the North rider took his Honda Elsinore to a commanding margin. Williams then began to charge when he stalled his Penton in the north turn, and dropped back to about ninth.
From that point, Williams put on one of the finest riding exhibition seen at Corona Raceway this season, as he passed six bikes on one lap to finish third behind Cupp and Boyd. In the final two motos of the 125cc Supers, it was no contest with Williams just blowing the rest of the field in the weeds. Taking second overall was Cupp with a first, third, and fourth place finishes, and Rubidoux Ruben Durazo was third.
After the first two rounds of motos were complete, Rubidoux held a large margin over North and Corona. Rubidoux had 29 points to North's 13 and Corona's eight.
In the 250cc Supers, Cupp rode his Honda to the win in the opening race over Kelly Callaway (North) and Maico-mounted Dick Miller (Corona). Miller then came back in the second moto to take the victory over Corona's Shawn Huffman (CZ) and North's Eddie Boyd (Hon). In the final moto in the 250cc Supers, the pressure was really on North if they were to try and catch Rubidoux for the school honors. It was Callaway who did the deed on the rest of the field and got the win for North with Corona's Huffman finishing in the second position. The overall class honors went to Callaway aboard his Yamaha YZ followed by Miller and Huffman, both from Corona. Going into the final race of the night, the Open division, North had taken over the lead from Rubidoux by a score of 36 points to 34.
The final race saw Williams give the Rubidoux fans a thrill, as he grabbed the lead and ran away from the North boys. But North knew what they had to do, and they came through for their high school with Kelly Callaway taking second and Paul Williams third. Rubidoux Alan Thompson took fifth to collect one point along with Williams five points gave Rubidoux a total of six markers in the final race. But North scored seven points with Callaway and P. Williams, and North High School captured their second consecutive overall victory at Corona Raceway.
Looking over the final point totals, North finished with 43 followed by Rubidoux with 40, Corona with 14, Norco 5 and Notre Dame 4. High School motocross returns to Corona Raceway next Friday night, May 31st, with Palm Springs, Colton, Bloomington, Ramona, and Arlington Competing.
