CMC-MX at Irwindale Raceway
CMC
at
Irwindale Raceway
Friday January 17, 1975
By: Buzz Baty
If the first two weeks of Irwindale's 1975 season are to be the criteria for judging the full year, there's gonna be a hell of a lot of people visit Irwindale and some great, heavy racing. Tonight was another sellout, again with heavy emphasis in the Mini Junior divisions. Last week Mark Maxstadt, tiding with Jeff Jenning's old 76D number, managed to win his class, but tonight it was Jeff Dye's turn to take the first overall spot, winning two out of three from Mark. Mini Juniors division two, and it was Eddie Glover with a pair of firsts, taking the measure of Bob Ott and Dean Hoag. The Mini Experts and it was all Doug Nicol, three firsts, nobody ever really getting close to him.
The 125 Pros have been unbelievable in the ferocity of competition. Tonight's twenty-man field was missing but a couple of names that I can think of who are considered top 125 racers. Those that were present included the Lunde brothers, Mark Tyer, Ray Lopez, Warren Reid, and the number 1,2,3, and 4 men in the CMC last year, Mike Bell, Dave Eropkin, Don Bongiorno, Jeff Wecker. Also on hand was David Taylor, last week's winner. It was this Mike Bell, Don Bongiorno, David Taylor, Ray Lopez quartet that made the 125 Pro class total suspense right up to the very end. Mike Bell, CMC No. 1, won the first moto with CMC No. 3 Bongiorno second, while David Taylor was third. Round two, David Taylor gets the win, with Bell second, Bongiorno third. A little note, Dave Eropkin, carrying CMC No. 2 plate, should know better than anyone else, the rules and how they work. But Dave was disqualified in moto number one for backing off the starting gate. Setting up for the third and final round for the 125 Pros, Mike Bell has got three points, David Taylor's got four points, Bongiorno's got five and Lopez has eight Breaking off the starting gate, going to the front is Bongiorno, followed by Bell, Taylor, and Lopez. All taylor has to do is get past Bell, finish second behind Bongiorno, keep Bell in third, and he'll come out first overall. Taylor tried on the third lap, as they went over the back chute jump, but what he ended up doing was passing Mike Bell in mid-air, getting out of shape when he hit the ground, running into Bongiorno, both of them going down, with Mike Bell going into the lead and the overall victory. Ray Lopez was second overall, with Bongiorno getting back up to finish tenth overall in the final moto, making him good for third overall in the final standings, while Taylor was fourth.
Jeff Maas, running a little Suzuki in 100 Junior division two, put together two wins in the first two motos, but then dropped to tenth, and the overall victory went to Yamaha mounted Dave Meloy. 100 Junior division one had no such action, as Terry Clanton blitzed the troops with his squeezed down Honda taking three firsts for the overall victory.
Jim Lowe had complete mastery over 125 Junior division three, sweeping the class aboard his Honda. The extent of his sweep can be seen, in that although he won each and every moto ending up with three points, the number two man overall got there with ten points. Second overall going to John Whitesel. Division two again wenl to Rick Flore, last week's winner. Division one went to Bill McFarland, riding consistently with two seconds and a first for the overall victory.
Once again the quantity of Intermediates in the 125 category necessitated two divisions. Division one and Eddie Clark got into trouble early, finished thirteen in the first moto, but then came back to win motos two and three, but that was only good for third overall, as the victory went to John MacGregor. Steve Shilling got first overall in division two, while Jeff Wiedemann on the only Kawasaki got fourth overall.
The 250 Pro class was really unbelievable. You had to see it to believe it. First of all, Jeff Vidic has given up trying to do anything with his Montesa and is back on the 250 Maico. After a month or so on the Montesa, Vidic could do no better than third in round one behind CZ mounted, Will Harper and last week's winner, also Maico mounted, Val Tamietti. Round one then ends up Tamietti, Harper, Vidic. Round two, Jeff Vidic gets one of his patented hole-shots and in trying to catch him, Tamietti goes flying end over end at the end of the back straightaway. Results of the second moto, Vidic first, Harper second, and Saunders third. This sets up a confrontation with Vidic and Harper tied on points, Tamietti un-injured in his endo getting seventh in round two, wanting to come back in the final go. Of course, Vidic, having been out of the winner's circle for quite some time, wanting to do it all. On lap one of the final moto, it looked as if Vidic just might do it, as he nailed the entire field off the starting gate to take the lead. But he was quickly caught up by Tamietti and Harper, both pressuring Jeff without let-up for three laps. Then on the fourth lap, in trying to use the far east end sweeping turn that has the big berm, Vidic fell off the course, Tamietti came through to take the win, but overall went to CZ mounted Revell's Two-Stroke sponsored, Will Harper with three deuces. Tamietti got second, and Sanders got in for third.
Another sell-out, necessitated closing prior to the six-thirty close-up time for sign-up, produced two division of 250 Juniors. Last week's winner, Roy Holsheimer looked like he was gonna do it again in division two, winning the first two rounds, but then falling to ninth in round three, as Richard Anderson, finishing second twice and third once, aboard his Ossa took the overall victory, while second went to Husky mounted Frank Serjeant and Holsheimer getting third. Division one went to the Honda of Gary Bartlett with a pair of wins and a third. With three deuces adding up to second overall Don Pen's Honda took second overall, with third going to Maico mounted, Floyd Haas.
The 500 Intermedia js and Juniors were again run combined and in the Intermediate class, it was CZ mounted Trent McGee sweeping for the win ahead of Mark Kiefer on his Maico and Suzuki mounted Cliff Hicks for third. Husky mounted Ed Miller took the win in the Junior class over the Maico of Jay Lindsley and the Honda of Phil Serjeant. The 250 Intermediates are beginning to have as large a class as the 125's. Eighteen strong, it was Calvin Uyeda coming out on top, with a pair of wins and a third place finish on his Honda to best the CZ of Jerry Lowell, and the Honda of Tim Silva.
Now the 500 Pros wasn't a big class, only ten riders, but the names were there, Jumpin' Joe Johnston, Mike Yorba, Jim West, Rex Staten, back on a Maico, Jeff Jennings on the CZ, and a name that brought terror to the 125 class for a long time when he was known as Mr. Ascot, CZ mounted 9D, Jeff Wright. Round one, and Jim West pulled a hole-shot, with Rex Staten and Jeff Jennings catching up to and pressuring West all the way to the wire. It was West, Staten, and Jennings, fourth went to Joe Johnston, and for his first time ever at Irwindale, Jeff Wright was fifth. Round two, it was Jim West with another hole-shot, Staten right on his tail, Jennings breathing up Staten's tail pipe and Jeff Wright, making it a four-way go for first place. Right in the middle of the race at the far east end sweeper, Staten his master link. Taking over second was Jennings with Wright moving into third. Round three, Staten had his chain fixed, but it was Jim West going to the front again. Then, the front wheel of West's Maico, slowly but surely, could be observed beginning to collapse. West was passed by Staten, Rex getting the win as Jim West, collapsed wheel and all, held off Joe Johnston, and Jeff Wright. The final order of finish, and the overall victory went to Jim West, second went to Jeff Jennings, while third, his first time ever at Irwindale, went to Jeff Wright. Staten got fourth with the last moto victory, fifth going to Joe Johnston-What a show!