VRA at Valley Cycle Park
VRA
at
Valley Cycle Park
Sunday February 2, 1975
By: Richard Perkins
Berkeley 400 Maico, Oswell 250 CZ, and Root 125 Bultaco, took the Expert gold at the Valley hills. The weather was cold but the racing was hot, as the Open Experts went off the line, Randy Berkeley on a 400 Maico, grabbed the lead, as Chuck Lanzarone also on a Maico was pushing him hard, followed closely by Jeff Wright on his big CZ, Berkeley was smooth and fast and moved out, Wright got by Lanzarone, and set sail after Berkeley but there was no catching him so the moto ended after thrity minutes with Berkeley first, Wright second, and Lanzarone taking third.
In the second moto there were a few rain drops, as Wright grabbed the lead, but as he hit the slippery left turn that was wet, he slid past and up the side of the hill and lost a spot to Berkeley, both riders were going good, as Wright tried to move up on Berkeley, until the hand grips on Wright's bike came loose and he had to ease off. Berkeley went on to win the moto and top money. Lanzarone moved up to second and took second in class. Wright had to settle for third.The 250 Expert go was a good dice between Tracy Oswell on a Mid-Valley Ossa, Todd got the hole shot and was really sliding the Ossa through the turns with Oswell right on his rear tire, this lasted until Todd got a rear flat tire, and Oswell went on to take the moto. Buddy Romand took second on a Maico. Todd got the tire fixed and got a fourth, Todd again got the hole shot and held it the entire moto to take first which gave him a second for the day. Oswell was taking it easy and finished second on the slippery track, but took first for the class, third went to Rick Diedrich on a Bultaco.
The 125 Expert class was a battle between Jim Tassano on a Honda who won the first moto and Joe Root on a Bultaco who finish close behind, but Root came out for the second moto and grabbed the lead and never let up, and went on to take the checkered flag first which gave him the overall win. Tassano was second arid had to settle for second money, Glenn Ewing got third on a Honda.
There were a big group of 125 Novices, Steve Lodge came out fast and picked up two firsts right off the bat, and looked like he was king of the hill, Ron Corwin took two seconds, but on the last moto Bill Throckmorton really got going, and won the moto, and again Corwin got a second which earned him first overall. Lodge got a fourth in the last moto and got a second overall. Our spoiler Throckmorton moved himself up to third spot with that last moto win, all were on Hondas.
The 250 Novices had twenty one riders ready to go plus a hand full of Old Timers, it was still clear weather in the first moto as Ron Hornapay on a CZ charged off and left the pack to win the moto, with Jere Mason taking second on a Maico. A light rain started at the same time the second moto went off, but it was still not too slippery and again Hornapay won it, with Mason second.
The third and last moto was a real battle, by now the groove was slippery and you could get the best traction on the outside berms and anything could happen and did, at the start the pack charged up the hill and into the left drop off, but as couple of guys slid out and other riders had to go up the side of the wall to miss them. Mason got the lead after a good dice with Homapay, and that is the way they finished Mason first which earned him a second overall and Hornapay got second in the last moto and took the top spot for the day. Tony Mason took a third in the last moto and a third in class. Chuck Rubin got the fourth place gold. Dick Wright on new Ossa had three firsts in the Old Timers class to claim the trophy, those old guys have more fun then a barrel of monkeys.
There were a wild bunch of 500 Novices, but Jose Fierro kept his big Penton under control taking a first, second and first and claimed the top spot, Jerry Nielsen picked up second with two fourths and a third, Jim Tyler went good in the two first moto's, with a second and first, to tie for first place, but blew it in the slippery last moto and had to settle for third.
Joey Bertschi won the 100 class on his Suzuki, and Jeff Atkinson looked real good taking the mini class with three firsts. Dennis Montgomery took the Open Amateur class, and Richard Bland took the 250 Amateur class. It was another good day of racing at the Valley Cycle Park, the short rain added a little spice to the racing and didn't bother anyone, except the camera man.