CMC-MX at Indian Dunes
CMC
at
Indian Dunes
Sunday February 23, 1975
By: Chris Hatounian
"I'll take two orders of hot cakes, a couple of fried eggs and some Sambo's special super sticky syrup." "Okay sir, will that be all?" "Yea, that ought to do it." "Okay, that comes to Sambo's special price of a dollar-eighty". "Oh, just put it on my motocross racer's tab." "Your what!" "My racer tab. You know me don't ya? My name is Jack Keese and I race a Bultaco for the Sambo's Restaurant Association." "Hey Joe, know a guy who calls himself Jack Keese and races a Bultosta-do in a game called motocross 'racin?" "Never heard of him". "Okay Jack, pay the tab or go hungry." "But I tell you, I am sponsored by you guys and I'm supposed to get free meals." "Sorry Jack, no deal." "But but but but but............
Jack Keese sure is sponsored by Sambo's and must have had five orders of everything as he never ran out of energy today, beating the like's of Jeff Vidic (Mai) for the overall 250 Pro win. Both Vidic and Keese had a moto win to their name but Keese kept a higher finish in his other moto. Vidic suffered from a gear box that wouldn't cooperate throughout the day of two-twenty minute motos as Keese suffered from a first moto spill that had him working the rest of the moto for second in the end.
Much to Vidic's dismay, Keese took the overall win by his second moto finish while the Wheelsmith Maico pilot, Vidic, was held in third for most of the moto by YZ rider, Tom Burgess, who took third for the day.
If you were to try and decide who would win the 500 Pro class today before it got underway, you would have to write a different name every five minutes. What I mean is that every five minutes of the two-twenty minute motos, someone else would emerge the leader and look sure to dominate for the rest of the moto, only to have something go wrong.
Among the unlucky chaps with their five minutes of glory were Joe Johnstoru Mai i who suffered from a rare case of blackouts, Luke Messer (Mai) spilled in both moto's, Bill Rubly (Mai) who rode the first round minus his brakes and Russ Darnell who competed on an Ossa 250 against Open machines to top it off.
They jumped of f the line in the first moto with Johnston emerging the leader in the turn. Joe was followed by Darnell, Messer, Dan Barnes, (CZ) Jeff Jennings (CZ) and Rubly. Then the things started to happen. Johnston, fresh from a concusive fall at Irwindale, blacked out while going over a jump. Whew! Joe did the big number and stayed out of most of the first moto, after that. That gave Darnell the lead with Messer close and ready for a pass with Jennings and Rubly close by battling. Messer finally did get by for the moto win. Darnell held on to second as Jennings held off a brakeless Rubly for third.
The second moto proved the most interesting for everyone except Rubly. The Wheelsmith Maico pilot ran away with the whole show from start to finish. Wire-to-wire. Johnston had a second going for him with Messer a close third with Jennings close in fourth. Then Johnston suffered a heavy head again and let Messer and Jennings by for second. Luke passed by the rest of the pack back up to third before the flag.
Overall, Messer won it with a first and a third with Rubly taking second with a first and a fourth with Jennings in third with a 3-3 score. Luke Messer probably wanted the overall for a present as today was his birthday. Happy birthday, Luke. For the second week in a row and in a very long time, Kolbe Honda mounted Jim Hale put on a strong 125 Pro charge that got him first, today against some CMC hot shoes.
Hale has been out of it for a while and came back into racing with a new bike and throttle hand. Jim, being relatively smooth like he used to be, started poorly in both moto's but put on a hard and early charge that got him the leads fast and easy. Honda-mounted David Taylor, a CMC regular, did better at sky shots off the jumps than he did in his moto placings as the Pasadena Honda star had his share of crashes. Tag Turner rode secure and , slighty easy for second overall. Honda-mounted Gary Huber followed and challenged to third place overall cash for the day.
