AME MX at Indian Dunes Park
AME
at
Indian Dunes
Friday April 11, 1975
By: Chris Hatounian
Hal Strauss, mounted on a rocket ship Cole Brothers Maico. came out to AME night races with an idea of beating the Revell Raiders and he ended up doing just that. Willy Harper was absent from the competition, leaving Don Hansen and Frank Giardina, of Revell's, to handle the fast Maico pilot. Also mixed into the 250 Pro class for the night was "Bullet" Joe Root, on a fast Ossa Phantom for Dirt Bike West and Analube oils.
The gate dropped for the first moto and Hansen had the lead with Strauss in hot pursuit. Followed by these two were Mike Sixberry (Bul), Root and Steve Rawson (Bul). Strauss and Hansen then started to take off from the rest of the pack to put on their own little race. Things were getting tight between the two until they came up on a lapped rider. Strauss then took advantage of the opening he had and left Hansen back with Joe Root, who soon went by for second. Then Mike Sixberry went by and Hansen finished the moto in fourth spot.
Strauss shot out in the lead of the second moto and was given little trouble by anyone for most of the moto with the exception of Hansen, who was out to beat his tough competition. Hansen couldn't edge out the fast Strauss and could do no better than second. Overall, Strauss took home top money with Hansen taking second and Root third.
NBR CZ ace, Tom Claire, came out and took home top money in the 500 Pro class, although Steve's Bultaco-mounted Dave Haugh could have easily done the same, except for his second moto misfortune.
Dave ran away and hid from the pack in the first moto and could have easily done the same in the second, but not seeing the gate drop or not being ready for it can be a slight handicap and Dave did just that and had to work from last place to second before the flag, which left him second overall for the night behind Claire, who took second in the first moto. Third overall went to Randy Stubbs (Bul), who racked up a 3-3 score for the night.
Topping a talented field of 125 Pros for the night was Rob Rollins, who was mounted on a fast and good handling Bultaco for Goleta Valley Cycle. Rollins took second to Andy Jannings in the first moto and backed his second up with another one in the second round behind Revell Honda rider, Evan Marcus. Marcus had a poor first moto start and finished down but really showed his stuff in the second with a wire-to-wire ride that got him second overall for the night. Jannings took his Honda to third.
Most of the action for the night seemed to come from the 125 Junior class, after watching Bob Kline pull a couple of hole shots that DeCoster couldn't match, for the 125 Junior class win. This might be a little hard to digest but Bob was turning lap times 2 seconds faster than the 125 PRO class and his time was exactly the same as 500 Pro rider, Dave Haugh's lap times. Something tells me the 125 Pros are in for some future trouble!
