CMC-MX at Irwindale Raceway
CMC
at
Irwindale Raceway
Friday January 24, 1975
By: Buzz Baty
Tonight, as is normal procedure, the track was watered after the last practice session. With a heavy cloud cover and lack of breezes, the water didn't immediately soak into the track in a couple of spots, principally in the area just after the Steve Hurd Jump, and in the 210 degree left-hand switch-back, prior to the finish line. Sometime back, one of Walt Disney's nature life movies had a segment showing ducks returning to a northern lake in the spring. This particular spring had a late thaw, and there was still a frozen surface on the lake. Well, that's the way it was coming into the home stretch turn, it wasn't ice, but just as slick. As with the ducks when they tried to land, tonight's riders were slipping and sliding and falling all over the place. The comic opera qualities by those ducks trying to land on an ice pond was what happened when the first group of Mini riders hit this turn. In this case, it was the Mini Experts, and like so many ten pins, down they went, all a-slippin and a-slidin', and all very humorous, since there were no endos or hard get-offs. Bill Fancher, using good judgement and a tippy-toe attitude, breezed away with moto one, as many in the field continued to hit the last turn too hard and go down time after time. Fancher continued his domination of the field the rest of the evening, sweeping the Mini Experts with Jim Holley getting second. Third, and it's great to see him back, was Joe Tucci. This was Joe's first ride since breaking his leg just before Irwindale's CMC Pro Night Championship. It's nice to see you back Joe!
Mini Juniors, divisions one and two was no different. Jeff Dye, in Mini division one, continued his domination sweeping the division, second went to Chuck Okimoto. with third to Mike Haas. Division two, suffering the same consequences as the previous groups, continued bravely on, with Geoff Brooks winning the first two rounds, and holding second in the last round for first overall, ahead of Eddie Glover, and third going to Dean Hoag. With the Minis slipping and sliding like they were, you would have thought the 100 Juniors, having witnessed the slippery conditions, would have learned by the little guys antics, but such was not to be the case. As Jeff Maas came booming into the approach in the first round for the 100 Juniors, he went down with a lot of his compatriots, to be passed by half the field. Jeff got back up, came back up to fourth place, where he managed to go down again on the second lap. The win in round one went to Yamaha mounted Jim Alexander, with Neal Hart finishing second on a Kawasaki, where Barry Knight took third. Barry then came back to win the next two rounds, while Jeff Maas began to cool it with his Suzuki in this particular turn, and stayed upright for second overall. Third went to the Suzuk of Scott Stringe.Just as you would have thought that, certainly by now, the other riders watching would have learned their lessons, such was not the case. As the 125 Pros, fourteen strong, boomed off the starting line, you could see it coming long before it happened. Mike Bell pulled a hole-shot on the field, leading all the way around to the Steve Hurd Jump, where Mike very gently came over the jump, only to be passed by a booming Tag Turner. Well, it was obvious that there was no way Turner was going to get shut down and under control to make the turn. In fact, he started sliding as soon as he touched the ground, and by the time he got to where he should be turning, he was on his wallet. Mike Bell made the turn inside of him, while a few other highrated Pros took a trip to the wet turf in trying to avoid the fallen Turner. Bell went on to win round two, followed closely by Chuck Lunde, who had finished second to Bell in round one. Mike Bell then settled for a second place in the final round to a run-a-way, Ray Lopez. Ray, in winning round three, pulled himself up to finish third behind Lunde, and the overall winner, Mike Bell.
The 125 Intermediates, twenty-two strong, were split into two divisions of eleven riders each. Division one was a Lance Bryson, Eddie Clark head-to-head confrontation in all three motes. Eddie got the nod in round one with Bryson second. From then on Bryson was not to be denied, winning the last two motos over Clark to finish first overall, Clark second, and Eugene Gayo third. The first two rounds for 125 Intermediates, division two, looked as if Steve Glatts had a lock with two victories in the first two rounds. Mark Lawrence finishing second in the first two, using two of the three laps before he could get around Steve Schilling, who finished third in the first two rounds. Well, brothers and sisters, if you were at Irwindale Friday night, you saw one of the alltime. 'godalmighty, I don't believe it races', in round three. Steve Schilling took the lead on lap one, with Steve Glatts running in second, and Mark Lawrence running in third. This threesome pulled away from the rest of the field, and when they took the last lap flag, under the proverbial postage stamp, it was still Schilling, Glatts, and Lawrence. All the way around until they came to the east end sweeper Derm, it was Schilling, Glatts, Lawrence. Then going into the east end berm, Lawrence pulled to the outside of Glatts in the middle of the turn on the high side of the berm making the pass on Glatts coming off the berm ending up about two bike lengths back of Schilling. Lawrence poured the coal to his Yamaha in a do-or-die attempt to take his Yamaha past the Honda of Schilling. They hit the Steve Kurd Jump side by side, Schilling on the inside towards the grandstands, Lawrence on the outside, flying the Yamaha past Schilling. All three riders slammed into the turn as if one. Accelerating out of the turn, it was Lawrence, Schilling, and Glatts. Mark Lawrence and Steve Glatts ended up tied on points, Steve with two firsts and a third, Mark with two seconds and a first, and it was the best finish last moto rule that was the decider. The final order of finish was Mark Lawrence first, Steve Glatts second, and Steve Schilling third. Arabia may have had its Lawrence, but then so does Irwindale, Mark, the YMBB, Lawrence.
Four, count em, four 125 Junior divisions, totaling sixty riders, had my head in a spin trying to keep track of who the hell was who. In division one, none of the winners with the exception of Tom Ortiz finished in the top three. Emie Ruiz, with three third place finishes, was first overall, second going to Ron Maas, third to Tom Ortiz. There's that old consistency game again. Darrell Hutchins put together a consistent ride, winning two and placing second in the other, for first overall, while Shawn Beal got a first and two seconds for second overall, third going to Greg Rodriguez. Division three was easy to keep track of, it was all Jim Lowe, three firsts and the first overall, Victor Silver three seconds for second overall, with Dwayne Brothers getting third. Division four was another bag of marbles, with the win going to Mark Braunwalder on a first and two thirds, Jim Harris getting second overall with a third and two fourths, and Bill Koemans, who finished thirteen in the first moto, coming back to get first in round two, second in round three for third overall.
The Pro classes are getting bigger with each passing Friday night. Fourteen 250 Pros watched Jeff Vidic take his Maico to a runaway win in round one to Hal Strauss's second and Will Harper's third. Val Tamietti with a bad start could only get up for fifth. The start of the second moto, an honest to god explosion could be heard emanating from the area of Jeff Vidic's Maico as the field charged up the starting straightaway, Vidic, Strauss, Tamietti, and Harper side-by-side, trying to grab the lead, Strauss second, Tamietti moving into third. Val came back in round three to grab the lead and hold it for the flag, pressured all the way by Harper, who was pressured by Strauss. And for the second week in a row, Will Harper took the overall victory, Strauss second, and Tamietti third. As for Vidic, he'll have fun this week trying to rebuild the Maico's transmission that blew up in that booming second round start.
The 500 Pros has two stories. The first one is easy and short. Rex Staten three for three and first overall. The second story is Jeff Jennings, the young man who is now around fifteen years old, took his CZ for the second week in a row to a second overall, taking the measure of the likes of Jim West and Joe Johnston, who finished third overall. Joe got the third overall by nipping second place overall in the final moto. West fell to sixth in the final round and could do no better than fourth overall. During intermission they run "King of the Hill". (If you haven't seen King of the Hill, you should, 'cause it's really a gas.) They run the couse in reverse for two laps, two 125's, two 250's and two Open class machines make up the field for the race. A handicap start is used, the 125's twenty-five yards in front of the 250's, the 250's twenty-five yards in front of the Open class machines, and away they go. Jeff Jennings powered the CZ to the front, and held it over a closing Jim West, to take the win as "King of the Hill."
In the pass of the year. Mark "YMBB" Lawrence takes the inside line to get by Steve Ghatts for the overall win in the 125 Intermediate class at Irwindale. Photo by Buzz
Roy Holsheimer blitzed the 250 Juniors for the overall victory ahead of Gary Bartlett, who was second overall with three deuces, Frank Serjeant in for third. The 250 Intermediates found David Potts taking his CZ to a pair of wins in the first two rounds, finishing second in round three, notching the victory over Kevin Corson and Kevin Rodgers.
For the first time this year, because of the number of riders, the 500 Intermediates and Juniors were run separately. Notching first overall for the Juniors, putting together finishes of first, second, and third, was Craig Robertson. Second went to CZ rider. Hank Osborne and third to the CZ of Mike Delehant. No. W58, Suzuki mounted, Cliff Hicks won rounds one and three for the Intermediates. In between he finished fourth, but it was still good for first overall, to second overall finisher Maico mounted Mark Kiefer, while Trent McGee for third with his CZ.
