Another View of AME-MX at Carlsbad Raceway
George Corcoran took the outside line in the first corner at Carlsbad during the double points race by AME. George,.it appears, is now top 125 Junior in AME. Hatounian photo.
AME
at
Carlsbad Raceway
Sunday December 29, 1974
By: Chris Hatounian
Couldn’t find one rider that will ever complain about racing on a hard dusty course after surviving today’s AME “mudo-crossâ€. How muddy was it? How deep is the ocean? The uphill and downhill had to be cut out due to lack of enthusiasum about running it. Jerry Shore gave the rider’s the choice of two-twenty minute moto’s or three-fifteen minute moto’s and one guy yelled “It takes fifteen minutes to make one lap!†So the rider’s chose not to ride the slop for three moto’s and went for the two-twenty’s. Can’t blame them.
There was a special significance about this race to a few riders. This was the final points paying race from AME for the year and to some it meant an AME championship. Such as Jeff Black, who only had to finish both moto’s to be the 1975 AME champion. Also, Dave Urquhart had to finish third or better to be the 125 Intermediate champ. 125 Junior riders George Viens and George Corcoran were as close as a 1st moto finish between the two for the 125 Junior championship.This was a double points paying race so only the ones who were very close came out, which wasn’t many. If you were at Hopetown and remember the mudhole, then just picture the whole course like that and you will picture this course perfectly! Really.
Sole survivor’s included Mike Harnaker (Suz) 100 Junior, Mitch Brown (Can-Am) 250 Junior and Mike Jennings (Hon) 125 Expert. West Cycles sponsored Mike Jenkinson took his ‘75 Husky to the 250 Intermediate victory.
Dave Haugh leaders Russ McAfee, Kevin Tuckers, and Jef Harriott around the first corner at Carlsbad during the AME Carlsbad race. Hatounian photo.
Who else but Dave Haugh won the 500 Pro class aboard his self sponsored Bultaco. Possible victory in the 250 Pro class went to John Stasiefski on a Maico with Jef Harriot comming in a possible second with a definite third going to Kevin Tucker (Bui). Stasiefski claims he lapped Harriot but Harriot and others claimed he was full of ……. Well, it ended with Harriot storming off in protest, refusing to collect his second place money. He was right!!:1
Jef Harriott was moving down at Carlsbad, but due to a mix up in the scoring, he was awarded second place, which he felt was wrong, he thought he should have won it. The problem was the mud, nobody could tell who was whom. Hatounian photo.
As for Jeff Black, he did finish and collected the 1975 AME numuro uno plate in the 125 class. He looked grimly at his bike and said “I wish I didn’t have to clean the beast!†It probably weighed 20 pounds more with all that mud on it.
And Urquhart? Well Dave finished second for the day and got his title. Alright! As for the Viens-Corcoran duel, Viens’ bike failed to run in the second moto and George rode off with a possible title.