O.C.I.R.
Bob Quintin puts on his warm winter jacket while racing out at AMC's Friday night Race at OCIR. Corley photo.
at
Orange County International Raceway
Friday February 21, 1975
By: Tom Corley
I guess the name of the game tonight was to get on the good side of wind. If a racer was going with the wind he would of probably of been going about 20 miles faster but if he was going against it he would be going slower than ever. But it really didn't kill the fun any at all and I just hid behind a berm for a good part of the night to block the wind and took race notes from there.
One thing of real interest that I should mention is that the OCIR bulldozer people changed the track a little in attempt to make things more interesting and more challenging. The jacknife corner was the same and so was the haulin' straightaway but after that they cut out or modified the corkscrew comer (how do you like these names that they used on the ole race program?) and added a couple of super tight turns.Now, before I get into the racing action that was really excellent tonight, I think I should write a little about a problem that has been occurring. In most every riders meeting latley, it's seems like the fine starter Jerry Stroner has time and time again explained about the yellow flag. When the yellow flag is out all racers are suppose to maintain their positions without passing anyone, so let off of the gas! What happened tonight which was pretty nasty was that a very bad crash occurred and possibly could of been partially prevented.
Aaron Bassett gets stylish for the camera out at OCIR during AMC night racing. Corley photo.
A 250 Sportsmen racer was flying over the Diving Board jump when his machine went out of control upon landing and the guy was really in pain. And here's what made it an even worse stretcher case! The flagman had the yellow flag out and another guy came and plowed right into the man that was already laid out on the track. So both of those guys were pretty bad off and so were their bikes. However, I can't really blame anything on the guy who crashed into the first guy because the bike was just right on the other side of the track and he was almost bound to run into it
Alright now it was neat to see a few guys sock it to Jeff Ward for a change. The Mini Expert class was really hot and the line-up was the fastest that I have seen in quite awhile. Now Jeff casually blew everyone off in the first moto but not by a landslide, the second moto wasn't quite so good for 3X because Bill Jewitt who is another known National champ star was gassin' it and edged Ward out for first. They were really wheel to wheel and this was one of the closest and more intense races of the night The Jeff Ward Racing Products star wasn't so fortunate in the second moto but he made it up in the final go and easily landed the overall prize over Bill Jewitt, Ken Morgan of Whit tier Honda, John Gless of Harry's Cycle Sales and Kurt Sofka on the trick Monoshocker.
Pete Hillebrecht is really looking Professional lately. He's one of those hot racers who gets off of a Mini and rips up the Pros with a little time. Well he made a little extra cash tonight to boot when he whipped the 100 Pro class. His win wasn't really too decisive because Marty Miller his Harry's Cycle Sales teammate actually burned everyone in the first and second motos but burned out in the final go with a bad six due to a bike breako. So Pete captured first over Marty but just barely while the other jet fast racer were Bill Taylor, Bobby Quintin, Chris Cayo and Jeff Ward. Isn't that interesting, Ward smoked everyone in one contest and was at the tail of another.
It seems that OCIR is claiming alot of swing arms recently, as this Honda went this Friday night. It belongs to Huff Hadley. Sorry Huff. Corley photo.
The hot 125 Junior class was dusted by Gary Stophel on the 11X Honda as he whipped Lance Mason and Huff Hadley of DG Performance Specialties. Now it really wasn't far that Huff had to settle for the third place trophy position, it really didn't help when his Honda swing-arm snapped just like the Suz of Russ Starks' did last week.
The 250 Pro race was really fast and exciting. Aaron Bassett of Competition Cycles came dose to smoking the entire Pro pack with his sensational start on his fast Maico. He swept the first two motos over Morris Malone but his night wasn't a complete success because he dropped back into third in the final go while Malone was charging on-top. If you're ever trucking around the pits go over and take a look at the trick machine that Malone has. It's his ole Maico I think and it has a new 250 Elsinore lightweight mill in the fine handling frame. It's a real winning set-up! The only problem about it was that I can't think of a trick name to call it, ya know like Penda? Garry Faulks was doing fine in third on a Maico with just a Maico engine while Mark Marinez of Competition Cycle Products of Huntington Beach was doing excellent on his Maico with just a Maico engine.