RTMC Motocross at Carlsbad Raceway
Rolf Tibblin MX
at
Carlsbad Raceway
Saturday December 14, 1974
By: SCM Staff
There are days when you are down, bored out of your head, that day is usually Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. But when the weekend comes, r-r-rahh! Da’ races, far-out. Most of the weekend moto-xers race on Sundays, why not try Saturdays for a change.
And the place to be on Saturdays is at Carlsbad Raceway havin’ fun racing with Rolf and his MX club. Besides, if you’re in high school, you can qualify for the Super Bowl of Motocross High School race.Anyway, let’s get down to business, talk MX and look back on what happened today: The 250 class was lined up pretty full, with Mike Sole on his Husky getting the holeshot in Junior-Intermediate class. Craig Breihan didn’t like the sight and passed Mike a few turns later, only to stall on the ledge and drop out of sight. So, with the Bui rider out of the way, Mike began to build a strong lead.
But CZ mounted Craig Bontly stole the lead away from Mike. The Sosna Motors .rider was never challenged for the top position. Mike was now running second just ahead of Lou Duplessis, “the Bud Man,†on a Honda. Jim Hanley (CZ) and Ken Martin (Hon) moved into the positions which Mike and Lou had previously held, due to falling down and mech troubles.
The second moto saw Craig Bontly smoke the rest of the field and to leave them fighting it out for the other positions. Jim Hanley finished second, followed by James Partridge (Hus) and Craig Breihan.
Getting the jump on the gate both motos of the Junior-Intermediate 125 class Jennings on an Elsinore, no one even got close enough to challenge him. The only person within sight of Jennings was Dave Maas (Hon), but he had troubles of his own, like Dave Urquhart, riding for DG Performance Honda.
While these three were battling it out out front, Shane Smithe and his Kon-Tiki Kaw swept the first moto in the Junior class, but’ his problem was George Speck. After starting in last both motos, George steadily moved his way up through the pack to finish second in the first go-round, but in the second he went a little further, he got by Smith and also got first overall. Friends, I gotta tell ya da truth, I sorta made the Junior section of my article blah, tell you the story behind it, and that’s because I wanted to concentrate more on the 125 Pros, ‘cause there was a radical battle for the top spot.
Terry Turner, riding for the Carlsbad Race Team, pulled out of the box just ahead of Brad Glover and Ron Turner of San Diego, all on Hondas. For a while there, it looked like Terry’s race as he began to pull out ahead of the other two. Ron Turner, not related to Terry (but fast like Terry), was being held up by Glover and trying to get past the dirt that Brad was shooting up left and right. Ron finally got around the outside on Brad and showed how fast he really was. Terry was on the gas, but Ron had it screwed on even more. The two Turners were now side by side going faster and faster to try to keep ahead of each other. As they began to pass other riders, Ron decided it was time to get his share of the lead, so he took the outside line and kicked around Terry to grab the lead away from him. They stayed side by side the rest of the way through the moto, but Terry couldn’t hang it out enough to pass.
The second moto was almost an instant replay, Terry again got the holeshot with Glover and Turner tagging along. Dale Anderson was in the midst of it, but was forced to be a behind-the-leaders spectator. Ron again had troubles getting by Glover, but after he got past, he stuck it open and caught Terry within a few laps. The Turners just hung it all out, inches apart of each other all the way around the track, around the hairpin, the horseshoe, the wall, the uphill and the downhill, whoops, and don’t forget the drop-off. Ron didn’t really like the dirt he was getting in his face, so I guess he decided to pass Terry again and take the lead. Ron knew instantly that he had first overall sewn up when Terry dropped out. There wasn’t a whole lot of people out, but that’s cool, because Saturday is a day to be happy, happy about racing and taking it easy, kick back, ‘cause RTMC does give you that feeling of the Happy Days.
