The 70’s

Kenny Banyan wrote:

Oh man! That’s beautiful, is that like a 71?

Scott920 wrote:

70 SS454 

 

Kenny Banyan wrote:

That’s a dream car.😎

Dave v3.0 wrote:

July 4th, 1974 Southwick Member of Team South @ North vs. South RematchPublicity photo for Jackson's Honda in Andalusia, AL.  I had just won the Alabama...

July 4th, 1974 Southwick Member of Team South @ North vs. South Rematch

Publicity photo for Jackson's Honda in Andalusia, AL.  I had just won the Alabama High School Championship for 1975

February 1974 Florida Winter AMA Amateur Day Mid-Lake Raceway in Tallahassee, FL

Sandman New England wrote:

This was before my time but what a great thread!!!! Great pictures by everyone. Can you please give any details of this North vs South event...

This was before my time but what a great thread!!!! Great pictures by everyone. Can you please give any details of this North vs South event at Southwick in the 70's? Or anything on the North vs South MX events? I don't know if I have heard about this. Very intriguing. 

Dave v3.0 wrote:

The North vs. South race was an off shoot of all the time the riders from New England spent in Florida for the Winter Series in...

The North vs. South race was an off shoot of all the time the riders from New England spent in Florida for the Winter Series in the early 70's.  It started with a race at Blue Ribbon MX in Montgomery, AL in 1973 after the Winter Series and Daytona.  The race teams were made up of local pros from New England that had spent the winter in Florida and local pros from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.  The South team was managed by a local dealer from Iron City, GA (about 30 minutes from Cairo) named Ward Gibbons and a school teacher from the Panhandle of Florida named Lance Stabler.  Ward sold CZ, Husky, and Montesa and promoted races locally, Lance was one of his CZ customers and promoted races at Sassafras MX in DeFuniak Springs, FL.  Some of the notable names at the first race were the Bettencourts for the North and Johnny Borders for the South.  The North eeked out a win at the first race.

In Spring of 1974, the guys from the NESC, Ward, and Lance came up with the idea for a rematch.  The South team would travel up to Massachusetts and we'd race a warm up race at Ossipee, NH, Waterboro, ME, and finish it off at Southwick which was on July 4th.  Then we had a bunch of guys get hurt or back out so I got a call asking if I'd be interested.  Talked to my Dad (I was only 14 and had just moved onto a 125 at the beginning of the year, got to the first race and learned we had to lie about my age😎) and he thought it would be a fun trip so off we went to Iron City to join the caravan to Southbridge, MA where we'd headquarter out of Bob's Honda.  The South team for that race was John Joyner, Greg Thornton, Billy Sexton, Howie Cole, Dave Garner (myself), and a couple of guys who I can't remember.  The North team was LOADED.  Jimmy Ellis, Charlie Iott, John Bettencourt, Rick Granville, Scott Desso, etc.  I managed to get myself run over at the Ossipee race and ended up with a bum shoulder that kept me from riding at Waterboro.  I was healed up enough to ride Southwick.  By Southwick, we had a couple of guys with other injuries and/or bum bikes so the North gave us a couple of riders to make the teams even.  We still got destroyed.  I was the only rider on a 125.  Finished both 20 minute motos at Southwick and Jimmy Ellis didn't lap me on his factory Can AM so I considered it a win.🤣. He went on to win a National the next week...

The North vs. South series continued for a couple of years after that, mainly at southern tracks after the Winter AMA concluded.  The South got better participation in a couple of the races mainly from Team Georgia that had Barry Higgins and Furman Gray as the lead riders.

Some of the best race stories I have came out of that trip.  I got to spend a week on the road with my Dad.  I got to race in front of a huge crowd at Southwick.  We got treated like celebrities by the crowd and the NESC guys.  All in all, just a great experience.

Here's the Cycle Sport group photo from the race.  Thanks to the photographer for capturing me wiping my nose🤣

 

 

 

Sandberm656 wrote:

Can anybody explain that rear tire? Looks gnarly.

R66 wrote:

It was a Cheng Shen. That was my go to tire on my XR75 too. 

Sandberm656 wrote:

It reminds me of a tire my older brother put on my DR125 way back in 1983-or 84. The Suzuki had a 17 inch rear wheel...

It reminds me of a tire my older brother put on my DR125 way back in 1983-or 84. The Suzuki had a 17 inch rear wheel and the only 17 inch tire in town was I think a recapped Trellborg. And I wanna say it was a 5.1 at that. I must have lost 25% horsepower with that thing on. 

gt80rider wrote:

So I got a 70s question. Didn't they have double headers in sx back then? Or did that only happen in the 80s? And if they...

So I got a 70s question. Didn't they have double headers in sx back then? Or did that only happen in the 80s? And if they did have double headers, they had them because of all the people buying tickets right?? What I'm getting at here is they seemed to have so many more people watching sx in person back then compared to today. Would that be a correct statement or not? 

Sandman New England wrote:

This was before my time but what a great thread!!!! Great pictures by everyone. Can you please give any details of this North vs South event...

This was before my time but what a great thread!!!! Great pictures by everyone. Can you please give any details of this North vs South event at Southwick in the 70's? Or anything on the North vs South MX events? I don't know if I have heard about this. Very intriguing. 

Dave v3.0 wrote:

The North vs. South race was an off shoot of all the time the riders from New England spent in Florida for the Winter Series in...

The North vs. South race was an off shoot of all the time the riders from New England spent in Florida for the Winter Series in the early 70's.  It started with a race at Blue Ribbon MX in Montgomery, AL in 1973 after the Winter Series and Daytona.  The race teams were made up of local pros from New England that had spent the winter in Florida and local pros from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.  The South team was managed by a local dealer from Iron City, GA (about 30 minutes from Cairo) named Ward Gibbons and a school teacher from the Panhandle of Florida named Lance Stabler.  Ward sold CZ, Husky, and Montesa and promoted races locally, Lance was one of his CZ customers and promoted races at Sassafras MX in DeFuniak Springs, FL.  Some of the notable names at the first race were the Bettencourts for the North and Johnny Borders for the South.  The North eeked out a win at the first race.

In Spring of 1974, the guys from the NESC, Ward, and Lance came up with the idea for a rematch.  The South team would travel up to Massachusetts and we'd race a warm up race at Ossipee, NH, Waterboro, ME, and finish it off at Southwick which was on July 4th.  Then we had a bunch of guys get hurt or back out so I got a call asking if I'd be interested.  Talked to my Dad (I was only 14 and had just moved onto a 125 at the beginning of the year, got to the first race and learned we had to lie about my age😎) and he thought it would be a fun trip so off we went to Iron City to join the caravan to Southbridge, MA where we'd headquarter out of Bob's Honda.  The South team for that race was John Joyner, Greg Thornton, Billy Sexton, Howie Cole, Dave Garner (myself), and a couple of guys who I can't remember.  The North team was LOADED.  Jimmy Ellis, Charlie Iott, John Bettencourt, Rick Granville, Scott Desso, etc.  I managed to get myself run over at the Ossipee race and ended up with a bum shoulder that kept me from riding at Waterboro.  I was healed up enough to ride Southwick.  By Southwick, we had a couple of guys with other injuries and/or bum bikes so the North gave us a couple of riders to make the teams even.  We still got destroyed.  I was the only rider on a 125.  Finished both 20 minute motos at Southwick and Jimmy Ellis didn't lap me on his factory Can AM so I considered it a win.🤣. He went on to win a National the next week...

The North vs. South series continued for a couple of years after that, mainly at southern tracks after the Winter AMA concluded.  The South got better participation in a couple of the races mainly from Team Georgia that had Barry Higgins and Furman Gray as the lead riders.

Some of the best race stories I have came out of that trip.  I got to spend a week on the road with my Dad.  I got to race in front of a huge crowd at Southwick.  We got treated like celebrities by the crowd and the NESC guys.  All in all, just a great experience.

Here's the Cycle Sport group photo from the race.  Thanks to the photographer for capturing me wiping my nose🤣

 

 

 

wreckitrandy wrote:

Do you recall Mark Ashworth being on the south team?