HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 motocross championship_000222 ITHACA JOURNAL Wednesday, October 1, 1975
Ithacan Seeps Motocross
By FRED YARN
Motocross is not for the weak
of heart.
Evidence the televised
motocross spectaculars, where
riders soar over chewed up
mounds of earth, crashing into
the ground with their super -sus-
pended bikes, jarring every bone
and muscle, sometimes lucky
just to stay on.
It's that kind of body torture
that makes you wonder why peo-
ple do it. But most competitors
will tell you the same thing: It's
fun.
For Ithacan Doug Cowell,
motocross might be the way into
the professional sports world.
Although that may be a distant
dream right now, he'll try to
make one step on the ladder
when he participates Oct. 12 in
the national amateur finals at
Baldwin, Kan.
A graduate of Ithaca High last
June, Doug has been competing
for four seasons.
• • •
This has been his best year.
He is the third best amateur
rider in the East in the 125cc
class, and out of five riders who
qualified for the New York State
championships iin the amateur
series, only Cowell qualified for
the national finals.
Fifteen riders from the East
will compete in the nationals.
In addition to these horrors
Cowell has won several local and
regional motos this summer.
He began riding at 14, and
bought his first motocross bike,
a Suzuki, at 15. He entered the
250cc novice class at a local
moto at Dundee and got a see
Ind place. That was good for $12.
Cowell has continued to fund
his own way in what can become
an expensive sport, not as ex-
thenPensive as sports car racing, but
thea again...expensive enough.
He now enters two bikes in
each moto that he competes in—
a 125cc Elsinore Honda
(Elsinore is the site of the great
road race in California, inspired
by Steve McQueen's presence
each year), and a 250 Hus-
gvarna.
Championship
In addition to his self -gener-
ated funds. Cowell gets financial
help from his family, and friends.
It's a rugged trail for amateur
motocrossers in the U.S., driving
from site to site each spring,
summer and fall. It often means
an all-night ride in a van, a
sleepy preparation at the moto
site, and then mustering all of
your energy for the actual event.
• • •
Cowell is taking some time off
now from furthering his educa-
tion, concentrating on the
motocross effort. He hopes to
attend Tompkins -Cortland Com-
munity College in the second
semester next year, to major in
mechanical engineering. (He's
his own "tuner" as well as rider)
The danger of motocross
hasn't slowed him down, once,
he separated a shoulder, but that
was in a non -competition acci-
dent.
'He has certainly been more
fortunate than his friend, Dan
Barnes, one of the most talented
local motocrossers. Barnes had
a serious wreck last year during
an event, and underwent emer-
gency surgery. Although he's
okay now, Barnes won't get near
a motocross event. Barnes im-
Parts his extensive knowledge of
motorcycles and motocrossing to
Cowell, he'll make the trek to
Kansas for the nationals, al
ong
with friends and family.
Cowell's parents, Mr. and Mrs.
John Cowell of 1496
Trumansburg Rd., have another -
motocrosser coming up. too.
That's another son, Jack, 13, who
is competing to the 125ec
amateur classes.
"We just can't discourage
them." says Mrs. Cowell.
Like most passions, they're
hard to discourage.
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