Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125478
SCRAMBLIN . AROUND By Maureen Lee FOR THE LAST TIME IN 1966.•. THE FANTASTIC TELESCO F ORKS • And Then Along Came Jean ••• And away we go ... the T lddler class gasses It hard out 01 turn one. You couldn't imagine a scrambles like P erris Sunday in yo ur wildest drea ms ! It was (to say the least) a comedy of errors , (although at times none of us though t it particularly funny). T he day started jus t great. T he Coachella Va ll ey M.C . have an ent ry blank s ys tem that we would li ke to see become the standa rd fOr t he Dis trict. Th ey ar e color-keyed, green for Novic e. yellow for Amateur and white for Expert an d ar e really easy to fill out . And then scrambles tans , the great be ginning wen t hay-wire! A bunch of filled-out blank s tor th e 125-175cc cl a s s were lost in the s i gn-up booth a nd awa y all went! W had so me rid er s bein g put e into the 200-250 classes because there wasn't any room in the 125-175, but then we had one 175 moto show in g up on th e line with a group or rider s lined ith lik e the start or th e last Big Bear! W the lost blank s the cl ub had lost coun t or j us t how many rider s had signed up for that cla ss and rrom th en th e trouble j ust went on a nd on and on ! .. Th e poor Coache lla Valley people wer e trying desp eratel y to st raig hte n thi ngs out wi th riders ye lling i n th eir ears while they were thi nking a ll the time of the s hort daylight hours proble m. With the crisis at its hei ght, who walk s in? J ean Carter , Pres i dent of Distri ct #37 Sport s Committee ! Somehow (and sometime later) he got the system fai rly well s traigh te ned out to where we actually had racing the whol e day a nd t he t rophies wer e all awarde d by the end of the day s ' e vents . Before we go any furt her in this exciting tale, we wan t to put one thi ng s t raig ht . One of the Coa chella club membe rs was mad and ac cus ed Carter (after Jean had left) of trying to make a big show by appeari ng at the last scrambles of the season and t hrowing his weight around . We'll go on reco rd by sayi ng that we have seen hi m at quite a few scrambles througho ut the year , wo rking a way. However , Sunday mus t ha ve bee n his worst c hore in man y a moon what with the cl ub so unhappy a nd t he ri ders as well! Your report er became hys te rical at this poi nt. We were worryi ng abo ut who was goi ng to be the bi g bore number-one plate holde r for ' 67 (J im Hunt er or La rry W ilburn) also the Li ghtw eight pla te (Carl Patri ck or Davi d Ham) plu s rid ers were beggin g " ca n' t you do so mething? " or' else demandin g " You' d bett er put something in th e pap e r a bout this" and then we just knew we were going to run out of li ght to shoo t the big-bo re events (we di d) so it 's no wonde r we wer e slightly unglued! F ' r i nstance, rid er #37x (lightweight) was out in the 125 class aboard a 90 and was to ld not to ride . He went ahead anyway and on two laps the fla gman ga ve him the black fla g. Each time this official wa s rewarded by a rude gesture! Now t his rid er is up to his eye halls in trouble (and he's been aro und long enough to know better). He' s going to be invited to appear befo re the local Competi ti on Committee for app ropriate acti on which could mean a six months suspension! Would you believe th er e wa s a 200 Amateur class Molo? (T ry paying points for that one , friend s.) The day finally came to a n end and we' ll dra g out our little soap box and say a fe w words . F irst off, in spite of al l that went wrong wi th and for tbe cl ub , th ey s till worked hard an d managed' the trophies an d resu lts by the end of the day (wish we co uld say th e same for same of the clu bs who run bett er mana ged scrambles) . Als o, Coa ch ell a is still has ically a desert cl ub and they' ve only been a round sin c e 1962. So, lookin g back over the day we have this thou ght. Sure th e club made the fi rst goof that trigge re d th e whole thi ng off, but our s hort day-li ght hours didn 't help eithe r plus a few of our rid ers ! W d say that the. day ende d up e' Scrambles or Road Racing AI58 Available • A COrqllete lile of 5-position Rear SUspension Units! Adaptable to Most Motorcycles. From $1 20.00 u.s. DISTRIBUTORS ANAHEIM M/C SALES 127 S. MANCHESTER AVE., ANAHEIM, CALI'. rel.phon.: 7 14·772-6330 L O N G BEACH HONDA - Even-Stevena· • • .. • • • • .. • • Jim Hunter #1 Young Mike Payee I s all busin es s as he goes oyer the Jump. And so now the scrambles s eason is over tor a couple of weeks until we s ta rt in again next yea r. J im Hunter will carry our Distric t' s Number one heavy wei ght plate a nd we can say in a ll honesty tha t our District ha s a great repres entau ve, for with that plate go a few responsibiliti es includin g that of what your rellow riders think of you a s a man plu s that of a fell ow competito r. (L a s t week when Conti nued on pa ge 29 CANOGA PARK • .. ~ 7233 CANOGA AVE.346-3700 •