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/125522
. ieOLD BAY JURE AIN'T FlUTe eee SHE USED TO BE ... I ... bops! ELSINORE Go l'- It)' Ju Ditson The Bay Mare scrambles track in ;: Moorpark came alive August 26 and .. 27, to the sound of tuned machines .! and shouted greetings as eager ! sportsme n gatbered to les t their w mettle against some of the hest riders in District 37. With the opening of the gates early saturday morning the District sponsored Grand Prix got underway• .As an added inducement either Scrambles or Desert points were to be earned according to finishing position. The nervous tension created by ddermined men filled the air from the moment the first scheduled race of Novice trail bikes roared away at 8:30 saturday until the Sweepstakes race ended late Sunday afternoon. The under 250cc lightweights raced on saturday. In the evening a Talent Show and a dance got everyone into the spirit of things. Sincere sympathy te'those whose races were on Sunday after staying up to watch the late, late show. ! Hands Up! All classes were started with live engines. To insure smooth starts all riders were asked to put their left hands on their helmets. Many developed a sudden curvature of the spine to lessen the distance to the clutch lever and it :;eemed to be a good idea because there wasn't more than a split second between the time the flag whipped up until every bike was in IIIOtion. As the races got underway it was difficult to tell which groUD, SCNlm- By Suddenly you're off the track and braking bard. The ground gets rough and you're on a pitching thing that wants its own head. Hay bales are flashing by on your left as you manage to brin~ it around to the ri ght and up a short piece of dusty road. You're shifting down to make a Uturn to the left. The trail starts to drop and for a fraction of a seco nd you're airborne as the front end drops away over an outcropping. With the back brake locked and shifting down at the same time you slide the rear end around, missing the tree on your left by inches and you're pouring the coals to it as you start the run up that long dusty hill. Pray for an opening up there at the top so you won't have to give up • your speed. You're in luck this time and as you crest the top you land in a bed of grey powder on the road above. It takes almost the width of the road to get turned to the left and through the choking dust you can barely see the narrow opening which shoots you up on an off camber turn to the left. Straight ahead of you the hogback trail falls away. You pick up speed because there's a long way to go. But when you put on the brakes the end of the mountain keeps coming faster than you planned. You grab the front brake too (just a little bit as you learned in past experiences) but you can see you're not going to make it. Twenty more feet. and ••• .d1 SII'" __ ft. . .IN......... _lJIIllllaa•• InI_ a ~ost of . .11ow1...... aftltr lin. 'lII'nc "rst In .,..llnC Dlst. 37 &r.I. P,II at IlaJ ..... Sheer will power seems to be the bles or desert riders, had the overall only thing that got you slowed down advantage. The track riders seemed to gain a little time on the graded enough to make that sharp left turn portions but the desert riders closed at the bottom instead of crashing the the gap when they hit the rough stuff. haybales and sliding over the side. It pretty well evened out the odds. And what a left turn it is. Forty-five Tbost riders whose smooth control degrees down. Bad enough when you of both types of terrain was complete can see the bottom but some lucky guY beat you to it and now it's your really showed the fans how it was turn to go down blinded by dust. done. Never has there been more Over the side you go. It's rough as enthusiastJc spectating. Never has a cow's tongue if you didn't catch one event offered so much to watch at one tlme. Everywhere the eye the groove on the left. looked there was action. Smootll Sailin~ Take a Hot Lap The dust is starting to clear. Watching isn't the same as being You're picking up speed and even starting to add a little throttle when out there In the thick of things though. you reach the tree-shaded bottom. A For those who couldn't get the bugs fast right over a padding of field worked out in time to 'enter, come grass and there are the people you've ride one fast loop with us. The long wide straiglitaway beckbeen too busy to think about since ons with a promise of full throttle the last lap. They're cheering you on and you're sliding into the bright fore ver. But just as you get used to sun with the long straightaway stretchthe headY feeling of speed you're braking and leaning hard to the left ing away in front of you. After the shifting and the braking and the for a third gear turn that slowly plain bard work of the past mile the straightens out and climbs up a long surge of smooth power is relaxing. fast incline. You slack off at the last minute You have only seconds to enjoy it as you top the ride and the bottom and you're cutting through the opendrops out as you sweep to the left ing between the fence and onto the and then hard right in a groove so track to do it all over again. worn that your wheel seems to have For those of you who attended the a mind of its own. Coming out of it Grand Prix and saw the whole colo... and turning up the wick again you're ful weekend a word of thanks for heading for a hard packed sweeping supporting your Sports Committee. If you couldn't make it this year save left. You're going good and know it. Into the turn and still hard on the the date when the next District 37 spolI&ored eventis scheduled. You'll throttle you back off for a second and get set for a sharp banked left get your IIIOney's worth. . ..... •• . . 'I .. ~','''.'.I ':: . .. bdIIr &IU1 &\III" "'sa~iIIlI was ..,.,. ~ III It EI PIlI eN.sa. .... llie SllWay, se,t, -.kIq J. DuJIII on a BrldlestoDe ..110 Pu& in a good ride ap.1ast all this ccmpetl- tion. DOlI W.De. Here It Is' and a sudden righL rode hard all nicbi for a secolld In the 100 Expert ranka. Just &bead of ,wi -.. Bi~ Bile Pilat. The Open Novice battle was a good one and interesting too, as J. Foxe took a quarter of a lap handicap at one point and still WOD that race and the other motos, plus a second in the 500 Open Experts, Foxe was going a lot faster than the c ,! = III ..; 'il I t - ' a,let s-pstaa. wI.a, allElsI_ was It., y• ...,.. (171a). alO1cc v....... ~ :Ii; :e • f .I: Do Oatstandin~ Performance The hero of Elsinore is and shall be R. Vanderpool who rides a lOOcc Yamaha that wails! Vanderpool won the 100 Novice, 100 Expert and for the second time won the Sweepstakes just ahead of J. Bailey and G. Bailey. I started Vanderpool in thls race by taking my hand off his shoulder when the starter dropped the flag down on the line and all Vanderpool said was -take it off fast!- After Vanderpool's win in the Sweeps, one would think it was a football game as Vande~ pool was almost carried on the shoulders of the crowd to the trophy booth! This was probably one of the best rides seen here for a long time. Out making Vanderpool work for it, however, was R. Burkert who Open Novices, but we all know what a job it is to ha ve to safely ge t by 6 or 8 other riders in 5 laps time. A rider who has been often a bridesmaid but seldom a bride and has come up to he a very bard charger at Elsinore is D. Lenar. Dave didn't win the moto as he and J. Foxe tangled for a fall that put Dave out for the night, but he was not seriously injured. Dave rides a BSA Victor very well. Stnff Ad Thin~s Down again from Las Vegas, Nevada was C. Hatcher who is still knitting from an injury. Chuck managed a 3rd on this night but suffered from the wrong tires and physical exhaustion. Chuck brought a fellow (ContiDued on pace 23) AllBRlCANS START EUBOPBAN BID: TOUR IN LONDON Town crier Alfie Howard was on hand to see off in traditional fashion six young American students when they purchased a Triumph Trophy each in London, before setting off for a European tour. The six bought their machines from Triumph's London distributors. They are D.C. Alton Jr., of Wellesley, Massachusetts; T.G. Corney of Cincinnati, Ohio; J.W. Lambert of Stevenson, Maryland;B.M.Bnyers of Buffalo,New York; C.A. Glagolich of Williamsville, New York; and J.B. Landry of Clarendon Hills, Illinois. Incidentally, Alfie Howard is himself a Triumph enthusiast being the rider of a Triumph scooter.