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Left to right Doing double duly with his third desert oyerall win In a row (4 lor the season so far) the man to beans #888x, L arry Bergquist and his Bullaco PurSang. Another Bul batller, Jack
Froeli ch (#2) al ways 2nd or 3r d In the Tra il Bike Cl ass. He led fo r a loop aid a half at the Sidw lnders run. Sx is Gary Cole, Husky rid er, who placed 20th oyerall at Four Ace s Moose Run, moyed
up to 5th o.a. at the Sidew in ders the foll owin g week. And 2lx on t he new Suzuki twin·po rt Is Gary Conrad, 2nd overall at 4 Aces.
Larry Bergquist, #888 X, charged up from back in the pack on Sunday, February 25 to take the overall win on his red 250cc Bultaco
Pu rSang 5-speed to make it a fantas tic three overall wins in a row in
desert competi tion , plus two 250cc Class European Scrambles wins.
The Trona , .Call!. s tarti ng area was
flat, open territory with small bush es
and a couple of ditches to keep you
awake ; just rough e nough to separate
the racers from the Sunday riders.
The s moke bomb was five miles out
and was easy to see. At the drop of the
banner at 10 a .rn , all of the combined
Open and 250cc riders were away; young
Steve Staats, 1195 on a Triumph, had a
big lead a t the smoke with Howard
Beach, 1120 also on a Triumph, in second
posl tion. Larry Bergquist was running
sixth .
After the smoke bomb , the course r an
through a short, rocky section an d then
Into some open, dusty boondocks . A
short sandwash led us down a steep,
twisty hill to a winding canyon trail
where there was no place to pass . Another s hort sandwas h tur ned left onto a
winding fi re road leading up an d down a
s hor t hill, an d five miles of boondocks
br ought us back to the pits for a twentytwo-mlle loop on which the riders would
go four loops .
.
Elghteen-year-old Steve "Staats led the
race on the Triumph tuned by the Lamor eaux shop until the third che ck, where
Beach pa ss ed hi m with his Triumph
turned all the way on. Bergqulst also put
the pass on s taats just before the pits,
and to quote Staats , "I couldn' t believe
that a 250cc could go that fast. He was
really making It In the rough country of!
the trail, and It was something to see."
Mike Patrick, In on the Norton, was
starting to move up, and so was James
Martino, 115 on his BSA s ingle . Eddie
Mulder, 1112 National rider, got a very
bad start from the lin e, and was now
desperately trying to move up from the
rear.
Amateur Wins First Open
Beach led the next lap with Bergquist
right on his rear tire, and in a few tight
canyon s they were bar-to-bar, with
neither one giving an inch . On the thi rd
la p Beach was making the rocky sandwash In fourth gear , and destroyed the
rear wheel on the r ocks, putting him out
or the race . Bergqui st then took over the
lead and dove home for the win with
over a four-minute a dvan t age. Steve
Staats pulled in second and took first
Open Class , which is real ly doing the job
for a n Amateur. James Martino pull ed
In third a nd took first 500cc on the BSA
single, and Mike Patrick (Norton) was
fourth, taking first Open Expert.
Bill Bogne r (11170), another hot Amateur, took tenth overall and first in the
500cc Amateur class. The top novice In
was Bruce Dunford, IIl O x, taking nine O
teenth overall and first 250 Novice, and
Tom Muto, I17 lx, was second 250 Novice
pull1ng in twenty-third.
Trail Bikes
The trail bikes were flagged off the
line ten minutes after the bigger bikes
Story By Dick Wri l:ht - P hotos by J eff Wri gh t
for their two-loop race. Heading for the
smoke bomb It was a bit dus ty, an d more
than one 'ove r - ea ger r ider hi t the r ocks
tha t were lurking out ther e .
Jack Mor gan , Ill , was lea ding the pac k
at the s moke on his Hodaka, with Jack
Froelich, 112, 'o n a Bul taco right behind
him. ThIrd in llne was Jan Banaringa
(1155), an Amateur on a Suzuki, who was
really bombing over the hlll .
Mor gan fouled a plug about five miles
out" and fas t- moving Froell ch took over
the lead with Banaringa running s e cond.
This position didn 't change unti l the last
lap, when Mor gan , who had by this time
replaced his pl ug and moved up through
the entire pack, ca me up behind Fr oe lich and turne d It on In the open boondocks to take ove r the lea d. Morgan took
the win with F roelich second. Froelich
said " Ther e is no doubt about it - that
guy can really ride."
The hot Amateur , Jan Banartnga,
pulled in third for a good ride . Another
Amateur , Bob Clark (1124) took fo urth,
with Er ic Jenson, In and an Expert on a
Hodaka, In fifth . There was a good duel
between two hauling Novices , but Warren
Burrell, 11184, won out and took First
Novice and sixth overall ove r George
Ra mey, 1188, who rode a good race for
second Novic e and seventh overall .
The Side Winders, a new club, put on
a good race for thei r fi r st time out . The
course was well-llmed with a good
variety of ter rain, and the pi ts were
fifty feet wide in the open boondoc ks .
Next ye ar, the y plan to have a separate
trail bi ke cour se.
(Results on page 16)
T rio of hare chasers j et away across the
desert.
MiS WI1VS
SUNDA Y FEB. 1 11 SCRAMBLES ELSINORE CALIFORNIA
8,
1 ST 100(( NOVICE CLASS
DALE HOPKINS And MIl
D
istributed by M Sportscycles 311 E, Alexander, Tacoma, W
IS
ash., 98421
..
