Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Bob Ae.s leads a fllpt of endulOlsts on tile cold, windy start. Inset Enduro riders think of e..,t11lne - even a portable outllou.? ., One rider pts off the trail and buries it to the bub while Victor pilot on left plonks throup in eood shape. .,.. Abo".: a little bother In tile Georeta woods. Brands entered Included 98 Bultacos, 13 Triumphs, 70 Yam"as, 53 Pentons, 33 H·D's, 31 Hondas, 27 Huskys, 20 B5A's, 15 Hodakas, 13 Sachs, 10 Gr.yes .,d one III on leo mery Wards. 25 States were represented. Below, Penton riders tackle 2 of the tou'" parts. DALTON, GA., March 9 - It has been raining for the past 3 out of 4 days, this morning Is cold aad w1ody, there is snow on lbe north stde of the mounta1ns and it is still snow1ng there. The rain bas stopped on this side, but the wind is UP. The Georgia red clay has the consistency of slightly congealed vaseline. All the big names are here for the Stone Min. Run. 489 riders have entered. A&B riders. The run consists of75 miles of some of the worst terrain you can possibiy lmagine. The rain bas made everything real bad. Streams are swollen, ·mud is muddier, mountains seem higher, and the wind is cold. The first section of the run that 1 entered, I drove through with a dune buggy until we ran out of tracti9n, then 1 walked in the next six or seven miles to take the first set of photos. All the riders are having a struggling time up one long steep hill. The hill was deeply rutted from earlier machines going through, some riders had to get ott and push, some pull, most slip and slide. From this poinl by jeep ride over the top of the mountain to observation hill, you can see the struggle of the riders trying to climb this sllppery and wet hill and it's started to snow again. The snow has caused no visibility problems but it did cause an awful lot of cold. These riders suffered some treatment that would almost be inhumane, cold, wet and miles and miles of bard pushing. Observation point is about 20 minutes from the end of the run, shortly before the last check point. The stamina that these men showed is second to none that I've ever seen. I talked to many of the riders after the race was over, riders like Bill Pace, Bultaco rider, #128, Bill said it was "sort of a Sunday run." He made some mistakes and figured he'd lost some points. Burl Cantor from Bristol, Tenn. riding a Yam. 125cc #225, said he got a flat 19 miles out but continued the rest of the race with a flat front tire, filured he lost about I! points or so. Benny Bootie from Greenville, So. Carolina, riding a Penton 125cc #101 was the first man out. Benny said he figured he'd lost some time because quite a few of the other big boys came past him at one point. Some of the riders were even able to bit some of the check points early, though it's beyond me how they did it, considering the conditions out in that field today. There were over 71 trophies to be given away. Most of them are resplendent with a little piece of granite from Stone Min. The unusual part of this is I live in Stone Mt., Georgia and it's about 100 miles from the start of the race. The population in Stone Min. has grown so high, they had to move the race north and north and north until now it's in Dalton, Georgia, just a short distance ott the Tennessee line, in the heart of the Georgia Mountains. This is a remarkable race in more than one sense. To the best of my knowledge there were no injuries, there was one minor accident that I heard aboutrider on a H-D Sprint drove into the side of a car, just aiter the starting of the race. From what I've heard he wasn't injured, but there's a real badly bent set of Ceriani forks for sale. The Georgia Crackers M/C Club is working on the results of the race, it's quite a time-consuming process as we are all aware. Accuracy is more important than speed. As a personal observation I believe t1Jat a race like this requires more endurance, stamina, strength and skl1l than any other single type of riding. A man has to be half human and half calculator with the strength of a bull, to be able to handle it all the way through. Those who do, seem unassuming, not braggards. Calm, confident, it apparently brings out the best in men. At the tent aiter the race, most of the conversation was based on Daytona, when they were going there and what they were going to do. A few were rehashing what they had gone through but not many. (Results on page 16) BAIDGESTDNE tJi ~GTR For the name of your nearest Oealer So. Cal. McCulloch Oisl. Inc. (213) 772·2106 No. Cal. Coast McCulloch (415) UN 3-5520

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