Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

.B¥ G_ Robert Schwarz LEE.'S CAMP, ORE. May 18, 1969 SlDlay was. a. wet day for tile. 0reg0D. stam Eilduro CIIampioastdp sponsored by U. Lobo MOtorcycle Club at Lee's Camp ~ TlDamook, oregon. On the Im!9Ioas dIg'. with t:atr _tiler and By Mike C:II)IIJ1te ~ 3.0 - Tbe lure. oL an $850.00 purse guar.mteed by promoter DIIde cr1s'IIell for the Memorial o.y Speedway races at the Saugus track was eougb to get even tile calmest riders a ltttIe edgy on tbe startiDg' line. ~ threats kept tbe starts UDde.I" control mill tile. first Semi. w:bere Rick Woods, due to an unusually slow heat race time, was lI.ned UP next to. steve Ba.st. aIoog with. Norm Elledge and. Jac.k. O'Brien.. A.s tIIey pulled to the line, Steve and. Rick both. blasted through tile st:a:rt.. 1nIf tapes lIlld lured Norm Elledge along with them, 0' Brien being the only one to remain on the line. Swintngaround again, SAUGUS, CAL.. tIley agatn. went throngll. tile tapes wtiII JIlek. stIU remaining lec,aL On tlae third try tbey ftDaDy got oft aD even. start aDd Woods and Bast put 011 a bCt1e that was a Jpy to wailc:b. w1tb Rkk hoIdlnc the lsd and Sieve!lgJlttng:aJoncsida to. take. it away but not Q!J1te able bD do 11. Tbe 11DisIl. was Oods, But. Elledge and. 0' Brien, bat the win was g1?en to O'Brien as the only one not breaking tbe tapes. Tbis announcement in the pUs .... greeted by screams of wratIl. and. D'reats 01. .erbal telUs In camps 01. Woods and. Bast. bnt by cheers from tile rest of the competitors. Although. Woods (Continued 00. page 22) InUilallon Is sl.... - CM be mounted wltllout _ ..101 WhHI! $19.95 clu'. See your loal TODAY! 5-.cl .... dati. lor tile mCltDft:ycflsi's c...'ellt silo. and III c:3t:alDl- ""'IOD DI st..C4., SIll lit #1.04 Monro'fi.a, Cal II. nOli. GEJlE lL Authorized Y Headquarters IUCH CITIES CYClES 525'_.£1 e-t.. Sa. ell ... Call ll14I QHl .. _-' Decatur Scrambles Decatur, Indiana April 27,1969 moce FlOals Dealer lEW & USED SAL ES Parts - ecvice & Repai.I 44S9 hdo.do Bodl Bl..s.. u pia, CJIl I 1m) temperatares In tile nUd.-egbtl.es, 81 ride.rs sIIowed. \Cl re&d.Y to eDjoy tbe ktnd of rldtng 11m is at its best out. in the puclilerbl'usll. Motber Nature and her weatIier oI.t8a ~ tricks as sbe did. today, sbe caupt. about OIU!-third 01. tbe riders adequate. rain gear on this 78 mile 1"IJI1. If llOI:II1ng eise, tbe wet ones gained a lot of uper1eDce to fIDdtnc' out IIlat sometimes you can't _ trust Motber Nature. WitII c:mfIdence, . - of tIle.oIdH' riders (lWnost. as old as this .. s1lYer fOX' ') cnntIded u.t his pjpeIlae bas it that tile first ball is l1ie. a r08d tour a I1ttIIl creek here ucI a puddle lben. aDd 11m you'll really !lave to r1de this dude with the brakes 011 most tile way. Tbe truth 01. tile matter is that this was. absolutely r1gtIt ~ to tile first mUe after tile start. RJgbt oI.f tile bat. the riders fouad oat IIlat not only MotIJer Nature and the Welliher have foaled some riders, bat also tile two nitwits wbo laJd out. the coarse. Ral softI You bet! Ftrst.1t's IlP a sbort, steep pitch 11m no- bike without a few ponies could pull and t:ben a mile later, blilstlog tbrougb. two consecutive river crossings with boulders half the size of your front wbeel. outs1de 01. killing my engine. about the only otber thing tbat seemed important was tbe water in the top of my knee high boots while the. Idiot spectators on the bank chuckled to themselves, tlIiDIr:Ing "look at that s1UY schlock - can't even keep his engine going in only 3 feetol. water" • FtnalIy, 8B, tbat's me, blasted off for the next mile or so until the sign by the road read1ng .. 5 mile check. point". My speedometer said a.8 and I thought' 'My ~wd, the clod that laid this out must really be a rtnky dink rider with a real fast gauge. Come to find out a mile lal.er my high powered SPeedometer sUll read 2.8 miles. I've already lost one nights sleep tidlng this run under the covers, so more fretting isn't Ifoing to helP win top honors. (Har So tar the onlY honors this dog has ever won is contribattng to the troPhy that some other knothead wins. However, [ will say that the exercise is stimulating. Big deai.) Well, I'm l1ere, the bike isstillI"1llJll1nlf,gotmy rain gear, SO mlgtlt as well get my moneys worth. Off we go hnggtng tbe inside edge of wbat was an. old road, dodg1ng boulders, stumps and slides as the road climbs from near sea. level to about 2,000 ft. e1evatIoD and. into the clouds. And t:ben- doomsvWe for about half the 81 riders. AIl 01. a st1dden there was a pusb. and pack hill that nobody absolutely nobody could maIIe unless they had a lot of speed, hung onto the horns and kept tile throttle. rolli!d to the wan.. Sm.all boulders and loose. dirt on a 30 degree sJope. gives yon aIloot as much t:radioD as rldiDg your macblne In a silver thaw. F1Dal1y, alter 20 minutes aDd with a lot oL beIp aDd toogue baIlg1Dg out like a red neeldie, my trusty 4. stroE. s1DgJe and 1 went on -over tile top aDd down to tbe gravelroad, slidlDg the turns, leBpiDg cImcJ< holes and small wasbouts. 'Ibis worked kI!en \Cl to tbe point wbere tlJere was a washout on the far side. 01. ~ 180 degree curve. (Fortunately, I am quite flexible and adjust easily to such chaDge, tl!l"brling raclessed _ got into some good. stuff that stood. on ita ear aDd bad a few nice. swflJ:h,.c!rs and. good traction (i.e., no dowDed riders to buzz over). We ztgged. aDd ~ uP to tile crown 01. a hiIllbat. was Ioase and roety. NOt many made it ~ 1IiiIlaotpuaUnd packand, 01. c~ tlJere was a live check. rig!lt at the top. After our group collected. Itself at the summit and gullied a few chesttuns of air, _ bad ODe bIJce wila a rear shock. beDt a.llooLdouble from. baving-100pedand. crasIIed toto a big rock. Oh boyf The rlgjd tr.ame days are back and we've got 20 miles to go yet. Up we go,furtIJer toto the clouds and. rain to the point where YisIbIl1t;y is less than 30 teet.Mter'WimderiDg ar 0lDld aimlessly, feeling for the trail markers to the trees, the rlneventually started losing elevatlOl1in~hU1TY. Nearly L5llO feet down through the peckerpolls and. brush with moisture laden branches and leaves swiPing atyour face and neck. every inch of the way. FtnalIy, at tile bottom we came to another river. To the left was what appeared to be the natural trail through still, clear water. Someone once told me that sUll water runs deep. Since water is wet and does not encourage the performance of my engine, I thought perbaps [ should think seriously about an. alternate route. SIlo nuff! Bang to the right, shinny down a short steep rock slope and wash la! we've got white water. Boy! am I glad I took a second look at that water erosstng. The rider about 5 minutes ahead of me took the obvious route on his Greeves and. could easily have used his ha odlebars as a snorkle if he had bad it hooked uP that way. Since he dldD't, it was a case or spending a half hour drytng and rain1ng the machine out before it would ligllt ott agaI.n. F1Dal1y we blubbered into the 1'1niSh, had a little "stump juice" aDd, for some strange reason, everything seemed to be. not so bad after all. Only 15 of 81 riders completed. tile. course with Jerry Zenger on a 650 Triumph being the overall w1nneI:~(But. tban 1 dldn't need any overa.1l.s anyway). (Results on page Z7) Mi II ingten, Michi gan May 4, 1969 ·S· Main 1st Bob Murany XC1 00 1st Larry Rinehammer XC100 MB SPORTCYCLES·311 E. ALEXANDER. AVE., T.l\COMA. WASHINGTON 98421 ~-----------=-~-~._.~QI¥ lIE truP tEM LsS at' C4~.!"

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