Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

- 'Phantoms Beat The Deadline At Adelanto to TIle Novices str.tch out around the s....per. The 350-500 Norice First .... Randy Burak and RalPh Ponelt . . . . " Crlp to crlp duel was a heart stopper at the Adelanto track Sunday. By Al Snow ADELANTO, CALIF., Sept. 21, 1969 Would a semi-truck and trailer stretched across Highway 395 keep you from seeing a point run at AdeIa;n~? ~vldently not _ many riders were blOCked. A large entry and a shortage of exparlenced help created problems for the Phantoms. From a broken leg In practice. (the ambulance driver could use his Jack Pine 1969 off to Europe for the I.S.D.T., every day of Which: he had described as equal to two days of Jack Plne •• .a tough schedule and a tough competitor. Jack Pine "69 was, all In all, a good run and a real enduro. The weather was fantastic and the course was one of the best ever. (Results on page 20) By Matt Weisman HOUGHTON, MICH., Sept. 7, 1969-Gone forever are the days of the old Jack Pine when It was run out of Lansing. This ts the second year that It has been started at the Houghton Lake area, and It's just not the same. The old Jack Pine is lost forever ••.hooray for the new! Although the run was poorly marked, the route was not hard to follow. The trails were some of the best ever, and staying on them was no problem. Infact, you had to be careful that you didn't hit checks early. At about 100 miles out, the course disintegrated Into a guessing game. All the turn-to-turn markers did not acree with the mileage on the speedometers. For 40 miles everyone just rode on completely bewildered (even lunch was ten miles further than the route sheet Usted). Everyone except the breakdowns made it Into noon as the course was fairly easy. ' Riding was excellent again after lunch. A few tight stretches 'lost everybody a few POints, but the mUeage situation ~htened itself out in the afternoon so everyone knew how he was dOtng:A large number of riders made It Into nigbt control. A beautiful day and a beautiful rwi had come to an end. Scores for the morning were posted and everybody seemed to have lost a minimum ofpolnts.However, several of the favored riders had blown the race. They apparently m1ssed a turn and rode Into cheek two from ten to sixteen minutes early. Included In this brouhaha was Micb1gan's Jack McLane, who was d1squalUled, and BIll Baird, who was riding with a custom-build legbrace. . Sunday morning the whole tb1ng started again. The trails were much tighter and looger, and times were starting to sUp. There was sand, sand, and more sand, huge stretches of it, and In the t1elds were bumps, bumps, and more bumps. sOmetimes you felt as If your guts were going to fall out. By IlO

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