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/125662
By Bob Sanford No one knows exactly who won, yet , But it doesn't make that much d1!ference, Indeed, It's true that the Elsinore Grand Prix Is advertised as a race, And it's equally true that the riders try their damnedest to grab the checkered flag. But all of that is really s econdary. Mor e than a race - more than a setting for rider s to vie for top honor s - the annual fr oli c around the streets and back country of Elsinor e Is a Motor cycle Event, with a capi tal M and a capi tal E, It's a chance for "New Imag e" motorcyclists to put their thIng together, And, baby, that's exac tlywhat theydid, Describing the Gripsters Motor cycle Club bash Is a dltflcult thIng. But try this : To the atmosphere of one Oklahoma r odeo, add flavoring fr om the Le Mans, France Grand P rix. Sift In the continual excitement of a three ring circus, along with some beer dr1nk1nglessons acquired at the Oktoberfest In MunIch, Germany. For coloring, add a movie star ot two, an occasional hippie, a few " old Image" biers, and a telecopter constantly hoverIng overhead. Finally, add at least three thousand motorcycles - complete with noise and fumes - to 40 or 50 thousand people fr om Middletown, U.S.A., a variety of campers, vans, tents, and several tons of food and drink, Let the entire mixture s immer for two days around the shores of sunny Lake Elsinore. When completed, send tired happy Ingredients home, to await a repeat performance next year • But all of this Is not to say that the Grand Prix doesn't feature s ome very fine racing. Far from it, For two days, nearly 600 competitors dashed around the horrendous ten mile loop at breakneck speeds, Leaving ten at I~ALJY E Dirt riders adapted quicklY 10 lhe pave .. nl and Ihe antics on the sl reel corners had Ihe big crowd aghast. .... ..:.f" ' S. Norton finds the IImll In Sunda]'s race . Crossing the railroad Iracks. No, he dldn' l make II. - '. .. T. Massana and Kr. Krohn, Monlesa leam Irle d 10 think small as charging Sie ve Hurd looks for a way around. SIeve Is a good bel for Sunday' s wln .. r. a time, riders screamed down the streets of Elsinore, each trying to be first to tackle the mud, rocks, sand and hills of the off-road section. And shortly after the last riders had left , the first group would make their appearance at the other end of town. At 70, maybe 80 miles per hour, the r iders would attack the asphalt, slowing only brlefiy for the corners and hairpin turns, And then back to the boonies again, In the event that the rider and bike held together, contestants were'required to make ten complete turns around that obstacle course, laughingly described as a race track. Officially, it all started atabout9a.m . Saturday, when Jim Foxe, ractng dtrector for the Grlpsters, called the 0-250cc riders together to give them their instructions. He told them a little about the race, and a lot about how to get dlsqual1!ed, A lIttle after 10 a .m ., they started letting riders Into the ballpark, where all bikes had been Impounded the night before, And around 10:30 a. m.; riders, led by last year's winner, 8111 Onga, began pushing their machines toward the starting line, Eleven o'clock, the scheduled starting time, came and went, and riders were still manhandlIng their bikes out of the Impound area (Foxe said later that he had " mis cal cula ted" the time required to get all bikes pushed to the starting Itne). Eleven thirty, twelve O'clock, and bikes wer e still being pushed Into position • But finally, shortly after noon, the signal was given, and the engines wer e started, Absolutely deafening! OVer 1000 unmuffied engines wh1n1ng at top RPM, waiting for the offlcial to give them the go ahead , And then it cam e. (Continued on page 10)