Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

BILLY AND GENE BEST BIKES AT BAJA! t.:l By Terry Pratt ENSENADA, MEX. June 10, 1970- San Diego area Husqvarnarlders Bill Silverthorn and Gene Fetty rode a relatively troUble free race around a pounding 558 mile course to bring home first place honors In the motorcycle class In this year's Baja 500 sponsored by the National ott Road Racing Assn. Only Parnelll Jones, the overall winner, had a better elapsed time than the Husky pair. Jones drove a brutal Ford Bronco to a new Baja 500 record at 11 hours and 55 minutes. That's some five . miles or so Is paved road and very fast. Later Bill told us, "We only had a fourspeed Husky and we were geared for about 80 MPH. I knew that the road would put us at a disadvantage compared to the guys with eight speed boxes or some at the really fast bikes so I ~'putt1ng out a lot at extra ettort on the paved section. I passed four bikes before the pavement ran out. The first 10 or 15 miles was pretty spooky, There was quite a bit at tratflc and lots at dogs and cattle along the road. About one third at the way down the pavement there was Just a little bit at a Ught rain but It wasn't - The first section of the course is a paved public road. The bikes squeezed through pretty easily. We wonder how Parnelli Jones' 150 mph Bronco would have handled this situation? hours under the old mark. Fetty stopped enough to matter. I was making up time through the turns." the clock Just atter mldn.lght Thursday "After the pavement ended the trail morning with an elapsed time at 12:36. Preston Petty and Bob Ewing had was st1lI basically 80% fast. There were some rocks and constant rIPples. I wantsecond best motorcycle time aboard ed to give the bike over to Gene as soon their BSA Metisse and they were followed by only one minute by 250cc winners as 1 could so he could get through the Armond Caprio and John Kenyon on bad rock sections before dark. The dust was Ught because at the rain the night their Yamaha. before and there was enough wind to The WhItey Martino/Malcalm Smith keep the trail clean. The bike had no team crossed the line four minutes problems and the only time I lost was later according to the elapsed time clock. when I had to back track about 114 of a That's phenomenally close racing atter mile when I took what I thought was 500 miles at trails, rocks, roads, darka short cut." ness and breakdowns. "When I got to the rider change at Whitey Martino rode down the EnsePapa Fernandez we adjusted the chain nada starting ramp at 12:01. He was the first at a long line at bikes and cars that and Gene took over. The next section between Papa Fernandez and Puertocitos bit the course one at a time at one is the worst stretch at road In Mexico. minute Intervals. It took unt1llate atterThat's why I wanted td get there In time noon to get everyone underway. to'let him go across it before it got dark. Bill Silverthorn led ott for the winning bike team at 12:08. The first "80 It's a real rock staIrcase." WhItey Martino had lett Ensenada seven minutes ahead at Billy and turned the number one Husky over to Malcolm Smith with an additional five minute lead. Malcolm had flown trom Ensenada that morning and took over the bike st1lI airsick from riding In the 11gbt plane through the stormy air. Malcolm and Gene made approximately the same time across the rocky section and a real race was develpping although they were probably never within sight at each other. Now it was dark and the foam rubber came ott the headlights to outline the bushes and rocks. Some riders wore an additional light mounted on their helmets and looked like hard rock miners. Bill Silverthorn rode the motorcycle class winning Husky over the first half of the course before turni ng it over to Gene Fetty who turned on both the lights and the throttle to nail down second overall. ~. ) , ; No, this isn't the Ensenada Stock Exchange. Excellent radio communication ·.,and. the big status. board kepi ,everyone informed. 1 I ,~ ¥:\ • Crossing Diablo Dry Lake while st1lI In the lead Malcolm's gearbox seiZed and ground the bike to a haIt. Somehow all the 011 had escaped and the box overheated. Someone had forgotten 011 cans for Malcolm's pack sack so he unstrapped the tool kit and transferred oil from the fork legs to the gearbox and toPPed it ott with cooling gasoline. Now second gear would work and by prOPlng the rear wheel In the air he could kickstart the engine and get moving agaIn. Malcolm said that some of the hills took an extra pass and that he probably lost about 40 minutes with the problem. (Continued on page 25) Malcolm Smith gets some president Ed Pearlman. 2: t.:l ...:J U ;:..., U

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