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/125690
LLOYD THOMSEN WINS TOUGH fOREST RUN Story by Ron Schneiders Photos by Bob Harris CHADRON, NEBRASKA, September 6, 1970 - For enduro riders the Pine Ridge Enduro was undoubtedly the year's best buy. The entry fee was a mere $5.00 and for this you Ieceived: 1. a very handsome shoulder patch 2. your gas at each of the checks 3. lunch at the noon check (roast beef sandwiches, baked beans, potato chips, pickles, Cokes, etc.). 4. One very tough enduro lasting from 8:30 am till after dark at about 6:30 pm. The enduro 'was not very long, only 85 miles, but the territory was so rough that the fastest schedule was a slow 12.3 mph. Even with such slow schedules only the fact that the weather was extremely fine allowed 25~ of the 1 TO riders to finish. Had the temperature been around the more normal middle nineties, it is doubtful that more than half a dozen riders would have finished. The course consisted mostly of thick woods interspersed with occasional grassy meadows. Often there was no trail at all, just a marker a hundred yards ahead, get there however you can. It seemed like much of the time you had your chin on the gas tank to avoid a branch while you were simultaneously trying to jump a log. Sometimes the route would be up a nice sandwash, normally pure delight for Californians. The only trouble was that these too were laced over with trees and tIlled with treacherous logs. No making up time here. The meadows were a ball to ride. The grass was up to the axle nuts and it was very smooth. But even though you could ride at the top of fifth, you didn't dare do it because there were holes that couldn't be seen, sometimes laTRe enough to bury a jeep. Every hill in the morning section was a pushover for all but the first· ten riders. Sometimes it was three pushovers: your own and the two bikes blocking the trail in front of you. On one hill the only sensible way to get up was to ride up a few yards to the side and then drag your bike under a barb wire fence. On another hill there were about fifty riders at one time in some stage of delay. It was steep, loose sand and it was necessary to make a hard right hand tum halfway up. On the outside of the turn there was nothing for 500 feet straight down. Since it had been a very dry year, 1 was told there wasn't any water on the course. I'm not sure what constitutes water to a Nebraskan because there were easily 15 stream crossings, some up to two feet deep! In order to be able to run this enduro, the Pine Ridge Cycle Association must work very closely with the U.S. Forest Service. Apparently the Forest Service is very cooperative and the cyclists in tum try to cooperate. Every bike was equipped with a spark arrester and was checked both before the event and at each check. Anyone who lost his spark arrester was pulled out of the event as soon as it was noticed. At the riders' meeting we were told that in event of a fire, the run was over and we were all firefighters, right there and then. Fortunately there were no fares. One novel feature of the event was that there were many gates to go through and each rider was required to either shut the gate behind him or physically hand the gate to the next rider. Failure to do so was grounds for disqualification. The run was not without some problems, most of which were attributable to inexperience. The first of " It's been a dry year. There's no water on the course." J•••••, •• ,~ 8raDdPril Bock Gateher 5"5 '.S.,•• N N "Hey, where's tile t&* trail?" these were the schedule speeds which were figures like 12.3, 11.7 and 7.6. These .nade it impossible to ride schedule accurately, especially since the run was laid (jut with a speedometer that was over 10% in error! To complete the picture, Key Time was a half hour earlier than real time! This was due to . the la.rge turnout which threatened to run the event well into the ·night. Surprisingly, most of the riders were not bothered by the speedo error because they had the same error: it comes from fitting a 21 ~, wheel to a Yamaha Enduro model. The screwy schedule speeds didn't bother many either because almost everyone was behind from start to finish (if they got that far). A more serious problem resulted from letting the club members ride the event. Members of the sponsoring club won all but one of the trophies. Although there is no denying that they are good riders, they were riding in their own playground, less than fifteen miles from town. Some riders were able to shon-eut difficult sections of course due to great familiarity with the area. The club members also got most of the early numbers because they knew who, when, and where the sign-up was going to be. No mail entries were accepted and no drawing was held. This practice, (letting club members race) has been discontinued over most of the country, and marred an otherwise very enjoyable run. The club's lack of sophistication led to yet another interesting fact. The scores for the enduro were all computed and the trophies were all awarded by 8:30 pm. The Chief scorekeeper was even able to give me a copy of all the trophy winners and their scores by 8:45. I'm sure this performance is !,nly due to inexperience and that if they'll write to one of the vastly more experienced clubs in the California area they can find out how to take up to three weeks to compute the scores and how to delay the presentation of trophies almost indefmitely. I for one .hope they never attain this degree of sophiStication. It's really nice to know who won and where you fmished before you've forgotten the run completely. In this case the 'overall winner was Lloyd Thomsen of Chadron, whose score was a ~w36. . (Results on page 24) "He, .r. Dealer" We carryall types of insurance S••• Up T. 251 JOHN •• MAYNARD INS, 3441 MtIOr Ave., L.A., Ca. (n3) 83&-5211 MOTOCROSS - 9/3/70 Ascot Park Gardena, Calif. 125 SENIOR 1st Jeff Wright - RICKMAN 500SENIOR 1st Rich Thorwaldson - RICKMAN EUROPEAN SCRAMBLES - 9/7/70 Lucerne Valley, Calif. 125 SENIOR 1st Jeff Wright - RICKMAN DUSTERS HARE SCRAMBLES - 8/29/70 500SENIOR 1st Rich Thorwaldson - RICKMAN BONNEVILLE RICKMAN eight valve wins 700cc class record 133.296 M.P.H. as worn by the European Champions Available at your dealer now. Send checks or money order for $6.25. Buffalo Breath Motocross 905 East 19th St. Santa Ana, Calif. 92706 Dealer Inquiries Invited NPG LUBRICANTS P.O. Bex2031 lisa. Vie'. Ca. o .... '" ce coverage - garage Ilabi Iity fire - theft & dealer bonds & :. .n lIIIIIIfI.;::.._====