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'" 1 - .... '" Number 2 Tries -Harder, But ~ By Ron Schneiders c Jll ~ w Z W ..J (.) > (.) • • • Photos by Ellen Schneiders RED MOUNTAIN, CALIF. Jan. 17, 1971 Whitey Martino has the Number "I" Desert plate this year, Rich Thorwaldson, the Number "2", and that's the way they finished in the second point event of the new year. It's shaping up to be quite'a desert battle this year. When I walked to Thorwaldson's truck after the race and asked him how it went, he said "Second! Again!" very disgustedly. Whitey's truck wasn't more than fifty feet away. The two desert aces are more alike than they are different: Both are now Checkers, and both are one syllable responders when you ask about the race. They said the course was "Great!" They were never more than a couple hundred yards apart the whole race. • Whitey was third to the smoke bomb. "I almost ran into him," Rich grinned, and I got the distinct impression that that would not have been an altogether unpleasant event. Tom Poteet was ahead of them. "And Duffy Hambleton was already there," Whitey said "I don't know where he came .from!" It was as though he was dropped "from a sack in the sky. They passed him; and then Poteet (when his exhaust chamber fell off), and from then on it was their own private race. They were so intent on the competition I don't think they'd have noticed if the sky had turned bright green unless it somehow affected the race. Both Whitey and Rich mentioned one feature of the course, the downhill sandwash where Rich fell off. Rich had gotten ahead when the going got tight. "My bike turns a little better," Rich said, "I got ahead and was using those tight turns to stretch my lead when I got off. I bent my brake pedal." For them that was the end of the race. Whitey was ahead by a little and he stayed ahead. They better get those new numbers pretty soon. Thorwaldson's 117 is almost obliterated by time and sand. Whitey's number is all right, he just needs a new motorcycle to put under it. f/.iJ Husky looks like it served time in Rommel's Afrika Korps. The looks' aren't what's disturbing Whitey though. His bike is 7 months old and worn out. In this race he lost 3rd gear, which came close to costing him the· win. Since he's Number "1", he just gives it to a mehcanic and tells him to fix it, right? Wrong. He fixes it himself 'after work - and pays for the parts as well. Don't be surprised if you hear Whitey muttering Swedish curses with a Japanese accent in the near future. , The rest of the field went a little slower than Rich and Whitey and' correspondingly, they noticed a few more features. Like the fact that there was comparatively little dust, even at the start.. Most people consider this an advantage, but when 'lou can actually see all 640 starters converging on the smokelromb and you're in the.middle, it gets a bit scary. Most of the time the field is enveloped in dust and you don't see more than two or three bikes at a , tim~. The first loop started east iI! almost a straight line, going out toward Christmas Canyon. It then swung on south toward the Lava Mountains, going quite a ways before finally turning back north-west to return to the pits. The downhill sandwash that Rich and ,Whitey talked about was in the beginning of this last leg. Coming down out of the Lava Mountains they pitched into a tight arroyo from a steep, rocky -downhill. The sides were steep and still had quite a bit of snow just off the trail. For the most part the going was smooth and the turns were the swooping kind where you could ride high up on the bank and then shoot off into the bottom. Yau could get going very fast, but there were rocky sections right in the bpttom where you crossed and these were dangerous if you got going too fast. This same wash or canyon or w.hatever you want to call it was used in the Jackass Enduro this ; The incredible Terry Clark past Novem1'>er, but it was quite ,; Trailbike winner. different now because of the snow. IV Before, it was dry and slippery. Now it was moist with great traction. The second l.oop was shorter, faster and easier than the first. It was only 27 the specialty machines. miles long as opposed to 42 miles for the first one. Both loops contained an ·The Bike Shop abundance of rocks which took a pretty 2021 Via Burton Anaheim, Calif. 92B06 good toll of rims and running gear, to (714) 635·1450 say nothing of skin. Everyone I talked (On State College Blvd. to thought it was a really good course. 1 blk. north of Riverside Fwv.1 This is unusual. Almost always you can find someone who didn't like it, but not We service what we sell today. The same was true for the course marking and the general handling o£"the run. Just absolutely no complaints. The San Bernardino M.C. had many of its BMW Specialties members out on the course with flags 411 West Whittier Blvd. making sure that the riders didn't miss a Montebello, wlif. 90640.(213) 724·9474 sharp tum, helping them across the e specialze it Jawa/e-z,] C ~&&a~~~~: Penton - Hodaka - BSA,..-...,..",,Yamaha - Norton Husqvarna ~ I eyeu eITY~ ~n (c.... ~~ ~.", .. (i-michu~me j!,.~ '/$IIlnes SUdllellJ ;h SI",lehrome is • honey ijp : I, s quick . . . lIunny PMPETIllON rube $1 CHEMICALS' Cu $1.45 713 Estes SlIMt I... F.II. I -