Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1971 06 08

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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D STREET LEGAL thoroughly enjoyed the run, particularly the forest part. The Pasadena Club has one whale of an organizational job to do for a run of this scope and they do it very well. Riders carry their own time cards and turn them in at the end of each section which cuts down on the number of complaints. Maps are funished for the use of the riders and pit crews, as are nicely printed schedules. Course marking, a big problem in past years, was quite good this year. A few places in the Sunday morning section could have stood a few more arrows or a bit of lime, particularly one trail intersection which had red ribbon going both ways! If you happened to pck the wrong way, it only took a couple moments to realize your mistake (the other ribbon was obviously older and sparse) but a couple of cardboard arrows would have helped. The simple fact that some 250 riders managed to fiind their way over 480 miles of mountain and desert is in itself a tribute to the marking job. It takes a whole lot of hours. The only complaints that I heard concerned the measurement accuracy which migh t not have been quite up to the standards of the rest of the run. Sunday distance between Four Comers and Pearblossom was either in error or was run with the world's fastest speedometer. Mileage was running somewhat over 20% faster than on my VDO rear wheel driven speedo! My guess is that whoever measured the section had his speedo calibrated for a 21·inch wheel, but he was running.a 19·inch wheel. In any event, the mileage through that section seemed consistent ~ w -' U > U Craig Young, only 15, is the youngest member of the Penton Team. He won his class at the recent "Chicken" Enduro, and seemed to be doing well in the Greenhorn. Ron Schneiders Ellen Schneiders . . . c:: ., " w John Shedd . .. rti Z Photos By: .; Antelope Ramble;s H;re & Hound. If h~ wins Greenhorn .... and it was the same for everyone, but it's tough to try to make that much compensation. So many riders seemed to be doing well that it's impossible to try to pick a winner. The results will be out in a couple weeks. Several teams made organized efforts including the Filtron team with stars Dave Ekins and Dean Goldsmith and Bob Staffan and the Penton team with Doug Wilford, Dick and Craig Young, and Gary Calkins. Kawasaki was offering quite a lot of contingency money for an overall win and there seemed to be more Kawasakis out there than jackrabbits. Steve Hurd was riding one. He makes it look pretty good. Last year I was bombarded with mail when I said that, all things considered, the Greenhorn wasn't all that tough. It's always set up so that there is nothing that even a poor rider can't get over. It is not like many enduros where it's just impossible for a poor rider to complete the course. But going fast for 11 hours, over difficult terrain takes a special talent: endurance. That's what the Greenhorn is about. And if you want to be a winner, add mental endurance tothat. Accurate riding for 480 miles. Endurance. Greenhorn. It's one of the best. No one rides Greenhorn without a pit crew. The pit crew has leapfrog ahead of the rider and be there with gas when he arrives. Most of the pit crews are wives and friends who take on the frustrating job out of love or friendship and get very little for it. Their job is often almost as difficult as the rider's because to get the trucks to the next stop often requires that they drive at 70 or 80 mph over bad roads. They get just as tired as the riders but they don't get any trophies. Any rider that wins a trophy should have his pit crew's name engraved righ t alongside his own because he wouldn't have it without his pit. Right, Greenhorners? . A new era 0 f cooperation migh t be dawning. The CERA loaned 12 of its members to the Pasadena M.C. for checkers. The favor is to be !returned on the CERA's Golden Bear Enduro this fall. Maybe there's hope for enduros in Southern California afterall. Steve Hurd rode a Kawasaki Big Horn, and had trouble keeping on schedule. He'd get ahead and stop for a smoke, but the smoke didn't last long enough and he was still hot into most of theml .~.Another View By John Shedd DUARTE, VAL., May 29·30, 1971 For a quarter of a century the Pasadena M.C. has put on one of the roughest, toughest enduros in the country, the Greenhorn. This year the club, whjch was established in 1914 celebrates the silver anniversary of the 'Horn, as it is lovingly called by man. The first Greenhorn, in 1947 had its start at Johnson Motors, and now 25 years later the two·day 500-mile enduro moved its start from Pearblossom back to BSA, Triumph importer's parking lot. In 1947, when Max Bubeck won the 'Hom on an Indian four he wound his way through the beauty of the Angeles National Forest before venturing into the hot dry Mojave Desert. This time, once again, Greenhomers, after many years of starts in the desert dust, were treated to the green scenery of the forest. Saturday morning was cool and damp and the riders enjoyed the opportunity to splash through mountain' streams before hitting the desert flOor at Pearblossom. In past years one of the hardest things riders had to combat was the heat of the Mojave. This year, the entire run was cool and windy, and at the finish Sunday, riders encountered thick fog and a sprinkle of rain' as they were of the 'Horn coming out of the mountains. Several riders lost their machines over steep dropoffs as they lost control on the slippery mountain road. No injuries were reported here but one rider was seen hanging on for dear life to a small tree as his machine bounced to the bottom of a 60·foot slope. The toll of men and machines that fell by the wayside on the 500 miles over green mo u.n tains and dry brown desert was heavy, but for those that completed the grind there were big wide smiles of pride as they knew that for them, win or lose it was a job well done. When Max Bubeck won the first Greenhorn, he lost 26 points. Last year's winner, Bob Steffan, brought his Harley in with an identical socre. No one, in 25 years has ever zeroed the Greenhorn, and perhaps no one ever will. John McLaughlin, won in 1952 with the greatest loss of points of any winner with a score of 936 points, and in 1949, Doc Trainor won the third 'Horn with the best score ever of 993 points. And tltis year ... At this point no one knows who won, but one thing is for certain, whatever his name may be, and no matter if his score is the higbest or lowest in Greenhorn lore, it will be a victory earned from supreme effort and his name will be long remembered.

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