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/125746
Indian Dunes Draws the Riders and Fans By Pete Szilagyi Photos by Racing Photos VALE CIA, CAL., Sept. 29, 1971 The first leg of the Indian Dunes Championship Series saw a record turnout of riders, 480, most of them post-entries, riding for cash, trophies, and points in the biggest Dunes turnout since Tri-Am qualifying. The largest class was the 250 Juniors with 120 entries. The 16 classes had to be limited to two motos each because of the CTUel reality of only so much dayligh t per race day. The timing was perfect: the last moto ended just as the sun slipped below the mountains to. the west and the moon rose in the eastern sky. John Rice and Ken Zahrt, 125 class favorites, both had their problems. Rice crashed on the f:rst lap of the first moto and was never able to catch up to the front-runners, In the second beat, John R. was wailing away in his usual manner until his Puch's rear fender said "adios" and wrapped itself around his swingarm. John finished the race riding one-handed while he tried to muscle the erran t part from between the swing-arm and wheel. Zahrt jumped out to a quick lead in the second moto after finishing third in the first go-around. When he rounded the blind turn at the end of the back straight, Ken center-punched a 100 .J unior who had just finished his race and was motoring around the track taking in the noonday sun. It was a spectacular crash that confirmed my long held but not oft disclosed suspicion that 14-year-olds are made of rubher. Zahrt was unhurt and rode his Bul to third place in the restarted moto just ahead of Dean York's Carabela picante. Larry Watkins (DKW) won both 125 Expert motos handily and showed that the gold he collected in Canada was not a gift. Eddie Cole's Bultaco provided Watkins with his closest competition. Cole led the first moto for several laps until Watkins managed to sneak past for the win. Watkins also collected third place Open class shekels aboard a new 383 CZ. Larry had to do his thing from afar, though, as Jim West (Hus) and Bill Payne (Mai) put on a super show as they raced fof the lead. West just couldn't get a good start and had to play catch-up motocross in both heats. Visitors to the wonderful world of motocross in the 250 class today were Steve Bast, California State Speedway Champ, and John Hate1ey, AMA class C shoe. Neither went home any richer, but I suppose that it is good to occasionally get out and see how the other half lives. In keeping with the trend of attaching unusual goodies to helmets, a Junior class rider seems to have scored a major coup. Among the usual beer cans and rubber ducks was a plastic scale model of an Atlas Rocket complete with full launch pad and miniature technicians. .... '" Ill- .; u o ~ w Z W ...J U >- U V .0.1.E.Picks aWinner By John Adcox MOORPARK, CAL., Sept. 12, 1971 The Valley Observed Trials Enthusiasts' second trials was as interestingly different as the Grst. Muntz Cycle Park was chosen as tne site and a well laid out trials it was. A total of 18 sections dotted a 4-mile loop. The kids and beginners rode the IITst six sections except they took different exits than did the Amateurs. The Amateurs rode sections 1 through 12 three times each and the Master-Experts rode sections 7 through 18 four times each. The most in teresting sections included a slow hill climb. The start was at the base of a hill, then. a sharp left around a tree started you off camber up the hill. Halfway up the hill a left turn then to the top. But that's where it ended, it circled around a tree at the top then headed straight down to the bottom. Not bad except just before the bottom a90-degree turn to the right was installed. Those with excellent brakes (not just good, but excellent). strong arms, and just the right touch were able to clean it. This type of section should be included more often to test the bike as well as the rider. Everyone will remember section 8. Laid out under some trees, it provided some excellen t endos for the camera bugs. The section was simple enough on entrance and the rest of the way through. The real kicker was the exit, down in a ravine, a sharp (too sharp for most) right then straight up the bank. Only a few cleaned it and most took the ultimate - a 5. Section 10 offered some endurance as it was about 200 yards up a gully" an excellent section as most of it was just Bob Nickelsen uses the embankment to aid in making a quick lelthander up a wall. }... Crossin' her up with purpose and control, Kevin Walker took second in the Masters' class at the V.D.T.E. Trials at Muntz Cycle Park. natural. Water is always hard to find and such was the case in this trials. Section 12 nad a few inches of water only because some en terprising checker had constructed a dam across a small trickle of a stream. In the Kids class Randy Radar won a tight one over Jack Morrison by having more cleans as each lost 11 points. The rest of the field of 13 was separated by only 20 points. The Beginners class is for those who wish to find out what trials are all about. Some clubs have the Beginners ride with Amateurs, but 1 think V.O.T.E. has the righ t idea by putting them in the Kids class. This still gives them an excellent idea of what it's like as some of the Kids sections are very tricky. Top Beginner was Raymond SoHa. Maybe he'll give the Amateur classes a go at the next rials as he lost but 8 poin ts and doing it on a Honda 90. The 250 Amateurs saw John Bourdeau take it all by a good m'\rgin. John dropped 25 points to second place Elmer Norman's 39. From here down to 18th place the point spread was only 30 points; even a loss of a couple of points could drop you three places or so. The heat took its toll in the Amateur class with 25% not finishing. The 125 Amateur class had Jim Laudeman on top with 59 points lost; close bhind was yours truly with 60. Apparently the Experts thought it too not to come out as only seven showed up and only four managed to fmish. Terrence Griffiths lost 70 points to take first with Jim Sheehan second with 75. In the Master class, Rich Bledsoe fmished with 33 for the win. Second place Kevin Walker dropped 39 and Mark Eggar lost 41 for third. (Results on page 32) ./