Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• WHOOP·Df·HILLS We came to a little knoll and there's a small knot of people watching the next hill, which was so steep and long that 1 thought surely they must be kidding. I sat there and stared. Two riders on big Huskies came along. They, too, stopped and stared. Then they charged the hill side by side. They got about two third of the way up and there they stayed. Deep down in my heart of hearts 1 knew my 125 wouldn't make it up that hill if it were paved, and 1 wasn't sure it would help if there was a winch at the top. But I charged the hill anyway. 1 didn't even get as far as the Husky riders. Fortunately, there was an easy way around that one. You just followed the "W's" which are the wrong·way markers.. Another couple miles and there was another hill, thick with dust from scrambling tires with many pushing cyclists dinily visible. As I was contemplating that one, a friend came alongside and said sympathetically, "Not much of a run for a 125, is it?" 1 agreed, and added a few choice abusive remarks about the members of the Oakland Motorcycle Club. 1 was past the point of wanting to push up any more hills so I just went around that one too, picked up the markers on the other side and went on in. According to one rider, that was the worst hill of the bunch with melon sized boulders near the top and dust so thick you couldn't see. 1 was quite happy to have missed it. Fortunately, the club's placement of checks was no more expert with respect to catching peop.le who short-circuited the course than it was with respect to getting the checks on an even minute. With all my hill-dodging, I missed no checks at all! (Cont'd. from page 12) One might gather from the foregoing description that 1 didn't thit:! k much of the event, but he would only be partially right. With my small bike and very late number (I started an hour and a half after the 'leaders) 1 was somewhat in the position of a blind man committed to a duel and armed with a water pistol. Not only was it not very sporting, my chances of survival weren't all that great! However, guys with better numbers and/or bigger bikes had much less problems and many thought it was great. Dave Ekins found it impossible to hold the schedule between cbecks 2 and 3, but with his torquey 250 and early number, he had no trouble with the hills. With any uncanny knack for catching the true inner vibrations of his mechanical steed under stress and translating it into a perfectly·mimicked sound, Dave said, "Y oU know how that Bultaco is. It just went chuggy-poo, chuggy-poo right on up the hills." I caugh t myself wondering if 1 could find true happiness with a hill-climbing bike that went "chuggy·poo". Dave's son Greg had a later number than mine and he too had to find his way around the bottleneck, but he lost only a half hour. Needless to say he didn't win anything, and wasn't very happy about the situation. There were lots of members of the Polka Dots M.C. riding the event and since the Polka Dots are from the area, 1 asked a couple of them how they liked the run. "Not worth a damn," said one and he looked like he might take a swing at me if I pursued the subject. "!t's really great," said the other Polka Dot, "I can't imagine a new club doing well with their f"ast run. " 1t was hard to get a M ... - '" ~ w Z W ...J (.) > (.) 'l • No, the young lady's not giving him a blessing. It's just a sticker to show he completed the first half of the run. consensus. Actually, the run was a pretty fair one for a first attempt. Much of the riding was very nice, th e schedules were a bit fast but not ridiculously so and the course was reasonably well marked. The bottlenecked hills were simply poor judgment that will no doubt be much unproved next year and the club is already aware of the necessity for putting checks on even minutes, having collected quite an earful from some of the Experts who attended. Most important the run was through nice, interesting territory that was, for the most part, very enjoyable to ride. There were 750 starters and the club thinks about half of them f"mished. RESULTS OPEN CLASS A Marvin Hurlburt Larry Salo Dave Meyer 250 CLASS A Dave Stover Dave Ekins Bill Powell 125 CLASS A Clyde Reaves Cosby Chestnut Kim Proctor OPEN CLASS B Ben Bower Dell Raplnl Don Pitts 250 CLASS B Pls. Lost Hus 400 -34 Hus 360 -37 Hus 360 -.sO Hus 250 -21 Bul250 -25 Suz 250 -32 Pen 125 -35 Pen 125 -48 Hon 125 -57 Hus400 -17 Hus 400 -37 Vam 360 -39 Robert Collins Tom Kuklo Dan Santos Vam 250 -37 Hus 250 -38 Vam 250 -51 Ralph Buffa Mike Pili rang DKW DKW DKW 125 CLASS B Kevl n Ingoa lis -40 -45 -46 District 36 Poi.t 8,"'e FOLEY CINCHES FREMONT TITLE By Bill Spencer FREMONT, CAL., Oct. 23, 1971 National Scrambles Champ Jim Foley cinched up his saddle on the 250 Expert class tonigh t with a wire-to-wire win over Rick Hocking and John Gennai. Foley's 13-point lead over both Gennai and Hocking guarantees the series win and keeps his effort for the District title very much alive. Gennai, on the other hand, has been floundering and with the loss of one night's racing at Vallejo, the short five weeks left of racing in the season are clOSing down his chances to take Foley's title away after a two-year domination. Second place in the high-point battle will go right down to the last Main Event as both Gennai and Hocking are tied with 45 poin ts apiece. With Hocking's recent win at the Portland indoor and Gennai's attempt to defeat Foley in the scrambles battIe, the ou tcome will be a great race. In the 500 Junior battle, Bruce Rust and his 360 Montesa were on their way to another great win when, unexpecteclly, going over the jump became a chore. Bruce has been doing spectacular things of late and with Carl Rodrick chasing him, this race is one of the best. On lap three, Rust made a tremendous leap over the pseudo-Ascot IT jump and did a back flip. While the jump itself is not like Ascot in height, it certainly does get you up and out.At Ascot his bike was into the comer when it hit. Luckily, there was no damage, but Rodrick had no difficulty in winning while Rust turned 14 shades of embarrassment. Gary Trammell on the Mike Roach BSA did a double take as he went by, but still managed a second place. John Gennai was unhappy with his performance in. the 250 Main so he picked his feet up in the 650 Expert go and rode around Bill Budde for a beau tiful win. He is beginning to take more time in his efforts to pass other riders and is doing a good job of setting them up before passing with his blinding speed. As the word about Fremont starts to get around the racing circles in other areas, the riders start to flow in and two more newcomers were winners on their flfSt time out here. Kelly Melssac came INDOOR RIOTS Regular indoor racing starts ou t Saturday night, Nov. 6 in San Jose, Calif. when the Bob Barkhimer Associates crew put the Exposition Bldg. in shape for 1/10th mile indoor motorcycle racing. This series if part of the regular 'indoor series that San Francisco Bay Area riders enjoy every winter and is what makes them so formidable at the other indoor races around the country. Al Kenyon, one of the regulars on this circuit, won the Madison Square Garden, Yamaha Silver Cup in its first effort and with many other riders, comprise the great indoor racers. What makes this racing a riot is the size of the track. The surface of asphalt and the diminuitive oval provide for little passing and lots of crashing. Without a doubt, this type of racing is building crowds allover the country and providing a new vista for motorcycle racing.,' -- -- Carl Rodrick (87p) and Bruce Rust are two show-stoppers...just ask Rust how he stopped the show. down from Novato Novice affair while won the 200 Junior Fremont. One more for this season, but for the future. to win the 175 George Kalamaras on his first ride at night event is left more is scheduled (Results on page 28)

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