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On the line. A formidable collection of desert Experts. Bergquist (back to cameral turned 20 years rid:ng experierl(;t! into a very
Rubberman simply picked up the
Puch, kicked it over and rode grinning
across the fi\lish line, third overall and
first Division II Lightweight Expert.
Larry Bergquist declares he has been
riding 20 years. I suppose he must have
started when he was awfully young,
because he doesn't look old. And he
doesn't ride like he is very old, either.
You really couldn't tell much what he
looked like when he crossed the finish
line as he had ridden all the way
without a front fender and he and his
Bultaco were simply covered with mud.
You could see the pleased grin, though.
Larry couldn't help smiling abou t being
fourth overall and second 250 Expert.
You know what they went through
to get there, so let me just name a few
of the heroes for you: Howard Utsey
(Hus) a strong, consistent finisher got
fifth overall and second Open Expert.
Gene Smith, who had been favored by a
lot of people to win this one, did take
first tractor bringing his Rickman
Triumph in for sixth overall and third
Open Expert.
Cactus Cats and Kawasaki cheered
for floyd Burk, Jr. at seventh overall
and third 250 Expert. Dave Cheney
(Yam) was first Amateur and first 250
Amateur. A hard ride and a good one
for Dave.
Larry Wilson, who has taken three
years to transfer from Novice to
Amateur, made his second Amateur ride
today and golly-bum if he didn't drag
that CZ in for second Amateur and first
Open Amateur! Nice goin' Larry.
Righ t behind Larry was fellow Sled
Rider Bob Johnson (Hus). Bob doesn't
ride much but today he rode much and
hard to pull off fourth Open Expert at
II th overall.
Mitch Mayes had to have that
throttle against the stops all the way to
'finish 12th overall. The Baja is a little
bike. Congratulations, Mitch on first
Trail Expert. A fantastic ride. A rider
really has to work hard on a 100cc
machine; it just doesn't have the
horsepower to go over some of the
terrain the big bikes pull with ease.
All 386 finishers really deserve to
have something said about them. It was
a fan tastic thing you all did today. You
pitted your wits, skill, . strength,
endurance and guts against Checkers
M.C., the desert and 1000 other men
and you pulled it off. You finished.
That in itself is a great
accomplishm.ent and you can be
justifiably proud of yourselves. I wish I
had room to print the story of the ride
each of you had. But that is desert
racing. It is a personal thing and mostly
you ride alone. No spectators are there
to see you save'it when you should have
had the worst get.off in the world. And
nobody to see your courage as you pick
yourself and your bike up out of the
dirt, grit your teeth and coninue. But,
by God, when you finish; you know
that you have done something! And
ain't nobody can take that away from
you.
Let's hit the high spots.
Dean Modesett (DKW) had his first
125 Amateur ride today. He beat his
own dad, the district steward and all but
twenty-five of the other riders to come
in 26th overall, second Div. II
Lightweight and fIrst Amateur in that
class. Ron Hall just isn't going to let him
stay Amateur for long.
Also in the top group were: Cordis
Brooks at 22nd overall (Hod), who had
stopped at least fIve thousand times to
tie the seat back on his bike and still
was 'Second Trail Expert.. Larry Roeseler
(Baj) who crashed near the start and
says there must have been forty people
in the pile and he thought he never
would. get dug ou t bu t finished third
Trail Expert at 24th overall, and Bruce
Ogilvie (Baj) who got to Parker 27th
overall and fourth Trail Expert,
Mike Johnson (Yam) of the Rim
Runners hasn't been around the desert
much lately. He rode some motocross
and helped out his dad at Rawhide Park
(He actually helped lay it out.) but now
he is back at the desert, and any Novice
who can come to Check Chase and
fmish first Novice and 'first 250 Novice
at 75th overall in a race of this
magnitude won't be unknown for long.
The second Novice was also on a 2!j0
Yamaha, P. Grove of San Gabriel Valley
M.C. at 85th overall, just ahead of D.
Butterfield, who was first Open Novice
on a 400 Husky. At 89th overall came
1.. Rodgers on a 360 Yamaha for fourth
Novice and second Open Novice.
One D. Brown (DKW) was first Div.
II Novice, 20th Novice overall and 129
in finishing order. Great ride.
Not a bad day for the DeeKays as
Jim Szymanski rode his DKW to the
second place Div. 11 lightweight Novice
position.
Trail Novices often are only required
to go one loop, or 35 to 40 miles in a
respect~ve
overall.
desert race. Sometimes they have to go
both loops. Check Chase asked 170
miles of them and T. Bowman had it.
His Hodaka was the fastest in the Trail
Novice class. He worked super hard to
win that honor and he finished at 1'72
overall.
You galla be tough to fInish this
race, right? You gOlla be strong. Right!
You gotta be a real man. Wrong. Sandy
Termin (Yam), a really cute girl who
can't weigh t over 100 pounds with her
riding boots and helmet on, finished at
183 overall. All you can say about that
is "Wow". Nice gain' Sandy. It was~a
long, tough race.
And down the list at 284 overall was
Lynn Wilson (Yes, she sure is a girl.) on
her Baja, lookipg tired and happy. I
understand Lynn was one of only about
four girls who signed up.
. Another was a Ms. L. Watson (Yam)
of OCMC. She \'(.as first girl Novice.
Kookie (Hus) won a trophy for being
first dog today. He finished a 150
overall. Oh, yeah. His passenger, John
McCowan finished, too. It really
wouldn't be a desert race without those
two characters.
Sidehacks. Eleven of them started.
357th overall R.]. Whitney (BSA) and
passenger R. Jones finished. Simply
amazing! and at 386 overall D. Davis
(Han) and F. Acevedo finished in
official last place. On a hack, that is
really something.
All tired, some wet, some
disappointed, some exuberant, the
riders and pit crews headed home. It
was heartbreaking for. some. All the
time 'and ,money they spen t in preparing
(Please turn to pg. 12)
