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/125806
'Tlis Was a Fun Onel'·· for Jim Fishback by Alice Rhea CALIFORNIA CITY, CAL., Oct. 22, 1972 - Nine-hundred happy, cheerful faces lined up at the start of the Rams' 23rd Annual Hare and Hound today at California City, head thrust fOlWard; foot on the kick starter; eyes on the banner; intent, but without the sick feeling that usually accompanies the big races. The, banner fluttered, dropped and they charged off, spre'aqing across half a mile of desert. A mile past tITe bomb, the Experts and Amateurs were still so spread out that it was impossible to teU/who was leading, -although Rich Mark and Bryan Brecker, both on Huskies, were in the first few. After that, the dust became so thick that only your adoring wife could have seen you. If you remembered that there were two nasty road crossing 'on the way to the bomb, you were over the worst of it and off to a fine day of racing. Up and down hills, twisting and turning, through the rough and back onto the open desert, Fast and fun. Torn Brooks (DKW) had the lead through the pits, but Jim Fishback (CZ) was tired of being beaten by a 125 and was pressing hard. Larry Pfutzenreuter (Bul) was out having a good time and. allowed Brooks and Fishback to have 30 seconds Oil him. Amateur Bryan Brecker (Hus) was first Open bike through, follo'1'~d by A.C. Bakken (I-Ius) as First Open Expert, and Doug WincheU (Yam), the Invader' in the pretty pin k tigh ts, er, I mean, leathers. Tom Smith (Yam) and Rich Mark (Hus) were both right up there, Lll " .'" <>. N en "" ~ ~ " o '" s: w Z W ...J () >() The intrepid desert rider shows perfect style. complete control. great aplomb and total fork-compression. And off·again, on-again side-to.-side sagebrush shuffling. Hubba. hubba. • although the order eludes me now" and Mitch Mayes came cooking through on his little Baja as first Trail Expert. Jerry Skipper (Hus) did a beautiful Walt Goss, much to the entertainment of the Shamrock, Rover and Sled Rider pit crews. At last sight, both Jerry and th~ Husky were still running. After Jerry's little number it became a game of "Let's see what this guy does," as Novices did tank-slappers and belly flops through the pits. Paul Soderquist (Hus) suffered a broken toe in that spot, but he didn't get off in the little rut. He got hit by another rider and says a Desert Daisy ran over his foot. Keep your feet on the pegs, Paul! Meanwh.iJe, out on loop two, TOIlJ Brooks caugh t his fuel line in a puckerbush and lost part of it. !'Ie finally stuffed a stick into the hole and managed to have enough gas to finish the race. (His UK has two sides to the fuel system.) Jim ,Fishback: found a place to pass and Pfutz was creeping up. On the uphill, Pfutz out-powered Brooks, but Brooks got him back going down the other side. At the next up-hill Pfutz did it again, and this time Brooks couldn't get him. And that is the way they finished. Fishback, Pfutzenreuter and Brooks. Bryan Brecker (Hus) finished fourth overall and first Open bike again today. Bryan is still an Amateur, but probably won't be for long at the rate he is going. A.C. Bakken (Hus) added a couple hundred points to his bid for the number one Open Expert plate at fifth overall and first Open Expert, followed by Doug WincheU (Yam) as third 250 Expe'rl. Rich Mark (Hus) didn't quite hang on to his super-good start, but stayed far enough ahead of the pack to finish seventh overall, second Ope'n Amateur and third. Op~n bike. Tom SmJlll is sO shy that you have to be prctty quick to catch him at the finish line as he always tries to slip away. but wc spotted his Yamaha and trottled over ii1 time to hear him telling the Rams what a neat course thcy had. Tom was second Open Expert at eigh th overall. Honest to goodness, somebody does still ride Greeves. I can't remember the last time I saw one in the top ten, but Steve Staats finished ninth on one at third Open Expert. Mitch Mayes rode his Baja to sixteentl1 overaU and first Trail Expert, leading us to believe that the course wasn't as tight as some riders said. Mitch and his Baja usually do super-well on tigh t courses where the bigger bikes have a rough go of it. The second Division Lightweight, Expert Robert Morrison (Pen) came in 18th overall, and shortly thereafter, Larry Roese/er (Baja) who always has a pleasant smile no matter how rough the ride, came in second trail Expert. Randy Milligan, riding a Ii ttle 175 Bul was third Div. II lightweight Expert, followed by third Tfail Expert Mike, Gartledge (Hod) and fourth Div. II Expert Jeff Jeffries on a wobbling Wombat. Jeff said ~he Wombat really goes like a streak, but that 'rear wheel just wouldn't handle the speed. I-Ie shouldn't complain. Aft$:r all, he did h.ave three spokes left. Dean Modesett isn't riding that decrepit old DeeKayDoub.leYou any more. He has a nice new shiny one and he goes just as fast on it as he did on the old one. Be got first Div. II Lightweight Amateur. Joel Semple (Baj) and Jack Dailey (Hod) diced it out for first Trail Amateur, wi th Jack taking the win at 77 overall. Novices took a long time to finish, hut then they had a delayed start_ Ron McCamish (Suz) was first, followed by John Hessick (Yam) and Walt Morrison (Suz) and they were just about that close together. Chris Bengtssom (Mnk) and Wilfred Sato (-Bul) one-two'ed to Div. II Novice spots and Tim Bowman (Hod) and Shawn McKean (Ric) tOOK first and second Trail Novice. With the pleasant weather, none of the riders were anxious to get ou t of the sun. The race was so much fun that they were unwilling to have done with it, so they stood and squatted around the finish line, bench-racing and gossiping and tclling each oth_er what a neat-o race it was. One of the best this year, they all agreed. But long after everyone had gone home; just as the Rams were packing up to leaye the finish ~ine, a little puff of dust appe.u:ed in the distance. "Probably somebody who broke down," they told each other. "Lel's wait and give him one of our neat finisher pins for being so game.. " But he hadn't broken down and he was riding a Honda SL 70 j'ust as fast as it would go. It was eight·year-old Tommy Coopcr, finishing his very first race - both loops. Proudly dropping the finisher pin into his glove the way he has seen Dad dO'so many times, little Tommy kicked the bike over and rode off, tossing over his shoulder, "That was neat." "I ' .. , ~ A.C. Bakken was first Open Expert. That used to mean an overall win. These days it's good for about fifth.