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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125808
,; o Z ~ w Z W ..J U >U by Ron Schneiders Photos by Ron & Ellen Schneiders RED MOUNTAIN, CAL., Nov. 5, 1972 Bob Steffan holds the District's Number One plate and to date has won both of the' National Enduros that have been held this side of Texas, induding the double points National Championship Greenhorn. With effectively three overall wins and two National Championships to go in this area, one would think Bob would have a good chance to be National Enduro Champion, right? It doesn't appear so. Actually it seems that a Pittsburgh rider named Bill Kain is the pain ts leader and has the championship wrapped up. If you don't know who·BiIl Kain is, don't feel bad. Very few people do. And its unlikely that you'll ever meet him, here in California at least because he can win the National Enduro Championship without every crossing the Mississippi. That's because there are about 14 Nationals less than 800 miles from his home. If Steffan wanted to hit 14 Nationals, he would have to travel about 85,000 miles and quit his job to do it. So what does the title "National Championship Enduro" mean when applied to a California contest? Precisely nothing, except that the dub has paid an extra fee and submitted to more stringen t rules. The winner of a "National" in California, or even all five of them, doesn't have a chance. There is also a race going on for Number One Place in District 37, with Carl Price having a sligh t but definite chance to edge out Bob Steffan. Are all you Carl Price fans excited? Well, don't start holding your breath just yet. By the time you read this, you will know the results of a National presidential election that hasn't even taken place as I'm writing. Fifty million or so votes wilI" be tallied in a matter of hours but the scores of 200 and some finishers of the Jackass National Championship Enduro will take three weeks to produce. It took God seven days to create the universe and it takes District 37 three weeks to score an enduro and that's that. Since it doesn't matter what ou~ best rider did in our "N ational Championship" and since even if it did, the scores aren'1 ava}lable, what is there Escape Country MX , Lock ·up-you r-rear -wheel-and -pray dow nh ill s. to report? Well, it was a very good run, according to everyone [ talked to. Three years ago the Jackass was a near-classic enduro ranging far up into the State mountains and indeed living up to its slogan, "the run that follows .the legendary trails of the Single blanket --------------------1 by Mike Cap'alite TRABUCO CANYON, CAL., Oct. 29, 1972 - The spectators at Escape Country were treated to a little something extra today as David Aldana and John Hateley showed up to add spice to the 250 Expert class. The crowd first took notice of who these two were when they took the lead in the first moto and put on one of the best two-man duels ever seen on this course. It was hard to believe that these two riders are nationally known for their flattracking and TI riding when they can also hold their own with the best of motocross racers. They had the crowd on their feet as Aldana took the win in the first moto. In the second moto, it was a bad start for both David and John as Dave was in fifth and John in seventh. Much to the spectators' deligbt, they worked their way up to the finish as in the first moto. As is their custom occasionally, Escape Country elected to double one of the Expert purses and today it happened to be the 250 purse. This seemed to be the incentive that he needed because John Hateley went out in the next moto and not only took the lead, but built it up to a point where nobody could have caught him. While it was a one-two finish again with Hateley on top, Aldana had enough points from the first two motos to take the top money with John second. Dave was mounted on an Ossa while John was riding a Triumph. Third place money went to Tom Claire on a CZ. The remainder of the 250 winners were: Amateur-Ron Rigler (Yam): Novice-Dave Martin (CZ): Beginner-Richard Hansen (Han) and First day-Bob Hertzberg (CZ). The 125 First Day was the big c1.ass as they tropbied seven places with Gordon Grainger and his Buhaco being the ·scoring leader. 11 was Mike Edwards (Suz), and Scott Brown (Suz) in that order in the Beginner and Novice divisions: The Open class which has been growing at a rapid rate again bosted a full complimen t of riders witb Scan Bodkin getting top gold in the 1st Day' class aboard his Suzuki. Maico was the brand in the Open Beginner with Ray Badham up, but from tben on it was CZ dominated with Mike N orris in the Novice, fred Cline in tbe Amateur and David ]-[elleck in the Expert, all doing it on CZ's. W.S.M-. 'Spook Run' MX------s~o-c1;-::o~s~eJ~y~p~a~ck~e~d~t~o~g~eth~e~r~th~a~t-:ev~e~n~ by Mark Milford MOORPARK, CAL., Oct. 29, 1972 WSM presented what has become a Muntz Cycle Park end-of-October tradition: the 'Spook Run' motocross. Proclaimed as a "fun event", the promoters even gave away a huge trophy for the best costume worn by a rider (received by a young lad disguised as that ever-popular beagle, Snoopy)_ The racers, however, exhibited.litt)e of this frivolity and the action on the track was as serious and competitive as ever. Beginning the day, the 100 Junior class. oft-IH:glected but never dull, was trounced by a relative newcomer, Steve Davison (Pen), beating even the regular winner, Steve Smith (Yam)_ Smith was,. in fact, pusbed down to a mere third by Casey Wasem (Yam) following several close battles for second in which Casey, of course, came out on top. In contriLst: the 125 runior~ w.ere. jill those in the top three overall had mota finishes as far down as seventh. It was the old story of a missed shift and half the pack was by. But Mike Pellez (Bul) didn't miss any shifts (or any tricks for that matter) and rode consistently enough for a first. Among the few who did ride just for 'fun' were about 15 Seniors, who showed up. They were allowed to ride at the last minute, but, alas, for trophies, not money. Dominating attention in these classes, though, was the Simi Valley Team, fielding riders in both the 125 and 250 class, and making one of the first racing debuts of the new DT-3MX, Two of these machines, bearing little more t1,an a styling resemblance to previous models, were ridden to the top two places in the 250 Senior go by Jim Dawson and' Billy Postel. Impressive, considering break-in time on the engines consisted of practice that'mQ~if\g,.'~' '." .'-------_.......................,;..:........:.-_--...;..:..:..:;;:...;....---- Jackass prospectors". The following year it was a near~triviaJ event over worn lack-luster trails that excited no one. Then last year it became a very. difficult run with a fearsome bottlenecked rocky downhill t1:lat eliminated many contestants and left the remainder with unforgettable memories. This year some sort of .balance was struck. It was very sligh t1y easier than last year. and there were no bottlenecks. Loop one, just over 50 luBes long, was' the same as Loop two of last year's run. Loop two this year was new and a bit easier than th'e first. The long scenic trails to Ballart and the Slate mountains, though, seem a thing of the past. The trails were typical Red Mountain, which is to say lots and lots of rock. Fast schedules kept the riders going at just abou t maximum speed over the en tire course and at the end everyone was very tired. One particular section, calling for a 27 MPH average, at the end of the first loop, found just about everyone late. That section contained some 10ck-up-the-rear-wheeJ-and-pray downhills that slowed riders to five MPi-I or so, and necessitated some really fast riding to make up the time. Also the club's measured distance, according to reports, was a bit off, so that the section was in fact longer than staged . this means that the 27 MPH average was actually more like a,true 29 M~verage. As far as 1 could