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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125814
BAKKE
IS THE HEAVY ONE
friant Clinches; Mayes Talces 'first Overall Win
cable and yanked on it. But Art did
fmish the race, wbicb indicates the kind
of spirit separating the winners from the
also-rans.
o intent were we on the exciting
race for Number Ones that we really
missed a great deal. First Amateur was
Charles Gates (360 Yam) who must
have had a race every bit as exciting to
him as A.C.'s and Friant's were to them.
Same goes for Mark Steel (250 Bul) wbo
was first 250 Amateur.
Mike Johnston rode his 175 Puch in
for first Div. II Amateur for the second
week in a row.
Chuck Cartledge (Hod) got the word
that he won his last race for first Trail
Amateur today. Cbuck, for the second
(or more) week was first Trailbike, not
just first Trail Amateur. At the start of
next year be will be carrying an Expert
plate.
Proof that it was WFO country most
of the way came with Brucc Ogilvie and
Wayne Cook, bodt on Baja's, who
usually fini'h very well up~ front,
running a Iitlle behind today, as first
and second Trail Expert. Somebody
mentioned about this time that it was a
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The last line-up of the 1972 D-37 desert season.
by Alice Khea
LUCERNE VALLEY, CAL., Dec. 17.
1972 - The last race of the season
usually draws a good-sized crowd and
today was no exception. ~lany of us
came out not to race but
Lo
observe the
fmal battle in the war for the very hotly
con tested number one paltes in both the
500 and Div. If Lightweight classes.
.Jackrabbits ~l.C. used much of
Lucerne Valley's WFO country for
loday's
race,
interspersing it
at
unexpected intervals with the area's
notorious rocks. a few sandwashes and a
couple of bilis.
Many people failed to recognize
Mitch Mayes as he and Rich ~lark diced
it out for the fast fifteen miles or so.
Mitch was riding his 400 Husky and.
carrying number 312.
Rich (Hus), recently plagued with
bad luck, got more of the same today
when his rear wheel turned to scrap
metal, leaving ~litch out in front all by
himself.
~litch main tained a respectable lead
through the pits, followed by Larry
Pfutzenreuter.
Pfutz's
battle
was
decided last week and he Flas now
reconciled himself to the number 2x
plate and appearea to be throughly
enjoying this final race of the season.
A very intent Bill Friant (Puc) was
third J.hrough the pits. Bill was taking
no chances on ON Fing today and letting
youn~ Tom Brooks have his number one
plate in the 175 class. There were no
crowd-pleasing wheelies or waving, just
hard crouched-over-the-tank racing.
Pie Plate number F charged by,
puzzling everybody. lIe turned out to
be Mark Aden t wbo is usually on a
much smaller bike and is now trying out
the 250 Yamahas.
The battle for N umber One h as been
in a five-way lie for several months. For
a While, it looked like Art Knapp, but
then Tom Smith (Yam) started getting
hot. Jack Knebel (CZ) seemed to rally
well from his broken shoulder and'
road race.
started racing hard, Jerry Jones just
kept quielly gathering up the points and
. dte youngster, A.C. Bakken. (lIus)
setLied down and started finishing well.
- Although ~litch ~fayes was first 500
Expert through the pits, he is not in the
running for Number One so his fans
cheered when-A.C. Bakken (1Ius), riding
like he was carrying a basket of eggs,
came through the pits ahead of his
competition.
Steve taats (Gre) and Tom Smith
(Yam) were within striking distance,
followed closely by Tom Brooks who
was trying hard to get more out of his
tiny 125 DKW.
We waited to see if the first Novice
was somebody we recognized, but it was
(I think) number 391, destined to
remain anonymous as he will have a new
number !lex t year.
We then dashed to the finish line.
determined not to miss one second of
the excitement as the two still-contested
number one's were decided. Half of the
people in the desert followed as fast as
their pit duties would allow and an
eager crowd waited.
Mitch Mayes, very happy with his
first overall win, rolled down the finish
chute and sat patting his lJusky on the
tank, saying, "This sure beats riding my
little bike."
For the last twenty miles of the race,
Bill Friant (Puc) hung right on Larry
Pfutzenreuter's rear fender. About
twenty yards from the fir.ish line Bill
decided to make his move, and although
these two are in different classes, it
looked like the race of the lifetime as
they came roaring down the hill,
overshot the finish, made a sweeping
turn under full power and banzaied
across the line, Friant ahead by a
knobby. Both were laughing and
congratulating each other on a really
great race and the scattered spectators
crowded back around to join in the
~
When it was all over, A.C. Bakken had earned the desert Heavyweight Number One plate.
mirth.
That was it for the Division II
Lightweight (or 175 class if you prefer)
ra e. Bill Friant will carry number lc on
the front of his Puch next year.
Jim Fishback, next year's lx pulled
in
behind
Larry
Pfutzenreuter.
Although that title was cinched last
week, Jim rode a fairly hard race "just
in case" they had miscounted. No sense
taking chances.
Grinning, almost laughing with joy,
A.C. Bakken rolled to a stop behind
Fishback.
Gary Charters (Hod) put off surgery
for a slipped disc to race this last one of
the season. He said his bike was
handling a Iitlle funny and no wonder as
the rear shock was hanging on by the
lower bolt.
Chris Fields (Yam) was first girl
today. running a litlle farther back than
usual as she stopped and sat with friend
Sandy Termin until help arrived. Tbere
was no Rescue 3 today and friends
brow·beat the ambulance into going
after Sandy. Sandy su[fered a broken
collarbone and pelvis and is now resting
comfortably at Martin Luther Hospital
in Anaheim.
'"'Vow, I just knew something was
going to break," he said, "And [ was
More beroics were performed when
Harry, a Rimrunner, got off. lie was
leading the Novices. In the dust, number
really taking it easy." A.C. hroke his
backing plate on a rock last week and he
had to win today to be Number One.
And that is what he is. "Wow," said
was a Desert Baron who stopped and,
two racer ran over Harry. Number three
giving up his chance to win this one,
flagged off the hard-charging pack until
A.C., who's first 'Amateur ride was the
fellow Rirnrunners arrived to take over.
final race of last season, "I still haven't
gotten used to tbe idea of being umber
I wish we knew your name, fella, bu t
congratulations to Desert Barons for
having such a great guy in your club.
Chuck Carr (Hus) and Gary Barber
(Hus) one-twoed the Novice class,
followed by Don Boyer (Yam) as first
250 Novice. Phil "Long Overdue"
Haskell was fourth Novice and first
Dinosaur (for the uninitated that is a
650 Triumph.) Phil says Triumph will
dominate the desert again next year as it
58 Amateur."
Malcolm Smith saw A.C. ride in
September of this year and took him
under his wing. A.C. worked very hard
to justify Malcolm's faith and that
Number One plate ough t to be good
enough. However. we might point out
that A.C. still has one glory to look
forward to: he has never been first
overall in a 0-37 desert race.
Art Knapp, who will be Number Two.
nex t year, was running pretty well up
front when the world opened up and
swallowed him and his' Husky. Art
stayed near his hole and waved off some
of the hoard behind him, while casting
about for something to use to repair his
broken handlebars. Art finally came up
with
a screwdriver, stuck it in
the
remaining
stub
of
the
left-side
handlebars and rode the rest of the race
(most of the fust loop and all of the
second) like that. We never did figure
out what he did when he needed the
clu tch. I assume he grabbed the dangling
did "In The Beginning."
Bill Decker rode his 125 Yamaha in
for the honors in the Oiv. II Novice class
and finally, Chuck Loyd came in, the
very first Trail Novice to make both
loops.
My apologies to all who were left out
of results during the past year, or had
your n