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/125823
Page 9 August 28, 1973 5 FO.IED .AI:I•• PISTUIS bl HONOA 750 YAMAHA 360 SUZUKI 400 Street .... Trail ... Dirt ... Motocross - Venolia makes all sizes and bores from 2%" up. CHECK US OH OELIVERY! WE CAN'T 8£ BEAT! SEND $1.00 FOR C"ATALOG & DECAL. 2160 Cherry Industrial Circle Long Be·ach. Calif. 90805 (213) 636-9329 • 531-8463 0UaIity For Champions IIacbd By Semce!! ~R.C;g ~~ & Motorrycle Accessories QutJlity Ill-n. TorrIllCl,Ca."(Z13)32tI-. DIRT BIKE WEST ~ MOTORCYCLES "THE MEXICA.N CONQUERO,A" So•• s."",e- Aec..,orl.. (%13) 340-6521 'rt 31 Canoa. illWinIM c.l\Oga PUll. C.III Il:lQ3 'Mike Patrick's • YAMABA of CORONA· 1101 E. 6th St. - Coro:ia (714) 735-7721 \ CRCCock's Crow Enduro By Larry Langley Photos by John Ulrich & Langley BARSTOW, CAL., AUG. 19 . A good turnout of over 400 riders braved the 100 degree plus heat Sunday to take part in California Racing Club's Cock's Crow Enduro. I had not ridden any of CRC's previous enduros but had received good rg>0rts from club members who had. ,Summer in the Mojave Desert is not the best time of the year to tackle an enduro, but CRC wisely. set key time at 7: 00 and kept the enduro down to about 51 miles so everyone would be done before it got too hot. The pits were located. off the Sidewinder Road near Barstow and, by Saturday afternoon, had tilled considerably. There was one good hill right outside the pits which soon turned in to a desert Matterhorn as everyone tried their hand at hill climbing. I t was soon apparen t who had the good enduro bikes as the high horsepower MX bikes got about three quarters of the way up and proceeded to dig a trench, and then bad to watch woefully as the Honda XL-2S0's thumped right on by them. The highlight of the afternoon was a URA member whO' tackled the hill on a 50cc Honda Minibike. Everyone looked on in disbelief as he inched his way up the hill and with a little pushing at the end made it up, as it great cheer went up from the URA pits. Saturday night was spent with preparing schedules, bike maintenance, illld a little wine drinking. I welcomed John Ulrich, Cycle News new assis tan t editor, as he came out to ride his trrst enduro. In fact it was his first time riding in the desert. John was riding the new CarabeIla 200cc enduro bike which he had for a test for CN. Good looking machine .but a bit tempermental to start. Look for an upcoming test in CN. I explained the enduro rules to John and tried to give him an idea of what to expect, we then hit the sack as we would be up at the crack of dawn for the early start. , We were on the line for the 7:01 start, we were on Number One. I've never ridden on the tust minute, so I was 'looking forward to it. As out-time fmally counted down we started out on a fun 51 miles. We went pretty fast to the three mile check, and I was pleased to tmd that CRC's mileage agreed with mine spot on. The first loop was fairly easy but one 24 MPH section had us humping to stay on time. No way the kids, Powderpuffs, and C riders were going to stay on time there. We zeroed the first check but hit the second a minute early. Bad check to hit early, it w.as a tiebreaker. Thought we were on time but was not about to layout 10 bucks to protest the check. The third check was located in the wrong place. The sign was in the right spot on the Stoddard WeIls road but somehow the checkers went to the wrong place and were only two and half miles from the finish, which is a no-no. Obviously, the check wiIl be tfuown out. It was too bad bu t no big tbing. After a 33 minute break we tackled the second 100p. The s"cond loop was supposed to be harder than the first which was OK since the kids and Powder Puffs only were required to Tide the tlrSt loop. CRC laid one section that was really neat. They went along the side of a rocky hill off camber, and you should have seen the different techniques used to get thru the section. The loop then made a 120 degree loop back around, but a lot of riders missed the turn and ended up back on the first loop. r don't know if it was a case of bad marking or a case of foIlow the· leader, bu t the riders who got on the first loop missed the best part of the enduro. CRC took us up a narrow sand wash into the hills which was really a ball to ride. After another tiebreaker check, we headed into some ridge running before dropping into the pits for the end of a Backing one's bike downhill nearly eliminates tank bangers. Team Bultaco tame out for that big CRe brass. fun run. CRe seems sincerely interested in pu tting on good family type runs. A couple of suggestions to them would be to use Webco type turn arrows instead of the narrow, hard to see, ones they are using, be a little more consistent in the placing of the arrows before a turn, and to .check OU t the. danger spot;> on the course a little more. closely. There were a couple of unmarked ditches which took their toIl in crashes. Overall though, it was a good run and we'll be back. It was interesting to see the Bultaco Enduro team out for some fun. They seemed to enjoy the course, too, •