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/125830
October 16, 1973 Page 28 Bill Silverthorn still led AI Baker after eight laps of the announced eight lap race, but Baker took over on lap ten (?! I of the announced eight lap race. Mickey Thompson's spectacular off-road mess By John D. Ulrich Photos by Marcia Holley & Ulrich RIVERSIDE, CAL., OCT. 7 The Mickey Thompson-Delco RV Spectacular was the most heavily promoted off-road race ever. It promised more, you heard about it more, it cost more, but when it was all over a lot of the 15,000 attendees wished they had seen less. The official on the grid before the Baker's winning Kawasaki _ • fmal motorcycle combined race kept referring to the riders as "motorcycle drivers". The original seven mile course was cut down to just under six miles, quitll trick, especially the stand. and some people said the change favored the cars; 0 thers, the bikes. That's what the "Spectacular" was all about...bikes versus cars. It was billed as the defmitive match race to determine which "ruled", bikes or "cars", in this case aU manner of fourwheeled off-road racers. The overall winner was to get 550,000, as well as the glory of settling the age old question of which type of vehjcle was faster..:nyahhh, nyahhh, nyahhh, so there! Grid positions and one-third of the total purse were handed out to winners of preliminary races Saturday, October 6. Overall winner and Open Pro class winner was the Bill Silverthorn/Gene Fetty team on a Honda XL 350. The biggest controversy of the weekend would center around Silverthorn and a last minute race change on Sunday. Jac!, Boles and his Monark 125 were first in Jim Fishback was third overall. the 125 Sportsman class, and would be in the center of the second biggest bike scoring controversy Sunday. Gary Hymes/Jim O'Neal (CZ) took Sportsman 250 honors. Jim Fishback (CZ) took Pro 250, Tim Davidson (CZ) Sportsman Open, and 14 year-old Bill Glore (Hon) took 125 Amateur and Overall amateur win. Barton Crandell (Bul) was first in the 250 Amateur class, and Chuck Coutts (Hus) did it in the Open Amateur. Thus the stage was set for the final race Sunday. Team Kawasaki was ready, as was Team Husky. Conspicuously absent were much advertised Rolf Tibblin, who broke his ankle in two places Saturday wi thou t even getting completely off the bike, and J.N. Roberts, who was rumored to be doing stunt work in New York. The first indications of the way Sunday would be came when attempts to turn up an accurate, up-tcrdate rider's list from any of the three press j nstaUations were without positive results. It 'Was looking Ijke the whole deal was a giant gaudy balloon, hollow on the inside: all the appearance, but none of the working mechanisms. The most spectacular single feature of the whole affair was the amazing degree of organized djsorganization. The race sponsors and officials carried off the illusion of knowing what they were doing very well... too bad they didn't take lessons on race organizing from some of the local Southern California motocross tracks. Last minute changes were the order (and disorder) of the day. First the shortened course, then the dropping of the parade lap after a heated rider's meeting yelling match, Team Husky mechanic versus Mikey Thompson's men. When the almost 60 bike two-wheel race finally got off the line, Bill Silverthorn fought his way into the lead. He led the entire pack for eight laps, the previously announced length of the race. All the way Silverthorn successfully kept the pursuing Al Baker (Kaw) from stealing the lead. Then, on lap ten, Baker got ahead. How, you may ask, could Baker get the lead away from Silverthorn on lap ten of an eight lap race? That question sparked the spectacular winner's circle debate/protest that sound.ed the death knell for any hope of accurate scoring by Thompson's organization. It seems that the race officials were concerned when they discovered that the eight laps they had told the riders they were racing did not take a full hour like they figured they would. They forgot to consider the shortened course in their figures, you see. When this little error was finally discovered, the officials decjded to cover their mistake and provide the spectators with the promised hour of racing by just letting the bewildered racers keep on riding for another three laps. By the time the white flag came out, Al Baker had passed Silverthorn, set the fastest lap time of the whole deal including the "cars", and won the big bucks. Of course, he djdn't find all this out until another seven hours had