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11II
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t The continuing saga of Mayes vs. Fishback
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!Any Pfutzenreuter dies in accident
By Alice Rhea
Photos by Marcia Holley, Chris Hom and Larry Langley
LAS VEGAS, NEV., NOV. 24
Mitch Mayes and Jim Fishback
fought a duel from start to finish
in the sixth annual running of San
Gabriel Valley M.e. 's Barstow-toVegas, with Mitch putting his
400cc Husky across the finish line
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m 3 hours· 47 ~utes, Just 41
seconds ahead of Jim's 400cc CZ.
Barstow California, which credits
itlelf with 'being the heart of the high
desert, knows the town will be flooded
wi tb motorcycle racen beginning
Thanksgiving afternoon and lasting until
early Saturday evening. Hotels and
resturants add staff to accomodate the ...,
crowds and the liquor stores lay in
heavier-than-usual supplies of Coke,
Gatorade and beer, the three items
without which no proper desert race
would ever ~t off the starting line.
Last year's limit of 2500 riden was
increased this year to three thousand
and each racer brought along his pit
crew so Barstow was jammed with
almost seven thousand people, filling
every h~tel. and motel ro.om and
overflowmg mto the two campmg areas.
By noon on Friday it was almost
impossible to find anybody unless they
were staying in a hotel Sign-up was
flowing along smoothly, with vehicles
approaching on a one-way road and
exiting, having made nearly a full circle
which brought them back to the
freeway. There were a lot of cars
moving back and forth along the
camping road, four miles from sign-up,
but unless you were very patient you
either jumped on a bike to do your
visiting or you postponed it, rather than
sit idling your motor while waiting for
the traffic to move along.
It had been raining off and on in
Barstow and it drizzled a little on
Thunday night, raising hopes that the
Fishbeck finished less than
minu18 behind M8yes.
race would be less dusty than the
average desert even t.
The start was later than last year's;
8:30 for Am-Ex and hacks and
dunecycles and 9 :00 for Novices. By the
time the mile-long starting line had
Mitch M8y.. con1illUlld his victory stre8k; into V.... in 3 hours, 47 minU1llS 8nd lIhe8d of over 1,000 other finishen.
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formed the temperatUre was bearable
and the frost had melted off seats and
tanks, making the waiting a little easier.
While the more nervous riders were
busily trying to keep their minds off
Continued on poge 8
