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/125848
Windin'&winding in Lucerne Sto ry & Photos by Jim Stewart Results by Sue Phillips LUCERNE VA LLE Y., CAL ., FEB. t 7 As a poster read at the SIgn-up area, "The second loop IS not for beginners." And if the up hills didn't get you, maybe the Desert Me's canyon did . Or mayb e yo ur scooter just wouldn't go 49 miles o f sand and up hills o n the second loop on one tank o f gas. Of co urse 10 the cold constan t blowin g w ind also helped to keep several rid er s fro m even st ar ting. Bu t desert racers are a strange breed and no threats of wind or gas shortage can stop them fr om ridi ng a Hare and Hound. Even when it is held in th eir second home, Lucerne. The smoke bomb was a very long, ro cky, and fast seven miles. Righ t a fte r there was a small rock hill which saw an end to several of the rid ers' hopes of fmishing right off. The Novices d id t heir usual job of making a mo un tain o u t of a mole hill. Even th e Ama teu rs and Experts had their troubles, all trying to fit on the one trail going over the top at on ce. Chuck Pettigrew held dow n the overall position in to the pits. Chuck rides a 250 Cooper and hasn ' t b een an Expert all that long. Bu t he had his work cut out for him as A.C ., Adent, Don Whitehorn , an d Bob Balen tin e were all hot on his heels, Unfortunately, Pettigrew's b id fo r the overall win didn't last to the checkered. Inst ead , Mar k Aden t and his swift 250 Penton , wh ich he borrowed from a frie nd, were th e first to power th eir way into the finish . Mar k , riding with a hurt k nee, trade d overall positio ns this w eek wi th A .C. Bakken who had to .settle for a second instead of a first Overall like last week. Bakken is making a strong bid for th e number one plate in the Open class th is ye ar, and with his past deser t racing experience and Mayes and Fishback going to motocross. his chances lo o k good. Bakken still got the first Open Expert, adding t o hIS d omm ation 01 the Open class la tely . In fact th e o n ly other threat lately for th e Open bike w in , is comi ng fro m an Amateur by th e name of Bob Bal en tin e, wh o this weeken d go t a no t her third ove rall , first Open Ama te ur. Bob usually rides a Ya maha, but this weekend he rode a Husky and got alo ng with it very wel l. This was Ballen tin e 's fifth first place A mateur finis h and he has o nly ridden fifteen Distric t 37 races in his life. Number 771 Open Exp er t was the fourth rid er to reach the finish line, bu t was not recognized as Mi ke Caud illo, frantic effort to push his bike into the finish he was passed by another constant contender in the 2 50 class, Takashaski sponsored Benny Padilla , who stole the third 25 0 Expert position away fro m Wotring only y ar ds fr om th e fin ish. Wotring still got a fourth 250 Exp ert , thus stre tch ing his poin t lead over his fello w 250 Experts. Fo rmer Kin g of th e 175 cla ss, Bill Frian t, tried his hand at riding a 250 this weekend and got himself an eigh th Ove rall , fifth 250 Expert. Following in Friant' s knob trac ks was t he sixth 250 Expert, Genio Beat ti e, and th e th ird an d fourth Open Ex perts, T . Rider an d Te rry Davis. Beatti e and Davis b oth won Overall s befo re and it is no surprise t o see the m fin ish up high in th e ove rall sta ndings. All en Hu ll a nd his Yamaha were the second co m bination of Amat eur rid er and m achine to fin ish , ge tti ng an un ch allenged secon d Op en Amateur. Number 10 35X im proved a p osit ion fr om the preceed ing w eek en d to ta ke first 250 Ama teur. T his is th e second wee ke n d in a ro w I've been unab le t o get his name, but if h e k eep s this up I'm sure I' ll get ano ther chance. Last w eek's win ner in this class, Ch ris to phe r Aus tin , traded p osit ions with th e m yst eriou s 1035X to take seco nd 250 A ma teur. R on H olst, top division 11 Expert. finished an impressive twenty-seventh overall, o nly six places over t he nex t C Expert, J eff J effr ies. Co nsistent Mon te Lee, Way ne Lee and O pe n bike Expe rt Bob Romine filled ou t the top five Exp erts in this class. Mea nw hile Mik e Merri c k, Jeff Lam bso n, an d J eff Kaplan battl ed it ou t fo r their top th ree fin ish ing posit io ns in the 175 Amateur class . Evert Kemrenaar, riding a 350 Honda, (with a street ad d ress as a number o n fro nt), p icked up ano th er tra nsfer to war d A mate ur as h e was th e first Novice he avyweigh t to cross th e che ckered. Evert w as first overall Novi ce throu gh the pi ts, but Mike Lei ghton pulled all th e sto ps o ut o n th e second loop to m ove fro m fift h Overall to first Over all Novi ce by th e fini sh . Mik e was also riding a 250 wh ich gave him th e class win. Ed Rodine followed Leighton m ost of th e w ay for sec o nd in th is class, while Joe Polvjan ce let both of these riders slip by him on the second lo op and set him back from fir st to third. Bru ce Ogilvie, mounted on his Harley, pulled o ff his sec o nd-in-a -ro w 100 Exp ert win , leaving Dennis Scamrnel, Terry Ray e , and Trailbike King Larry Roescler to fight ove r the next th ree finishing positions. Phil Cloward d id the sam e as Ogilvie in the Trail Am ateur class, leaving Louis Darling Jr., Ru ssell Jenkins and Curt Randell to fill in th e top fo ur. Chuck Lloyd didn 't even notice his flat fro n t tire as he went o n to first T rail Novice ah ead of Robert Myers, David Bo wman, Cody Watts and last two w eek ' s winner Din o Leo ne. T he o nly real bad scene of the weeken d to o k place at th e finish with a coup le o f b attling fin ish ers con nec ted h andlebars and cras hed into the spectators, injuring a lady seriously and several o thers, too. T he chec kered flag sh ould a lways be given to the rid er s some 5 0 to 75 yards away fro m th e roped off finis h ing area where th e spectato rs stand hope fu lly wai tin g fo r th eir returning heroes. T his wasn' t d on e until afte r the acci dent. Live an d learn , bu t it is just suc h a sha me it has to ha ppen when suc h thi ngs can be avoide d by b o th spectators and racers ali ke. _ Results O pe n E x : 1. A .C . Bakken; 2. Mike CaudillO : 3 . T . R id er ; 4 . Terry Davis ; 5 . Ji m Sumners. O pen Am : 1. Bo b Ba le ntine ; 2 . All en HUll; since it was h is first try at rid in g an O pen bike. Caudillo , rid in g a 350 Bul, said th is was h is best ride ever. No w he will be so me th ing for the o ther Open Experts t o worry abo ut . Jeff Kirk pulled off ano ther fifth Overall but imp roved a position in his class fro m last weekend by getting a second 250 Expert, (showing th e o ther 250 Experts why hi s number is 4X ). J im Wotring has been in th e top fou r 250 Experts every week en d sin ce the first race o f th e ' 74 seaso n and wou ld have been th ird 25 0 Ex pert this weekend, but as he to p ped the finish in g hill his b ike suffered a gas sho rtage. In h is 3 . N. NiCl'lo ls ; 3 . S . Knap p ; 4 . O. M yer . Open N o v : 1. Evert K emrenaar ; 2 . M. O rne las : 3 . L. Patt e rso n ; 4 . 967; S. W. Tra vis. 250 E x : 1. Mark Aden l ; 2 . J eff Kirk; 3. Benn y Pad i ll a ; 4 . Jim Wotr i ng : S. Bi ll Fr ia n t. 2 5 0 Am : 1. l035X; 2 . Ch ris t o p her Austi n ; 3. Roger D ab a ich ; 4 . D av id Sy m on ds; S. M ark S te e le. 2 5 0 N ov : 1. Mike Leighton; 2 . Ed R o d inei 3 . Joe Pot vi an c e : 4. Andres Tha lma n n ; 5. Tom Erl c k so n . 175 E x : 1 . Ro n H o lst ; 2 . Jeff Jeff ries ; 3. Mo n t e L ee; 4 . Wayne Lee : 5 . Bob Rom ine . 175 A m : 1. Mike Merrick ; 2 . Jeff L a m ps o n ; 3 . Jeff Kap la n ; S . Pa t r ic k John son; 5 . 750c . 175 Nov : 1. 66 1 c; 2. G erald Cum mingham ; 3 . Mike God f r e y : 4 . Andy Klein: 5 . T o n y M i st retta . i oo E x : 1. B ruce Ogllive ; 2 . Denn is Scammell : 3 . Terry Raye : 5 . La rry Roeseter , lOa Am : 1. Phi l Clow ar d: 2. L o u is Da rl in g, Jr . 3 . R usse ll JenkIns: 4. C ur t Randell . 100 No v : 1. C huck Lloy d; 2 . R ebe r t My er s; 3 . DaVid Bowman : 4 . COd y Wa t t s: 5 . Dmc Leo n. Enduring products The Non-Deflatable Range Tube Manufacturer: Am erican Cycle Prod ucts P.O . Box 33 13 City o f In d ustry Calif. 9 1744 Te l: (71 4) 59 8ยท1210 When I first read the ad in Cycle N ews about t he new Range T ube 1 was q uit e in t erested as I was s uffe ring fro m a rash of flat tires. I called American Cycle Products and arranged to have a pair of tubes inst alle d o n my bike fo r testi ng . I hau led my trusty XL-25 0 Ho nda do w n to EI Monte Yamah a wh ere owner, Cal Suk u t, has been working with Ame rican Cycl e in th e developmen t of th e t u be, for mounting. The tube is made from so lid foam and resembl es a b ig blac k piece of sp aghe tti. (See Ph oto ). The m o un tin g is quit e fran kly , a bitch . Picture mountin g a tire with a conventio nal tube fu ll o f air. The id ea is to have th e tire off t he rim, put the tube "Non-deflatable" Range tube. in, lub e up every th ing real good, and work t he tire o n the rim. Like I said , it's a bit ch . Once on, th e tire see ms to h ave abou t 12 lbs. of t ire pressure, just about righ t fo r d esert rid in g, whi ch was the nex t stop for testing out th e tubes. Afte r a hard d ay o f riding th e foll owing concl us io ns were rea ched : 1. Stability on harder surfa ces was adequa te. 2. Traction in san d was outstanding. 1 cli rned o ne san d hill with no run at it and w as getting suc h good tr ac tion o n it the fro n t end kept trying t o co me up. (Of an X L-250? Co me on ... Ed.) 3 . Th e ex tra weigh t of the t ubes could be fe lt, espec ially on th e fron t. T he fron t end wasn't quit . as easy to l o ft over the whoop-de-doos as pr eviously but it . didn 't see m to affect t he handlin g. T he o n ly quest i on left was durabilit y . Wo uld th e tube stand up t o th e rigors of d esert /enduro riding? T he following weekend th e rear tube started collaps ing and by Saturday af terno on I was ridi n g a flat tire. It was a bit e mbarrassi ng ex pla ini ng h ow a no n -defla tabl e tu be had go ne flat. w. tore t he ti re apart an d th e tu be had dete riora ted badly . T he front tube still looked OK. I put in a co nven t io nal t ube and when I got home I cal led American Cycl e Pro du ct s and told them the bad news. They wer e ver y surprised th at the t ube had gone belly up. Could it have been a fluke ? I thought may be so but