Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Yucca Valley High School Motorcycle & Moped Economy Run March 30 8a,m . San Diego St art & Finis h at Organ Pavilio n, Balboa Par k $10 entry IJ&I Al l proceeds to M.O .R.E. , TV Coverage Tro phies For in form ation call Ben Harra ll (M.O.R .E.) 714.287.1681 O hhh, you t ake t he wet ro ad and I' ll t ake t he dry road, and I' ll get to t he f ini sh before ya , . , Chuck Robinson (43) an d Mark Benton play d ice in the 100 class. By Rex William Reese YUCC A VALL EY , CAL., MAR. 9 Today Yucca Valley High School held its first ever motocross here on the school grounds. About 31 riders showed up and over three Do it for me . . . su bsc ribe now! \ ~:=i'&;~ hundred spec ta tors ca me o u t to see it all. The m otocro ss ·was th e b rain , child of Mark Miller wh o o rgan- stroke carbs. Also conversions for alcohol & nitro fuels. BURAK BYE-PRODUCTS 151 70 Raymer 51. .. Van Nuy s. C.A (213) 780· 1768 (714) 894-2623 Penton, Monark & Tyran Sales Service Parts Accessories D&R Cycles ' 718 1 Westminster Ave. Westminster, CA 92683 1.": 'f"'~ ,'ll d'~l~lj .llj ,~ . . . . . , , , P QBo a4 44 , C" P' ~S . CA 90630 01 41 811 ·7417 COMPET IT ION MOTORCYC LE WHEEL S DES IGN ED , BUl l T AN D REP AI RE D SEN D 50¢ f'O R CAT A L OGI Mik e 22 P"trick's ~ )' Y~th~~. ~~!~~A (714) 735 -7721 I ized the even t fro m to p to bottom. He and hi s friends had to hassle with red tape, un in t er est ed teach ers wh o d idn' t t hink a bunch o f kids co uld or sho uld d o th is sort of th in g excep t with th eir " d ivine" guidan ce . a nd th e usu al dumb d etail s th at d ri ve no rm al people c razy. T hey d idn 't d o to o b ad a j ob in bea tin g seemingly im possib le odds. Mark , Doug Couzens , Bo b Bo ldt and Ron Cob b spent abou t fou r d ays la yin g out an d preparin g the MX track on the high school's p layi ng field. T hey grade d it an d laid o ut old tir es to m ark it. The bi ggest prob lem was tha t t he wh ole area was Oat, and th ey didn't have a ny he avy dut y eq uip m ent to d ig up the gro und, They m ade up for the gene ral flatness by letting th eir im agina t ions go wild. A few th in gs were done to t he indeed ve ry flat track to m a ke things interesting . There was a ten foot h igh up p e r le el, ab ove the pl ay ing fiel d. This · v was made in to a s up e r lau n ch ramp j ump going up th e w all o f d irt th at led to t he up per level. Th e tr ack m ade a t ight rig ht han d turn th at led out to a t en foot d ro p away th at sen t ride rs thuddi ng down on to th e main field again. Th e best sp ot o n the whole tr ack was a jump In fr ont o f the ba sk etball co u rt s, beca use wh en any body went o ff thi s j ump, he'd come spl ashing d own into a hug e w at erh ol e that dre nched bike , ride r, and an y b od y wh o was dumb enough to stand close to th e ho le. Mar k loa ned m e hi s Elsinore so I cou ld find ou t w hat the tra ck was like . T he star t was a lit tl e hard packed . T he star t led up to a reall y tigh t left hander , ~oin~ · into 'a snort. straigh t ,.t hcn t' a sm all S-tu rn . Another short straight, then up to the jump in fro n t of th e basketbal l cour ts, and splash! in to the waterhole. Pasfthe h ole, it was ba nzai Yahoooo ! Bet t his im pressed the toots ies . up the ten foot wa ll that sent the better rid e rs into sky -hig h crosse d up j umps . T hi s too k rid ers in to the tigh t righ t han d er , th en down the wall and back on th e main pl ayin g fie ld . O nce do wn on the m ai n field, it was bo o gie t ime d ow n a super fast ha ck st ra igh t. To keep things hon est, .en0t het t ight rjgh t ha nd t ur n w as t hrown in. T ha t led t o a big "S" tu rn and ano ther shor t st raig ht. T he st raig h t went in t o a big right hand swee pe r an d down a fast fro n t st raig ht to start it all ove r again. Even tho ug h it was tight, the trac k layout was pretty good, an d the t raction was great with no hard or snotty spots anywhere th at co uld have m ad e thi ngs da ngerou s. Before th e start of each class th e st arter would flash ;j sign in fr on t of the riders. showing wh at class would be u p so no one would b e in the wrong cla ss. Gr eat ide a. The fir st class o ff wa s the Mini. Everyon e was wondering wh at was go ing to happen be cause of the big J wa terhole. If so me kid fell in t ha t ho le, . he 'd need a lif e j ack et , so everybody waited by t he bask etb all co urts to find 1 out. Sp lash , splash, splash go the m in is L as the y ban zai ed it through th e hol e, drenchi ng the spec tators. As th e d ay wen t on, the h ot se t up for the minis was to get to the far righ t side of th e T jum p before the ho le, an d th at way they could d o d ge most of t he water. Top Splash er of- the Day A war d goes to Fre d Eu ba nks o n a CT-70. Wh ile eve ry body in genera l went o u t of th eir way to avo id th e hol e, Fre d did n 't, As he ca m e o ff the jump he' d splas h in t o t he wa ter ho le every time. In th e first m ot o of th e 100 Class Ron Cobb (Hod) was runn ing away fr om the fiel d until he came o ff th e ju m p and in t o th e wa te rhole, d o ing a super e ndo , He d id n 't ge t ba sh ed up t oo b ad, b ut he was o u t fo r the d ay . Rory 3 McRae (Ho d ) inherited th e lead and ca me home with th e win . Second ' be hi nd him was Ch uc k Rob in so n (Yarn) and in third was Mark Benton (Hod) . Be for e we go o n , I want to comme nd on cr owd co n t rol , pr ovided by the San Be rn a rd in o C o u n t y S he r i ff' s Department a nd th e Yu cca Valley " Search a nd Rescu e T eam. While th ey had the potential for good crowd co n trol being official wit h their badges, ) 3 guns, an d su per-zoot walkie-talk ies, th e , a ge ncies m en t ioned didn't provide effe ctive co n t ro l. Before motos a nd aft er m ot os, all so r ts o f lit tle sq uids 3 were runn ing around on the track try in g ' to get from one place t o ano t he r. T hat m ay not be so bad, but whe n the sa m e little sq uids a re runn in g and pl aying a ar ound o n the track during m otos, th at's a no t he r thing. It was the cops,J d uty t o cont rol the crowd so no body r would get hu rt, or nobody could ge t I hu rt cr o ssing the track. I'm su re so me par en t would have felt great if his or her kid had his face een t erp u ne he d by a rid er in the Open cla ss. _ H The tim ing in which th e cops de ci ded to fin ally do some crow d co n t ro l left so m e thi ng to be de sired. It was o n ly afte r a ride r had cras hed in to the cro wd , co m ing off t he up sid e o f th e wal l o f death, and b onkin g a kid on the head, th a t the cops p o st ed so m e depu ties t o ho ld the folks ba c k. In ano t her instanc e in the sam e ar ea , the crowd was so close to t he trac k th at whe n a rider in th e 25 0 class miss ed a t ur n , he ne ar ly nail ed te n spectato rs . Back to bet te r th in gs. Doug Co u zen s (Hon) m ad e a clean swee p o f th e 125 clas s. He was so far ahead of the pac k th a t he d id leis urely-type cross-ups and wheelies to kee p hi mself a nd th e c rowd entertained . Mark Page (H on ) was th e clo sest to h im for second, a nd Scott Meese (Ya m) got th ird . In th e 250's, Bo b Bo ldt (Hus) also mad e a grand -slam sweep o f h is class, o u t d ista nci n g th e rest of th e pack . I t was in thi s class t hat Gerald Rosendahl (Hon) m ad e a rathe r m essy crash in to so me spect ators on the uph ill side of the wall o f d eath sec ti on of the t rac k. No t only did he crash her e, he also crashe d j ust abou t ev erywhere else on the trac k . The Open clas s racin g was perha ps th e d u ll es t con test I eve r ha d see n in my en t ire life . O n lv in th e las t moto d id it begin [0 look intcrcst ing . T h is class w as l\lar k , ille r ' s. class as M he just up and boogied aw ay fro m everyone on th e t ra ck . And I say the word " ever yon e " loo sel y in th e sense th at in the firs t m ot o t her e we re only th rec: guVs ' on .rhe, t rack. ' th ree in •the ,

• Cover