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/125852
D o o By Jim Stewart '73 and Mayes o r Brooks were not win ning, then A.C. Bakken or Jim Fishback were. It was no surprise to see these 28 four riders up in the overalls during the 1973 desert year. But suddenly a new name was added to this list of overall winner threats, mounted on an under-bored bike with the number 900x hung on th e front. During the '7 2 seas on , when A .C. , Brook s, Maye s, and Fishback were a lrea d y winning. th e name Mark Adent was still being listed in th e results under Division II Amateur, riding a 125 DKW. In fact, th e Jackrabbits' race in 1972, (th e last District-37 race of th e y ear ). wa s Mark 's last Amateur rid e be fore bec oming an Exp ert. Who would th ink that by the end o f the foll owing year. Mark Adent would own th e Nu mb er One pl ate in the 250 class ? Mar k . w ith 710 poin ts over t he next rid er in th e fin al p oin t tally . took three ove rall w ins. 11 class w ins. eigh t seconds. o ne th ird. an d tw o fou rth s in the "25 0 class during the 1973 desert year. Besides getting the co ve ted p late in the 250 class in Dist rict- Sf", Mar k found enough ti me and ene rgy to go to Baja and get a second 125 with hi s team mate T om Brooks. T his w as Mark's first attempt at -Baja or any o ther long money race. Mar k (even th ou gh n o t havin g any Baja expe rienc e . let alo ne night racin g), too k the nigh t section. When Mar k too k over th e bi ke fr om Br oo ks at the halfw ay po in t, th ey wer e running sixth 125 . In spite of severa l difficult ies w ith the bik e, Mar k w orked his way up to second by th e fifth check. Racing at nigh t is o ne type o f m ot orcycl e racing wh ich few riders ever ex perience. let alone m ast er . It tak es as mu ch co nc en tratio n as y ou can bring to bear. and wh en yo u' re riding in 110 degree we ather, it tends to pla y tric ks on th e m ind an d w ear t he body down a lot faster. Mark had a so lu tio n ; wh en hi s bike we n t so ur, h e simp ly took o ff his racing gea r and w en t swi m ming in the ocean. After cooling off, he co uld no t find his glo ves o r kidney belt , so he went on without t h em . After pu sh sta rt ing the DKW, Mark nursed th e sic k b ike in to the next pit wh ere th ey change d the ne edl e setting to keep it running . He ca ugh t mos t of th e other rid ers on a dry lak e, wh er e th ey lost t he ir sen se of direc ti on in th e nigh t. Mark had pre-ridden the course and painted rocks across th e dry lake . But this wasn't the answer, as Pamdli would just co m e along and t um t he m over with his 4 W.O. DK W paid for the whole trip to Baja , wh ich ad de d up to quite a bit , wh en you start th inking o f transp ortation cost , lodging, gas . entry fee, th e co st of the bike and its set up. It was a worthwh ile gamble. After the whole grueling ordeal was . o ver, Mark w as o nly a bit over 500 bucks rich er , but said he would gladly do it again even if it didn 't involve any money. That's how much he is in to racing. Mark is out o f sc hool. When asked wh at he does, he responds with a firm " no thi ng!" which k iddingly brings an instant agreement fr om his paren ts. While o ver at his h ouse, I co uld n't help but notice th at the number on e 250 ride r in th e de sert has the same bad habit as man y of us do , sm o king. In fac t, he w as smoking cigarettes an d drinking b eer const antly th e whole time I was visiti ng. T his is q uite a change fro m several of t he other top desert racers, w ho feel th at if they drink abeer or smoke a cigarette. their riding career will co me to a standstill. This is the difference between a natural rider and a ride r w ho has to work fo r his glory. Mark has ha d some prior phy sical train ing, though, as he was .a m embe r of the cross co un try run ning tea m in school. He used to get up every m o rn ing at the brea k of day and ru n severa l miles. He rides constantly w hen he is o ut in th e desert the day before a race. This is the o n ly rid ing he does the wee k bef o re a race. HI ride abo u t 60 miles o n Sa turday, the n race Su nday and rid e as much as I can afte r the race o n Sunday. " Mark 's ph ysic al co nditio n is good; mo st d esert racers arc fo und OD'ed in th e back of a van after a race. T he na m e Mark Ade n t is now as fam iliar in th e d esert as J .N. Ro berts' o r Jack Mo rgan's were. But it wasn' t w ith o u t a lot of effo rt, time and m oney o n th e part of his pa rents. There is scldom a wee ken d you won't find them ou t in the dese rt, Mark 's da d do ing last m in u te repai rs o n the bike O f his mot her making dinner o r co un ting finis hing positio ns a t t he fin ish lin e. Mark's sister, Lin da, even tries he r hand at raci ng every so often and th ere is" never a' w eek end you won't sec 'her' riding around th e pits o n Mark's forme r race b ike , a gold 125 spring er DKW. Mark's mother is a sch ool te acher and backs her son 100% in his racing effort. Mar k lives with his family in Calab asas, o ff of Mulh olland Highway. This is the cafe racers' famous illega l practice and me eting pla ce , wh ere they get together and race thro ugh Malibu Can yon on their s tree t b ikes. On a nice Sunday y ou ca n sit in t he Adent's front yard and watch a localized Daytona , wit h th e bikes goi ng one way and the hot cars go ing the other way. The Adent's h ome is like any o ther desert race r's home. The w alls are lined with racing pictures, th e w alls ar e floor to ceiling shelves filled with tr ophies, and the coffee table is littered with scrap books. In these scr ap books, are the raci ng tale s of Mark's success ful and un successful racin g att emp ts. Included in t hes e is Mark's first try a t the sport. At fourteen, he en tered the Jackrabbit End uro on a Honda 90. The bike qui t tw enty miles from the finish. Mark's DKW me ch an ic during his very succ essfu l ' '(2 season, Tom Rub ley, , was head me chanic not onl y for the n ow legendary under-bored 250 o f Ad ent's, b ut T om and Cordis Brook's giant killers. As yo u ca n tell by Mark's and Tom's records, h e d idn ' t let a single th ing go by o n any of th eir b ikes. Mark n ever thrashed his bike as bad as T om did . Mark w as co nstan t ly bugging T om fo r a sponso r, wh o sa id he would tr y to help him o ut o nce he becam e an Ex pe rt. So o nce h e got his red stic ker fro m Ron Ha ll, Division II Steward , he gave Rubley a call. The o n ly th ing he co uld o ffer Mar k to ride, was his o wn p erson al 25 0. .n o t guaran teeing it even to finish. But Mar k, being more than willing to ride, said he would give it h is best. The first weekend h e ro de it, he was one of t he first riders to the bomb , battling wit h th e rid ers he tho ught he co uld only catch in his drea ms . T hat's whe n Ru ble y decided to b uild A dent a 250 OKW an d give the 250 class a try this year. A t the hal fway point stand in gs, a ll three DKW riders, Tom and Co rdis Bro ok s and Mar k had thei r d ivisio n point lead s. But wi th Cord is going to a diff eren t class, the DKW people ended up wi th two num ber o nes. Mark Ade nt in the 250 class and Tom Brooks in the 175 class . Barsto w- to -Veg-as has a lways been a problem for Mark. lI e has o nly finis he d o nce and this was whe n he was a Novice . . If y ou loo k in t he 1971 Bars to w -to -Vegas results, yo u' ll see th e nam e Mark A de m Lith 125 No vice list ed as a tr oph y w inner. In t his year's race, Lady Luck 'was not rid ing with Mar k : he d idn' t finis h . But th is wasn' t as h ad 'to Ade nt as wit ness ing the fa ta l crash of Larry Pf'utzenreu ier. "It was a great los t to the sport o f desert raci ng, hut he was doin g somethi ng he lo ved . He was o ne of t he nicest guys you c o u ld meet , always willing to hel p ." Mark co n sid ered Larry the' grea test 250 rid er ever to race desert. "Anyone who goes fr om No vice to Number One Expert in one year has to be gre at ." When ask ed abou t clubs, Mark says, "The Rams have helped me a lot. They pitted Tom and I and the Dempsey brothers in Baja. Without th e help of several o f th e club members I would have not go tten th e Number One plate. On many occasions, Ram 's members have loaned me bikes to race, knowing full w ell I have no m ercy on a b ike." In th is year 's classic Mo ose Run, Mark won the 25 0 class o n a borrowed 25 0 Penton. T he main thing Mark stresses about clubs is, "It d oesn't matter where th ey are in th e point standings, but rather th e kind of people th at make the club up. If y ou want to race desert su ccessfully , yo u have to belong to a club." Ad en t is co ncern ed , like th e rest o f us, abou t the future of the sport, especially w ith the gas shortage . "We should try to keep it out of people's heads. The less the y kn ow abo ut us out there racing the better. What they don't know, won 't hurt them. Clubs are going to have to pool together an d share rides to the d esert if they ever ra tio n. The high pri ces alo ne are a good reason to pool o ur efforts. It depends on the ind ivid ua l clubs to keep the sport alive. What fun would it be with only a handful of rid ers entered in a Hare and Hound ?" When asked wh o he th in ks are going to be th e rid ers to ca tc h th is year, Mark said , "The re are so man y new fast riders eve ry year you ca n' t pl an o n an ything. Fishback told me one t ime th at I sho uld n't p lan on h olding the Number One plate fo r m o re than a year. He th ou ght his d omin at ion o f the 2 50 class would con ti n ue t hro ugh t he ' 73 season. I guess I got lucky:' When first meeting Mark yo u may get th e im pressi on he is shy. Bu t j us t ge t him rolli ng o n th e subje ct o f dese rt racing alo ng wi th a fe w fro sties and his pe rsonali ty cha nges . His d ad sure isn' t the shy typ e. He really love s talking about the d esert a nd his kid 's raci ng achieveme nts . You surely ca n't blame him fo r be ing so pr oud. " Once wh en was s u p pose to b e M ar k pre-riding th e Baja, he was ab le to ge t bac k ear ly eno ugh to rid e th e distri ct race th at weekend. We had told Fishback t he week end bef o re, no t to w orry since Mark w ouldn 't be ridi ng this we eke nd , kind 0 1" a person al joke, since it see med like it was either Fishback foll o win g Ad ent o r vic e ver sa . Duri ng t he race , Fishback glanced back only to see th e numb er 90 0x in ho t pu rsui t. When he rea ch ed th e fini sh line he th ou gh t he was seeing things. or maybe he was j us t so use to seeing Aden t o u t o n the course he ju st th ough t he saw him. But sure enough it w a s. " If t he fir st I"e\" races of th e year are , any indica tio n or Mark ' s chanc es for retaining th e num b er one p late, then his cha nces or doi ng so look go od-- Three