Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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The coy desert racer took time from the suds to smile demurely from behind his trophy. A shy racer? Unheard of. Idaho's Cottontail Fifty By Marty Gregory BRUNEAU, IDAHO, MA R. 3 In California there are hare and hound races. Here in Idah o the hound is eliminated and wh at we are left with are the inc reasinglyfam ous " Ra bbit " race s. Th e Mo u n tai n H om e Mo to rcycle Association is responsible for these rugged cross-co unt ry runs wh ich are th e near est th in g we have in Idah o to th e Cal ifornia desert events. There is th e big one : the Jackrabbit, wh ich attracts several hundred riders from throughou t the West and is held so met im e in April. Then there is th e Bunny Rabbit, whi ch was held, and called off afte r a sing le lap , in a half-foot of sn ow in De cember. T he re is also th e J ac krabbit ' s fund rai ser . . .the Cotton tail F if ty . T he air was chill o n the Bruneau de sert on the m orning of th e Cottontail an d th e win d was d oing it s thing a t abou t th irty miles per. T he sn ow had melted in t o t he ground on all but the no rthe rn -facing slo pes and sur face tracti on was righ t decen t. It was a pretty nice day fo r a race fo r th e 230 riders signe d up. So me of the local talen t o n the lin e for the Le Ma ns start included fo rmer J ackrabbi t winner Bru ce Harris (the Ida ho Mo to rcyclist's As sociation's Nu mber on e desert pl at e), Aaron Flying above the snow in the Idaho d esert. J eppson on a new Bu l, and th e Idaho St at e F lat T rac k cham pion, Larry Merid eth, aboard a much -m odified Honda 360 th u m per. T he stage of san d, sagebrush an d broken te rrain was set. The player s in th is desert drama line d t heir b ik es up in a hal f-mil e long row an d too k their places so me thirty feet to the rear. J o hnn y T ho mpson finally got his bike ru nning well enough to shut o ff and took his sprinter's stance am ong the other racers j ust in ti me to h e ar the echoing blast of t he sh o t gun. T he m ile lon g flat area was a sce ne of char ging m achines an d roaring exhausts as t he entire assemblage ru sh ed WFO for the smoke bom b. It was o nl y a few minu tes before everyone was out of sight in th e d ist an ce and it was ti me fo r this photographer to start his fr o zen Pu rsan g an d putt o u t on the co urse far eno ugh t o get some good sho ts. Coming in for the fi rst of fo ur fi ftee n mil e loops, it was th e high-pitch ed howl of a d im un it ive Ho nda CR-125 M wi th motocross ace Bud Spark at the t hro t tl e. Bud go t a grea t start and had reall y held it o n t o ke ep all o f the Open class machines at bay fo r th e first lap. His skill and fortitude was all for naught, however. A lost ta g neg at ed his sup erb ride and realizin g th e futility of running a co m plete extra lap, Bud hung it up fo r th e day. " No tickee. . .n o laundry !" This mournful tune was als o sung b y such no tables as Bru ce Harris, Fran kTra fford an d " Coyo te T ail " Sword on his Husky. By th e start of the third lap, the lead was in t he hands of Caldwell 's Larry Merideth on th at steady (A nd torque y !) H ond a 3 50 f o u r-stroker. I was positioned o n a hill just before the fla t area th at marked a one mile shot to t he fin ish and witnessed (or witlessed?) the battle fo r first between Aaro n J eppson on th e new 36 0 Mk VII Bul ta co an d Meride t h on h is Honda. Going ou t fo r t he fin al lap, Aaron gas sed it extra hard and I saw him squeeze past Larry on the wi ndi ng r oa d to the smoke. While waiting t o see th e o utcome o f this drama, I stood o n th e sunny hillsid e and felt th e bone-chilling wind b low through my clothing as I gamely sna pp ed away wi th the camera. Johnn y Thompson came by and flashed the "Hawaiian Good Luck Sign" before trying to run me over. Bill Bre wer thumped up the hill wit h a crippled XL· 250 and a passenger whose bike had suffered terminal disability. Finally the drone of the Honda signified that Merideth had re-passed Jeppson and suceeded in holding off the Bul pilot 's determined cha rge fo r the finish line. The ra ce lasted a scan t two h ours and 164 riders managed to fin ish. T h is is ab out th e bes t fi ni shi ng ratio of any p revio us "Rabbit" rac e and all hands agreed th at th e co ur se was su pe rb. Ray Hal e handed out $8 00 worth of trop hies and p ins. Miller Bee r's J im Zimmerman rode th e race an d got in soon enough to hand out cop io us amounts of his favorite b ee r. No one w as st ran de d on the co urse and th e enti re ga th er ing was on th eir way home b y t hree o 'clock. T he Co ttontail 50 was a smashi ng success. . .th e Jackrabbi t will be even better! • Results Open E x : 1. L ar r y Meri deth; 2 . A a ron Jepp son; 3 . D a nn y Sm ith . O pen A m : 1. G ar y Graybo l i 2 . B ob H e nnesev r 3. Mark M i ller. 25 0 Ex : 1. Jeff S wope; 2 . Gary Dav is : 3 . D av e L ockner. 250 Am : 1. Ollie Tod d ; 2. Jo h n Haycock; 3. Jerry Will iams. 175 E x : 1. Ga ry Olsen ; 2. Wa yne L arson; 3. B rock Cromwell . 175 A m : 1. R i ck Reddy ; 2 . Dave Haugen; 3. M ike Hollingsworth. 125 E x: 1. Jim Pu ett ; 2. Dave Pederse n ; 3 . John Rowett . 125 A m : 1. La r r y B u r c h ; 2. R i c k Guemtz; 3. ~~w~:~e;U ff : 1. Sherron ~u rvis. CMCMX Chuck Lunde charging to 500 win aboard shoddess C z. By Buzz Baty IRWINDALE, CAL., MAR. 15 The win went to Chuck Lunde, who won th e first mor o afte r finishing third an d seco nd in m ot os o ne and two. Secon d went to Da ve Eropkin an d t hi rd to Pat Hubbs, Pat's S uzuki brea king up th e Ho nda sweep started by Lunde and Eropkin. The guy who was th e overall winner d idn't wi n a m o t o , T he guy w ho looked to be a shoo-in to win the whole thing di dn 't eve n finish the fi rst ro un d. T he gu y who won t he firs t two motos co uld do no better than fo urth overall in th e final standings. On top of that, Chuck Lunde, who ended up first ove rall fo r the 500 Ex pert/ Pros w ith two seconds and a fo u rth in three m o t os, di dn ' t even have any sh o c ks o n his CZ. I mean, not a m o t or cycle w ith a pair of shocks th at didn't work, not a lately used and lately cussed m on o sh oc k set-u p, just no shock absorber s pe riod. By the time I got back to th e pits, I co uld n't find hid e n or h air of th is sh oc kless wonder. It d oes ap pear to b e so m e tri ck CZ . Lu nd e ran second t o first moto winner, Mik e Yorba , Yorb a inherited t he lead on his Maico after Joe Johnston's Maic o seized just when it looked as if he was gon na run off and hide from th e rest of th e troops. Luke Messer, who had finished fifteenth in th e first round, came back to win motos two and three, but it wasn't enough to overcome the st eady-riding of Chuck Lunde. Finishing second overall was Gene Martin, and third on another Maico was Wes Sutton. Martin ran rnotos of t hird, fourth, and th ird, beh ind Lunde's wi n, while Sulton put together a pair of fifths , and a third for third o ve rall. Jeff Vidic, who had a st ring of Vic t ories going until he got beat two we eks ago , found ou t th at once Val T amiet ti tas t ed, or I gu ess I should say spen t that first plac e money , he wanted some more of it. In the fir st two motos, Pros are pr os are pro s, at least wh en they reach the Expert/Profession al category, and racing for buck s. Petulant, childish beh avi or in th e face o f facts is no t part o f being a Pro. In mo st an y o ther spo rt th e -term " hot-dog " and th e term "bush " are derisive terms. If I m ay di gr ess for a momen t, a little over two years ago, when Lions motocross was st ill in operation, I witnessed a developing donnybro ok between on e of th e most likeable guys on the motocross sce ne, a very hard-charger by th e name of John DcSoto, and David Pessy and his mechani c. It seems th at Dav id wa s com p lai n ing ab o u t DeSoto's aggres sive style of ridin g. It had so methi ng t o do . wi th b ig John's ridin g d eprivin g Pessy o f winn in g . T h is lit tle donny brook develop ed to th e p o int (w ith Pessy an d his m ech an ic brack-b rack -bracking o n big J ohn) th at th e fl yin ' Haw aiian was just about ready t o d rop h is CZ , bodily pick u p Pessy , his Ossa, and Pessy's m ech anic and th row the m aw ay. As anyone who knows big J ohn can tell yo u, he's quite ca pable of doing j ust tha t. It wa s at this point that Pessy's sense of physical well-being caused hi m to coo l it, and to have his m echanic do th e sam e. I d igre ssed t o tell this sto ry in order to illustrate to night's happen ings. Pessy , aboard th e D & G sponso red Ho nda, was literally blowing the 125 Pros into the b oo nies. He h ad won th e first two m o t os going away , and wa s lead in g m o t o three by abou t te n bike len gth s over Chuc k Lu nde. On the right han d tum at the top of the hill at the we st e nd of th e co urse, Dave gasse d it. He spun out , ca me d own th e sid e of the hill an d off th e co ur se. In st ead of goi ng b ac k up and en tering th e co urse wher e he cam e off as sta te d in th e ru les, Pessy ca m e bac k on th e co urse a little further along, jum pi ng in front of rid ers h c legi tima tel y should have be en b ehind . From wh er e I was standing, takin g pi ctures o n t op of the Steve Hurd Jump , I had a clear un -ob structed view of what transp ired . Well , as th e saying goe s, tell th e tru th or n othin g but th e truth so h elp yo u Go d . Well, God not wit hstandi ng , I told th e trut h to Kelvin Franks, CMC's bible recorder. T his resul ted in Pessv ' s di squali fication, well no t really a disqualificat ion, b u t moved from a fo urt h place finish to last p lace fin ish, d eny ing him fir st overall or second or t hi rd, b ut endi ng up fo urth ove rall. .. Jeff Vidic's helmet looms behind Val Tamietti's comer eff o rts on way to 250 Pro win. T am ietti put starting ga te hol e shots on Vidi c, win ning th e fi rs t two motos w ith J eff un ab le to get around him. In m o to t hree, T amietti was alongside Vidic till they went over the back shute jum p, where he fell in be hi nd Vidic. Val just le t his Honda follow J eff' s Maico ho me , en di ng up w ith fo ur points to Vidic's five and first overall. Don Bongiorno ra n his Honda fourth , fifth, and th ird, which was good for third ove rall. J ohn McMan aw ay , wh o is o ne of th e ol der Ex pe rt/Pros to ok home fo urth pl ace money tonight wi t h two fo u rt h s and a fifth. Going back to th e beginni ng of th is ar ticle - a pro is a pro is a pro - is just as true for 81 cc's as it is for 400cc's . Now th at th e CMC has crea ted an Expert Min i category, the Mini ride rs ca tegorized as Expe rts put on a show j us t as frantic as an y o f th eir bi g bore brothers. Bill Fancher, in two terrific duels with Lance Moorewood and one where he finished last when his Honda just plain quit, ended 'up in a three rider tie on points. Fancher had nine points wi th two firsts and a seven th , Vince Van Hook on a Yamaha had nin e points with a fifth, a fi rst, and a third, and Lan ce Mo orewoo d had ni ne points wi th a second , a fifth, and a second . With th e best finish/ las t moto rule prevail ing, it wa s Fa nc h er for th e win , Moorewood on th e Indian for second, and Van Hook's Yamaha third. • 31