Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• ECheater wins Baker to Vegas 11II ..:I By Alice Rhea E ,- s-. 0. < 10 LAS VEGAS, NEV., APRIL 6 Jack Johnson of Cheater. M.C. today took first overall In the DRA Baker-to-Vegas. Cordis Brooks (150 Bul) and Jim Fishback (400 CZ) had their ow n race going out in front of the pack today during the second annual ORA 102 mile event. With the powerful 400 CZ under him , Fishback felt confident of a win, but just after the smoke bomb he did one of his usual spectacular get -offs and Cordis took the lead. The pair diced back and forth for most of the hundred miles, Jim taking the lead, stopping to fix his brakes, and Cordis taking over. Jim blasting by again only to be passed in the pits, regaining his lead and losing it when a shock blew and knocked the chain off. At Stateline th e pair had a five minute lead over third place Jack Johnson with A.C. Bakken an o the r fifteen feet back in fourth. But at Jean (Pop 's Oasis ), Cordis, now in the lead again charg ed off down the Bonnie and Clyde course and Fishback followed. The tw o minutes the pair was off cour se was just en o ugh for Johnson to slip into first pl ace. Fishback , meanwhile had blown hi s second shock and lost h is sea t and d ecided J ean , Nevada was a pretty good place for h im to end his ra ce. Cordis Brooks too k his Bultaco on in for sec ond p lace, t hirty seconds behind Johnson, wi th A.C . Bakken (Hus) in for third overall and first 400. Tom Brooks has had a lot of bad luck sinc e he injured hi s kne e jus t before Ch eck Chase. T oday was no ex ception as T om landed wi th an "oomph" just before the bomb . He picked it up and dilly-dallied th e rest of the way, bringing his 125 DKW in behind Mark Adent's Penton Gringo fo r fif th ov erall and first 125 . Brooks didn't complain about the way his bike was running, so maybe having the carburetor in two pieces doesn't affect the Deek's performance, T he co urse was mu ch th e same as last year's with a few interesting exceptions. One of the ro ck washes had water in it and there was about forty feet of trail that was migh ty slippery and more t han a few Novices and Beginners lo st thei r seat in that section. Shortly af ter that there was a pretty little road t hroug h the valley, win ding between th e trees and farm buildings. Nobody is supposed to be able to rid e th ere, but Ron Burpo diplomati call y o ffered t o grad e the farm er 's road after the bikes got through tear ing it up and we were given permission to p ass. Ride rs were expecting to cross under the freeway at Stateline and run d own the righ t sid e of th e fre eway into Jean, but the sand sailors were hav ing a race on the dry lake, so the course ran down the world 's roughest fire road ("Just like Ponderosa , on ly rocky ," according to one Amateur.) for eleven miles, then cro ssed u nde r, ran four m iles' into Jean and just on the other side of J ean met the fatal (for Brooks and Fishback) Bonnie and Clyde course. With all t he heavies from District 3 7 and the hot-dogs from Las Vegas, it wasn't su ch a good day for the ORA regulars. ORA number I, the Sled Rider's own lovable Gus Paul blew his engine at Jean. "I wasn't doing so hot anyw ay " Gus ad mi tt ed . And I x, John Fisher got in for ninth overall and sixt h 25 0 . It could ha ve been worse, but Gene Cannady , riding a new 125 Pu ch was having a terrible day . He cou ldn't find ei ther of his pits and after wa n deri ng around for a wh ile in eac h pit sto p, borrowed gas from someb ody else 's crew . Rubb erman Bill Frian t, who amuses th e specta to rs b y bouncin g a ll over the desert before ch arging acro ss the finish line (usually firs t or second in' his class ), today surprised us all by breaking his foot . Observers said that the first half bottle of tequila eased the pain somewhat. The d esert was strewn with broken machinery but Desildorff was grinding her way down the course , picking up broken bikes and hauling them to the next check or the finish line . Actually, for all the section between Baker and 'Las Vegas looked like a motorcycle junkyard, the percentage of breakage was fairly light. Of the 1,100 starters, 65 0 managed to finish wi th sligh t1y less than half of the riders ON F'ing for wh atever reason. The usual attrition rate in a long race is two-thirds. Does anybody know wh at happened to Scott Harden. Scott, if y ou re cal l took t h i r d o v e r a ll at the Barstow-to-Vegas and was running in the top ten when we last saw him at Cima Road, but he never showed up a t the fini sh line . Mark Mason, an o ther Las Vegas h ot-shoe, did get to th e finis h line, but without his b ike. T he second ti me t he chain came off (with Mark in fourth place ) , he couldn't find it. .Among those who had problem s on th e wa y to th e finish line wer e Ron Burpo's wife , Beverly an d her sister Regina. Their vehicle bal ked on the freeway and the two lovelies were obliged to thumb it th e rest o f th e way . Maybe y ou don't think it is important for them to get there before you, bu t th ey had th e finisher 's pins and more important, the champagne I Lu ckily, the two ladies were picked up by a semi and driven in regal splendor righ t to the fin ish line . Bob Burtscher rode his 400 Husky to first place in the Beginner class today. He fin ished ab out 125 overall, and was so fast that it was at first hard to believe. Bob finished almost exac tl y on e hour behind the first Experts, but after all, he gave them a hal f hour head start and they weren 't ridi ng in th e dust. Jim Steward (Yam ) and Hal Hammermann (Hus) fini shed a few minutes later for second and third Beginner with Mike Gr imm in at fif th Beginner for firs t 25 0 . Tha t th e course was super-dusty was attested to by the rid ers with mud ca ked on th eir tee th and spectators with gray faces, hair and clothes. It was a ro ugh one, as ro ugh as Check Chase acc o rdi ng to so me who ro de both, bu t not as long. Even with th e du st, t he roc ks (are n't t he bushes always too close to gether?) it was a fun race. In spo ts the mood was lightene d b y signs. On e, o n a roc ky road said, UWatcha yo u ass." and an o ther , an arrow marking th e course, was in the middle of a bu rned ou t TV set. Weary and streaked with grime th e warriors headed into to wn. They were too tired to talk ab out it then , but by Wednesday when some o f th e sore ness works out of t heir muscles t hey will be talking about " ne xt ye ar at the Baker-to-Vegas I'm gonna. . . .. • Results 1. Jack JOhnson · (Hus) E. 2 . Cordi s Brook s (Bul) 2 5 0 E . 3. A .C. Bak ken (Hus) 400 E x . 4 . Mark Adent (Pen) 250 Ex. 5 . 1 0m Brook s (DKWI 12 5 E. 6. M ike Cumm ins (V am) 2 5 0 E . 7. Bob Wadl ow rcz: 250 N . 8 . Danny Rob inson (Hus) 400 Ex. 9 . John Fisher (Vam) 2 50 E . 10. John Steen CHon) 2 5 0 N. 1 1. Bill Sal t zman (Hus) 400 E . 12 . D ic k V lc k (Hus) 400 E. 13. ~on M cC lellan (C Z) 25 0 N . 14. Dale Tr isler (Vam) 400 N . 1 5. M i ke Merr ick jHOn) 125 A . 16 . Ed John s (Vam) 2 50 N . 7 . Cu r t Skinner (HOn) 12 5 E . 18 . Danny Le nah a n (8ul) 2 5 0 N . 19. B il l Ch u rch (Bull 2 5 0 N. 2 0 . Ed Rodine (C Z I 25 0 N . 21B en T akkel dy (Tr l) 750 E . 22 . C r a ig Fo r ney ( Y a m ) 25 0 A . 2 3. Denn is Gree ne (B aj a) 10 0 N . 2 4. Ken B istliop ( H us) 400 A . 25 . B rya n B rec ker (B ul) 4 0 0 E . BEG : 1. Bob Bur t sc:her (4 0 0 HU i ) . 2 . J i m St eward (360 Vam) . 3 . Hal H amm er ma n (45 0 HUi ) . 4 . G eorge Derby ( 360 Yam) . 5 . Mike G r i m m ( 2 50 HUi). a: '" Iii '" .J :l; .., Bruce Cox (n Laverda) and Steve Malonee (85 Kaw) go ing at it betwixt the fence an d t he haybales. Den n is Rumi ner 't uck ed in and won sma ll Production class. a: '" Iii '::I!" .J ~ Carlsbad road race By Jim Lester CARLSBAD , CAL.; A PR. 7 Despite som e really beautiful weather this weekend, only a handful of club racers showed up for t oday 's ACA race. With only 15 entries each in th e Grand Prix and Produ c tion cl a sses, lightweight and heavyweight bikes r an to gether. F ortun ately, Carlsb ad is short (yo u spe nd most of your time accelerating) and wide enough to do it w ith a reaso na b le degr ee of safety. For the first half of th e GP race George Ro che and his 250 Yamaha appear ed headed for the overa ll victory. He took the mid-way flag, holding an eight b ike len gth lead over Harry Klinzman on another 25 0. Team Yo shimura rid er Mike Parri ott on a 900cc Kaw asaki was holding down th ird overall (first Op en ) a furthe r eigh t len g ths back, foll ow ed by S teve Mall o nee on his "W heel Power " Kawasa ki 9 00. Klinzman suddenly got red hot, cutting George 's lead in half by the end of the next lap , and finally passed him near the hairpin on th e tenth go-round . Shooting across the start-fin ish line a lap and a half later Harry held a two-second lead. Roche held on to 2nd, despite the threat of penalizing him a lap for m issing t he chicane on the first lap. Mike Blocher was the top Junior, on a 500cc Honda, followed by smal ler d isplacement winners Mike Baeder (125) and Larry Lim (17 5) . Intere st during 'th e Production race cen te red mo stl y o n two cla sses - Op en and 125. Parriott's Yoshimura took th e measu re of Mallonee' s 90 0 op en again in the big b ore division. Mike Morse (Yam) was thi rd, ahe ad of Motor Cycle Weekly publisher (an d part-time pavement scra tc her! Bruce Cox on a Laverda,

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