Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

This is a ridge• . . Tullis wins Red Garter National Enduro Story & Photos by Ron Schneiders BALLINGER CANYON, CAL.,APR.13 Jay · Tullis, Honda rider and Chaparral member, won the Dirt Diggers National Championship Enduro today, In a stunning but. long overd ue victory over the most talented field of riders to be seen in a Californi a end uro in recen t y ears. T he Red Garter Nati on al alm os t didn't hap pen. As little as three da,ys be fo re th e event, the cl ub members were still goi ng round and roun d with vari o us officials. Ten d ay s before, th e even t wa s cancelled, p er iod. The man wh o o rde re d the cance llati on co uld not even be reach ed. Then Shamroc k legislative analyst, J ohn Clau sen got into the act, found a Forest supervi so r in San Fran cisco who was willi ng t o liste n, got a meet ing set up an d the Red Garter was rescheduled. The p robl em t urned out to be o ne of sim ple misunde rstanding (between th e cl ub and the Fish and Game Dep artm en t) an d burea ucra tic Iin e -of-least-resistance administration by Los Padres Fo rest ad ministrator Robert Lancaster. Even though resch eduled, the en duro was still a bit different tha n planned. A fifteen mil e stretch of sand was h was u n u sa b le because of the objection of a land holde r, no t who owned th e was h, b ut w ho held ease ment o ver a small por tion o f it . T he fir st loop of th e I 02 mil e ru n started in a no r th -eas terly d ir ection fro m the Ballinger Campgro und. A t 5 .7 mile s it see med like th e Dir t Diggers had blo w n th e wh ole thing. Ab out 5 0 riders were p iled u p, w ai ting for a chance to get up a skinny , loose trail that ran up th e backbone o f a very sharp ridge. T he sche du le allowed 20 min u tes of fr ee ti me, but it seem ed lik e it w ould take three times tha t, if the tra il co uld b e negotiated at all. As it happened ho we ver, th e tr ail was m uch eas ie r tha n it firs t appeared , and eve n after stopping to take pi ct ures and waiting in line fo r my t urn, 1 arrived with several m inutes to spare. Shortly thereafter th er e was ano ther 20 min u te allowan ce for a second possibl e bo ttleneck, but th ere was n one a t all o n that trail, at least at th e ti me t hat I went over it (No . 82) . To tha t point the run had been fairly easy, but o ver th e rest of the morning loop it was not. T here we re no tric k schedules, just 18 and 24 MPH w hich were several MPH faster th an most am ateur riders could o r wo uld go in th at sort of t errain. T here were two or three very tight, close, twisty canyons to be ridde n, on e wi th a tr ee across it t hat you had to get off of your bike an d wiggle under, bu t most of the run was h igh up on th e ridges. Qui te a few of th e tr ails coul d be re me mbe re d f ro m last year's Pro sp ect or 's run, but th o ugh yo u were aware of ha ving been ove r th em, it d id not see m the same at all. The Prosp ect or's run was during the wet part of t he spring; on ·today's run the tr ail was co mp le tely d ry . T he trail eventually got up p retty high an d o ne o f the real e motional (as well as p hysical) highs of th e enduro was breaking o ut finally an d bein g ab le to loo k d o wn o n th e Cuyam a River bed, seve ral th ou sand fe e t bel ow. Th en yo u rea lize th a t you're to be goi ng down rath er quickl y. T he re were a co u ple of qui te frig htening d own hills. They we re not terrib ly lo ng, but th ey we re somewh a t r u tted an d very , very st eep with little ro om to maneuver at th e bottom if th e bike go t awa y from you . A feature o f last ye ar 's Prospector 's run which e veryone remember ed was th e profu sion of yello w and purple wildfl ow ers. T his year, be ing a sligh tly di ff eren t season, th ere wa s n ot the saturatio n of colo r, but if you weren't too b usy watching yo ur doc k you could see about a doze n varieties. Near the en d of th e m orning run we passed close to a p ict uresq ue farm o n a t reacherous off-camber trail high above it. T he slo pes" lead ing down to the far m were nearly a catal og o f wildflowers an d looked like a post card scene from th e Swiss Alps. T he afternoon section started with 16 m iles of asphalt hi ghway, State 33, the incl usion of which cost th e Dirt Diggers q ui t e a bi t o f m on ey . T h is was the route that had to be take n wh en it be came impossible to use the Cu yam a river and since it was a p ublic highway , it re quired bikes using it t o be s tr ee t legal. Si nce th is was not p lan ned at the time the run was anno unced, it did not appear on the post er , an d the Diggers fe lt obligated to refun d the entry fee s of anyone who could not meet the new street legal requirement. Altogether they refunded about 100 entries. After the highway we worked our way up dirt roads and san dwash to Toad Springs trail, goi ng through successive forest levels from desert of th e p ucker b us h variety, throug h silvery grey sage, and what I th ink is mesquite (I'm not a bo tanis t) and finally u p into th e swe et smelling p in e fo res t . T here was sti ll a bit of sn o w o n th e T oad Spri ngs trail. T hat trail h as sever al sh ar p d rop offs an d on e drop th at's straigh t d own - I mean sh eer - for a go o d 10 00 feet. T he tr ail at that point is abo ut 12 inc he s wide, so it 's n o t a goo d place for the fainthearted. The Prospe ctors ran that trail at six MPH I believe ; th e Digger s sched uled 18 MPH, so th ere was n o loafing. The re st of the run was no t terribly challen ging from a terrain view, but there were two closel y sp aced , r ather sneaky checks that cau ght many ri ders by sur prise. One was on wha t ap peared to b e a straight dirt road where y o u would no t have thought that y o u coul d hide a b ee r can on, let alone a severa l man check. Bu t they did. You couldn't . see it until yo u got to it. A lt hough the narrow fo res t trails have been emphasiz ed in this re port because th ey are unusual fo r this area, there was qui te a fair amoun t of san d wash for the deser t rid ers, includi ng two lo ng sand was h sections of six or seven miles each in the afternoon loop at th e res pectable speed average of 24 MPH. So uthern California has been having a National Ch ampio n sh ip End uro every year now, (an d so metimes seve ral) fo r th e pas t five years bu t th ey have b een so meth ing of a j o ke becau se th er e we re virt ual ly never any riders from outs id e of Distric t 3 7. This one was d if feren t. A large con ting en t of northern California riders cam e dow n for the event an d did quite we ll. Bob Keys, a trials ri der from the Bay Area took third Over all and fir st A Heavyweight. (Bob signed up as a B rid er, but he d id n ' t quite get awa y with tha t o ne!) Hawley Slayton from Reno took fifth Ove rall but th at was only goo d for fo urth in his class. Ben Bower, fresh f ro m a sec ond place go ld me dal win at t he Fo rt Hood Qualifier t ook an other sec on d, thi s t ime in A Heavyweight behind Gary Caul kins. Gary credi ts his Honda for his win; Ben b lames the fact th a t he couldn't ge t his head t ogether for no t winning. "It was j us t slop py timekeeping" he said. He lo st 13 po ints. . Rick Munyon, (w ho I believe, won this even t las t year), took the A trail award, edging out ano ther District 36 rider, Jim J enki ns by a mere o n e point. J en kins (Pe n) is fo rm er District 36 num ber one rider. A lt oge ther the northe rn rid ers took five o ut of the: top fifteen spots, the . two top spots in A Heavyweigh t and second in the A Trail, a highly res pectable showing . Next week the Distr ic t 36 Polka Dots will be hol di n g their NationaI 49er Enduro at Foresthill . It wi ll be interesting to see if District 3 7 does as well up north as the Northerners did down here . If there is one thing that everyone agrees up on , it is that Jay T ullis richly deserves this wi n. He has been running secon d and third fo r over a y e ar now, losing t o his team mates by a matter o f seconds. T yp ical co m men ts were, "Boy, it sure is about ti me . ~ an d "J ay really de serves it. " J ay 's win helpe d p ut his Honda-Chap arr al te am in first place as well , wi th a total of 33 poin ts. T his event was excep tion al ly well done from m any st an d poin ts . Th e m ar kin g was superb , th e distances were righ t an d the lay ou t was ver y in t elligen tly done . The Digger s credit one of their m embers named Putman . for the la yo ut. The free time at p oten tial bottleneck s made a close re sp ectable contest ou t of what co uld have easily been a fiasco. The sch edule speeds we re fa st en ough tha t th ey placed premiums on both riding ability an d t imekeeping ab ility. Any one who doub ts this sh o ul d study th e resul ts at the en d of this article. Not only are 18 of the to p 20 fin ish ers Class A ri de rs, but almost all of th em are " name" riders. This was a run in which real skill in both areas p aid off, which is what a National Ch ampionsh ip should b e. Good show, Dir t Diggers. ~ T he Dir t Diggers w an t to thank th e Forest Servi ce fo r their helpfu l, if so mew hat belated cooperatio n. Although th ere was a mist ake made wh ich cost a lot of extra effort an d was ted work, the m ist ake w as co rrected, an d the Forest Service was th en quite help ~ . • Results 1. Jay Tu ll i s ( H o n ) A Lt . 6. 2. M ik e A da m ( Hon) A Lt. 9 . 3 . B ob K ey s (Yam ) A L t. 10. 4 . Ma rv M u nyon (H o n) A L t . 10, 5. Hawl ey Slay t o n (Pen) A Lt. 11. 6 . T o m Ge tzf rl d (Yam) A H 12. 7. D ar y l Hall ( Pen ) A L t. 12 . S. G ary Calki n s ( H on ) A H 12. 9 . Carl Pr ice (Pen) A L t. 13. 10 . R i c k M u n yon (Pen) A T r . 13. 14 . G . Savelle (H us) B H 1 3 . IS. Ben Bower (HuS ) A H 13. 16. F r ed H ayes (Pen) A Lt. 14. 17. John N oor (Y am ) A H 1 4 . 18 . M i k e God f r ey (Pe n) A Lt. 14. 1 9 . J im Jenkins (Pen ) A T r. 14. 2 0 . R ober t M a lo x (SUZ) A H 16. 21. Pat Pipes (H o n ) A Lt. 17. 22. Je rry Jen k ins (Yam) A 'H 11 . 23. Tony Furtad o (H o n ) A Lt. 17 . 24. Bob Rey noldS (B ul) B Lt. 18 . 25. D ic k H arr is l D K W) B T r . 2 3. • FI RST A T E A M: T ony Furta do 17; Jay T u ll is 6; Marv Munyon 10 ; Hon da .. FI RST B T E AM : Ed Mazenk o (O SS) 54 B L t : sam O rr i k (Oss) 3 2 B Lt : Jerry Spa r k s . ( Yam) 53 B H. F AT H E R & SON : Marv an d R i c k Munyon. . . •and th is is a bottleneck. 19

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