Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Climbing the dam: Rob Edwards passes as he does it the right way; unidentified dancer in the wrong-way-or-after-you-T oats two step. Each bank is a bottomless dust bog. To ride fast in here you h ave t o ride blind. T he fas t guys d o and slo we r rid ers o nly hear, o r fe el their passing. G od ! Into the pi ts, and m or e d us t. The specta tors . pit crews, and rigs look like t hey 'd been sha ke n u p in a sa ck fu ll of flour. Ga ugi ng the progress of the ra ce is beset by the usual m elee o f slower bikes, Iapers, and Iapees, co mpounded b y the group that jumped the start. First in o n the first lap. and the rest o f t h e five is a young ma n who unknowingly got su cked alo ng with the jumpers. I clocke d him o ut o n the , co urse cu tting co nsiste n t 30-3 5 minute laps. Eve n co nsid ering his homb ru n ad van tage he rode a hell . of a race . m aintaining most of h is lead for all five loops on a b asica lly st ock OT-I. On th e l a st , lap. s t il l unaware of hi s d isqualifi cati on . he flash ed me a n e xu beran t "first " sign, Heartbreaking . Ev entua l cla ss winn ers , Bill Th ronburg, Open E xpe rt , a nd Marty Ha nk . 25 0 A m at e u r, swapped leads for fou r laps , finally e nd ing u p sec o nd a nd fou rth Overall. Eigh tee n year o ld Ex pe rt Bob Wharton, on a 125 Husky, slo wly worked h is way u p fro m a po or start to fir st Overall, and in cl ass, on the last lap . Bob is o ne of OUf t op motocr oss rid er s an d was said t o have c ut a 22 min ut e first lap . Pr ob abl y o ne o f th e m ore amazing rid es wa s age 43 O ld T ime r Bob Ed ward s who fro m a second wave start was first t o the bomb a nd pic ked off al l but tw o rid ers to finis h t h ird Ove ral l a nd first in class. Bo b 's times we re also ver y co nsistent a t 30-35 min utes for th e en tire 2\1> h ours. O ut o n the co urse he'd ap pear up on the pegs ove r th e ho rizon, blast p as t. a nd smo ke off into the desert. O n t he last lap his powdery visage opene d fo r a war whoop as he passed m y vantage point. He finished about 10 min utes behin d Bob Wharton, or about the time differen ce between the waves. A tot al of 30 2 st arted ; 49 finished all five laps before the chec ker. T he co urse was in teresting, favo ring an enduro type ri der over "nail it" sort of flat desert ra cer. I think most of the riders enjoyed themselves , at leas t in re trospect. I .k now some of them ca m e in grief as a m ot orcy cle-m an sandwich , wit h cholla rel ish, b ut such is th e s tuff of treasu red m emories. _ Firecracker FamUy Enduro July 6th Lucerne Valley M.O.R.E. Benefit 33 mi . of easy tra ils Sti ck ies - Fin isher Pins Contingency priz es $4 .50 single, $ 12.50 w hole famil y (incl 1 y r. membership in M .O.R.E,) Send name w ith 1 S.A.S.E. to CTR : 7859 Quimby Canoqa Park, CA 91304 Dist.37 Firecr a ck e r En d uro July 7th Lucerne Valley M.O.R.E. Benefit . 95 miles ; 4 riders per m in ute St ick ies - Fin isher pi ns - T rophies 0-37 entry f orm - entry : $7.50 (3 man teams add $ 1 . each) send w it h 2 legal size S.A.S .E. to CTR: Bo x 147, Newbury Park , CA 91320 Info for both eve n ts: 714 639-2666 or 213 346-7168 Re sults Overa ll: 1. B. W harton ( H u S)i 2 . M. H an k s (Hon); 3 . 8 . Ed w ards ( Y am) . O pe n E x : 1. B . Thornburg : 2 . D . Pe l o so (Hu S); 3. D . B oth er fi eld (SU Z) . 250 Ex : 1. R. Brown ( H us) ; 2 . D . M iller most held firm, an d th e b an ner stayed up until all re ma ining riders wer e remarked. The tra il sta rted at th e bomb , turning d o wn a jee p road and in to a large wash. Ve ry soft sand alt ernated with gravel ba rs , and boulders. T wo particularl y larg e a nd na sty ones nearl y bl o ck ed th e wash a t o ne point - it must have been a h orror in the dus t. One p oo r so u l, d isa b led a t t h is p oin t , had set h is helme t o n o ne of t he m as a m arker. Skull Ro ck . S till fo llowing the wash , th e trail at abou t m ile th ree went up the face of a 3 0 fo o t t all earth d am and d own the ot he r side. Th e ca rnage to this p o int wa s u n believab le; there were ten to twe n ty r id ers o u t along the t rai l and this was just th e first lap . A s I hadn' t seen anyone wh o appeared inj ured , most m us t have succum be d to m echan ical failures. Un beli e vab le , th e trail wasn 't th at punhi sh ing as I'd ro de t he wh ol e thing with no trou bl e on my lad y's fo o foo bike carrying m y ca me ras! Prep aration was something m an y o f t od ay 's rider s were lacking, both personall y an d physic ally. The m ajo rit y o f the rider s were p oorl y dressed for the even t ; I saw o ne dude who's only protective gear was a Jofa m outh gua rd. No gloves , no ja cket , no pad s, no boots. Only a tee sh irt a n d levis. No ca n tee n . After tw o o r three laps m ost had a severe cas e o f th e feehlc s, a nd they were just trail rid in g. Twen ty o r thirty mil es. a nd th e y were finish ed. I' m su re m ost o f the m we re just o ut for t he ride . bu t ad eq ua te p re para tio n d oe s w onder s fo r rider safe ty and pe rso na l enjoyme nt. T hc d am face was smoot h dirt. b ut stee p eno ugh to be ha rd to wal k up , with a stee p er pi tch for th e last few feet. Not t o o difficult, but eno ug h t o sep ara te th e racers fro m th e rid er s. I got a few pi cture s o f th e righ t way to cli mb it , a lot o f the wrong wa y . There's th e o ve r-b ac k w ard s -I e t- go-and -run ; th e th row-it -on-t op- and-fall .b a ck; th e onehand-grip-36 0 degree-pir out te: t he los ei t -a n d - c oll e c t - you - and - y our _ b udd y -ca scade-t o-the-bollo m ; an d t he e ver p opular front wheel landing, co llapse in a heap , w ith a p oke in the gu ts. From th e d am it was a sho rt way up the wash to check one and a jee p road. T he ro ad was hard pack ed , a nd n ot badl y rutted o r w ash ed out . but tw ist y. On an end uro t his wo uld have been a 24 MPH o r 30 MPH sec tion. S to ries to ld in the pits spe ak of the lea d ers ru n ning 70 -80 MPH th rough her e an d fant ast ic broad slid ing in t he co rn ers . Ma ybe, bu t n obody cam e b y m y lat er p ic tu re po in ts , nor pa st me o n th,e tr ail like th at. As d esert and m ot ocross b ikes d on't have sp eedometers it co uld be th ey're faster th an an en d uro bike. . After five-six mil es of j eep ro ad th e co u rse led into the hi lls for a couple o f miles o f virgin ro cks. wa sh cross ings, c1imhs and descen ts. Check tw o was o n top of the hardest climb . Out of the hill s and on to more jee p road. Head ing away f rom t he hills the soi l ge ts sandy, and th en dust y . Chec k three w as hidden in th e du st. It 's o u t in here th a t J hi t t he dirt . . The dust was te rr ible. T he t rail w as deepl y rutt ed, the ruts filled wi th a fine powder that fee ls lik e rid in g t h roug h d eep water. The CO urse tu rn s tow ard s hom e . cross ing a bi~ was h several times . (H us); 3. J . K o zuk (SUZ) . 1 2 5 E x : 1. B . Wha r t on (Hus) . Open Am: 1. M . D o wns (B ul) ; 2 . K. Sh er m an : 3. R. Sc h u n n . . 25 0 Am: 1. M . H aak (H On); 2 . C . Fa r me r (S uz ) : 3 . G. Carm ic kle (Hon) . 150 Am : 1. R . C l i ne (Ri c) ; 2 . D . Smith (HOn) ; 3 . J . C ross (HUS) . O p en Nov : 1. J. John ston (Y am): 2. J . H o c k ett ( Y a m ); 3. J . C o n l o n (Hus) . 250 N ov : 1. J . Edmond s ( H us) ; 2 . G . Vos bur y (Hus) ; 3. R . Humphre y (H On) . 1 25 Nov : 1. D. RObins (Yam ) ; 2 . M. K atich (Ya m); 3 . M. Wo od ( Y am) . Powder Pu ff : 1. B . K eane (Hus); 2. C. Si m s ( Kaw). O ld Ti m ers: 1. B . Edward s (Y am); 2 . D . B r own (Hus): 3 . F. M i ll er (Hus) . Boots SUPER BOOTS M X or IST D Size s 4- 13 Ava ilab le in hal f $64 95 sizes Toll Fre. - 1- 8 00 -453 -91 3 0 Pennzoil money for S.C.O.R.E.'s Baja race T he PennzoiI Com pan y j oined in S CORE' s Baj a I nt ernational o ff-road race as a c o n tingency spo nsor. T he y p o st ed $2 ,900.00. for the 5 0 0-mile event sch e d u led for July 25 -27. T he tent ative co urse sta rts in Ensen ad a, goes east thro ug h Oj os Ne gr o s to Sierra d e Juarez Mountain Range, through the back roads of th e timberland to the Valle d e Trinadad , turns southwest to th e Pacifi c Ocean, th en so uth through Mik e's Sky Ran ch to San Felipe t hen northwes t past Laguna Sa lada ' to a short section o f th e ha ck road from Me xicali to T ij ua na , t hen back acro ss th e hi gh co u n try ( Lagu na Ha nse n ) to Oj os Negros an d finishes in En sen ada, T he Pen n zoil awa rds ar e $200 to th e class win ners and a b on us award o f $250 will go to t he Overall ca r w inner and $250 to th e O verall m o t orc ycle winner. This is the first ' tim e a n Overall award has been p oste d eq ua lly for bot h car s and motorcycles. • /' (714) 894-2623 Penton, Monark & Tyran & Rupp Fun M achines Sales Service Parts Accessories D &R Cycles 7181 Westminster Ave. Westminster, CA 9268 3 19

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