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/125864
L.G . Hearns and Gordon Schmid teamed up on some Yamahas to take fi rst Ove rall in CRC's two-man desert bash . Freeway fast eRe team race Something, th at CRC does that very few of the other promoters do is honor other club's ratin gs of riders. That's something to think about when the next guy asks you for twelve bucks or tells you to run pie p late Expert. • Story & photos by John P. Hesson Crackin' 0-37 nuts in the dusty desert LUCERNE, VALLEY , CAL., JUNE 2 The return of summer weather to the d esert greeted ride rs out for CRC' s popular team race. A large turnout Was on hand for today's event , held in the area north of Soggy Dry Lake. Believe it or not, the largest part of the course was on virgin terrain. Due to the dry 12 spring, the co u rse turned into a dust bowl shortly after the first lap . The course ran east out of the pits over fifth gear terrain, up the side of a small rock hill, past the first flyin g check and across the desert. CRC showed the way with more than en ough danger markers and ribbon on all parts of the co u rse. A dropaway of no less tha n six feet slowed the riders down for the tigh t canyon where the second c hec k was hidden. Heading southwest out of th is check you arrived at the pits an d home check. L.G . Hearn (Yam) and Gordon Sch'mid (Yam ), riding' fo r Crown Cycle , led the entire ra ce from start to finish . Moving down the ranks, Steve Eckardt (Yam) and Steve Anderson were fifth Team Overall and first Open Novice. Burl Baxter (Yam) an d Donald O liva (Yam) showed the yo unger set that the old m en can "do it in th e d irt " with the best of t hem. Seven th O verall and first Open Novice V e teran was their reward for a very h ar d ride . In the Mini class, Mike Whorton (Hon) and Kell ey Arc her (Yam) did battle with t he team of Mike McG urk (Ya m) and Rhonda McGurk (Yam). Wh orton and Archer proved the str on ge r of the teams for the first place brass. After race comments were good. There was some talk about CRC running more of these team races and more desert events. If you enj oyed this one le t th e people at CRe know about it. By Jim Stewart SOGGY DRY LAKE, CAL. ,J UNE 9 As many riders found ou t the hard way, the Desert Squirrels were not kidding around when they named their even t, the First Ann ual Nut-cracker Hare Scrambles. If the . All crossed up and lo sing sole. Rory Airheart. Richard Durhard (one o f whom is in t he p icture ) make like ' DeCoster on this S uzu k i. rocks or the road crossings didn't get you, then the heat and numerous sandhills did. With the dust at its worst, when one rider crashed at the end of the now famous fire road past check o ne, in the rocks, he took si xty other riders with hi m . A coup le of riders were bad ly h u rt while the rest had m inor cuts and bruises . Sever al reported being hi t several times, un ab le to get out from under their b ikes because of others on top of the m . This was af te r check one, a check several riders n e ve r saw after los in g th e co u rse past the bomb. La rry Roesele r didn 't see m to have any tro ub le p icking up the ribbon, as he led m o st of the first lap, until his fro nt t ire lost its air. Roeseler was riding a YZ Yamaha, but reportedly signed up on a 250 Harley . After Larry dropped out. Doug Winchell a nd Kevin Hasten battled for the lead, resulting in Winchell's win by a wide m argin as Kevin co llapsed his rear wheel. Is it true that Art Kn app never stops fo r his home check ? Come to t h in k of it, I would hat e to have t o j um p ou t in front o f him, especiall y w he n th e fo r me r Number One was going afte r a 500 class w in. In fact , all of th e riders wh o b attle it out in the 5 0 0 class for top honors were up in the o ve ral l runnings. Knapp was first , while A .C. Bakken was second, Bob Balentine, third; Smokebornb Geatz, fourth ; and Mike Caudillo, fifth. Intermingled with these top 5 0 0 class riders was Nevada desert ace, Steve Harden on a 250 Husky a nd Jeff Kirk, who will receive points for second p lace finish , since Harden is not a District 37 race r. A ndy Kirker see ms to finish o n ly two ways; not at all or firs t 175 Expert. This is just a nothe r of a doze n or so class firsts for Kirke r, wh o mi ssed several races wi th a broken colla rbone , As Kirke r has had his share of firs ts in this class , Jeff J e ffe ries and Gary Conner have had their share of seconds and thirds; th is week was no ex cept ion . Kirker fini shed twelfth Overall , ahead o f Mark Adent , who was not riding as at the beginning of th e year. Maybe after riding the ISDT qualifiers this year sin ce switching to a Penton, he needs a t im e schedule to go fast. Wayne Co ok was the rid er just befor e Kirker a t th e finish line pi ck ing up thi rd District 37 Expert, excludi ng Nevada n Harde n. With Jim Wotring not finishing on top lately, Co ok looks to be closing in on Wotring's N umber One 250 point lead , along with J eff Kirk. Back in the Amateurs, it was Chuck Carr getting by Mik e Powers , who got sick on the second lo op af te r lo o sing his kidney belt. The 250 Amat eurs were sho wn around th e co u rse by Gary Chaters (Bul) . T wo of t hese ride rs incl uded Birdie Gr eenberg and Lar ry Lariviere, wh o wer e second a nd t h ir d 250 Am at eurs to re ceive finisher pins. Ri ch Smith, Mike Eckhart , and John Chestnutt were the top three finishers in the 17 5 Amateur clas s, while Jaime Haas, Jim Squires, and David Doney did the sa me as J 00 Amateurs. Fifteen minutes lat er. it was Bob Wadlow leading the Novice at the bomb . Several 0 f the Novi ces never even saw th e first che ck, a nd when I got the re, more were coming in from the wrong direction than t he right o ne. I was in th e top ten , un t il about five m iles af ter the check, Wadlow, Louis Darling on a baby E lsinore, William Wolfson , and Joh n White all stopped, as if the y were los t. I kept go ing, picki ng up red and white ribbo n so I knew I was on co urse . I led for a w hile, until Wad low re alized wha t was happening a nd go t go ing again, passing me afte r I missed a turn . The battle for first Novi ce was o ve r, as Wadl ow turn ed th e th rot tle to full lo ck and held it there until th e fin ish . Louis Darling held on to his Honda to finish first 175 Novi ce, way up in the Overall standings. William Wolfson passed m e about th ree miles from the finish, on h is DT-J to finish second 250 Novice , while I was third. Another Spokebender on a CZ like Wadlow's, Andres Thalmann , was fo u rth. You may not re cognize these names, but I'm sure you've seen Thalmann aro und the pits before - the 250 Novice with the 88x on his plate. John White (Suz) was first 500 Novice t o finish ahead of Russell Co llins and Don McE lfresh . Ji m Harper was also way up Overall, on a 125 Ya maha fo r second, while M.E . Smith was thi rd. Jody Belknap led the Trail Novices for m ost of the race, includi ng whe re it coun ted most - a t t he fi ni sh lin e . Bro th e r of first Trail Expert, Bo b R utten , Tom Rutten was sec on d T rail Novi ce. Nicho las Peffer an d J ohn T ar rant kep t thei r sm allb ores sc ream ing ' ar o un d the sandy course for th ird and fourth . . Trudi Bec k, top Powder Puff rid er has finished m ore D-3 7 d esert races than m ost m en have eve r started. She j ust turned Ama teur in the Powder Pu ff div isio n, so wen t out an d to o k the Overal l Powder Pu ff win o n her Hu sky . O nce again, t here was so me bare-assing go ing on with the Rovers co m in g out worst this weekend, almost being washed d ow n the hill. Will revenge be sough t next weekend? Someone stole the pi tracer du mm y hanging 30 feet in the air, clothed in full racing apparel, and the Squirrels would appreciate its return with no questions asked. O ne thing the finishers will remember after running up and down sand hills, bouncing over e ndless h uge whop -de -dos, goi ng down tight , winding, rocky dow n hills, or unload ing at the seve ral road crossings , was the ice water the Squirrels provided at th e finish giving back life to a bunch of ti re d desert racers. • Results 5 0 0 E x : 1. Art Knap p ( H us); 2 . A .C. B a k k en ( Hus); 3. Bob Ba len t in e (H us) ; 4. Sm okebom b Geatz (Vam ); 5 . Mike Cau dill o ( B ul). 25 0 E x : 1 . Doug W ln cn e ll (B u l) ; 2 . S te ve H arden (H us ); 3. Jeff K ir k (V am ): 4, Wayne C o o k ( H on) ; 5 . R i c k Lee ( Yam ) ; 175 Ex : 1. And y Kirker ( Y am ) ; 2. Je ff Jeffer ies (Han ); 3. Ga ry Con n e r ( D K W ) . 100 Ex: 1. Bob R u tten (Hod ); 2 . Bruce Ogil iv e (H ~D ) : 3 . Cha r lies Ham i ll Jr. (P en) . P owd er Pu ff : 1. Tr udie Be c k ( H us) . 500 A m : 1. Chuc k Ca rr (B u l) ; 2 . Mike Powe r s (H u s) : 3 . W ill iam s Ca m be ll (Bul ) . 2 5 0 A m : 1. Gary Chaters \BU I) ; 2 . B ir d i e G re e n be r g (Bu l ) ; 3 . L a rry L ar lv ere ( Yam ) . 175 A m : 1. R ic h Sm ith ( Han ); 2. M ike E c k ha rt (Ya m); 3. J o h n C h est n utt (Ha n) . 1 00 A m : 1. Jamie Haa s ( H o d ) ; 2 . J im e SQuires ( Y a m ) ; 3 . Da vi d Doney ( H ·O ) . 5 0 0 N ov : 1. John W h i t e (SUZ); 2 . R ussell Colli ns ( Y am ) ; 3. Don McE lfresh (H us) . 25 0 Nov: 1. Bob Wa dlow (CZ); 2 . Will iam Wolfson (Yam) ; 3 . Jim Stewart (Yam); 4 . Andres Thalmann (CZ). 1 75 N o v : 1. Louis Dar ling (Han) ; 2 . Jim H arper (Yam) ; 3 . M .E. Smith (pen) . 100 Nov: 1. JOdy Be lknap (OKW) ; 2. Tom Rutten (HOd) ; 3 . Nicholas Peffer ( Y am ); 4 . John Tarrant (Ha d) .