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/125881
; CRC Rawhide GP ag :: What do you say about a race where 80% DNF? g = ~ l' O'l ...... By John Huetter ELSINORE, GAL., SE PT . 29 Any fault lay with the envrron.0 mente Six months of dry heat had o .... u moist o turned normally farily Rawhide Park into a sere brown ~ 00 .... ~ pie c e of real estate equal parts ro cks other words, much Southern California co mposed of and dust. In like most of in September. The unhappy res u lt for the over 3 00 racers who t urned o ut to do battle for two ho urs on the rugged seven -mi le co u rse was boiling thick d us t tha t obscured the fro n t wheel of your own mot orcycl e in the opening laps o f ea ch race as a hu ndr ed or so riders co n te nd ed for those vital front positions where it was possible to see, to engage in so m e ra cing, and to avoid the foo tball-size ro c ks that kept growing on the course. Th e happ y part was a good, demanding co u rse that put skill ahead of speed . If you survived the first lap, which most did, (There was only one injury all da y. ) riders were treated to a very demanding, rugged co urse that included r i d g e- running, boulder-berms, some really fine uphills. worthy of the te rm Then there was the racing. Open class overall winner Hugh Williams whizzes past on his chopped and channeled rigid suspension Maico . "GP" and, naturally, d own hill s o f th e same type. As the d ay wore o n, hundreds of knobbies ch u rn ed the h ills to hub-deep silt so tha t some rid ers were stalled o r deflect ed from the go o d lines on the fairly steep ris es. T his mad e it a lot easier to pass the m, of co urse, b ut most com pe tito rs from Expert t o Beginner h ad little trouble with th e circuit. Most competitors d id have a .l i t t l e trouble co n te nd ing with a two-hour ra c e over suc h tortuous terrain . The event re ally sorted out those who had prepared their bi ke s, brains, and bodies for the ro cks , heat, dust, and hills fro m th os e who hadn't. On the fir st loop , I t hough t it was one of GRG's old en d uro courses but eventually lap times settled into th e 13 -15 minute range. Riders got strung out very q ui ckly, more so in the last race of th e d ay for Open class machinery as front-runners took advantage of d ust- free vision. Those behind often purposely let distance grow between them so they could see the rocks and chuckholes. At times, there were no good lines left in the hard adobe and shale so speed was no t the answer; careful trail riding was . Then, wh en the co u rse d rop ped down o ut of the hills in slow, fast-lea ping undulat io ns to the tight Rawhide ~ m ot ocr oss co urse , t he re we re p lenty of go od lines all over the still-tac ky track (ex cept th rough the t hree lar ge , deep, artificial wa te rho les where th ere was only one line t hat preven ted drown ing) but few riders wer e using th em . Must have bee n a lot of d esert racers en tered. Mud ca ked on t h e d ust. When you go t cle ar of th e d ust, rememb ered wh er e th e two bli nd dr opoffs we re, and fo u nd a riding pace that could be m aintai ne d for two ho urs, the co urse actually became pretty en te rtaining to ri de . It was imaginatively laid out a nd well marked with ri b bon and GRG arrows which, at times, Stages in a two-hour race, Part I. Get a good start, otherwise you ate dust and couldn't see very well , either, fo r about half an hour (two laps'. Those who didn't regretted it . Part of getting a good start was coming from astride the front wheel to astride the seat as rapidly as you can. Handstands did not prove practical. enha n ced the feeli ng that yo u'd st umbled in to a reasonably d iffi cul t en duro. And it was an en dura nce race. The attrition rat e was fai rly st aggeri ng co ns ide ri ng a m ixed bag of Beginners, Novices, Intermediates, a nd Exp erts th at totalled about 100 (so me ti mes m ore) for each o f th e th ree sep ara t e starts b y d ispl acement class . By th e end of th e Op en class bout , about 15 bi kes an d rid ers wer e st ill ci rc ula t ing , bar el y . No t to o m an y more turned th e fin al lap o f th e eight lap s m o st riders m ad e in the 0-200 or 25 0 classes, ei the r. Th os e wh o finished truly ea rned th eir fini shi ng pins by the c hec kered. When it was allover but the sco ri ng, you co uldn't help b ut re flec t ho w fine the two -ho ur fo rmat . and the co urse designated by GRG h ead J err y Mc Neal woul d be if it were e ven a lit tl e wet an d tacky . Say , after a m onth o r tw o of intermittent rain. J erry mentioned tha t he planned to re peat this scene in February when it sho uld be a st one gas with a little wa te r in the cree k and a little tr act io n on th e hillsides. With the co nsi derable advan tage of imp ro ved vision, t h ere ar e likely to be some seri ous dices du ring 12 0 m inut es. T his t im e, m o st o f t he ea rly leaders built up impressive leads o f a minute or more bu t DN F 'd th e rac e leavin g stalwa rt survi vors to fill th e t op positions. What is s till surprising is ho w m an y " Begi nne rs" see m to find th eir wa y in to th e top I 0 ove rall in these races. Frankly, we aren 't buyin g it . Neither is the GRGas m ost of the "Beginners " fo u n d t h e ms e lves recl assified p rett y quickly. It really gets embarr as sin g when o ne of the "Beginners n wins o veral l, whi ch was barely avo ide d today. Mo st riders viewed th e lo ng , demanding, en d u ra nc e race as a fin e ch allenge an d th e co urse as plenty ro ugh. It was a ra re o p port u nity to see if you co uld press yo urself o n a closed course for t wo hours a nd survive. T eam Turkey was, o f course , co m p le tely up to th e chal le nge but part of TT re tired gracefully with d ustovi sion wh ile part retired a w kwardly aft er a no tabl y un graceful en cou n te r with o ne o f th e invisible rocks o n th e ridge lin e and r e s u I t ing- m ech an ical fa ilures . T he sol ution to all th ese problems , and more, is sim ple. Mak e it ra in. Now if th e GRG reall y had so me cl ou t they'd ge t so me d amp weather to go with th e go od organi za ti o n whi ch m a kes it 'easy to race th ei r eve n ts a nd th e fine , to ugh co urses wh ich make it , uh , challen gin g, to fin ish th em . T hey sho uld do th is thing agai n . Results 0 ยท 200 : 1. J eff L a rsen (Su z) Nov; 2 . R ust'y Clarke (055) Nov ; 3 . Darry ll H o u se ( Pe n ) Nov; 4. F ern an d o Be.lair fC -A) Nov; 5 . G l en n Pag e 12 (S u z ) Beg; 6 . C m d i Wa t son (Suz) PP; 7 . Kat hr. Ca mpbell (Suz) P P; 8 . Jim Hall (Y am ) Mi n . 250 : 1. Jamie A vels (Ya m ) I nt; 2 . Mike Lyon s (Kaw) N ov; 3. W ayne Marti n (Hus) Nov: 4 . Ga ry Egloff (Hus) N o v : 5 . Rick San ders (ass) In ti 6 . Jim Smith ( Y a m ) Nov ; 7. Frank Neimey er (S UZ) E x . Open : 1. Hugh W i ll ia m s (Ma i) Ex : 2. D av e Wood (V am) Nov : 3. Bill T hom as ( Ya m) NO Vi 4 . D avid B o r c k (Ma l) Nov; 5 . M i ke Owens tS UZ) N o v.