Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Tempe fugit· the River Bottll11 GP (Grand Party] By A. H. T ellier TEMP E, A RIZ ., D EC. 14-1 5 The final River Bo tt om Grand Prix o f an outstan ding ' 74 season ' was nothing less than a total success: several h undred so uls part icip ated in the pre-race part y Saturd ay nigh t ; hundred s atte nded the day-long even t Sunday (lO O rid ers); nin e kegs of Coors were consumed; an d the Missio n Hills , Californ ia crew made their RBGP deb u t with flying colors. The Saturday party was sco red along with the race, and the sum total reflected both performances. Several well-don e moto rcy cle mo vies by Los Dos Gross Bros. Va lentes were shown on the side o f an abando ned build ing a t mid nigh t. The flicks (rated GP) were a positive ad dition to an alread y WFO Riding over your head? No, riding ou ta' my head . . . a totally WFO event . event. The race, held as usual in the ever-popu lar T empe Salt River flood plain , was aide d in n o small me asu re b y Mr. Dennis Kimb all and h is gian t C a terpill ar scoo p lo ad er . The ou tstanding jump an d water hole we re his work. Also ad d to his ever-increasing list of credi ts t h e des tru ct ion of a sec tion of wa ter lin e. Resu lt : a self-fee di ng mudhole , A six -wheel drive wat er truck was in residence th rough out th e ' day , keepi ng th e tr ack totally dus t-free an d th e berms firm. Th e plau dits in th is in stan ce go to Mr. Rob Evans , noted G uzzi rid er an d par t y guzzler. ' The races were run in three heats each, split per engine size at 125, 250 an d Open . Five-lap mo tos were the ord er of th e day, with scoring by RBGP rul es: points per finishi ng position, lowest total is b est, th en a win ner is selected a t rando m. The 125 mo tos were sp arsely p opulated , with on ly five bikes in situ . A fter th e fairly uneven tful series was ove r, a tie fo r first was fou nd: yo ung Mr. Watson (Ho n ) and Millard Branagan (Puc h ). As nature abho rs a tie, th e wi n was a wa rded to Ron "Je t" J ackson, of the Jackson ian Inst itute. T he 25 0 class definitely ha d class: 17 riders. Mo to-Asf A sidecars were also run in th is class in o rder to ad d a little spice to the proceedings. The 25 0s are trad itio nally a rice grin der class, but Hus ky-mounted Chris Tyler d id it to th e Nippones e units this ti me . Tyler 's closest co mp etit o r was J an Berger (Yam ) o f Bly the, who won th e first mo to . Loss of the necessary moto r sk ills later in th e day spe lled the finish of a not-to-be-realiz ed high standing. liard riding and h ard part yi ng Tony Pierce (Yam) took second with a seri es of tec hnically -poor WFO rides . High o n poi nts, etc ., but 'way bac k was third overall " Ri ngfree " Macmill an (Mo n] rid ing out of Mission Hills' shop. Also riding o u t o f h is h ead . A o ne- lap bi c ycle moto was ru n. and 10 the winner was David Krohn of Van :-Iuys. Second place fell to Peter Corcoran while th e mu d h ole took its to ll fro m Dennis Kimball as he went over th e ba rs in a ba ll of flame. Ope n class was the specta to r 's favorite, as th e rid ers o p te d fo r ego-tripping o ver th e jump into th e waterh ole, Broken Husky front fe nde rs littered the rive rb o t to m. An e normo us ba ttle developed between Tempeoid Dave Valente a nd Sunn yslopes own Ro n Whittington (Bu l). Va lente, maki ng The party migrates t o the self-watering waterhole . . . up wit h large h ueuos wh at was lacking in finesse, fell co n t ino usly allo wing Ron to bl ast hom e fo r th e co veted Ope n win . D a ve qualified for th ird, beh ind perennial favorite Harry Kirby, riding out of the. Brothers Wonderful Racin g Team. Harry, last RBGP Open winner on a fo ur-beater Honda has cha nged to a Maico and likes it. Re cogni zing th at spe cta tors do get off o n the bizarre, Sun Engineering con tra cted for a jump . No o ff-the -wall bikes for the m , a 196 1 Cadillac wa s called for. Loaded with asso rted h ero es (Pete Wekell , Mack , Lob o , Benny Perez ), t he veh icle became airborn e t h ro ug h t he eig hth tum berm , event ua lly co ming to rest o n th e high side o f t he sixth turn, where it stayed for th e final mo to s. Co urse surg eo n, Dr. Pet er Herwic k was in att endanc e to aid in any med ical emergen cy . But ther e were no injuries. :\ 0 flame o uts. No hype. Evel co uld n 't top it . Th e fin al race o f th e day was the huddy race, wh ere two riders take turns at th e co ntro ls. T he win ne r in the d irt bike class was t he hard-drivin g te am o f J o hn Bach er /Dean -o-ra rna Bergga ard (Yam) . Winn er in th e stree t clas s was Ter ry Cory / Bria n Pepper o n th eir CB350. Fall ing a total o f th ree tim es. they did put together a fin e rid e. Well done, b lokes ! Environme nta l o bservers, quat ernary .. . as the Sun Engineering Spl. attempts a Falta-Iess land ing. geol ogists Dennis Welsch a nd Neil Suneson , gave the en tire o pera tio n a clean bill of health , as d id Sierr a Clubber J an Her wic k. Po sit ive rela tio ns wit h these peopl e will pre clude any o f the bitter feelings eviden t in Cali forn ia. An imp romp tu fou r-wheel race was attempted afte r the b ikes wer e done, with Ph il Shipley th e favo rite . How ever , close quar te rs made the eve nt a tad shaky , so it was terminate d before any injuries o cc urred . The injuries of the da y were limited , ex cep t for o ne inst an ce, to pipe burns, gonked sh ins. bruises , etc. The ringer was a po or soul , who stu ck his th ro tt le and hit th e fence , losin g a tooth and d otting his eye. Just wait un til th e nex t R BG P. Be the re or be square . Din gusoids will not be invited ! •

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