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/125981
Cranke, Penton score IS WORTH A 1000 WORD,S •••••••••• The Shamrocks ad ve rtised no ro cks. T ake that w it h a gra in of sal t. Rock Sa lt. A very different Shamrocks run Mark Adent. He t ho ught all the schedules were t o o slow. By Ron Schneiders Salesman E x pe rien ced produc t o rie nted business m a n t o cove r West e rn Stat e s. Gro un d floo r o p p o r t u n it y . Excellent sa la ry a nd incentive. Compan y pa id expenses and fringe be ne fits. If int e rest ed plase co nta ct Du nc a n McLleish , Mo nt esa Mo t o rs, 365 7 Beverly Blvd ., Los Angeles, CA 90004 . 21 3·663-8258. (714) 894-2623 Penton, Monark & Tyran & Rupp Fun Machines Sales Servi ce Pa rt s Accessories D&R Cycles 7 18 1 Wes t minster Ave. Wes tminste r , CA 92683 . r ... , "\- Carmela Hodaka Indian M aico Montesa Puth Steens Westminster 10 '\.. SportC~~~! 7219Westminster Ad.•W estminslltl'. CA17141893-7057 ~ALlFORNIAC ITY ,CAL.,;\IAR, 14 ·16 The 19 75 Shamrocks' Qualifier was completely different from the 1974 version in alm ost all respects, save one: Penton still won the b ig a wa r d , t he M anu fa ct urer's hv .Tt w a s n o t c u i h T T earn r op y . t w a s n o t q u ite t e same team a s la st year b u t one member rema in e d : Eric Jensen, the quiet rider wh o from the Supercy cle Shop in Eagle Ro ck was on both winning team s. This year, however, his teammates were Mark Ad ent, one of the fast desert hare-and-hou nde rs, and Gary Y o u n gkins from Youngstown, Ohio who was ridi ng his very first desert event, and his second tria l. Oensen 's teammates last year were Steve Hurd a nd Bill Frian t. ] Carl Cranke, wh o last ye ar missed winning th e be s t overall p erformance by a sca nt ni ne seco nds (t o Co rdi s Brooks) wo n this year by a no t m uc h gre ate r m argin. He beat Mar k Aden t by 70 points whic h was p recisely the amount Ad ent lost in penalty points be cause of a n ois y , relu ct an t ·to-start e ngine . Cranke did not have any better lu ck team-wise this ye ar. Teamed with Tom and J ac k Pen ton , he wa s any bo d ys odds-o n favorite to be on the winning team, but J ack Penton crashed on th e first da y a nd inj ured h im se lf (just as he d id last ye ar, inci de n tally ). Even though bo th T om Pe n ton and Carl won their classes, t he team fin ished far d own th e list. J ac k was not very serio usly injured (nothing broken) but his hand was swollen so badly it lo oke d like he had tried to go 10 ro u nds against a ce m e n t wall. He did an endo at no t very high speed and was unable to get away fro m the bike, which lan d ed on t op of h im . The contest fo r the Trade Team Trophy was much closer th an th e poin ts . indi c a t e. The Husqv ama team o f Malcolm Sm ith, Bob Bale ntin e (who won th e 25 0 class) an d Ben Bower co uld easily have won if eithe r of two circu mst an c e s h ad been s lig h tly different. Th eir score was h igh (whic h is bad ) be cause Bower's bike re fu se d to start with in th e allo tt ed ti me both days and in fact took 18 mi nutes to start the first day. Bo wer's bike is a reed-valve H u s k y which ap pa re ntly can' t get en ough fuel c harge to start on col d m om in gs, th rough th e n ormal sta rti ng procedures. Bower had receive d the engine o n ly days before from Natio na l Enduro Cham p ion Dic k Burleson , a nd h a d n o t h a d the time to get it th o ro ughly se t up . He's going to pu t a c ho ke on it for th e next trial. T he Sp ecial Tes ts , wh ich are secti o ns seve ral miles lo ng in wh ich the rider s go as fast as p ossible , fu mish ed th e seco nd se t of ci rcu ms tances under whi ch the results m ight hav e changed. In th e first Special Test (o n Sun day) there was a d ro p-off of abo ut 10 feet in th e fas tes t lin e th rough the can y on. Slo wer rid ers could not even re m e m be r the spo t because, go ing slo wly, o ne sa w the drop