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off th e other five trophies offered this group. In the 126-200 Expert class was the only woman rider to trophy. Maris Masengill of Iowa went home with the th ird pl ace brass. Utah riders had dominated th e climb so far, but from here on, the California riders managed to grab the lion 's share of the brass. As a starter, Wes Evans , riding for a very ' large JMI Racing Team out of Southern California. took ov er first place in the 20 1·2 50 Expert class with a run of 695 feet. That mar k was less th an 50 feet below the all time h igh set last year by Larry Sm ith. Teammate Doug Hall cop ped second, an d California rider s made off with six of t he 13 trophies presented in this cla ss. T he largest class was the 2 5 1-500 Ex pe rts, with over 100 bik es go in g for 23 trophies. Again, California do m ina te d. taking 12 o f the trophies, with JMI taking 10 o f those 12. Firs t - wen t to Kerry Peterson on a 400 Maico , secon d to Craig Mock on a 3 60 Yamah a. third to Northern Californian Ron True on a 450 Kaw asaki. In the 50 1-0pen Expert class, a super rider from No rth Dak o ta Har ol d J. Odegaard, riding a 1250 cc Harley , dus ted off the Cali fornians. Co mpetition in th e Exhi bition class was fie rce . Th e b ikes ran ged in size fr om a 250cc Bult aco to 1560cc Harl ey . Mos t wer e fu el burners , something not allo wed in th e Exper t class, and some carried ti re chains. Rid ers incl uded winners fro m early runs like Kerry Peters o n , Wes Eva ns and Harold Odegaard. Man y eve n felt that t her e was a cha nce th e 1500 foot Wid owma ker would be defeated by o ne o f these bikes. Perhap s it was to o mu ch power and tract ion , perhaps it was nerves or bad luck, bu t th e first few riders o ff th e line di d very poorly . Ron True, riding about a quarter 0 f the way in to th e class, was th e first rider to p ass the 800 fo ot m a r k , an d his 882 feet held fo r a fourth in th e st an dings. just o ut of th e troph y list. Steve Picatti, also of Northern California. set a new hi gh o f 948 feet. one inc h. His mark held right up to the next to the last rider in the class. Then Ron St andeven, another J MI Team rider, ro ared awa y on his 836cc Hon da. St andeven had cha nge d the carb s an d co nverte d to fuel since his run in the Open Expert class. In th e Op en he had placed th ird. bu t this time the exotic fu el mix ture gave him th e additio na l power h e needed. Still well below th e crest, but well above the mark held by Picatti, Standeven ca me to a halt a t 984 feet , eigh t inc h es, a ' new record high. \\b en Neal Mackel's 750 Triumph stopped at 903 feet, nine inches, th e climb was over and California had sw ep t th e Exhibition class. Maybe next year will be the on e th at • sees the Widowmaker fall . . . Results in Results Section. Local hotline A Conroy kind of weekend By Dale Brown CALI FO RN IA CITY , CAL. , APR. 19·20 Bill Conroy (400 Yam ) got a new spo nsor, a new b ike and some new luck as he charged to a Silver Cu p victory o n Saturd ay and follo wed it with an Am ateur/Expert win in Sunda y's Rare Desert Scr am bl es. Saturday 's Silver Cup In vit ation al was for th e top 50 riders in the DRA poin t sta ndi ngs. Th ey were aim ing for th e Silve r Cup, a tro phy valued at mo re than $5 00 . Conroy passed early lead er Morgan Malo cco (400 Yam ) on th e first loop Bob Balentine had t o work Saturday. but took a second OA . first 250 o n Su nday. and led all the way thereafter. The previo us Silver Cu p winner Kevin Hasten (4 00 CZ ), racing fo r the firs t tim e sin ce his back injury at the Mint, trie d h ard but Conro y wasn 't h avin g any. So it was second for Hasten, th ird for l\Ialocco and d ua l p oints for th e finishers. If Conroy wants to put th e trophy on pe rma nen t display down at Sunshine Yamah a (hi s new sp o nso r) he will have to win th e next two Silver Cup rac es. Sunday was the da y for every body else to tac kle the same course. T om Rogers (Bon ) started it o ff by eas ily winning th e 0-200 Beginner class, with Dan Tipton (Bul) in for second. Lik ew ise, J.L. Ferguson (400 CZ ) led all three loops of th e 25 0/0 pen Begin ner clas h to win, with Gordon Sm ith (4 00 Bus) in second. Mike Sh ively (CZ ) was third, first 25 0. In the Novi ce race , Crown Cycl e 's Dale Owens (400 Yam) had a healt hy lead at th e bomb and was never bo th ered a fter that. Lee Wilson (17 5 Hus) was in for sec on d , followed by th e first 250 rid er , Steve Sutton (Hus) Ama teu r Larkin Wight left h is T riump h at home and rode a 400 Mono in to the le ad at the start o f the Ama te ur-E xper t race. When Wight took up spr ing plowing with his duckb ill, Wayne Garrett (400 Yam ) slipped in to the lead and held it through th e pits on ly to h ave his b ike expire moments later. A fe w miles af ter th at . Conroy passed Rick Shirey (4 00 Yam ) for the lead an d the win . Bob Balentine (2 50 Hus) moved in to sec o n d an d st ayed there despit e a b ad crash on th e last loop. Shi rey and J im Fishback (4 00 Yam ) put some exc ite me n t into t he pits wh en th ey ca m e through o n th e fourth loo p , so cl ose th at they were ru bbin g elb o ws th e wh ole time t hey were in sigh t. Fishback eventuall y pulled aw ay to finish third. An ot her one of Malcolm Smi th 's riders, Ro n Du gan (360 Il us] was first Amateu r ,at eighth ove ra ll. Gar y Prast er wa s th e firs t small -b ore , in a t 10th. The co urse feat ured -.a 14·mile first Bill Conroy go t the Silver Cup and a magnum of fizz water to boot . Dale Owe ns led the Novice class all the way . z ~ a a: III UJ .J « a >- III ~ f- a - J: ' 0.,-- _ ",,: 17