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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125993
; Da I'll be back next year! III ~ t l!'l r-, O'l ...... ~ot: ~ ""'" 0 -< Il) c ;j . ~ Greenhorn Enduro By Jeff Peck CAJON PASS, CALI F.• MAY 24-25 Tom Getzfried powered his Yamaha to the finish of the Greenhorn Enduro after almost 400 miles and two days of co m pe titi o n wi th a score o f only minus I I to win the 29th running of th e annual event. Getzfried b arely edged out Honda mo unted Mike Sterling w ho also sco red a minu s eleven, but lo st it on the tie b re aker . This year's Green ho rn h ad so me chan ges fro m years past that, to many people, sp elled a big difference. For one thing it was no longer a Nat ional Enduro so th e Pasaden a MC h ad some trouble filling all the starti ng positions, also the BLM was forced b y a citizens gro up in Lucerne to close a portion of th e co urse. This was do ne un der a threat to su e both th e BLM and th e PMC if t he rid ers used this portion of the course . This little change m ean t th at over 3 00 riders spent an hour an d a half sitting out in the desert waitin g for the time to be used up so th at t hey would b e back on schedule. Star t time for this ye ar 's Greenhorn was a very early 6 :0 0am , but th e early hour was well worth it as th e scenery in the st eep San Bernardino Moun tains unfolded as yo u tr aveled down wide fir e ro ads. On e of the first accidents o f the da y occurred just outside of the first chec k on a very tight wagon road, some poor gu y went off th e side of the trai l. The emergen cy gas was a t 1 8 mil es an d proved to be a savi o ur fo r many people as the winding fire ro ads used more gas than one wo uld thin k. Th er e was little ro ugh stuff in th e mountains , in fact so me people we re getting the grumbles be ca use of th is. Dave Eki ns, who fi nished fifth overall, stated sh o rt ly aft er the Ra bb it Dry La ke gas check th at " I co uld have rid den a str ee t bike th is far , when are we go ing to get in to some ro ugh stuff." Upon hearing this co m p lain t one official from th e PMC co m men ted that "We 're da mn ed if we do an d dam ned if we do n 't" this was in re ference to las t years in fam ous ro c k p ile w hic h claimed m an y riders on th e first day before the lunch ch ec k. Sh ortly a fter the firs t gas check things started to pick up a bit as th e riders spent less time on the fireroads and more tim e in sandwashes eating each others dust. At the lunch che ck the high desert tempera tures and dust were starting to take its toll on both men and machinery. From the lunch chec k the terrain was quite a bit tougher . Even th e top riders started to lose time as bottlenec ks fo rmed at rocky uphills and fati gue set in. At the end of the first day there were few co m plain ts on checks, naturally some were off, b ut it was kept t o a minimum. URA team rider Larry Lang ley co m me nted th at " it was th e best run and best marked Greenhorn ," he had ever ridden. This was co un tered elses remar k that by someone sometimes it appear ed that, "the people had gone alo ng the trail hanging ribbon on bushes t hat lo o ked n ice, res u lting in a rath er crooked co urse. n The next morning th e two day riders were joi ned by people wh o only wanted to ride Sundays leg back into the fini sh lin e. From just Sunday 's ride the top points man was John Arnold riding a Penton, Gary Sadderl y rode to a very close second place as he had an identical score o f minus sev en but lost it at th e tie breaker. Probably the toughest part of Sunday was th e openin g portio n that was run up Go vernment Peak. T his are a is he avy ro ck s an d riders really had to push up th e ridgebacks and stay on ti me. Th e PMC had an excellen t check set u p th at would have ca ugh t everyo ne off guard, b ut th e person wh o was su pposed to man it did not get there in time, so it was left o ut. Sunday's chec ks were a little mo re errat ic than Saturday s and many p eople were upset. As it stands now th e check at Rabbit Dry La ke an d th e one afte r were thrown o ut because the course change that th e BLM thre w in changed th e mil eage . Also many rider s d id no t see wh ere they were su p posed to start from at the dry lake so it put so me of th em as much as 20 minutes off sch ed ule. Efficient pit crews were a big help t o hot, dusty riders. Wat ching fo r Papa. Miles of dusty fireroads. Prob abl y the be st part of the whole enduro was in th e mountains on the wa y back. Th is part o f th e co urse was th e result of seve n months of work and reall y showe d excellen t planning. Consistin g mostly of ti ght twisty trails, it wound its way back through th e mountains . Some very tough water cro ssings were thrown in to . make sure n obody had too easy a time. There were so me portions where y o u felt lik e you were go ing straight down into Lake Silve rw o o d. Don Nelso n had some problems with th e n arro w trails when he went off the sid e. They were so steep on bot h sides th at if yo u slid off it was pretty tough go ing . T he only way Do n go t out wa s whe n ano th er rider st o p ped and helped pull his bike back up to the trail. Harry Keist, Reggie Krong and Harold Holstead made u p the win ni ng team as they turned in a sco re of minus 47 t o pull off the win. Some mention sh o uld be m ad e of 54 year old Don Litton who was the oldest finisher this year , thats really a low blow to all of us 20 year olds who went out on the first da y . But as they say , "There is always next year. " • Results in Results Section. 27