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/126002
Desert hotline ... . ' Gordon Schm id went fr om first to thi rd when his bike got hung up on a big roc k. Brooks takes Gold .Digger H&H Dean Miller made it two overall Amateu r wins in a row. Cordis Brooks went f rom a five kick sta rt to a first place finish. By Dale Brow n SOGGY DR Y LAKE, CAL., AUG. 3 Making his first DRA appearance of th e year, Cordis Bro ok s (250 Bul) made up for lost tim e by taking the overall win in th e 60-mile Gold Digger Hare n ' Hound. Somewh at an xious at the start, Cordis flubbed his first kick, got his bike started on the fifth and took off through the dust. Larkin Wight (Yam) got to th e bomb first, only to seize his bike, handing th e lead to Gordon Schmid (Yam ). Novice Bob Burtscher (4 00 Yam) got a heckuva start, running in second and easily keeping Schmid in sigh t un til coming up with a flat tire . Meanwhile, Brooks had moved up from lOth at the bo m b to third, an d was now chasing Bill Saltzman (360 Hus) who h ad inherited second. Brooks got by Saltzman shortly before the end of the first loop, but Bill regain ed second place when Brooks pitted. A brief seizure shortly after the start of the second loop didn 't stop Sal tzman from catching up to Schmid and p assin g h im, but Gordon regained the lead qu ic kly. Running down a tigh t san dwas h, in the lead , Schmid slid ou t in a turn and th e bi ke became h igh-cen tered on a large rock. While Gor don was having trouble getting down off the roc k, .. Saltzman and Brooks blew by . That little contre temps tired Schmid and he didn't challenge for the lead again. Broo ks passed Saltzman for good in a sandwash about 10 m iles fro m the finish and stayed in front the rest of the way, with Saltzman breathing do wn his neck. . Dean Miller (250 Yam) stil! hasn 't c o o le d off, finishing fourth and grabbing first Amateur honors for the second tim e in a row. J amie Avels (4 00 Yam ) spent much of th e last 10 or so miles closing the gap on Amateur Van ce Schmid (2 50 Yam ). 11,e p air spe n t th e last mile side-by-side, flat ou t in fifth gear . Neithe r one bac ke d off the throttle th ro ugh the finishing chute, with Avels taking fifth by inches. Seventh overall an d first Open Amateur went to Lon Peterson (400 CZ), who 's been getting faster every race. Prospero us Shepard (400 Yam) took his second Novice win in a row, finishing at 12th, three positions ahead of Wes Finkle (4 00 Yam ). Eric Spaeth (Hon ) took th e small-bore win . J oe LaPorte , who held the num ber one plate in the sm all-bore class last year, sh owed up for h is fir st race since a bro ken ba ck in Febru ary of '74. Riding a 250 Can-Am in th e Sen ior class and wearing h is son Danny 's je rsey for lu ck, Joe swoop ed the class overall win ahead of usual winner Gu s Paul l (4 00 Yam). Ken Mann (3 60 Yam) didn't have any pro ble ms spoiling his enj oyment of a healthy lead over the rest of the Beginners. Steve Grenke (125 Mono] was a ways back for second overall. Motocrosser Linda McNa mara (Hon ) had fun in the desert, finishing first in the "AU Powderpuff class, while Chris Wallace (Su z) had her own way in the " B" ranks . Variety was th e password for the course with the terrain ran ging fro m dry lak e beds and deep , deep whoopdies to several kin ds of san dwashes and fun ro llers. • Results in Resul 15 Section. .;; , 21