Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

EDESERT HOTLINE ~ E I!") f'-. O'l ..... Th e course was n arrow for the most part and dust wa s a b ig problem on both sides. Hilltoppers European Scrambles By Ji m Stewart MOORPARK, CAL., AUG. 24 Would you believe a European Scrambles at a cycle park? Well Valley Cycle Park was the sight for the Hilltoppers MC European Scrambles, a first for sure . Not only was there a European Scrambles being held there Sunday ; but also AME motocross. Many riders were a little hesitant abo ut racing here, but the courses were more than challenging. Uphills, and downh ills were the order of the da y, with water crossings and mud thrown in for good measure . The starting areas were also a little berzerk. Chris " Po tsey " Weber must of liked the Expert/Junior starting area, as he was th e first one up the very fast, flat area, and over the first fireroad. Weber held his lead for three laps, then his Hodaka started to come apart underneath him. This was all Bruce - Ogilvie needed, as he h ad been closing in on Weber every lap. Ogilvie took the trail win m ead of Doug Martin, wh o was pushing him most of the race. Gerald Hatzenbuhler was the only rider not to get lapped by these two speeding fron t runners, he scored first Trail Junior. Oldtimer George McCle lla n rode very consistently finishing about fifth overall , battling all the way with Noel Barber who was second Trail Junior. Th e next class to blast" off the starting line was the 17 5 Expert /Junior class, with Expert D. C. Williams and his fast baby mono jumping into a qui ck lead. William's lead ended ' abruptly when he went into a ditch at the bottom of one of the downhills, handing the lead over to Bob Rutten . Rutten loo ked to have the race wired, but Husky rider Jeff Kap lan h ad different ideas. Kaplan was ' on the move, and by the end of the third lap he was first, and was never challenged. Meanwhile, Sunshine Yamaha rider Williams, remo unted and worked his way up to second before the end of the race. -Max Eddy just kept on motoring aro und for third . Motocrossers John Lawson was right up with the rest of the front runners, taking' the Dvision II Junior class with ease . R. Havey also on an Elsinore was second, while Russel Jenkins picked up several positions to finish third. Mitch Mayes decided that ridi ng the 250 Ex pert race before the 400 race wo uld be good practice, and it was, but only for the other 250 Experts who were trying to catch him . Everyone anticipate d a great race, with the likes of Maye s, Brooks, Roeseler, Ogilvie and 16 No bushes, rocks or road crossings to worry about this weekend, just WFO all the way. Valley Cycle Park features some p uc ker downhills with a few ditches thrown in at the bottom just for grins. Kirker, all racing together. Th e bad news was that the race was over before the end of the first loop , with Mitch hav ing such a lead , yo u would have needed a pilot's license to catch him . Bruce Ogilvie had second place pretty we 11 sewn up. Ogilvie's former teammate. Larry Roese ler, who is now sponsored by Husky, took this weekend to . try out his new bike and in the process picked up a third overall for himself. The battle between Mayes and Brooks never shaped up as Brooks had some bad luck o n the first loo p , but jumped in on the second loop to do battle with the front runners. Mark Cotter rode hard and fast to get first 250 Junior and he was one of the last riders not to get lapped by the fly ing Mayes. The 400 Expert/Junior race looked like a Sled Rider team race, with the first three finishers bei ng club members. Once again, Mayes jumped in to the lead for good, with A. C. Bakken and Bryan Becke r left to do battle for second. Bakken h eld the posi tion for awhile, but Becker h ad it at the "finish where it co unts. Ron Wright was next to finish, the first in a line of Checkers trying to catch the blue Sled Rider jerseys. Lone ' 100's MC me mber Steve Shook up held his club's image by taking first Open Junior. While th e Experts an d J uniors were playing motocross, the Novi ces were doing the same righ t nex t door. Jeff Bennington got the checkered first in the Trail Novi ce class, mead of pie plate Cr aig Boesen and J . Cote. Paul Christensen, Steve Anderson, an d Mike Godfrey were the top three in the I 75 green sticky division . Mike Patchen , Derek Woodman, and Mark Heacox did some hard battling in the 250 Novice class, taking the first th ree places han ds down. Last and fastest, the first three 400 Novices went as follows, first Roge r Kiefer, second Ken Funkhouser, and third Roger Schlichtig. Denise Nuckles is not only one of the foxiest and nicest power puffs in desert racing, but she proved this weekend that she was one of the best, finishing first tweeter. Denise said the co urse was very hard and challenging, but th at is part of the game. You can ' t like every course. Take th at yo u other Experts and J u n i o r s who were complaining endlessly . •

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