Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1975 09 02

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/126005

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Gene Hurst, Hurst told him to 'spen d at least two years learning how to ride in the desert before h e really went ou t and tried t o race it . John says, "He was right, it too k me two-and-a-half years." In 1967 Smoke bomb fo u n d h im sel f a fac tory ride with BS A. " It was re ally gre a t. You 'd walk in a Monda y , tell them wh at p arts y ou wa n ted and th ey gave th em t o you ." Most riders then, if th ey were sp onsored, co n sidere d it a g oo d de al if th e d e al e rs o r manufacturers gave you a dis count on parts. Having such a full sp onsorship was re ally a bi g de al. The only problem was th at the BSA Victor model had a short fr ame for MX and did not work right for the desert. "We had a nickname for it. We called it the 'Vic tim.' instead of the Victor. to John's nickname "Smokebomb" was given to him abo u t that time by Cycle News correspondent Dick Wright. "At the time I had gone quite a few races beating everybody to th e bomb. Dick started calling me that in his stories and the name stuck. " Smokebomb was famous for breaking just af te r leading the charge to the smoke marker, where the course begins. John feels that the most important part of the race is that initial blas t at the start. "You have to establish your position t here. If y o u are running 20 th at the trail and it 's dusty, it is going to be tough getting past 19 tough riders to get up to the lead. In fact most of the trme 11 is almost impossible to make up that many places through the dust." The best way to get a go o d start at the bomb is to study th e terrain before the ra ce starts, make a lot of runs to the bomb. "You have to blueprint the whole bomb are a, set up a tr ail to the bomb and do not get off of that track. If someone co mes onto your trail, you know the trail better than he does so you sh ould be able to pass him." It is always a go o d idea to have a few alternate routes in case you do get off to a bad start, but if you have to use one of your alternates, make it a point to head for your main trail and get back on that. Smokebomb does not co nsider hi mself faster than most of the riders racing in the desert. He feels that he may be a little more prepared when that run to the bomb starts. "If you do get :a ugh t in the dust do no t try to go fast. 1 have been passed in heavy dust a few ti mes, but you go on a few more yards and th ere the guy is , on his head." After his ride with BSA J ohn went back to ri din g stretched-out Trium phs (about 61 inches of wheelbase). " Stretchi ng, was the only way we knew o f of ge t ting be tter handling an d m ore suspension travel. It sort of worked, b ut still, riding was contin ually going lock-to-lock across the desert." Two p roblems that they did n ot have to con tend with in those days were road crossings and whoopees. "Those big Triumphs just would not tum the back tire fast enough to create the little bumps you get now," Smokebomb says. Along with stretching out the wheelbase, d esert ra cers had their own way of riding. "If you were fast and you wanted to win, you had to be able to ride the fron t wheel." The bikes were very difficult to steer and "most of the time the rider was just hanging on for the ride. Many times we would co me back with the front wheel folded under because we go t he ading for a rock and jus t co ul dn ' t ch an ge th e direction of that big monster. " Mo st of the courses consist ed o f fast co un try , and on the dry lakes, " we would h it an honest 100 mph on those dry lakes. You 'd j ust la y down on the tank and open it up." In th e lat e 1960's two-strokes started to make more o f an im p re ssion o n desert races. At first it was funny to see two-strokes out there , then it was a joke if you go t beat by one . After J . N. won 17 weeks in a row on a Husky, everyone knew that the two-stroke ' was here to stay. \ Smokebomb rode a sponsored H usky and found it took some getting used to. The con tin ual bouncing beat on him so bad at times that he was getting physically ill. " I went to the docto r an d he told me that it was a co mbinati 0'l. .-rthe heat and the shock of th bike bouncing so much that was affecting me. " In th e early 70's J ohn Gae tz starte d riding Yarnahas fo r Di c k Alleri's shop in the Saugus /Newhall area of California. He enjoyed the Yamahas and was "very happy " with their performance. He stayed with them right up until 1972 when he injured himself during th e Barstow to Vegas race. "I go t off p re t ty hard in a ro ck pile and broke in y leg and my co llar bo ne. " This knocked him out o f actio n and for eight months h e d id n ot ride at all. "When I finally started racing again , I started riding for another shop. The manager was a m ember of my club, the Checkers. and he did a good job of backing me . I was racing again but I was not going as fast as 1 used to . After a bad get-off, you tend to slow down. I was placing in th e 30 's and 40 's and I knew I was not riding to m y full capabilities. But many people in my club helped me .along and I was back at it after awhile. "When I heard about the Monoshockers I went to myoid sp o nsor Dick Allen, and told him that I wanted one as soon as possible. " On his first ride with the new Monoshock, Smokebomb finished eighth overall. The second time o ut he won first overall. Ever since he '5 been riding the Monoshock and working to improve it. "Out in the desert you have to ride trick machinery if you plan on winning, " Smokebomb Gaetz says. "Out here everybody is pretty open about what they are doing to their bikes to make them go faster. Experts are willing to tell other Experts what they are doing to their bikes, but they are also willing to share their knowledge with the Novices and Amateurs. Jphn also feels that the shops like Dick Allen 's are interested in what the desert racers are doing. One of the bigge st reasons, he feels, is that desert racers spend more money than motocrossers do. They put hundreds of racing miles on their bikes every weekend and are more partieular about what they buy, because they have to depend on that bike to return them from the middle of nowhere. One of the high points every year is the Check Chase, put on by Gaetz's club, Checkers MC. Smoke bo mb feels that the race has probably seen the end of the cross-country affair. In fact if it comes off at all, it will be a loop race on an Indian reservation in Arizona. "We have the okay from the Indians and the District doesn't care where we have it ." A number of th ings have p iled up to ca use the change in fo rmat of th e Chec k Ch ase. "For one th in g, private land owne rs are very leery abo ut let t in g u s cross their lan d. The rai l road, after an incident a few years ago, will not even . tal k to us about crossing their ' p roperty." Last year the Checkers were go ing to cross under the tracks in one place and the rail road had a sheriff, a railroad official and a writ saying that the race could not cr oss that p roperty. As for running the race on the reservation, Smokebomb foresees no problems. "The Indians have their own police force and if an ything gets out of hand they move in and straighten it out. "Last year we threw a big party on a boat that was anchored in the river. By the time the party got going the boating people had joined in and there was a huge c ro wd. The owner decided things were ge tting a little out of hand when wate r started coming in over the sides. He t old us to move the people out. What are 30 Ch eckers go ing t o do against .a b o u t a hundred drunks ? We asked them to pl ease move. That didn ' t do much go o d, so the owner called the police. Those guys waded in and st arted throwing everybody out. People were flying everywhere. We though t that was going to be th e end of us down at the reservation , but when the Indians had gone to the bank on Monday they were more than happy to invite us back next year. I think rowdy gro ups have killed many of the bi g races like 'Ca talin a and Elsinore, but there- are a few people around wh o 'Tare will ing to acc ep t our mon ey . " Looking at the b ig picture, Smokebomb Gaetz feels that m o to rcy cle riding is a family p ar ticipation sport th a t te nds to brin g people close r to ge th e r. • ; Da • ~ t lr) rO"l ,....., N I-< Q) ...0 E Q) ...... 0. Q) sr: ,- ONE YEAR SIN GLE COPY PRICE ONE Y EA R SUBSCRIPT ION 12.5 I I L , DEPT. SUB. P.O. 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