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/126006
i Desert hotline - -- -- - - - ~ fifth was th e consistent team of Howard McCasland and George Havey III o n a 4 00 Mono . Th e Glendale Yamaha team o f J ack Orndoff (Yam) an d Phil Stumbo (CZ) m o ved up from a m ediocre start, pas sin g riders on ne arl y every loop to fin ish sixth , first 250. Eric Sp aeth and Gary Praster m ad e their Honda/Yamah a co mbination good for secon d small-bore at seve n th ove rall. Dale Owen s had h urt his back in the collisio n near the b omb, so partner Heath Hibbard (4 00 Yam ) had to ride fo ur of the six loops and they wer e in next for eighth . In ninth was the first Novice team, Gary Ringrose (400 Yam ) an d Daryn Wy att (4 00 Hus). Finish ing II th , J oe LaPorte and J oe Kluek (25 0 CAl were th e first Seniors. Danny Sall an d Dick Eliasen (4 00 Yam ) m oved in to th e Beginner lead on the second loop and m ad e it stick th e rest of the way. All th e Beginners wer e lapped at least on ce, so the results are very unofficial. Th e 22·mile co urse had a lo t of vari ety, with th e aforemen t ione d canyons , ro llers , hill s, washes, road s an d • fast open co un try. t Unofficial resul ts O VE R ALL : 1. Bob Balen t ine/Dou g Wi n chell (4 0 0 KTM-4 0 0 Yam ). 2 . Jamie Avel sfDave Wood (4 0 0 Y am) . 3. Gord o n Scn m ld fTo m Schmid (4 0 0 Yam) . 4. Bob Romi ne/Tom Kelly (125 Yam). 5 . H owa rd McCasland /George Ha r vey I II (400 Y am). 6. J ac k Orndoff/Phil St u m b o (2 5 0 Yam · 250 CZ ). 7. Eric Spaeth/Gary Pra ste r (125 Hon · 12 5 Yam) . 8 . Dale Owens/Hea th Hibba r d (400 Yam). 9. -Gary Rl ngr ose/Daryn Wy att (4 0 0 Vam·4 00 Hus). 10. 1 0 m H owell/S teve Heinze (400 Hus-4 0 0 Yam ). - First N o v ic e team . B E G 0 VE RALL : 1. D an ny Sail /D ic k E l ia se n (4 0 0 Yam). 2. Duane Bech tel / F ran k Lew is (4 00 Yam). 3. W o o dy Ch i lde rs. J r./D o u g Hurt (400 Yam) . SR: 1. Joe LaPorte/Joe Kule k (25 0 C-A) . MINI : 1. Je ff Hammon d /Geof f Dy o tt ( SO Yam). Bob Balentine switched to a 400 KTM with some success, like a 50% share in a 20-minute lead . SoCal MC Two Day European Scrambles By Jim " Crack " Stewart Sheryl and Renee were the reasons Jack Orndoff and Phil Stu mbo were in such a hurry. Along the WBI/. they got first 250. DRA Team Race By Dale Brown CALI FORNIA CITY, CAL., AUG . 31 Bob Balentine and Doug Winchell combined forc es to dominate th e DRA team race, winning with an incredible near-20 minute margin 18 after 13 2 mil es. . Winch ell h andled the starting ch o res and he got to the bomb in th ird, behind Dale Ownes (4 00 Yam ) and Jamie Avels (4 00 Yam ). Win chell, riding a 400 Mono, took the lead ab o u t tw o miles later . Bryan Bre ker (4 00 Kaw ) m o ved close an d p assed Winchell in on e of th e tigh t canyo ns, but Dou g go t the lead back before t he end of the loop . Tun Bowman (400 Yam) moved up to third, despite an ea rly collision wi th Owens. Avels was right on his tail. And then cam e th e rid er ch an ges. gave th e bandolier to Winchell Balen tine , who was riding h is new 400 KTM for the first time. Breker gave the bike to partner John Winters an d Bowman handed off to Kevin Hasten (4 00 CZ) . The second loop produced little in the way of change excep t fo r Hasten m oving awa y . from Avel's partner Dave Wood and putting the h eat on Wint ers . About this tim e a m ajor bottleneck was occurring. About five mile s out th e co urse turned out of a sandwash and went up a sin gle file canyon fo r a short distance. Apparently a co up le of beginners stalled thei r bi kes o n a sligh t rise in th e cany o n and dug gian t holes wi th thei r rear wh eels tryi ng to get going again . This crea ted problems for ot her rid ers and soo n more than 20 ride rs at a tim e were stac ked up. Early dropouts Morga n l\Ialocco and Dean Miller wo rk ed to help riders through an d get th in gs unsn arle d. On the th ird loop, Bowman too k adva ntage o f the bottleneck to move righ t on Winch ell 's fender, but th en his bi ke broke within sight of th e pits. Bre ker also dropped . out, with a completely forniscued p ipe . This left th e BalentinefWinchell te am with a tr emendous lead o ver th e sec o nd pl ace Avels/Wood team , with Tom and Gordon Schmid (4 00 Yam) ru nning in third. Winchell h ad to nurse a sick transmis sion in on the third loop, so the remainder of th e race was run on Balentine's KTM. Avels rode h alf a loop with out a seat, bu t th e o rder did not ch ange in th e top three . In fo urth ' pl ace was a 125 Mon o , rid den by Tom Kelly and Bob Romine. Kelly rode much of the first loop o n a fla t rear tire and Romine, who hadn't raced in nine mo n th s, rode nearly all of the las t loop on a flat front. Finish ing SHADOW MT., CAL ., AUG. 31, SEPT. 1 With the long weekend at hand, SoCaI motorcycl e club decided to tre at the District 37 desert racers to a full week end of European Scrambles. Most rid ers spen t Saturday pre-rid ing the co urses, then proving Sunday an d Monday how wired they had th e courses. Not only did SoCal put on two great days of racin g, but also a bikini contest Sunday nigh t, wh ich brough t together hundreds of dirty drooling desert racers a s ju dges. Th ere were several nice tweeters en te re d, along with several out of clas s en tri es, especially the lovely honey from th e Desert Donkeys. No t sin ce Bob Balentine won th e Sled Riders Hare and Hound a y ear ago , has a Junior won overall, but th at ch ange d th is wee kend with Op en Junior R obb ie Pa rm a winnin g th e 400 Expert/J un io r r ace overall. On th e first loo p it was Mitch Mayes with th e lea d. fo llow d by Sm o kebomb Gaetz. Mayes' Hus ky died at the home