Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; Desert hotline == aDefense Race 0-37 .Desert t lQ r- 0"1 By Dale Brown ....-t CALIFORNIA CITY, CAL., NOV 29·30 Because of problems to be faced in the land use legali ties, and two races cancelled because o f land use problems, the District 37 Sports Committee held a "0-37 Legal Defense Fund Benefit" European Scrambles - two days of racing with dual points paid to the fin ishers and nearly all the money received going to the legal fu nd. The dual points were very im portant for the leading riders. Nearly all the divisions were tight, and this race decided several number ones and made a cliff-hanger even tighter. Sunday's Amateur/Expert racing, the scene of most of the Number One plate battles, started off with · the Trailbikes, Marc Cartwright and Charlie Hamill, both on KTMs, have been close all year and a win for either would clin ch things under D-37 's "Best of 20 rides " rule. A win co un t ed fo r two wins at t he b enefit . Well, Amateur Mitch Payton (Hod ) led it to th e bomb, with Hamill in second and Cartwright in fourth. Hamill soon moved into the lead and Cartwrigh t second, ab o u t 200 yards back , by the end of the first loop. Starting on the sec ond loop, Cartwright mad e a move on Hamill and it worked, with Marc gettin g a lead he never gave up. Hamill apparently got off tr ying to catch Cartwright, and to cap o ff his day, th e rear tire went flat shortly before the end of the th ird and final loop. Cartwright came into the finish, b ot h arms raised and flashing both the peace sign and the nu mber one gesture. Payton finished third, first Amateur. Mitch and all the riders with who earned transfer rides actually got tw o. In t h e Division II st andings, Dean Modesett, Jeff Kaplan and Max Eddy all have a chan ce at Number On e. Modesett postponed a knee operation to ride this one and the other two were more than serious . But another Amateur, Tom Kelly (Yam), led the race to the bomb. Modesett (KTM) and Kaplan (Hus) were right there and the trio diced ba ck and forth u ntil Kelly 's engin e seized. For the n ex t two loops, Modesett led, with Kaplan never more than about 10 yar ds behind. Then, in a sandwash about halfway through the third loop, Kaplan tried to get past by going wide in a tum. Modesett saw Jeff coming around and screwed o n the throttle to keep that all-important lead. But the extra throttle caused Dean to slide o ut and Kaplan ended u p with a 40-second lead. Eddy finished thi rd. But still, it looks like this battle will go to the last race of the season for a decision. Larry Roeseler (Hus) had a pretty good lead in the 250 class and a win would seal it u p for him. The opposition had other ideas, however. Andy Kirker ~ o a: III I.J oJ « a >- III III o ~ o ~ ......_ ....::;-=---.....;;.....:= -= The 250 Experts grabbed any available line down a h ill ju st past the bomb. (Hus) had been out sin ce Wednesday practicing the course. Two riders that really weren't in the running, Brent Wallingsford (Yam) and Cordis Brooks (Bu l) led as t he race passed the bomb. The race wasn't quite two miles o ld before Roeseler had surged into the lead. Wallingsford was in seco nd on t he first loop. By th e race 's end though , Brooks an d Kirker had go tten by . Tom Brooks made his first ap pearance sin ce breaking his leg in Mar ch, fin ishing fifth on a KTM . Mark Zoller (Yam ) was in nex t for first Amateur. The Heavyweight ch ampionship was u p for grabs between friends , Ron Wright and Terry Dav is of t he Checkers. As they came around on the first loop, Wright (Yam) was leading and Davis (Ya m ) was well back. Amateur Robbie Parma (Y am) and Tim Bowman (CZ) b at tl ed for second a sh or t way bac k. On the second loop, Parma 'm ad e up quite a distance on Wright, while Bob Robert Sanner and Bill Turner finished only one loop down. 10 Ron Wright 's second place cl inch ed t he Heavyweight Number One p late for h im .

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