Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Continued from page 15) Cranke tOPS Grizzly Bear same to Dave Longcor in the Open. Longcor d id his magical thing o n the Cycle Car Bultaco in the 250 Ex pert class. O ld timer Jack Lewis ran away with that class that saw some vets n o t knowing what . class to ru n with nor which line to get in t o. Hopefully so m e District rules wiII take care of any confu sion ; u ntil then, it's up to 40 for vets, 40 and over for OT. Neal Sn arr, son o f ro ad racer and o ff road racer Ph il took the low point co unt in 125 Novice Division I wi th flat tracker Rick Shafer winning the second m o ta but having troubles with a fo urth in the first, Young Neal did it with.a 1-2. Clar k Plum mer and J e ff G ra y exchanged spots in Division H of the 125 Novice with Plumme r taki ng the nod in the second mota and t he overall win wi th a 3-1 and Gray the second with the o pposite. • By Bart Barf ly FOUTIS SPRINGS, CAL., NOV. 30 Something new comes in the form of International Six Day type trials. Not that ISDT has n't been around but not that m any riders know what it's all ab o u t. The Grizzly Bear ' is a one day event run at the Foutts Springs area of the Mendocino National forest west of Maxwell in Northern California. The same area is used by the Oakla nd MC for th e Jackhammer National Enduro. This event was sponsored by the Rich mond Ramblers and set up by su ch venerables as Dick Mann and J eff Ha m mo nd. The one d ay event is run not u nl ike an enduro with a m ajo r difference bei n g tha t yo u can co me to a ch ec k ea rly with n o pe na lty. Special , tests are run th ro ug hou t the event. My buddy Grizzly Bear himself, gave m e a re ally ne at number two, th at is like the second set of riders out. All this and knowing th at I wouldn 't be there until at least 4 a.m, T he flip ca rd shows a number two and I tickle my t rus ty '6 9 Montadero until it sp ews fuel all over everything an d at the third kick, despite not having been run for a week, i t fir es up . You have a minute to start and go a specifi ed numbe r o f fee t on the m otor's power, th is b eing the first test and o ne tha t n ot everyone passes . Pe na lties vary but this one was like 60 po ints agai nst. No p roblem for the Bar fly an d with a slight st op fo r fuel , it was off into t he rising sun, with an eye o pe ner no t 10 0 yards from ca m p . a w a ter crossi ng ab o ut a fo o t or- so deep, enoug h t o ' wake up th e best d ressed. The first few miles to the speci al tes t o f cro ss co u ntry riding was all 'up h ill with the sun not helping anyo ne by rising right in yo u r eye. This and the cou rse markers being a tad close t o t he com ers m ad e fo r so me overshooting a nd with 200 foot instant downhills , it was all keep yo u r eyes on the trail. Cross co u n try test number o ne, the first of two such. The lrid er hal ts at the clock a nd gets a departure time from a co ntrolle r. His num ber is m ar ked on a sheet wi th no th ing b ut times o n it and th e same hap pen s at t he other en d when he is done. At the signal, it's off a nd go fast for about four miles. Now, here is whe re the good racing part co mes in . The serio u s ISDT rider hardly ever rides at 100%. It doesn't m a ke sense if you think about it . T he cr oss country test is a test of the rider's abi lit y to ride ac ross the co u n try on a time basis. The cou rse is marked like an enduro but the ,key to everything is to be consist en t . The top 15% get Golds while the top gu y decides th e key number. What yo u do is to go as fast as yo u ca n , co mfo rt ably . The trek is tough with uphills an d downers wi th water m arks and a sh ort cl iff. Bru ce Kelly found it to o hard o n hi s handlebars an d they b ro ke . Carl Cranke was righ t behind him when it happened and nearly ran over the veteran cross country kid. It didn't seem to bother his time though, as he was 40 seconds faster than Chris Carter. Coming back into the first ch ec k saw m ost everybody la te or barely on ti me wh ich isn't really the way th in gs sh o ul d be. Cranke was a m ere: six mi n utes early wi th Keys o n his grace, a two m in u t e gra ce period fro m your key time to stay on ti me, wit h Carter and Gary Van derpo o l righ t on th e clock. T h e second lo op we n t to the hillclim b test af ter a sligh t host diversio n , an d it was ne at. It wasn' t more than a co uple o f m iles, but all up an d after it was ove r , the coup de grace for m o st , in cluding m e and b rothe r Barf, lo t s of hig h u p ice a nd snow. Carter and Cranke had the same times with ol d m an Keys in just five seconds behin d. At the e nd of the second loop , most riders fou nd the mselves with so me extra time. on . their hands. . This . was • Delacy No. One By W. H. Spencer Cran ke /KT M w h ist le thro ugh one o f t he special te sts . SAN JOSE , CAL., DEC. 20 A pro cedures protest on the final point event o f the 1975' District 36 White Plate short tr ack season was disallowed by the Compe ti- Bob Han nah (5 25) sh in in g the 125 Experts at Sears Po int's w inter seas o n ope ne r. tion Committee following a len gt h y meeting. Val lejo 's Rick Delacy will once aga in carry th e No. One white pl ate. Richmond's Mike Faria filed th e protes t after an acciden t wh ich knocked him o u t o f co m petitio n for th e event with a three point lead. The p rotest was fu ti le an d Mik e 's spo nsors, while d isgru n tl ed, decide d no t to appeal th e d ecision. Faria will once agai n ca rry the No . Two plate for th e 19 76 short tra ck seaso n although he p lans to co nc e ntra te on Sp eedway. • a: UJ U ~~~~~~ 0. ~ 1II i =,;..;,;~ __-==,o;,;"";,,;,..:;;i-';':~';""'';;;';'_'''';;';''''''';'''';'';;;.,,,;o,,;.;;.;=.............~ ~ calcu lated . Organizers Hammond a nd Man n d eci ded to b uild in a lit tl e more break ti m e as it m ay have been too tough for m ost . Cra nke came in just seven minutes a head but with a re calibrated time to 20 minutes, those that were still in the ' hunt were averag ing 7·10 minutes of break time . The last loop was relat ivel y easy and sho rt - a bo u t 3 5 miles wi t h o nly o ne go o d uphill and super down hill . Something called " piec e o f ca ke" ex cept th at it is m ore clo sely re sembling Niagara o r th e longer Victoria Falls, way down th ere like the Grand Canyon. Once by the little bottlenecks and th ro ug h th e wo ods, it was th e las t, nope, second t o last special test . A brake an d accel era ti o n test, o r m ore rightly, the o t her way around. What you had to do was WFO out o f a stop area, go until the signalled sto p , and grab a handle full of binders. Some got carried awa y with themselves b y going too fast, grabbing too m uch brake and doing end for ends and super high sides. The smart co o kies would accelerate fast an d stop fast but with finesse and grace. Then it was t he final tes t, a grass track race against the clock. The course was a Die k Mann special. A good time was right a roun d 1:40; most were aro u nd I :45. Ch ris Ca rter's 1 :3 7 was th e fas test. In the overall resu lts Cr anke was a tad ove r Ca rte r who was a tad over Gough and a little over a tad o n the 44 year old Key s w ho said he didn't get enthused u ntil the last section. Carter and Go ug h were teamed with "Haywire" Bob Haynes and even thoug h Bob got a little lost, the Team Turkey, a pp ro p riat e for • • the. • weekend. _should . get the team trophy. Fifth place finisher Larry Thompson improves with each ride. The young gian t is a fairly good thinker a nd go es dam n quick. Bill Boll s and Fred Cameron were very close for sixth and sev enth . • Hannah shines By W. H. Spe ncer SONOMA. CAL. , DEC. 14 Yamah a's newest signee , Bob Hannah, shined the North boys really good , (bad), with wins in both 125 and Open class competiti on, all a part of the reopening of Sears Po int International Raceway . This Winter se ries is different from the 1974- 75 series in that it is sanctioned by District 36 an d will lead u p to a Trans-AMA replacing th e Carnegie affair. Sears Point General Manager Bill Benck has wise ly kept Dick Mann in the picture as ra ce director. The one and one-half mile co urse is pure dynamite wi th as much of a grass track n a t u re as typical m o t o cross with p len ty of poten tial fo r ex pansio n into a true international calib er co u rse . Co mbine th is with th e pi ts o n the p aved race track and you h ave a neat a all-aro u nd track th at can really run rain or shine. Nearly 500 m ade the day a 's uccessful one with most of the work do ne by the Sonoma County Sports Cycle Assn. Han nah was the star of the d ay , beating out Danny "Magoo " Ch andler in both, I 25cc motos a nd doing the • Third Annual Thorn Tree Hare Scrambles By Harry Pelliccione MA RYSV IL LE , CAL., NOV. 30 A hare scrambles in a river bo ttom be tween two towns? Yes, the Yuba-Sutter Motorcycle Club held th eir Th ird Annual Thorn Tree Hare Scrambles in such a p lace. They added approximately 100 ac res to their popular motocross track to m ake a five mile course. Terrain ranged fro m good dirt to soft, go o ey mud to swamp a nd eve n some paved ro ad. There were classes for evr;ryone - m inis, o ld t imers, powder puffs, and th e usual 12 5 , 250 an d Open. Everyone rode o ne hour and 30 minutes ex cept the minis who rode o ne hour. The m in i-bikes put on quite a race wh en a lo t of people thought th ey would never make it - especiall y through the mud sections. But m ake i t th ey did - grinning, gritting their teeth, lau gh in g, cryin g and loving every minute o f it. Novi ce Danny Dobbas was the 100 class winner and the ov eral l winner. Last year there were 15 Old Timers this year 42 lined up for the start and al l but a co u ple finish ed the race. Cloyse Holland from Stockton took the Expert class. Boy, did he ride - I believe he led the entire race. J o hn Carpenter of Carmichael was first Amateur and Delno Becker, Sr. of Palermo was first Novice. Linda Shatka of Fresno won the Powder Puff. In the regular classes all rode hard and th e winning was n 't ud uck so up" by a ny m ean s. In th e 12 5 class , th e first race of the day, Tom Odekirk too k fi rst Amateur a nd Dan Walle r, the ho t dogge r fro m True kee was first Expert. At the end of each race, pl us gettin g a w in dow stickie and a p in , every finishing rac er got a con ting ency kidney belts , visors, o il, gi ft cer tifica t es and more. Even non-finishers go t a can • o f o il if they were in the area! - 27.

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