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/126030
; : .Western hotline t OJ III OJ OJ l- ---.: Jr X ....J OJ Jr .:.- Band its over at De Anza at six o'clock, peel off at the count of th ree. o Gripsters unleash a 0.37 MX at De Anza 1: By Rex Reese ~ OJ w a: w t_ _ > Z o ___Jt- SUNNYMEAD, CAL., JAN. 25 Wide open spaces and no time to spare at the Gold Rush Enduro. With the Gripsters M.C. hosting, District 37 had its tum at De Anza Cycle Park and Sue Fish (Yam) dominated the Women's Division 26th Annual Gold Rush Enduro with suc h eas e that a lot o f the guys were sh aking in their boots. In the 12 5 Am ate ur/E xp ert , T yr one Brown (Su z) s p ear h ea d e d hi s way to a double c;:::..::...==.=:2:..._.L..:~ _=-'--_...::.__~ By Larry Langley RANDSBURG, CAL, FEB. I Sunday night ph one call : Hey Ralph, this is T on y. Yeah I went out .to the enduro. How did it go? Well it was supposed to be an en duro , but I think th e Prospect ors go t mixed up · and threw th eir Hare and Hound instead . They on ly had two 10 spe eds, 24 mph on the first loop and 21 mp h o n t he secon d . No w Ralph, yo u kno w I'm not slo w . Af te r all I fin ished 101 3 in the last Barst o w to Vegas. I t hough tit was ki nda funn y having the fastest average o n the first loop with the " C" riders ridin g it. I rode as fast as I co uld and still lo st ab o ut I 0 points, al l late ! I co uldn't believe it ! They threw some pretty tough terrain at the Criders including uphills a nd downhills that were outa sigh t! It was pretty dusty and a lot of th e C's and women had problems on the uphills. Towards the end of th e first loop th e Prospectors had a check only two miles from the finish . I thought they couldn't have a check within three miles but it see m s th ey designated the finish as a " gas ch ec k." The n ational rules say no chec ks within two miles go in g in to a gas check and three m iles coming out. Smart, those Prospectors. I heard some fast A riders go t nailed there. After a half-h our break, to co ntem p la te what they had in store fo r us, we left o n the sec ond loop. I figu red it would be at a more sedate p ac e with the average down t o 2 1 mph. No wa y ! The average was main tainable over a lo t of the loo p un til the y funneled u s into so me tig ht ca nyons. A couple of tim es I had to ge t o ff m y bi ke and b u lldog it _ _ =_ _'__...::......::... down some rock drop-off's. No way could you ride down them. The ~econd loop was 45 miles long, but it seemed like 100. It was sure neat though. All those funny signs! Those Prospectors are very ta len ted gag writers. Fin ally the course opened up in to the desert on a very nice fire ro ad and I was ab le to re st. But they turned us rigbt back up into the hills aga in . After a ways , we were on a high ridge overloo kin g the whole valle y. I could see people w ay down below to th e left an d wondered what they were d oing wh en th e darn co u rse turned left. Now. . you know spectators m ean tro ub le. They lik e to co m e over an d wat ch riders eat it an d 1 didn't di sappo int th em. They m ad e m e so nerv ous I used t oo much fro nt brake and d id this slow, tan tali zin g end o, They gave m e a standi ng ovat io n! I t ho ug h t it was th e fin ish as they to ok m y ca rd an d marked it but it was jus t an o bserv atio n chec k. The fin ish was do wn the trail a m ile an d a half. The course ra n rig ht thro ugh the p it s on th e way to the finish! There were some riders com ing in rea lly sm oking it! I made it to th e real fin ish line and th e y t oo k m y ca rd an d gave me this really fine finisher p in . It 's sha ped like a fryin g pan just like th e old prospectors used. Boy I earned it. They had a re al go o d turnout, abou t 500 . I hope the C riders don't get di scouraged, most C loops are a lot easier. They got protested on th e third check o n the first lo op and had to go back out and recloc k it. The protest was upheld (the check was off 0 .2 mile) and th e car ds wiII have to be refigured . I'm not sure wh o won, bu t there is a ch ance th at a B rider mi ght take th e overa ll. The wa y I got it figu red is th at th e " B's " didn't have to d o an y tim ek eep in g o n the second loo p ; they just n ai led it al l the wa y and came up with so m e pretty de ce nt scor es. You know Ral p h, we ought to go o u t and practice going do wn t hose do wnh ills. Those A riders made it loo k so easy . • victory ; while j im Connolly (BuI) played it cool to t ake the Open Am ateur/Expert class. Tyrone Brown (Suz) came from Barstow to raid D-37 b y blastin g the 12 5 Amateur/Experts . He showed that he wouldn't ta ke a backseat to a ny one else and won both motos handily. His Ho nda-mo unted foes, Louis Darling and Glen Ewin g, placed second and third resp ectivel y in the overall st andings. j im Connolly (Bul) put his age and experience to work by showing that not only co uld he o ut -ride the younger hotshoes, but he co uld out-fox 'em , to o . He hung bac k t o pl ay it smart while o the rs eith er crashed , broke, or A tucked in Dick Fuller makes Pee Wee Gleason into a giant.