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/126037
Dick Burleson comes out on top of a Team Penton romp . '" By Jim Gianatsis FT . HOOD, TEX., MAR. 13 & 14 The cold m orning sun rose begrudgingly over the impound area as rider number 44D laced on a set of shoulder pads, then covered the m over with a zipped up n ylon Belstaffj acke t. Saturday's run had seen him taking second best in the special tests to a number o f T eam 10 Penton riders. Sunday was a new day , tho ugh, an d precious seconds needed to be made up even a t the cost o f a possible high speed getoff o n the ro cky Fort Hood te rr ain. Hen ce the shoulder pads, whi ch he usually never wore. By th e end of th e day . Husqvarna's two -time Na tio nal End uro Champion Dick Burle son would pull off th e o verall win at th e Fort Hood Tw o-Day Qualifier, The run almost didn 't ge t ' to take pla ce. The Army was havin g budget problems, and cancelled th e event six weeks prior to its running: A lo t of fmag ling by post co m man der Lt. Gene ra l Shoemaker an d t he Fort Hood Dirt Rid ers go t th e Arm y to lID t the event back on the calendar. Ironicall y , th e' Fort Hood Dirt Riders' three man team had been forced to mak e o th er co mm it me n ts while the even t was ca ncel led and had to be in Alabama for a local enduro during the rescheduled running of their own Two-Day . Hercules ' Billy Uhl pointed out , that " .. . th e Army deserves a lot of mention for their hard work in putting o n th e even t, and helping the sport in gene ral." The Army did do a fantasti c jo b. The post drag racing club ran the timing lights at the acceleration tests while MPs handled traffic control at ro ad crossings. Helicopter crews p icked up disabled bikes and riders, or chau ffeured press members ar o und to cover the event at treetop level. Hopefully, the U.S. Army's support for off road enduros and trials events will be allowed to continue. Day One Saturday 's run was 178. 9 miles of trails and tank p aths under overcas t skies in 4 0 degree temperatures . The pit crews didn 't necessarily enjoy the cold weather , but it didn't bother the riders .who remained active eno ugh to stay warm . An easy t im e schedule co m bin ed wi th a very tin ch allengin g co urse had almost every one arriving a t chec kp oin ts 10 to 15 minutes earl y . The only real problems were , ro cks on the trails and d ust in some sections including the spe cial terrain tes t. Special tests both da ys included a co mb ined accelera ti o n and sound test, and a timed cro ss co untry or terrain test. A highly sensitive sound meter at the acceleration test saw some of the better riders like Dick Burleson coasting wi th the throttle off past the DB meter ' to avoid picking up an y penalty points rather t ha n going all out for a fast acceleration time. Two top riders who suffered bad luck the first day included Alan McDuff and Rick Grant. Alan tried to repair a flat tire out on the trail, only to find that his air bottle was empty. Rick hit a rock, was flipped off his Hercules and knocked unconscious for a while before waking back up and making the next chec k four minutes late. Team Penton was havin g problems with th e terrain test, but no more than anyone else . Carl Cranke - "I go t lost in the terrain test. I was just following these clouds 'o f dust and got off the trail. It was a minute before I was back on the course again. " Tom Penton - " I missed a few corners out th ere." Jack Penton - "The ground out there is unnatural , hard to read. The special test was hairy , be cause y ou had to hustle too much and didn't know where you were going. " Dick Burleson blamed his poor times on the terrain test on the fa ct that , " It 's hard to get loose after riding so many endures. I've programmed myself to ri de at a fast, but safe, controlled pace. It's difficult to let it hang ou t for the special test. " Despite the fact -t hat everyone felt they did poorly in the terrain test, many of the 225 entries were still on gold after the first day. Some complained the course was too easy. The AMA's AI Eames acknowledged that it was an easy run by Fort Hood standards, and that the schedule would be pushed up Sunday.