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/126038
The Lakeshore Inn was ideally' located for this type of event. It h ad a sufficient number of rooms to handle most entries and an adeq ua te ca mp ing area . It was also located near the outskirts o f California Cit y with only a few homes for the riders to p ass by o n . their w av out. Th e co urse leadin g o u t to the first gas was not overly dif fic ult with th e ex ceptio n o f one h ill whic h turned into . a 'bo tt lenec k at times. It was used by a .desert race just the we ek before wh ich che we d it up pretty bad. Speeds for the first loop were brisk with a number of ro ck hills to slow the ride rs down. Most had no pro blems arri vin g earl y th ough allowing time for any re pai rs or maintenan ce. -T wo loops were run out of the central gas, both utilized the Rand Mountain area over well used trails which set a p remium on good suspension . The co urse was ru gged and t irin g. More than o ne r ider co mmented th at he had never seen so many wh o op-d ee-d oos in h is life : Both special tes ts were tigh t u tilizing desert ca nyo ns an d so me very , very dee p whoopers. Cordis was righ t at home open ing up a 30 ' second margin in Sa tu r day's te st s. Mike Hannon was trying to figu re o u t ho w to m ake up th e gap. He said he was going so fast he was sca ring him sel f. He figu re d Cordis ca me do wn to earth abo u t fo ur ti me s. Cord is' lead had to be disheartening to the co mpeti tion . He was makin g it hard on his class to get a gold. Many were finiding i t ha rd to stay wi thin the req uired 25 % of h im. Rick Mun yon on his American Honda build CR -1 25 established himself 'as a favorite in th e 125 class by setting fast ti me in the sp eci al tests for his class. The bike had a gearing disadvantage with o nly a five speed but the power and handling were ob vio usly there and Rick took full adva n tag e of them. The 350 class wa s pretty much Carl Cran ke 's. lie had a 4 8 second lead over Rok on mounted Ron Bishop. Bishop's . te ammate Jim Fog le had problems and finished Saturday way down in points. John McCown and KJ provided the spe ctat ors with a thrill when KJ leaped on J ohn's tank. KJ is the so n of Kookie , the motorcycle riding do g. Asked how KJ wa s talked in to suc h a lo ng ride, J ohn said he told h im it was just a two loop D RA ra ce. Both hung in there an d were on a solid silver after the day' s end. Malcolm Sm ith made o ne of h is rare desert appea rances and easily main tained a Go ld Med al pace. ' Day Two The impo und area was noticeably sparse as th e rugg ed co urse h ad ta ke n its to ll of machines and ri ders -,Perhaps half th e field remained. The Shamrocks had been coming close and th e bi ke was handling good. Yamah a m ou nt ed Bill Eisele took fu ll advantage of Rick Mun yon's misfortune and swept to the 12 5 'class win . The Yamah a ISDT te am o f J ohn Fero , Chris Carter ' an d Dave Ashl ey motor ed sm oothly to their third st raig h t Gold Medals each on th e new IT-400 mon o shock enduro bikes. Lars Larson leaving the pits. tig htened up the schedu le, lo p p ing seven min utes off of the day . The riders were happy as they felt the previous day 's schedu le was just abo u t righ t. The Shamrocks took in to accoun t the co urse de terioration wh ich was causin g be ds ot silt in the first loop. T he bottleneck hill was taken out and the co urse routed around it . A number of riders h ad repairs to make in their ten minute work period before st arting. Bultaco mounted Ben Bower replaced a pipe in his time and just made the st art . He had to put the skid plate o n p ast the start line but had no problems making the first control on time. District 37 Enduro Steward l\laury Tiehen also replace d a pipe o n his mono Yamah a and then h ad the mi sfortune of his gas tank petcoc k f alling out putting him out of the race. Carl Cranke had to retrieve his silen cer .when it fell off and carr ied it with him sh owing it to the chec k personnel to co n t in ue. It didn't slow him d own any as he easil y set fast time in the special tests for the 350 class. Saturdav 's 125 leader Rick Munyon had a flat tire and lost points d rop ping him to a silver. Cordis aga in se t fast ti,me in the secial tests to lo ck up th e over all win. Sunday also included an acce ler at io n test with a slight cha nge. The A1\IA sen t wo rd that the sound te st would ' be discontinued so the riders co uld " get it on" instead of coas t ing through to avo id losing sound points . Hannon 250 class le ad er Mike .m ain tained his lead through the tests as he was really flyin g trying to close t he gap bu t no way. Bill Uhl had his seven speed Her cu les running li ke a top p icki ng up the win in the 175 class . Bill T he Montesa en d uro team o f Dave Evans, Ro y Sherian and Fred lIaye s all finished o n Gol d. Dave rode most of Sunday wi th a p ossi ble broken foot as he lost an en counter with a rock. Honda moun ted Baja racer Steve Holl ada y had the misfortune o f his fr ont wheel coming off when he was tapped out in fifth gear down a fire road. lie was knocked out for ten min u tes but , d idn't appear to be seriously hurt when he finally wo ke up . Finally after 350 long tough miles the ride rs pushed t heir bi kes into im p ound for a parts check. For those who finished it was a very satisfying experience, especially th e non-six ' day riders. As Mike Hannon put it, "it was a true te st of man and ma chine ." The Shamrock organization was excellent and finish results we re posted by eight p .m. Sunday night. . Ed Mazenko rode to a Bron ze Medal. Now Ed is an average - B enduro rider competing on a 18 5 Su zuki, which isn 't y our . idea l m ount wi th five inch front suspe ns io n and all. Ed rode most of Satur da y with just o ne footpeg and fini shed qu ite late, but well within his hour. Most riders would have qui t (and a lot did) but Ed Mazenko hung in there. Sunday morning Ed replaced the pe g and rode another 175 rough m iles and again fell way behind, but he refused to quit . Finally Ed made it to the finish fo r a qu ite' noisy welcome from his club me mbers. Ed was totally exhausted but he made it. Officially Ed will receive a Bronze Medal fro m the Shamroc ks fo r his ride, but the co lor of his me dal is p ure gold to him an d all the • fin ishers. On to Alabama ! . .. . 0.. < . Two day winner. desert ace Cordis Brooks. . John and K.J. had to share a medal. 11