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/126047
And Bob will happi ly continue polishing up the $500 Silver Cup fo r yet ano ther year. One mo re time and it's his for keeps. Balentine wins second Silver Cup By Dale Brown CALIFORNIA CITY , CAL., MAY 15- 16 Bob Balenti ne (400 KTM) came from behind to win DRA's prestigious Silver Cup, becoming the firs t ride r to ever win it twice. He doubled th e win by com ing back Sunday to win the Amateur! Expert event o f the Rare Desert Scrambles. 26 In th e Silver Cup, Balentin e was third to the bomb, behind Morgan Malo cco (400 Yam) and J amie Avels (40 0 Yam ). A few miles o u t , Balentine moved out to pass Avels and inste ad bit so me t hing very hard. The fo rce o f the im pact lifted one foot over the seat ; when it came down , he was no longer riding the mo t o rcy cle. Bob lost several places but was riot h urt . Malocco h ad a healthy lead as th e action moved on to the second loop, an eight-mile circuit run four times. Balen tine - was cat chi n g Morgan at tlie rate of a half-minute per loop and serio us clock-watchers figured that Bob wo uld catch hi m late on . the last loop. Tom Schell was ho ldin g the first 250 . spot in third, while behind hi m, Allen Meek (175 KTM) and Phil Stumbo (250 CZ) were mo vin g up after poor starts . Jamie Avels had been in second, but a tire went flat and he had to retu rn to the pits and put on another wheel him sel f. Well beh ind , he sailed o ut to catch who he co uld. On the last loop , Balentine had almost ca ug h t Malocco. About two . miles from the fini sh , he w as breathing down h is nec k when Morgan sud denl y pu lled off the co urse, clai mi ng a broken chain . Wit h Malocco sidelined, Balentine had his second Silver Cu p. If he wins it agai n, · he will re tire the $5 00 tro phy. Schell was in next for first 250. Meek grabbed th ird after being way back in the early goi ng. He go t first 175. Stu mbo hel d on for fo urth, just ahe ad of Brad Henso n (125 Yam) an d Jeff Cauby (250 Yam). Novice Doug Hurt (400 Ya m) finis hed seventh, fo llowed by Prosperous Shepard (400 Yam) and Gord on Sch mid (400 Yam), who llar nered first Senior. Lee Wilson III (175 Hu s) rou nded out the t op ten . The sec o nd loop drew use in th e whe n the Safety a fternoo n Comm unications Aid Te am (SCAT) held a Po ker Run . Mike Mat ko wski drew four sixes to win 59 3. I The Rare Desert Scr am bles started off with t he 0-200 Begin ners and Kent Pfeiffer ( 125 Yam) went fro m secon d at t he st ar t to lead the rest o f the way. Mark Gervais (125 Yam) finished seco nd. Lori Farmer (C-A) had a strong ride, finishing ' te nth an d winning the Po wder Puff class in her first O RA ride. Kelly Kline (Yam ), the ll-year-old wunderk ind. was a few places be hi nd Lori an d swooped the Mini class . In t he potpourri o f 0-200 Nov ices, Senior and Po wder Puff No vices, it was a race-lo ng d uel betwee n Senior Keith Soesbe (400 Yam ) and 16-year-old Bernard Unhassobiscay (125 Han) . Soesbe led u ntil the fi nal loop, with Ber nard catching h im in -the co rn ers and then getting pulled o n the st raigh ts. Blaine Midkiff (1 25 Yam) was th ird, · fo llowed by To dd Whitney (125 Yam) who had to be p ush -started off the line. Michele Griffin ( 175 Hus) go t goin g on the las t co up le of loops to pass Jolene Payne (17 5 Yam) and take fi rst Po wder Puff. Steve Clugston (40 0 Yam) was lead in g the 250 /0pen Novi ces to th e bomb whe n a little kid on a m ini rode right in front o f him a nd he crashed to avo id hitting him . Ed Smith (400 Yam ) th en led for aw hile , but Ron Rich ey (250 Hus) went sail in g by. led the rest of th e race and wo n with a big lea d . Clu gston recovered fro m h is crash to finish seventh, bu t didn't h ave any t h ing nice to say abo ut parents th at don't keep an eye on their kids. I Ba lent ine dom i n at ed the Amateur/Expert ra ce fro m the st art, eve n tually working up a two-min ute lead. Malo cco ran seco nd for aw hile , but I dr opped ou t after T om Kelly (25 0 KTM) passed him. Kelly held on to seco nd , wh ile Bill Ta rling (2 50 Hus) mo ved up from 19 t h at t he en d of th e fir st lo o p to finish third, garn ering fir st Amateur. It was the first really ho t wee kend o f the ye ar , with t he hea t forci ng many ride rs to quit or make ex t ra stops for water. A w ater tru ck was present all wee kend and it h ad a large fo llowing wherever it went. Adding to the he at problems were so me gn ar ly sectio ns on th e tight co urse . One really bad ca nyon , filled wi th whoops, had the following sign pos ted : " Message fro m the Presiden t. Yo u made 'e m . You ride 'em," Resul ts in Resul ts Se ction. •