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/126064
• ; =Desert hotline s t 1.0 a- 0') ~ (250 Suz) completed the top four at the end of the first loop. The action shifted to the' second loop, nine-miles long. Balentine's speed varied as he tried to find a pace that was fast enough to stay in the lead but would not tear the bike up and tire him on the choppy circuit. Bob did keep a comfortable margin over Kelly all the way and won. Kelly, who won the 250 class: did so on a brand new KTM. For the last 18 miles, he'd held the gas tank on with his knees after the mounting tab broke. Tom Schell was in for third, having passed Malocco when Morgan's forks turned into oil gushers and the handling went into the frightening stage. Morgan did get a fourth for his trouble. Monte Lee (250 Yam) rode consistently, taking fifth. Brad Henson (175 Yam), the current points leader, grabbed a first in the small-bore class at sixth. Gordon Schmidt (400 Yam) found that his seventh was good for first Senior. Novice Tom Mattox (400 Yam) was eighth, followed by small-bore runner-up Tim Plant (175 DMG) . Monte Lee, an Amateur, rounded out the top ten on a 250 KTM. Rare desert scrambles Balentine J8) & Kelly (711x) wonder why their victory bottles ~re empty as Dura Lube's F-troop group says - we don't know. , Balentine wins Silver Cup, Rare ' Desert Scramble By Dale Brown CALIFORNIA CITY, CAL., SEPT. 4-5 Bob Balentine (400 KTM) won his third DRA Silver Cup Invitational, thus taking home the $500 trophy for good. He rounded out the weekend by taking first overall in -the Amateur/Expert round of the Rare Desert Scrambles. ORA Silver Cup DRA point leaders have been competing for the trophy for three years. No rider had won it more than once, until Balentine won the first three times he entered. Third to the bomb behind Chuck Fowler and Dave Wood, Balentine took the lead quickly and led for the rest of the race. Tom Kelly (250 KTM) got completely sandblasted following Wood, but got by when the course got a little tighter and moved into second. Morgan M " 40Y m ~~ On the . following day, Balentine showed up at the bomb running second behind Bill Conroy, who was riding a borrowed 400 Mono. On a fireroad jus past the bomb, they went back and forth. Eventually, Balentine got by and Bill's borrowed bike began to show signs of shock trouble. He took it easy and retired at the end of the loop rather than break someone else's bike. r The surprise at the end of the loop was seeing Tom Kelly on Balentine's tail. Two miles out, Kelly passed Bob almost in mid-air. Tom led for the rest of the loop. Balentine thought that Kelly couldn't maintain the same pace for the remainder of the race, so he elected to stay on Kelly's tail and wait for the right time to pass. The right time came on the next loop, where Balentine got past and led for the rest of the race. To Kelly's credit, it was the first time this year anyone had come up and passed Balentine while he was leading. Behind the action of the two Mojave buddies, Cordis Brooks (250 Bul) had been running third, but Tom Schell came from behind to pass him and occupy third for the rest of the race. On the roughened course, Brooks was getting tired, and on the last loop, Phil Stumbo (250 CZ) passed him on a twisty downhill sand....rash, Stumbo's drive nearly carried him past Schell, but with only a couple of miles left, Stumbo got onto a bad line and Schell dusted him badly. So it was that the first five were: Balentine, Kelly, Schell, Stumbo and Brooks. At sixth overall, Tim Plant avenged his earlier defeat by Brad Henson (who finished tenth overall). Plant had held his position steadily through the race. Gordon Schmid (400 Yam) made it his weekend by taking two Senior victories, this time just ahead of Gus Paull (400 Yam), who is leading the point standings. Thanks to Yamaha of Corona, who replaced an ignition, Jim Artz (400 Yam) took ninth, second Open Expert. In the 250/Open Novice race, Doug ; Hurt (400 Yam) led from start to finish, Doug Beisner (250 Suz) moved from fifth to second, winning the 250 class. Tim Phillips (250 Hus) moved from further back to take third. As a matter of interest, TIID Nething took an elderly 250 Husky without benefit of forward-mounted shocks or anything of that nature to finish fourth overall, Ken Perkins (125 Hon) led the ().200 Novices all the way to win his event overall. Joe - Rayle (125 Yam) ran' second, but dropped out, leaving that position to Steve Grenke (125 Yam). Darren Pritchett (125 Yam) finished third. At 11th overall, Leslie KIug (250 Hon) beat all the Senior Novices on her way to the Powder Puff Novice win. Otis Cecil (400 Kaw) won the Senior Novice class, while Don Wooldridge (400 Yam) moved up steadily through the race to take second.