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/126069
By Dalif Brown -· - - - - . _- . PAR KE R, AR IZ., OCT . 9 Tom Brooks (400 KT l\I) led m ost of the way , finished with a big lead and won the 26th Check Ch ase hare and hound. The race was billed as a " District 37/D RA Challenge" and paid points for both organizations. Tom Bro o ks entered on the DRA side. In the top ten, the sco re was: 0 -37,5; ORA, 4; Nevada, I. Brooks was leading ' righ t after the bomb. fo llowed by Mit ch Mayes (360 Hus I. There were several get-offs near the bomb, with riders hitting ditches off the course. One of them , Heath Hibbard (400 Yam ) was in the middle of a th ree-b ike pile up, broke h is wrist and finished the race at 24th overall. As the leaders neared the first gas pit, Brooks had abou t a 30-second lead on May es. Cordis Brooks (250 Bul) and Bo b Balen tine (400 KTM ) were righ t together, with Bruce Ogilvie (250 H-D) righ t w it h th em . Bo b Ru tten (250 Hus) was n ex t , wit h Tom Kelly (250 KTM ) behind him. May es su rged ahea d between th e fi rst an d second gas p its , leading b y abou t 3 0 seco nds at gas two . Balentin e go t by Cordis Brooks , bu t Ogilvie was d icin g w ith him. Kell y passed Ru tten on ly to lose th e course an d get re passed . Af te r the second gas, Mayes and Brooks passe d each other several ti mes. T he last pass went to Broo ks when Mit ch killed his engine in a corne r. The Che ckers said they m easured the distance between the second gas pit and the finish; 43 m iles according to their odometer. No ne theless, they set up an alternate gas pit about 15 miles fro m th e finish. The lea ders all t o o k a little gas t h ere, bu t the last 15 miles was mostly very soft sand. Brooks ran 'o ut of gas two mil es fro m the finis h. But t here were people o ut th ere in an automobile an d th ey gave him so me straight gas. He n ro de somewh at gingerly into t he fi is h , co mp leting the approximatly 125·mile ra ce in t wo an d a half hours. The following day , wh en h e re cie ve d his troph y an d a S10 0 check from DR A, he wa s aske d t o say a few words to the assembled multitud e : " It was ro ugh!" Mayes also ran ou t o f gas ; He finished ab o u t fiv e minutes afte r the leader. He cam e in wi th no visor on his helm et after go ing o ne-o n-o ne with a bu sh . Balent in e finish ed a cou ple o f minutes late r, to t all y exhausted. He nearly passed out in the m oments followin g his com p le ti o n of the race. He 'd been di cing with Ogilive, in clu d ing sharing a few moments in a foot-deep pond a ft er m issing an unmarke d turn. Ogilvi e broke so metime aft er t h at . T he next d ay , afte r he recovered, ' Balen tine flatly stat ed "That was the roughest race I've ever ridden ." Rutt en t oo k fourth an d first 25 0, mo vin g fro m abo u t 15th at the start. Bren t Wallingsford (25 0 Hus) finished right aft erw a rd for a second in class. Nevada rider Scott Harden (3 6 0 Hus) took sixth , bemoaning the worn rear shocks th at gave h im quite a b eating. . DRA Amateur Mike Cole (250 Hu s) took seventh and first Amateur. Cole didn't get a real goo d st art , but moved quickly into the top ten when he found a go o d tr ail right alfer the bomb . Tom kelly fin ished eighth aft er getting lost twice and breaking a rear shock ten miles from the fm ish . Mar c Cartwright (2 50 KTM ) finished ninth an d fourth 250 Expert. Max Eddy ( 175 KTM) was running in the mid-twenties at the first gas .pit. By the finishe he worked his way into tenth, winning the Division II Ex pert class. At 11th: Don Wallin gsfo rd (Brent's brother) won the Open Am at eur class on a 400 Mono. Open Experts Ed Zarp (Y am) an d Mike Powers (lIus) were in next, followed b y Arizona rider A. L. Haydis (250 Yam ). Mit ch Payton 125 Hus) rounded out t he fir st 15 , ta kin g a seco n d in class. J ac k Fro elich (25 0 Yam ) wo n th e Senior class . with a fine 23 rd overall p lacing. ORA r id er Gus Paull (400 Yam ) finis hed second a nd took first Open Ex pert at 39th. J oe Lo ckh ar t (Yam) was the firs t t rai lb ike act ass t he line , 0"> l-< IlJ ..0 o ..... u o o (Opp. L.I Tom Brooks goes for the win at 0 -3 7 Check Chase. (Abovel Tom Rutten fi rst 250 Expert . nearl y 4 0 spots ahead of his closest co m petitor . Leslie Klug (250 Hon ) was leading the Women 's Dicision and running 50th o verall through the second gas p it. Bet ween ther an d the fin ish, so mething hap pened and Dawn Grant (J 75 lIus) go t by to w in with a 79th ove rall pl acing. Leslie fin ished so me 50 pl aces later, bu t to o k first Am at eur for the DRA side . June Elias (25 0 Yam ) t o ok sec o nd Am ateur, with Lisa Christ en son finishin,g third on a 100 Yamaha. J ol ene Payn e (17 5 Yam ) wo n the Novi ce class. Prairie Do g club members Bru ce Felker and Scott Child, both on 4 0 0 Yamahas, battled much of the way for fir st Novi ce. Felker crashed and Child was left in possesion of a gia nt lead. Onlysix Beginners finished the en ti re race . The winner, Ch ris Rodgers (25 0 Bul ), passed o u t from exh austion at the finish. He left Saturday evening not knowin g th at he'd won. Scott Atc h ison (1 00 Yam ) took second, making it a 1-2 sweep for the ORA Beginners. Pie-plat er Bill Howell (25 0 Hon) finished third. The side hacks had their own r ace to the fITSt gas pit, w ith Russ and J.T . Whitney winning on a 750 Norton . Out of the nearly 600 entries, there were over 330 finishers. Durin g the troph y presentation , the Checker at the microphone was of the opinion that there we re entirely too m an y finishers , The Checkers worked all night doing results and en gravin g nameplates fo r the troph y winner s. In the Open No vice class alo ne, 20 riders rec ieved t ro ph ies. Talking to r id ers after the ra ce , 1 go t the dist in ct impression that everything would have been cop aset ic if the fini sh line w as wh ere the a lt ernat e gas wa s. The Checkers threw in lots of var iety, en o ugh so th at ride rs d idn't have the st rengh t h to co n tro l the front wheel in th e soft stuff. Lots of slo w spe ed crashes oc cu rred as w ell as man y rid er s running o u t o f gas. T he markin g w as appare n tl y ade q ua te , bu t the re were places wher e marking was needed / and not prov ided, like th e turn where Balen tine and Ogilvie en ded ~p in the water. , Short ly after t h e tro p hy presen t ati o n , Tom Broo ks was seen amo ng t he p assenger s of a sk i boat being towed in. The nam e of the boat was "Go For It," Resul ts in Results Sect io n. Mitch Mayes ran o ut of ga s, stalled and sti ll fi n ished second O pe n Expert. 13