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/126071
Mitch Maye~J.I:!us.Lflew away with ~e Prairie Dogs Hare Scrambles. Larry Roeseler's second overall gave Husky a sweep. Ed Zarp trails ribbon as he slices down. a new sand wash. Debbie Granziano (first women) bogs down in the wet sand. Mayes runs aw~y from Prairie Dogs By Terry Rezek JOHNSO N V AI.. , OCT. 24 The closer I got to Lucerne, the wetter the desert became. The sun bloomed on the horizon like an incandescent rose. This was going to be a dynamite day for desert racing. And indeed it was! The Prairi e Dogs confirmed th at there had been heavy rains both Frid ay and Saturday and the ground was saturated. There would be no dust today. . With good traction, the flat . fast b omb run became even faster. Those six Tibblin dust s D-38 By Loretta Pipkin HOLTVILLE, CAL., OCT. 17 The Imperial Valley Motorcycle Club treated District 38 riders to a barbequeSaturday night cast of the Holtville airstrip to kick off Sunday's 90 mile ride. Five 18 mile loops tested 131 riders in soft sand and 90 degree temperatures. Experts started the first wave followed by Novice and Amateurs minutes later. Rolf Tibblin started wide and moved past the center leaders before they were out of sight. Man and machine performed flawlessly as Tibblin kept his lead all five laps. 110 riders finished the first loop. , then it began to thin. Bill Thornburg disappeared - on -t he · second round. 13·year-old Steve Kephart succumbed to a broken chain and brother Ron to a shifter on the third loop. Brown and Dibbs, consistent as Tibblin moved the lap time up to 30 minutes. Don Kilgore. Charles Welk were coming up hard from behind when Welk ran out of gas in the pits. Would you believe he didn't have anymore and five guys from another team turned the bike up like a bottle and drained out the remaining drops to add an other mixture ? Welk was off again in a gallant try but wa sn ' t fast enough to finish in the top six. Tibblin finished numero uno on a Husky. Lynn Brown (KTM) was second. Daniel Dibbs (Hus) third. Don Kilgore (Hus) fourt h , Rick Finger (Hus) ruth . and Joe Finger (Hus) sixth to complete a minus one Husky day. About 47 percent finished the rough sandy course with only a few . accidents. Those that did get off were minor with the exception of one Don Seay, Jr. who refused to leave his toy and rode in with what turned out to be a broken shoulder, discovered in a routine check at the hospital. All the moaning wasn't going on in the hospital though. Seems the new desert race rulings are causing much grumbling. No finish flag no credit ; even if you finish 89 of the 90 miles. Consequently, some of the boys were sitting it out in the pits, and on the course, and went romping around to take the checkered flag on the last lap. Desert racing is a different animal. but moaning at the race is to no avail. Get off your duff and march it to a Sports Committee meeting where some of that lip power can be counted. BL!\-I was there -with the giant eye and the racers kept it clean - especially the desert. • Results in Results Section. Veteran Rolf Tibblin won every mile a: o u W III U a: >til o I- :'.l:i!...::~i:!::t"'P1 o g: and a half miles were gobbled up at top speed for most riders. and especially for Mit ch Mayes, who led from the start for the entire 80 miles. As you might expect, Team Husky was out in force and their ace cross-country racer was riding the latest in ou ter limit suspension. Would you believe 12 inches rear wheel travel? You would if you saw Mit ch go by in the chop. "It · rides like a pillow." says he . Mitch looked like he was floating. Maybe it was those two flat tires that Mitch finished on that made it look that way? That suspension and Mitch's remarkable riding skill gave him a commanding lead by the first half of the first loop. This was in spite of the condition of the terrain a fter that super fast bomb run. That lovely rain that made the riding so much fun also brough t flash floods in the area, opened miles of cross-grain ditc h es (you know, the square-edged kind). and exposed vast new acr es of unused Lucerne Premium Ro ck. It also managed to make Bessemer Mine Road even worse than its infamous reputation would suggest. I would have thought that even a Nu clear holocaust could only improve that cobbystone nightmare. All of this meteorlogical turmoil obliterated all traces of lime and made for m an y surprises along the trail. With Mayes in firm control of first, the contest became one for second. Cordis Brooks had that spot halfway around the first loop, but considering his luck this year, it was no surprise to not see him there on the second loop. From that point on , it was Team Husky all the way. with Larry Roeseler taking se cond just ahead of Brent Wallingsford. Sin ce Larry and Mitch are teaming for the big Baja run in tw o weeks, they put in a good practice run today . On that ch an geab le first loop. Randy Devonshire was running first Amateur but when the mud settled (no dust, remember?). Mike Quibodeaux finished first Amateur at 13th overall. Debbie Graziano took the first woman honors again. First Novice win goes to Ron lrby, whose Husky is set up very similar to Mitch's. The Prairie Dogs are to be congratulated for a fine job on their first race. It was well organized, well laid out and imaginative and really seemed to sit well with the riders. • Results to come.