Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

In the Desert or On the Street... B~A lOOOK to Mayes & Roeseler ~ o C(') .... IlJ ...0 FILTR ON DOES THE JOB! E F ilt ro n 's mo torcy cle f ilters w ith t heir pat ented p ulsat ing foam tr ap even th e finest IlJ > o Z d ir t p ar t ic les to keep you r engine cl ean . Tough eno ugh to tackle any end u ro or mot oc ro ss. F ilt ro n gives you extra protection fo r any ty pe of ride . D istributo r inq u iry invited . flllRON'AA A IR F ILT ER E LE M E N TS i!!!!!!JiiiL ~ P.O. Box 390, Ga iciena, Calif. 90 247 230 West Ro secrans, Ga rdena, Calif. 90248 ENSENA DA, BC , MEX . , NOV . 13 An unfamiliar element for Baja - mud ;- became a key fa ctor in the results of t his yea r's 100 0kilomet er loop-style race, whic h was won on ela psed time by Husqvarna-rnounted Larry RoeseIer and Mitc h Mayes. Ru n ning at times throu gh ax le-deep mud , 1976 BAJA 1000 WINNERThe Vikings Are Coming! ONE OF THE WORLDS LARGEST DIRT BIKE ACC DISTRIBUTORS Barum Berm Masters rp Hll h .Il Trivic Disl. Dealers Call 714 ·448-0670 ~""" -r-, " 1("' - 1("'~- 1("'~ .1("',!,,\:. ~"~O~~~~M~~~~ .'": doowI:_ , . M,IC~_ . .. ~. A ".. U .S.TMiI a-n.... Oft _I ~....... Ir.. ", ..,.", '1 _ _ " AI" no. Boll Loot. 7250 . ~\ • is .~ CA916O& 121:n""....... . . , _ ,.) _ "';' \iio_lI _ w ,; ._ .'.;:" ~ -. ' iIi.. .) \iio_ v . f'a h. W~ ' , Ce Sin350 1 h ng h x2 4 ply $9.95 + FET . J im & Jim 's • 975 Olive Dr., Davis, CA 95616 ; . 916-758 -2760 '.11 ~~ 22 . 2 13-596-3691 S-l56" II $99.5 0 Introduetary Offer 5900 M.rit . LOI19Beach. CA 90815 the two SoCal desert stars took ad vantage of the co urse layout to ride the race in fou r shifts , and credi ted their resulting freshness on each leg fo r th eir fas t finish . Roeseler started , Mayes relieved hi m at Check 2 , Roeseler took over again at Check 4 , and Mayes finis hed from Check 7. He rode in at 5:30 p .m .. a lmost an ho u r earlier tha n race officia ls expec ted him , for storm da mage to th e co urse h ad bee n term ed excessi ve. In fac t, it was sto rm da mage , flood ing , num er ous was ho uts a nd e n d le ss mud , whi ch for ced th e postponem ent of th e sched u led start for 24 ho u rs, while crews re -checked and re-laid th e co urse . T he firs t racer was officia lly flagged off a t 6 a .m. Sa turday mornin g . Accident s quickly claimed several top- runne rs . Pa rn elli Jo nes crashed his fou r-wheeler while dicing with Bob by Ferro's Sandrnaster in the mo untains. Jack J ohnso n ' cras hed nea r Santa Ca ta rina and rode int o Check 2 with a broken co lla rbo ne. W ith Mickey T ho m pson a lso out early , the race for the overa ll developed into an elapsed time duel between Mayes/Roeseler and Ivan Stewa rt in a solo-seat ca r. Mitch Ma yes told reporters after it was over: " 'VI.' pre ·ra n Laguna Sa lada a nd found we co u ld run down th e m iddle . W ith th e ra in we tho ught we wou ld ha ve to use th e origi na l co urse, but we couldn't find it. So I went down th e m iddle about 45 mil es. The co urse from there was marked so that it went right into the middle of a mud lak e. I was axle deep in mud, a lt hough the bike never bogged down , but I was sca red that it would , be cause th e wheels picked up so much mud . I went ba ck a co u ple of miles a nd decided to take off cross country for th e old cou rse. My mechanic had moved down a nd told m e that he would be in about th e same place (as Checkpoint 2), but I said , 'Man , you mi ght as well be on the moon . I don't know where I am out there .' We worked it out that if he saw m e he wou ld light a tire and sen d up a smoke bomb . Well , he did whe n I was about a mil e away . It was luck y t hat he did, beca use if he had n't just th en _ . . I would have ridden righ t by. A lot of the good tea ms ha d dropped out, and when I gave it to La rry at EI Chi nero , we told hi m to cool it. We didn't know that Rutt en and Ogi lvie were so close to us. He got to San Ma tios, and we to ld hi m to pu t the gas to it , and he did. W hen I too k over a t EI Rodeo , I rode the last sectio n like a motocross. " Roeseler added : " I got lost a t the sta rt. When I sta rted th e Mexicans the police a nd the spec ta tors - sent me the wro ng way . T hey waved me on. We were supposed to go over th e da m, but th e co urse was cha nged . I was su p posed . to go in fro nt of it to th e right , but th ey sent me to th e right , and I wound u p on th e wron g ro ad . When I got stra igh tened out , I was behind Bak er and J ohnson. So I played catchu p all th e way." Bru ce Ogilvie on th e Cla ss 21 vict or y ride t ha t a lmost became a n overa ll win : " I rode the first 300 m iles. It was norm al except t hat I fell off th ree or fou r tim es in a five-mi le st retch nea r t he summit (EI Rayo). It was solid rocks . T wo of them were little crashes , but on one I was pinn ed un d er the bike and co u ldn 't get out. I lost five minutes - th e kick sta rter was full of mud and wouldn't work. I ha d to push it dow n th e hill in t he wrong d irec tion to get goi ng . At Ch eck po in t 3 we were 20 min utes behind Mayes. Eve rybod y in the pits sai d not to cross t he lak e . I went a cross the la ke abou t 30 mil es. If Mit ch says he went 45 m iles, I don't think so, because I followed his tracks when I went ou t of th ere. I went in a bo ut 30 mil es and used two ga llons of gas . I had to bum some gas from some people . I was go ing backward at th e tim e. When I got to Tres Po zos m y cr ew said I was eig ht minutes behind , wh ich means I made up 12 minutes. On corr ec ted tim e I was first overa ll. At EI Chinero 40 mil es later I was five minutes beh ind , which means I was seven minutes ahead on correct ed tim e ." Co -rider Bob Rutten th en ch imed in : " I lost th e brakes out of Ch eck 4 and ran to 5 with out brakes, bu t that wasn 't so bad. It was smoo th until half a mil e from Ojos Negros . I lost th e spark and worked on it an hour and a half. The motor kept quitting. I found the bik e ran better without lights th e lights wer e d ra ining th e batterY~ had a hea dl igh t on t he bik e . About hal f-mil e from the fini sh line I w into th is huge d itch , and th e light my helmet wen t out. I kn ew I 'had get going ." Ron Bishop : "At EI Rayo I star throwing th e ch a in - it happe about five tim es. I got into Cai eri and we adjusted it. There were more p ro blem s." Bishop rode i Che ckpo int 3 on a flat tire his SUI suffered abou t 70 miles fro m chec kpoint . " Mike Ha rper rod e frora to 4 ," sa id Bishop . " He went bac the 'old co u rse' (t h rough LagtJ!' Salada ) and rode into Ch eckpoi n with a serious prob lem. He ca me I a nd the sliders on th e fro nt a nd wh eels ca me off. " " O ld Man " Bryan Farnswo becam e th e recipient of th e Iron I Trophy as he rod e solo to win th O ver -Sf m otorcycle cla ss On an E.T, 0 17:40:07 ,7 , He was su pposed to have p artner , Dick Grah am , but a " buddy borro wed Dick's car and plowed into Mexican fa mi ly's ca r. Since the own e of the vehicle is respo nsib le unde Mexica n law, Gr aham wound up i jail ins tead of ridi ng . Brya n said after the finish: "T oday fell off only once . . . T he mud . i wears your a rms out. I'd like to see th old Baj a ra ce aga in . to La Pa z. Thi i just a mot ocross. You get drunk OIl night a nd come home a nd ge t d run in the same pla ce th e next nigfIt W hen you go to"La Paz you're gOIn somewhere . . . T he scorers a lmost mi ssed 01 Ma lco lm, picking up th e following da o n t he ta bula tions that he an teamma te Bud Feldkamp h ad come i second · in Class On e behind I a Stewa rt. Ed Rodine and Eric Spaet on a Ca n-A m turned 16:08 :46 .7 to wi Cla ss 20 , th e 125s, The last vehicle to cross th e finis befor e officia ls shut th ings down was blu e Ford pickup under a full head 0 stea m . The driver , ecstatic to hav made it this far , said, "T here's n shocks left . . . the front end's bent The torsion arms are bent. The rea shocks are blown up . There's n transmission. The doors don't shut The steering won 't ste er. The brake don't work . And it was a good race.' We ll, at least there was no dust Unofficially. 74 finished . • Results in Results Section.

• Cover