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• Bob Balentine: "NeJ[t~eekend is just like your first race" .... .By Dale Brown Bob Balentine won the first race he ever entered. With the 1976 season nearly at an end , Bob has secured the Number One plate in the DRA Heavyweight class, after winning 14 of 26 races overall. . With an easy ·going manner • ... 36 that belies his determination, Balentine, 20, devotes his full time to racing. He 's come a long way in the three years that lie's been competing, going from a modified Yamaha 175 Enduro to a sponsored 400 KTM . A true son of the -desert. Bob was born in , grew up in , and currently resides in Mojave, California, where his parents (with whom he lives) operate a grocery store. His start in motorcycling was the cu lm ina tion of a 12·month struggle, six months spent to convince his father to let him buy a bike, and another six months to save the money. "My dad told me that if 1 ever got a ticket, I'd have to .sell the bike. And that I'd never race it ," Bob said. Well, tickets were received, and races entered, but now Balentine's parents support him in his endeavor. The first ra ce came in 1972 , when he entered the 125 Begin ner class in the Sportsman Racing Association's "Suzuki Series" European Scrambles. Balentine crashed 100 yards off the starting line. " I was afraid all my friends would laugh and call me a quitter. " So Bob went on, moving into the top ten by the end of the first loop and into the lead on the last one. Continuing with the Suzuki series, he won three of the four he entered, but did not win the Suzuki. A 125. Bultaco Pursang entered Bob's life next. He used it to race motocross and the Ponderosa. Consistency was the problem in motocross. Bob would win one moto onl y to crash or have problems in another. The big -bore-bik e-bug struck about this time, after he borrowed a 350 Pursang and beat AC . Bakk ..n, (at the time a fellow Novice on the same type of machine) at the Ponderosa . Purchasing a 360 Yamaha MX in mid ·I973 , "Bo b entered the Prospectors Dual European Scrambles. It was not the first time Balentine had entered into 0·37 desert competition. He'd ridden some events with little success on the small Pursang. But Bob finished second Open Novice , and went from there to eight straight Novice wins , including the Check Chase, where he finished 32nd overall. Transferring to Amateur, Balentine led his first race to the bomb. Mitch Mayes and Jim Fishback passed him quickly, but he was running third as he started onto the second loop. Unfortunately, he and fellow Invader Doug Winchell got lost. The next Amateur ride was worse, with Balentine going from third to first, getting ahead of Mark Adent and Bob Romine , only to crash and knock himself unconscious, destroying the motorcycle. That was the ' weekend before the Barstow- to-Vegas race. He sat out the remainder of the year, purchasing a new 360 Yammie and making plans for the '74 season. Eighth overall and first Amateur were the results for the first race of the year. The next event was the Sled Rider's Larry Pfuetzenrueter Memorial Hare 'n Hound . The early leader was Art Knapp . Balentine passed him and won the rac e overall, the first Amateur to do so in several years. Two third overalls concluded his Amateur status. The last Amateur ride was on a 400 Husqvarna , loaned by Jack Orndoff. Bob quickly went out and bought his own from Malcolm Smith . who sponsored him . Riding the Husky for the remainder of the year, Balentine amassed enough points to finish second behind A.C. Bakken in the 0 ·37 Heavyweight class. The same year, Bob got his start in ORA competition, entering four of the money events. He broke in the Spring Cal City GP , won the Gold Digger Hare 'n Hound, won the Fall Grand Prix , and fin ished second in the remaining race. Balentine led much of the '74 (the last) Barstow-to -Vegas , DNF'ing when his rear wheel collapsed 10 miles from the finish. George Elliot, writing about the B vto - V in Popular Cycling, described Balentine as a "favorite of the Desert Racing Association, " out to "prove his organization superior to D· 37." Elliot was a . little premature. since at the time, Balentine was no more special in ORA circles than any of several 0·37 hotshoes who would show up on the first Sunday of a month (D· 37's off wekend) with the idea of winning a little money, since ORA offered a purse and 0·37 didn't. At the beginning of the '75 season, Husqvarna sponsored Balentine on a 250 GP with a special wide ratio transmission . Bob started riding more ORA events , though he still raced at 0 ·37 and he still won at both places. In an April race , he was running second behind Bill Conroy, who was not about to get beat at the time. Bob crashed on the last loop. breaking his collarbone. He got up . finished second overall and was out of action until early summer. All along. Bob had never gotten over the big-bore- bike- bug. He'd as ke d Hu sq varna for a big- bore ma chine, bu t they were already sponsoring Mitch Ma yes and A.C. Bakken on 360 's . The answer appeared in the person of Ted Lapidakis, who had taken over the west coast impo rta tion of KTM's from Penton. Lapidakis, who had earlier sponsored the Brooks brothers, Cordis and Tom , on their giant·killer DKW's, was looking for desert riders to sponsor. Bob and Ted met , went riding, and Balentine found himself sponsored on a 400 KTM . After taking a few weeks to set up and . get used to the new bike, Bob teamed with Doug Winchell to win' a 150-mile team race by a 20·minute margin. He won several more that year, ending the '75 ORA season with 10 wins, two seconds and a third, That was twice as many wins as any other rider achieved and Balentine received a black plate, something no other rider has. (Bill Conroy and Cordis Brooks need one more). Despite having waited until September to join the Open class wars, and having broken his collarbone again at the October Check Chase, Bob finished eighth in the 0 ·37 overall point standings. The 20·MuleTeam Parkway 200 Pro desert race began the '76 season. Teaming with Jeff Wright, Bob got the lead at the start. The duo won, beating several top-flight teams. KTM and ORA g-ot together recently to put up $500 for any rider that could beat Balentine by winning overall, two of three specified races . Bob won the first . but suffered a flat and a crash in the other two. The Brooks brothers, Cordis and Tom , split those two