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/126079
18th Annual Dirt Diggers'-"Dunestown "(?) PHOTOS BYLANE CAMPBEll ...and the beat goes on VA LENCIA, CAL., DEC . 11-12 It's been a rotten year for 0-37 clubs. Forced to become more and more "professionalized" by a social order that won 't let sponteneity and freedom be, the clubs (and their members) have had to hang it out further and further , just 8 to stay a live a nd promot e th eir events. The Dirt Diggers MC , a lways a standout club in happier times , seem to get singled ou t in bad times, too , Already hit hard by the tragic loss of three long-term Diggers Willie Carter, Vic Rud der , Dick Stever the club's year was capped off by a political jacking-around that cost them the traditional site of the Hopetown Grand Prix at the eleventh hour. A lesser club would have developed an epidemic case of the "q uits" in rimes like these. The . Eighteenth Annual Dirt Diggers GP, a lready ~stponed once, went on as scheduled - at Ind ia n Dunes. whose management pitched in 10 help the club rescue the event. With about two weeks 10 layout a course and barren down the area , they brought it off - - two days. 19 events , just about sunup to sundown _solid racing . . They did it in tra ditiona l Digger sty le -and ent husiasm , too - lad ies scoring and co mpiling results in shifts , a fresh tea m for every race, the gassin ' stripe-shi rred co urse patrols that go t in abou t as m uch rid ing as t he racers (1200 entries for two days. by the way : give-n the conditions , t he Diggers themselves were surprised at the support) , yeah even the mud ho le. They'd promised that the infamous Ho p e town , m u d h o le would be transplanted. a nd it was - sort of. does n't ha ve eno ugh orga nic ma il er in its soil 10 make l rut! Godawful , bikesa pping mud . But it was neat - th ey had three wat ercrossings in the 2.5 mile , some wha t -motocrossy co u rse, W ith a ll due respect . t he Du nes with a lillie pavem~·nt and a 1 of t he 01 Shadow Glen cir cuit thrown in . Still, bv' the time 19 40-minute races had churned through , the Open Experts and the hackers had a classic str uggle on their hands . Waterproofing the basic British engine m ust be a lost a rt (not tha t a bunch o f -er. "foreign" ma ch inery didn't water out in ea rlier events) . Nearly 30 side hacks tu rn ed out for their event, one of the sta ndout races Sun day , as the W h itn ey Norton ch ased and passed ho leshot leaders Stevens /C ha mberlain on t h e ir screaming-banshee Hon d a rig (who event ua lly dropped out or drowne d). You gotra believe tha t hacks on a co urse like this spend 90% of th eir tim e in a con tro lled -cras h situa tion. Mindblower of the da y, th e Whitneys d oing a gia nt pancak e in to th e first wa te rc rossi ng off th e Viewfind er s' jump, WFOI Am azing . Just whe n you thought t his was goi ng to be a parade , a long co me Palfreym an / Gardner on th eir Norton /Wasp a nd stea l th e lead in the last two la ps. As dri ver J ohn sa id la ter, " In a 40 minu te ' moto', you don't sta rt racing till 20 mi nu tes are go ne," Littl e J oh n Ha teley lapped all but sec o nd pla c e , h and -r a ssl in g a T riu m p h to win t he O pen Expert bash (wo n de rfu l so u nds!). Bryon Farnsw o rth m issed m a kin g the souvenir program but ran off from th e scanty 350 field on a Kawasak i ( Yes. Bryon , of "Lobster" . fame , is ba ck working at the Big K); and a cl ub m ate fro m Fantasy Factory (this is a n u npaid p lug, fol ks) Steve COUllS got third 250 Novice. Division I I. Kim La Vigne won t he Womens' Divisio n on a Can -Am ; but wah' hopp e n to Fish . Sten erson & Co . ? T he I25 classes were c ro wded, close, a n d often u n decided r ig h t to th e fla g Satu rday's sta ndou t ra ces . It was a fu ll weeke nd, stories upon stories, and I m iss Ma u reen 's dot-dots to fill in t he blanks. T he resul ts (u noffic ia l , bu t _qu ick thanks. Digger ladies) will have to spea k for th emsel ves, • Results in Resul ts Section. ( (Above) Jim Wilson (15)has holeshot the Open Experts, but another Triumph man, John Hl!Iteley (20). coming strong, is going to win it. (Below) Side hacking is mostly a controlled.crash - or splash, as the case may be.