Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

esert Scenic running in the desert hills is fun. even among rocks. Tom Spurlock crashed. Hannon zeroes Prospectors.0-37 Gold Rush Enduro, then loses timecard By Larry Langley LUCE RNE VALLEY , FEB . 6 The 1977 AMA District 37 D-37 Enduro season kicked off with the Gold Rush 'Enduro , hosted by the Prospectors M.e . Over 400 riders turned out for the event , which 'pitted at Anderson 8 Dry Lak e. T he 86-m ile course was sp lit up into two loops with th e first bei ng la id out with "C" ride rs and wome n 's division riders in m in d . Mindfu l of last year's end uro , which was pretty tough for the " C " .a n d women , th e Prospectors did a fine job thi s yea r. The first loop was just cha llenging enough to keep th e A and B' riders happy a nd provided the rest with a good end uro. T wo u phi lls p ro vid ed t he biggest cha llenge . but most riders made it up a nd over. Good rides. wer e turned in by some brand new 0 -37 riders . Joh n Baldwin , 15 yea r old son of old sa lt Stan Ba ld win , dropped just one lonel y point on his first 0 -37 rid e, a nd Ray Sh aver dropped ju st two points on his new X L-175 (Nice way to break it in .) . Ch eck pe rsonnel on the first loop were highl y enco uragi ng to two ot he r first time rider s. T erry D. Swets (age II ) a nd Bobby Langley (age 10) got th eir C cards a nd put it to a lot of ot he r C rid ers, losing just six points each, on th eir Hon da X RI7 5s. T hey wer en't ou t th ere ju st rid ing bot h ha d spee do meters, ro ll ch arts a nd cloc ks. Asked how th e loop was. th ey repli ed "Sa nd m ade it a litt le tou gh but we su re had fu n." T he new-dea d eng ine start was well received by the rid er s. Riders h ad to push thei r bikes only 25 yards or so and co uld n' t sta rt th eir bikes unt il th ei r m inute ca me up . · It was rea lly nice to be able to talk to someone in t h e st a rti ng line wit hout being drowned out or smoked out. T he second loo p starter promised " no zeroes " on the seco nd loop . He was almost righ t. Speedy Mike Ha nnon on his Qua lifier Specia l, a 370 Bu lra co , smoked th e to ugh sec tio ns l O zero the co urse. H ow e ver , Mik e lo st hi s scorecard on th e loop a nd fini shed with scores on a piece of paper. Whether th e Prospectors ran cha in checks to back h im up is un known. It would be a shame to "win" th e end u ro a nd end up disqu alified instead . The loop generally ran over terrain mo st vete ra n 0 ·37 riders had memorized , but a nice rid ge-runn ing section at th e a pex of th e loo p was sco u ted >in by referee Punk W ilson and turned out to be th e to ughest section as a long , rocky downhill led into . natu ra lly, a check. Most rider s wer e a nywhere from one to five m inutes la te . The Prospectors wisely provided open sectio ns to a llow riders to get back on time , a very good idea . Eight sec ret chec ks tot al mea nt you not on ly had to be a good. fas t rid er. but- you had to hav e you r tim ekeeping skills polished . KT M mount ed J ohn Townsen d (AAA Cycle) dropped just one poi nt • (" I th ou ght I zeroe d ill") for another good ride . John is overdu e for an overa ll win a nd it will probably come soon th e way he's ridi ng . Ossa West's Steve Keull a lso dropped justone point on his 250 Desert Phantom . Reign ing Number One Lightweight , Jay Tullis. on h is MRIl7 5 Honda d ropped j ust two point s for a prob able class win. Dirt Digger Ga ry Wo od ling lost a point on his 11'/ 400 Yam aha . Gary is one of th e Dist rict' s most improved ri ders sinc e he decided to le arn tim ekeeping . He's a lways be en fast b ut inco nsiste nt. He's a threa t in the H e a vyw e ig h t cl ass n ow . Team Montesa had a so-so day with Dave Evans in with a two point sco re , followed by Fred Ha yes with three and Roy Sherid an with six. They were getti ng used to th eir new bik es, whi ch seem to im p rove ea ch year. Hu sky-m ounted Tom Sp urlock go t off to a terrible sta rt whe n he cras hed a nd ' dislocat ed his sho u lder. Spurlock is determ ined to ea rn the. Nu mber On e p lat e a fter co mi ng close last year behind H annon . T he new Sen ior class proved they're not ove r th e hill when 1'1' -50 0 mo unted Tom Getzfrid th um ped his way to one poi nt loss. Tom just missed th e fli p of the ca rd at the to ugh downhill. Other fast Sen iors include former N umber O ne (at th e age of 48 or so) Bob Steffa n , who will give Getzfrid a run for the Senior Nu mber One Pla te . Most riders enjoyed the endu ro a nd it was by fart he most accurate of t~ e recent Prospector Enduros . One check was p rot ested and.was being reclock ed as- 1 left . bu t mo st rid ers th ought th e m ileages were spot on . The new District Digitron ics Check Cl ock s work ed su pe rbly a nd were all wit h in a • tolerance of a second or two , formerl y, unheard of in 0 ·37 . T hat a lone m ade' th e serio us end uro compet itors happy. Marking was genera lly excellent even with blu e ribbon . an d on ly in a cou ple of spots near the fini ~hes.w a s it hard to follow . The Prospectors p ut up a la rge nu mber of Da y-Ol e d anger ca rds · which reall y stood ou t, - they co u ld be seen even in th e d ust . The only thing the Prospector s di d wrong was ru n th e. fini sh of t he loops rig ht back throug h th e pit s. This ca used a safety prob lem with pit rid ers criss crossing the cou rse. Good job. It was a fine end u ro a nd even Earl Wi lson was seen wearing a big smi le at th e fini sh. • a

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