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/126250
Desert Hotline If the event is a Boobie Run. then this must be a Bo obie Trap . Larry Roeseler grabs a handlul at the Brush Busters' Boobie Run By Gary Laud ig LUCERNE VALLEY . CA , FEB. 27 The banner rose to attention and all eyes, racers and spectators alike 'hypn otically stared at th e club ensign, and the eerie silence envelopes the area like a blanket. The b an ner toppled an d the right boot of hundreds followed through , igniting their machines and the race was underway . Leading the racers, La rry Roeseler held a 15· second cushion over second -place Marc Cartwright, who was showing no ill effects from his accident a month ago. Third-place Bruce Ogilvie had Brian Wright right .o n his fender. Then it was Bren t Wallingsford , Rob Ru tt en , Bob Doig . Dwane Carter. Gordon Schmid, Chuck Pettigrew and Heath Hibbard. A small shel f across the wash ma de a few good riders loo k kinda silly as the competition a nd confusion continued : the rear co ntingent climbed the left bank tryi ng to get around. Clearing the firs t section of wash, Roeseler led the competition over totally virgin terrain, dropping back into another section of sand wash. Cartwright kept second place secu re, while "Sprint" Wa llingsford, on his "Up T'ire" H usq va m a moved up after Ogilvie broke, then passed Wright fo r third place. Doig broke down , leaving sevent h pl a ce to Pettigrew. First Amateu r . a t 13th overall, was Da n T hordarson, who some t hought was T horwa ldson, didn't dare slack up as seco nd and th ird Am ateurs Roger Toubeau and J a mes Laurence were 21st and 22n d . Mitch Payton moved up several positions , settling in at 19th, first 175 Expert. His closest competitor was Andy Klein , five bikes back. Charlie Hamill, not giving an . . .\ , ' ... inch, held about a one-mile lead over Chuck Carteledge, who'd had a bad bomb run . The course continued out across a flat , pucker bush infested area intercepting the Camp Rock Road bomb run heading into the camping area. Cutting around behind Sage Mountain into the rollers before check two, the positions were stretched out and stayed just about the same. Coming into the foothills heading for the pits, Chris Gray of Holiday Honda, running first Novice on a 250 Husky, dam n near ra n over yours tru ly trying to take his pictu re. Then came first hea vyweight Steve Nelson of So. Cal, Sam Sou le, then m ystery #607, Dave Con ner and pie plater Alan Rigg le . 581X. the first Begi n ner was running ninth overall. Larry Mullen was riding a real nice race at eighth overall, first 175. His closest class competition were 12th and 16th, Eric Da tto la and C harlie Pert. Da t t ol a r ef use d t o reli nquish any ground as the two charged for the pits. Sa ndwich ed in between them was first T rail Novice R ay Gu ilbeau with the runner'up right on h is expa nsion cha m be r. Heading out on the second loo p , Roeseler still had Ca rtwright on his tail whi le third-pl ace Wallingsford' had Ru tt en pushing hi m . The Sled Riders had their hands full as four of the first eight overall bikes were Sled Riders. O ne minute out of the pits, Cartledge stuffed his left boo t into a . rock a nd called it q ui ts. J ohn Fe ro or' Tea m Yamaha moved u p fro m 12th pl ac e to sixth on the new pro to 400 IT Yamaha he will be using in Six Days Q ua lifiers. Senior Geor ge W a lker (C ·A) was right in front of Bruce Lewellyn as the two headed out towardsJohnson Dry Lake. The course jogged through sand washes and trails leading to a fire road that dumped into a saddle between two hills. On the other side was a rocky downhill . Soon after that the riders hit Means Dry Lake, th e big sandy uphill marking the apex of the second loop. After clearing the old rocky mining ro ad it was a lmost a ll virgin cross country tre kking backing home . Roeseler kept hooking the 390 Husky as the taste of victory was almost his again . About 15 miles from the finish , heartbreak occurred. Marc Cartwright, on his super fast KTM from Eric Jensen's shop had second overall, first 250 in the bag when the bike seized. That gave Wallingsford the class win , with R u tt e n taking third . Br ia n Wright . was again number three in class , fourth overall and very happy with his Bill Saltzma n -furnished Works Performance shocks. First overall Novice Chris Gray loved th e co urs e. Second -pl ace p ie p later Al an Riggle, riding for himself. rea lly like it , a lso saying the co urse was marked real well. Third-place Steve Nicholson of the Desert Squirrels said it was birchen. Fourth-place Dave Conner of the 100's MC liked it fine . Conner and Nicholson worked up from 18th and 20th at th e bo mb , I guess you can tell the riders liked the course. This cl ub wen t out and found areas worth ridi ng. And in Lucerne at that! Sue Fish has been spectating desert races th e last 'cou p le of weeks while rec u pe rat ing from a m ish a p we won 't go into . T he " laughte r of th e week" has to go to Ji m Brow n. Rid ing in some blue jeans whi le h is Bill Walters lea thers are being made , he got off. landing in a cactus. By the time he got all the "ouchies" out of his bod he was back at seventh 175 Expert . The "Aw Shucks" awards go to: 1. John Fero , .. ' A rare (hence f uzzyl photo of Roe seler out of shape . running sixt h overa ll on ly to get a fla t starting out on the second loop and still finishing 14th. 2. Mick Thorpe who ca n't figure ou t who aced h im out of first 250 Amateur again: 3. Mike Quibodeaux, who quite after fouling plugs; 4. Bru ce Ogil vie , running third overall when his bike quit ; 5. Rodney Bussey , who broke his swingarrn while his brother Robin broke a masterlink. Both were running well beforeha nd . Forgot to mention First Expert lady Dawn Grant , who thought the co urse was a mixture of Desert Daisies and Prairie Dogs , and loved it. First Novice lady Laura Maddox was dam n glad to finish. T he " better late than 'never" col umn says "Happy Birt hd a y" David Doney. Wednesday he clebrared h is 67t h birthday. Doney bought his first bike when he was 35 , competed for eight years . then hung it u p until 1973 . He went from Novice to first ever Num ber O ne Senior Trail Expert. He plans to co mpete as long as he's able. He re's wishing m any m or e seasons for you. Notice to Lu cerne orient ed clubs: The owne r of the Y Cafe will su pp ly t he lime for your races for th e sma ll sum of six ca ses of beer and a th a nk you in Cycle News. In case you d id n't know : Att ent ion wives of the cl ub that won the cl ub participation trophy. Come to the desert with your husba nd or you m a y lose out to a vulcanized inflati ble woofie. • 17