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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126253
Tullis wins Red
Garter National
Champ.ionship
Enduro . . . again
By larry langley
BALLENGER CA N YO N . C A, MAR, 20
(Above) Sidehilling in the high country of Los Padres National Forest .
(Below) Wheelie demons possessed those who saw a camera.
-----=----:~
Team Honda's Jay Tullis and teammate Mike
Adams shared the overall win at the Dirt Diggers's sixth annual Red Garter National Cham-
f!~~s~!r~,.~n~s~~~?;w~~_th ~)~~;~~~da~~~n~?'~~r~~.,~~~
(A bove left) Jay Tullis won the Red Garter for the third straight time. (Ab~ve
right) " Buddy class" riders couldn't resist showing off. (Below) Mike
Hannon (69) almost nailed this earlier rider.
breaker c hec ks . The third te am
member , Mark He a c o x , lost seven
seconds fo r third overa ll , fir st Open
class.
T u llis has now wo n t hc Red Garter
t hrce limes . Hi s co m p e t ito rs a re
sta rring to ca ll th e eve nt th e J a y T ull is
Benefit En d ~ro .
.
.
As o f Frid a y. t he Di r t Di g g e rs
wer en 't even Su n' t he endu ro was going
to t ak e pl a ce . H e av y s no~s .o n
W ednesd a y h a d th e Forest Servic e
ta lking abou t cancellation . b UI m ost
o f t he snow m el u -d off a nd rh e e nduro
wen t off as schedu led , mu ch to th e
reli e f o f a ll co nc e rn ed . The [) i!(!(e rs
were
en thu si a st ic
abo u t
t he
co op e r a t io n th e y re ce ived fro m th e
Forest Service in p u u ing o n the.' event .
The Red Garter is o ne o f Southern
California's Favo rite euduros, located
away from t he usu al desert terrain .
The Ba llenger Ca nyo n a re a a bo u nd s
in fa st , t ~~hl t r ai ls ~\' hic h . pl a ce
turning abi lity of m a chine and rider a t
a premium . Tullis a nd his sli!(h tlymodified M R - 175 are so di aled into
this run th at it's ver y. w ry rough to
beat him a nd for the last t h ree years,
im possib le . Mik.e Adams ~av,' il a .he ll
of aIry o.n hIS CR ·250 cnduroizcd
Ho nd a while Hea co x ~ad,' a C&Jfr amcd X L -3 50 to g-IV" I io n d a a
.
repea t of last yea,r's cle an swee p .
It looked ilk" ~ulta co ~ t\11.ke
lI a n no n would provide Tullts with
seri ous co m per iri o n . but so mewha t
slo w sc hcdu lvs co m bi n e d
wit h
Hannon 's b u rriing a c hec k on t he
second loop p UI him down a co u p le of
po ints .
Ther e wa s no a r!(u ment a mo n~ rhe
" A" cl ass riders th at th e e n du ro was
to o slow. Five zeroes at a N at ional ?
T he terra in was t he re 10 m a.ke it
happen , bu t th e speed a vera ges , 10 th e
o pi nio n of ride rs su rveye d , were j ust
100 co nse rva tive . A co u p l,' o f lI~hl
sec tio ns at 24 mil es p"r hour co u ld
h ave m ade things i nt ~res ti n !( . 'I:he
melted sn ow had so mer hi ng 10 do with
it , se tt ing up e xce lle nt t ract io n, whi ch
made r iding the usuall y slic k o ffcamber-turns easier.
Hannon 's te a m m a te , Be~ Bow er ,
also zeroe d the co u rse , as dill Hus~y .
m ounted Tom Spurlock. Their uebre aker scores kept them o ut of
co nt e nt io n for t he overa ll win b ut still
put them in the top five ,
The "C " class riders sat o ut th e fir~t
loo p , which was for " A" and " B" rid e rs
on ly. Last yea"'s loop was fa st - most
rid ers thi s year were very surprised
when' th ey found they could maint ain
the
a vera~(" . On~
c heck wa s
h~rd
to
g-et to . lo ca ted. n~ht after a qu ick 36
mph sec tion . Then- were quir e a few
16
zeroes th er e , to th e a mazcmc nrof th e
loop ca p ta in .
T i~h t
terra in fo llowed .
even " B" r id ers co u ld ho ld . St ill. a
number of riders p ut th e m sel ves out of
con te ntio n whe n t!wy b lew c hec ks,
e arl y o r la u -. Don Sanford (ranked
fourth in N ation al End u ro standings} ,
a ll the wa v fr om Odess a, Texa s .
burned a c h~'c k (o r " b usted it " as rh ey
say ba ck rhere) and was n ' t too happy
a t a ll. H is new fa c tory four srro ker (a
sa no C&J -fra ln<'d XL -410 ) was
wo rki ng well th o ugh in its m aiden run.
T he seco n d lo op ha d ev eryone
wo r r ied as rum o rs of snow sti ll on th e
trai l p ro ved to be t rue . O m' u p hill was
. still p relly slo p py , so t he Dirt Di!(!(e rs
m ade it a "frt-e sect ion " wit h a n ex tra
ho ur ra ck ed o n to t he ne xt spee d
c hange to a llo w fo r bottlenecks . The
" fr et' section" w as a good t hi n ~ as th e
hill !(ot pn'll y ja m med u p - la te
numbe rs fo u nd a lon!( lin e . Man y club
m emb e rs h e lped
r id e rs having
diffi culty o n t he hill , At t he top ,
co m pe rito rs to ok ad vantage o f t~,'ir
frel' time to bomb ard a p p ro a c h ing
riders with sno wba lls.
The "goa t tr ai l" that followed was
treacherous a n d riders were extremely
ca u t io us. inchin~ a longr hr- foo t-wide
path on t he side of a mountain , At the
speed c h a ngr- " la yover ." th en' were
stories o f one poor so ul who fe ll ~ff
three lim es Iwfon' Ill' finally m ade It.
(" Yo u helped him too ?")
Se c on d lo op' a verages were even
easier to m aintain th an th ose on th e
first . whi ch m ade Ih,' " B" riders happy
but h ad th e Nati on al riders d epressed .
At le ast it was rea lly a fine da y for
riding . with clea r. crisp skies . ve ry
liu l« dust and lot s of tract io n.
The Dir t D i ~~ers h a ve promi sed
tha t next war ' will see a co u p le of
to uc h secli~ ns wit h fast a verages to
spread the r iders o ut. If so , th,~ 1978
Red Garter sho uld be j us t about th e
best e nd uro a ro u nd . It was just shy
th at lillie b it t h is w ar .
Result s a re stil l p"ndin~ du e to
prote sts, bu t t he o vera ll winners won 't
c ha nge . The baule for number one
. Sel1i,;r will be between Tom Getzfrid
(Yam ) , Ron Fr y (Yam) and Ken
Lewi s. Sr. ( lI us) as th,'y all dropped
just one lonely point. Team Monresa 's
Dave Evans and Fred Hayes also ca me
in with a po int lost in a. fine ride . Only
o n e minor injury was reported when a
rider ca ug ht a bra nch a nd b loodied
h is c h ee k with a nasty ~ash. T he
narrow tr a ils o n the rid~es psyc hed a
lo t of riders out and m an y were bare ly
moving for fear of falling down a I " n~ ,
l o n ~ wa y.
•
U~official results
. 0 POIN T: Jay Tullis IHonl ; M ike Adams tHon) : MJr k
Heaco x (Hon); Ben Bower (Bull; Tom ?PtJIIOCk , IH~sl
1 POINT lnot In Otdefl: Tom Get.' tnd tv.sml. Dav e
M at us IK TM I' J erry Counts IHa nl: D,Jn M cKlnn~
U