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/126255
.M 0.. -e OCMC Great Bear GP Tom Br,ooks breaks the Fishback streak (Left) Larry Roeseler (59) leads Chuck Pettig rew (55). J im Payton. J r (54). Dennis Briggs (53) and John H ~egel (52) on the Sunday afternoon start. (A bov e) Open/250 Novi ce winner Eric Burney gets by Gary Petty. (Below) Tom Brooks still fl ies hi gh. By Gary Laudig RI VERSIDE, CA , A PR . 2·3 The mystique of the Big Bear Run of yesteryear steeped in tradition and heritage still exists, protrayed and preserved ·in the tradition and discipline of the Orange County M.C. members 10 tod ay. Two things you ca n co unt on at Gr eat Bear. On e , th e fin est Desert , M o t o cross and Sc rambl es r id e r s around will be participating a nd , two it's on e of th e fin~st ra ces of its kind . Saturday mornmg, the slee p hardl y rubbed from th e racer's eyes , th e 100s, 125s , 17 5s , Novices , Am at eu rs , Experts, women and seniors lined up on th e starting grid . The signa l to sta rt , en gin es is given and 45 9 motorcycles roar to life as each rider antici pat es 100 miles of "true grit" gra nd prix racing. Leading th e first wave int o th e left bander at the end of the lon g straightaway from th e sta rt turn was Mark Cook with his headlight on high beam , followed by Mitch Payton and J eff Kaplan . Andy Kirker , Larry Roeseler, and Hall led th e seco nd wave . The present leader an d past winner of this 175 Expert class (in '75) was J im Fishback, who overt oo k Co ok in the motocross part of the course a t Section B. Pa yton held onto second as Sandy Robertson of Palmdale moved into third. Motocrosser Alec Petterson came from the second wave to settle in fourth . Jeff Kaplan was fifth , Rockel Roeseler, from the third contingency. sixth , George Luther seventh and Ron Haase eigh th. Moving out of.rhe tight , off camb..r B Section. the co u rse somewhat paralleled Highway 60. hooking a right hander into the first wat er hol e through th e fenced in section , th en on to the ridgerunning C portion of th e course. with OCMC's, version . of th e King KongJump. Stev e Kocinski of So Cal was the first drop out as his Suzu ki seized leaving one frustrated rider wh o really loves Great Bear. Clearing th e underpass and shoo ti ng down th e lon g straight to 0 Section full of surp rises. Roeseler and Kaplan were dicing back , and forth . Shoo ti ng throu gh the ' hay bal e sco ring . sec tio n a nd past th e .pits .sra rt ing loop two , Payton took t he lead away fro m Fishback as Rob ertson hel d on to th ird ,spot , not giving arty ground to fourth-pla ce Roeseler . who ha d his hands full wit h old desert rival Kirker. Haase had his hands full fend ing off th e Holl id ay Honda kid , Butch Darling . On e of th e eye ca tc hers o f th e d a y was t h is d ude fro m Capistrano Va lley MC with a ca pe a bo u t the size of Batma n's, in his clubs co lors flyin g by in gra nd sty le. If tha t cape ge ts ca ug ht in his rear sprocket he'll do eve rythi ng bu t fly. O ver by turn six, T om Rutt en stoo d by t he fe nce with his Hu sk y expansion cham ber in his ha nd a perp lexed look on his fa ce . Jim Brown had Dann y Sanch ez a bo ut 40 yards beh in d him . Ellen Ca rroll a pproached the seco nd wa terhole with part of t he m ud fro m the first on.. stuck on th e right side of her bod a nd bike . Tom Rutr en go t going ag a in . Ca p t a in Capist ra no (Mitc h Van Dye) ba iled out whe n a flat tire , not his ca pe . di d him in . , On la p three , Fish ba ck pitted a nd Roeseler took th e lea d. The next lap , Roeseler ran out of gas a nd Pa yton sett led for seco nd beh ind Fish back . Bob Qu ib od eaux work ed his way u p to fifth o nly to fad e away by lap five. Rodney Br and of Hollid ay Hond a mov ed up from a fou rth row start 10 sixth place . a hea d of Darling . Su e Fi sh is W o nder W om an 's daugh ter . Reall y! th at girl is some kind of aggressive rid er. T here are goi ng to be severa l red faces when . t he results sheets a rr ive in th e mail. She docs ha ve courtesy as she wa ved H i to Mare Cartwrigh t as she went by. She di d n't wa ve a t 'T om G ra m though . K..n Krause mov ed into th e spot light on lap six to take fourth plac e but by la p seven he was ba ck at sixt h, a hea d of Dennis Vet ter. By lap eig ht , Brand held fourth and Bob Rutten skillfu lly seized nimh. Ta king the whit e flag , the racers d ug into th eir rem aining ad re na lin su pp ly an d h..a de d out on t hc last lap. Co mpleting th e last lap in just a bo ut the sa me time as th e first, Fish back c hal ked up a no t her G rea t Be ar victory , Seco nd 175 Expert went to Ron Haase . And y Kirker th ird . Brand bagged first 125 Expe rt, Bob Rutt en second , Butch Darling third . Kr au se was first 125 Junior , Denn is Vetter second . First 100 Ex pe rt was Dou g Mart in , a di e hard Hod ak a rider followed by Cha rlie Ham ill a nd Chuc k Ca rt ledge. Su e Fish ran a way with first in rhe 125 Women's Division Exp ert : Johanna Stenerson rook seco nd . First in th e , Wom en's 250 , class went , to .' . Dawn Gram , t he n Lorie Wat son . th en Lori Mat assa and Lou ise Ba tes . The second race gO! underway right on sched u le. T his one com p rised every cla ss you ca n think of, ca using the scoring com p ute r lO almost have 3, nervous breakdown. This on e covered e ve ry r a ce , s ha pe and rider classi ficati on . Ta king th e ea rly lead, - Carl Brow n on an Open 'Yam a ha was followed by Rick Smith , also in th e Open clas s. Duk e Arrington, Danny Mu sa and Pat Flanagan rounded out th c top fivc. Gassing it through th e mot o Sect ion B Dan Planck was being pu shed by J ay East charging fro m a ninth row sta rt up to seventh by th e 12· foot d ro poff sec tio n. Dav e Willis , Alan Flet cher , Pet e Pen a a nd T on y Pier ce all held as th e racers neared th e last section of the first loop . Steve ~!<;ue~ gO.1 passed by. ~ra,ig Campbell