Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

This rider gets the "Kasploosh of the Decade" award. aCMC located their waterhole over an abandoned mine. j ust before sco ri ng row at home ch eck . Out on lap two . East moved int o first place and Arrington slip ped back to fourth wh ile Mike Barrett out of Lomita stormed up from a ninth row sta rt into sixt h overa ll by the halfway po int of loop two . By la p three th e score rs and a lert spec ta to rs co u ld n't believe wh at th ey sa w, Eric W atral , wh o sta rted in th e 16th ro w. slash ed his way into fourth place by the end of lap three., Lap four uncovered a family con spiracy, Mike Barrett had taken sixth plac e on lap th ree . The next lap saw another Barrett . GIenn move into eig ht h pla ce. He 's from Lomita too . By lap six. J ohn Matthews d ecided ninth spo t wasn't his piece o f ca ke a nd moved up to second behind th e new lea d er W a tral . The on ly other change in th e top 15 was Dick Yat es. dropping ba ck to eig hth a nd Brown slip ping from second to sevent h due to a slight get off. The wa ter hole thi s yea r wasn't mu ch of a p ro b lem as a sm a ll ledge on th e left ha nd side p ro vided a wa ter fr ee pen et ration . The fu n started when a whol e group came around th e corner and not all of th em cou ld cling to th e ledge . Looked like a Merrill Lyn ch comm ercial. Through lap seven. Brown worked his wa y ba ck to fou rt h bu t. Matthews a nd Warral weren 't lett ing him by for any further progress. The Barrens had Willi s and Sm ith sa ndw iche d between them as t he racers cont inue d around the fast drying course. The dust provided some anxious moments but by the tim e this on e was over. th ere wer e plenty of prospecti ve desert racers . As th e racers picked up th e white flag starting the last loop a not her fast mover appeared on the scoring sheet. Ja ck Hill riding a heady race . not pushing himself beyond his limits worked up from the 14th starting position slid ing into sixth by the eighth lap . Another rid er col orful in style and name combined . Sp ike Duncan. took possession of tenth pla ce as a lot of th e rid ers put on a fin al push for posit ion as flashba cks of last yea r's trophies danced in -their heads. Eleventh. 12th and lu cky l Srh spots were captured by th ree shoes named Gregg Bed ford . comi ng from sta rt position 298 . Jeri Marquis from position 286 . a nd j oser J acob son com ing from 108. Here to wa tch (he exciting finale . enjoy ing every minute of th e race were Arden Fran Harr is. Fran . a a nd Congresswoman of AMA District 36 roa d' rid in g d ivision . wh o ha s ridden roa d for many yea rs. is going to suggest to the rest of th e " ro ad ies" th.!'y at least com e and watch some "do it in th e dirt " events as they think it's great. Flashing to th e finish . Eric Watral doing the whol e thing on a 250 Yamaha . followed by John Matthews. who a lso took th e Open honors. J ack Hill took third overa ll. J erry Marqu is and Gregg Bedord took seco nd and third 250 . Paul Val ente fourth . First 125 was George Guil es. T he rest of th e top 20 overa ll were Mike Barrett , Rick Smi th , Tony Pier ce . Sp ike Duncan . Ra y McNeill , Danny Mu sa , Erwin Rittner . Bob Ca rvak a l, j oser J a co bson , and Scott Sheldon . The 9:05 Sunda y morning race sta rted with rel atively few bump starts, one slide ou t. Ga ry Campbell of th e Desert Ra ts doing a bitchin wh eelie all th e wa y down th e start ing grid and th e " Lostest" Coyote. Sam Ciafardon e, sta rti ng on th e fa r right sid e of th e line, slid through th e first turn like a sp eedwa y sta r for sec ond pl a ce . Halfwa y aroun d . number 48 on a Hu sky. Eric Burney sure made it look easy as he stretched out an almost o ne mile lead over the next bik e. W ayne Lumbatts com ing from row three himself. Dave Willis. Ken "Fonz" Winkler and Gary Sigman rounded out the top five. Cookin' it down th e long straight towards the Champion bridge. First and second belonged to Burney and Sigman as W illis stayed a t third . Dixon mov ed from seventh to fourth whil e Dean Kirk moved into fifth from a ro w 12 sta rt. d own three m inutes from the first ro w. 1.. H . Hoffm a n gassed it a b it as his lap time moved him into sixth from 11th overa ll. ' The Beginners went at it hot and hea vy as th e lead changed five times between Mike ' Ba ke r and Daub Bradley. Baker on a 250 and Bradley on a n Open Yamaha . Steve Johnson ran second 250 . Dav e Wentz third, Second Open was Chu ck Sickler. Lap five a nd six saw Kirk work up to seco nd while Sigman traded plac es wit h W illis for thi rd . Brad N ivens • jo ck ied around between sevent h and eighth. Lap nine finally arrived and the weary rid ers coasted to a stop to receive their well earned fini shing pin s, The winner overall from start to fini sh was Husky man Eri c Burney. Dea n Kirk took second overall . first 250 . Scot Duncan got second Open . th ir d over all. Mike Dixon third Open . fourth overa ll. Fifth overa ll. St eve H arper followed by Ken Winkler and Dave Willis. First and second Open Beginner s were Dau b Br adley a nd Chuck Sickler. One two and thr e in e th e 250 class Beginners wer e Mik e Bak er .; Steve J ohnson a nd Da ve Went z. The one o' clo ck " Biggie" was th e r a ce eve ry o ne anxiousl y a wa ited. Everyone who was int o it kn ew Rocket Rex St at en picked up a la te entry. T he y a ll knew "Cra zy" Dav e Aldana was back at th e 340 posi tion. Lars La rsson and John Fero of Six Da ys fame . T om Brooks . J im Fishback and Larry Roeseler. Bob Balentine and John Fer o led th e ra cers around the turn onto the paved straightaway, Tom Brooks swung wide right with the re a r of his CSC KTM hu ng ou t . like a speedway bik e . took th e lead from Balentine at th e stra ig hta way turn , Catching the Honda sidehack off the start was a breath taking experience as Jimmy Stevens a nd Bob Sanner shot down the sta rt grid . made a square turn and took off for th e stra ight. Halfway a ro und th e cou rse Brooks . picked off the first row of starters over in the tight mote-stuff. Who sai d desert ra cers ca n't turn ? A good 40 secon ds elapsed before secon d- place Balentine shot by going like his throttle was stuck wid e open. The reigning champ. Jim Fishback was next followed by Larry Roeseler, A .C. Bakken. Henry Wesselman. Glen Ewing. jr. , Craig Adams and Maico man Chuck Pettigrew. Lap two : Brooks cleared the "King Kong" drop off followed _by Roeseler, who drew gasps and shouts from the crowd as he sky shot the whole three sequences of jumps. Adams moved up from eighth to fourth on his KTM ahead of Bakken. Bob Rutten . riding for the first time on a Hemet cycle Center KTM moved up from 15th to se venth . r ight behind Pettigrew . Fishback dropped back to eighth. followed by Mark Barnes. Wessesman . Ewing. Al Baker and Goat Breker. Lap . three showed few changes with the exception of Rutten and Barnes moving up to sixt h and seventh as Pettigrew pitted, Rocket Rex pleased the pit crowd pulling wheelies and flashing peace signs. going blurry fast in the process. Al Baker. riding his black KTM stated before the race . "An all around rider is going to win this on e" and decided to live.up to his predictions as h e methodically pick ed his way through the racers ; starting from the fifth row. moving into tenth spot by la p four. At the King Kong drop off. John Huegel out shined all th e shoes as he launched his TT500 over the lip landing perfectly at th e bottom never touching any of the down slope. Jack Froelich looked over his shoulder just past the scoring turn a nd saw AI Baker. This stoked him enough to sky shoot both jumps. The nc:xt lap he cooled it . The .sideha cks went at it as if this was a European GP . The Nortonpowered Whitney and Jones combo had the lead by lap five. followed by Paul and Perry Melillo on a Honda . Loren Imrnken and Mike Nelson aboard a two stroke hack ran third while the Phoenix . Arizona gang of Bob Neil a nd Bob Br ezzlre held fourth. Rocket Rex moved up to eight h position at lap six ahead of Bakken a nd Fishback in that order. By lap seven . som e really smokin shoes came into the picture. Bruce Ogilvie. starting number 371 . moved into tenth . Eddie Gonzales. starting at 334 took over 12th . and desert ace Cordis Brooks, starting from 342 position took possession of 14th. By lap eight. Baker moved the black " Ba t Cycle " into third . ahead of Wesselman . Ogilvie. ' Bakken . Gonzales and David Aldana . . The hacks really drew th e oohs and aahs from the scoring booth as th ey j um ped th e double jumps in front of th e grandstand higher than most two wheelers. Taking the white fla g . Br ooks gassed his KTM for one more round . Ha ving lost his silencer after lap seven , th e bike didn't run quite as well but he st ill averaged 17 minute lap times. Roes eler seized his bik e in the mota section and lost too much valuable time to try any catch up ta ctics. Also heading out on lap n ine was the silent but speedy Bob Rutten moving into second pla ce when Ad ams failed to show . Sailing over th e cement ju m p like a sky rocket . Brooks tore horne for the . well deserved win . Rutten was second . Pettigrew pu shed his Maico that was out of ga s across th e finish for third. Baker took fourth . Ogilvie fifth. Gonzales sixth . Aldana seventh and Wesselman eig hth . Fishback's win streak was finally broken but he need not be ashamed as he lost it to one 01 the really great off road riders of our time. Many thanks to Rescu e 3 and the Anaheim . Fullert on . and Orange Count y Am at eur radio cl u bs who provided 35 radio units around the course for sco ri ng and ra ce protection. E • • ~ E - .M 0.. « 11

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