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/126256
; ~************************************************** =Desert Hotline ~ . t !' !' O'l ~ o CN (Left) Un identified Novic e avoids killer bush. (Abov e) Steve N ickolson won t he Novice class . (Bel ow) A nother rider d iscovers w hy 125cc m ot ocrossers are not the hot t ip Novice machines f o r lo ng, sil ty, ro cky uph ills. AMA D·37 Desert: Tom Brooks takes SoCal Bunny Hop for sixth straight win, but asks, "Who is that guy?" when Dawson is second By Gary Laudig CALIFORNIA CITY , CA , APR . 9 Kram er Junction, the crossroads of the high desert, exists today only because Major Adams and the wagon train pioneers didn't like the SoCal bomb run. Leading the racers across the 16 honest-to-God five-mile bomb run of The Novices had no disturbances to sa nd, silt a nd s~ubby pucker bushes cause any delay in their start this week . was over all wmner Tom Brooks Viewing the valley from check one to (KT M). T he second pintrai l of dust , Government Pea k the banner dropped following Brooks all the way, belon ged an d a n insta nt line of dust rolled into to Num~er On~ Mike Ed monson. the air as if a strafing aircraft had Runmng thDlrd Wovelrl~lI fand first em ptied its ca nnons at a straig ht line A mateur was on a lOgs ord on a S h ' '1 f d f h I target. oon t e pm trai s 0 ust rom b d B & R C I Y ran h new . yc e ama~. n the leaders sta rted to eme rge and club f?urt and moving very fast was on g· m embers and spectators anxiously time absentee Dan Dawson (KT M). awa ited th e arrival of the leader. And the dust cloud and th e pa ck pushed on past t he bomb to the Flying past the bo~b, it was Gregg foothills and check one. Pagan of San Gabriel Va lley M.C . Getting his tank card marked at the mounted o~ a 250 Yamaha . Second top of the first cobby uphill at fifth was Steve Nickolson , t hen Verla n Van overall, first 250 , was Bruce Ogilvie Zee and Dave Conner. A P·4 pie plater (H·D), chased by Bob Rutten (Hus). led Rodney " Rover" Busse on his new While the next bike through wasz 250 mono while John W right and first third 250 , the rider was Amateur John Beginner J im McAllister topped the Prater. Jr . the fast Desert Rat. H is first wave of racers. closest Amateur competitor was Ken Cresting the hill at check one was Earnest, running six bikes back at l Sth pie plater Allen Harrison, first "C" overall. Tim Fitzpatrick was eighth, biker at ninth overall. Kevin Shehee then long-abs ent Checker Jeff Kirk. was next , not rea lly wanting to sto p as Antelope Rambler Garry Conner and he knew first "C" bike spot was within Charlie Hamill filled out the first wave rock throwing distance. Then came as the racers headed down a slope to Tom Jones, Steve Sm ith , second the right and on into the rollers Beginner Bob Gable , Scott Child and heading towards Maywood 's Erwin Bragg of th e Stump JumP'Crs. bottleneck mountain. The Ama teur and Expert racers had cleared check two and the rocky section nearing the a pex of the course which wou ld doub le back into th e rolling foot hills simil ar to H i Vista . Brooks remained first b ut Dan "T he Ma n" Da wson st arted making h is move. He picked off Don Wallingsford j ust after chec k two and set his sights on Mike Edmonson , who last week did his desert credi t by cashing in on a gold medal at th e AMA Two Da y Qualifier. Charlie Barney, on e of th e many fast gu ys from Barstow, started to move from 14th to ninth by check two . Speed must run in the Edmonson family as a Desert Knight jersey worn by Mike's brother, T im , flew across the desert at 10th, coming from 16th at th e bomb . Number 2X and 8X , Bruce Ogilvie and Bob Rutten . were dicing all the way around the course, battling each other and the head wind that sapped the power . of smaller displacement bikes. First and second "C" bike Experts Mitch Payton and Jim Brown had T im Fitzpa trick sandwiched between them as they both moved up from around 20th to 12th by check three. Charlie Hamill lost nin e positions since the bomb but still had a st rong hold on first Trail Expert . T he Novices kept u p t he frantic pace as Paga n tenacious ly held first place into check two . John W right moved u p into fift h behind Rodney Busse. Kevin Olen sepa rate d the ba ttle for first a nd second "C" bike as third , Eric Dattola , had 14 bik es to get by befo re he coul d join the fight. T rail Novice leader Steve Sm ith , running 12th overall , had a l Ovbike lead over secon d place Paul Krause of th e Desert Rats while third " T ' was Zub a th e Rover , three bikes behind Krause. Leslie Torgeson (125 Suz) was first No vice Girl. As the racers moved on , each one wondered what the hot set up was for seeing through dust. Brooks and company charged out of the foothills, over the saddle two miles out. Pit row sprang to life as the first sign of dust sparked excitement int o everyone. Pitting very quickly and heading out on la p two, Dawson had Brooks' d ust in sigh t as he tried to close the gap. Mike Edmonson pitted next, then Ogilvie , Rutten and Wallingsford. Gordon " Bom b Run" Schmid pitted first Open Expert Senior. Lost Coyote Vern Darland was second with third place Charlie Hermanson polishing Darland's spark arrestor with his 3.50x2I. Fourth