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/126257
'I NORTHERN DATRINE ~ t - .... 0.. < l-< (A bovel A banne r-drop replaced t he traditional cannon-shot start at thi s year 's Mattawa 100. (Belowl riders go for it on t he bomb run in Washington's only desert race . ha ng in th er e a nd dog you to deat h ." Dolder came th rough the 99-mi le. three-loop hare scram bles in a qu ite resp ectable third overall posit ion. Curt Brewer (Yam ) of th e T ri-Ci ties held th e lead for a whil e but m isfortune dumped him on his ear and he settled for fourth overall . Blain Elledge (C -A) last yea r's 250cc winne r also had th e lead for ,a wh ile , but running out of ga s a nd other assort ed ill luck mo ved him back to 10th overa ll and second 250. First 250 went to Kevin Bise (H us) who admits to having a slight advantage over most com petitors. Kevin lives in Beverl y, five m iles down the road , a nd th is whole a rea is his back ya rd . Right behind Elledge, for 11th overa ll and th ird 250 was a fellow wea ring an AMA Dist rict 37 (Southern Ca lifornia) . desert number pla te . Under the goggles a nd fac e mask (a nd thick layer of d irt ) was friend J im Evela nd , formerly of Rover's M.C. This was,a rea lly good rid e for Eveland who ad m its that the Mattaw a area is a lot harder a nd slower ridi ng th a n the Moj ave Desert wher e he learned to race . Akerblade wins Mattawa 100, gets disqualified By Alice Rhea MATTAWA , W A , A PR . 3 En tran ts in th e Stump J um per's M.e . a nn ual Ma tt awa 100 Hare Scram bles enjoyed th e faires t start in th e ra ce's eigh t-year his- ยท28 tory as the club abandoned their traditional cannon and employed a banner- drop start. The gun-jumping which has plagued th is race ea ch year did not occu r th is yea r . At check on e Ken Bailey (H us) ha d t he lead . followed by Mel Thompson (Hus) but the pai r soon were no t ru nning one and two . but two and three as Ch ris Akerblade (H us) had slipped by. Ake rb lade sta yed in front mo st of th e race and was first to fin ish, . b ut was disq ua lified in sp ite of having all the chec ks. Alth ou gh Akerblade was ac cused of taking a sho rtc u t down a road, rumor is that th is sort o f co u rse cu tting has been sta nd a rd in pas~ races . It is a sha me th a t this verv talent ed rider was d isqualified d ue to ~ m isun dersta nd ing .' Ed Dolder (KT M), last year's win ner , is reputed to be one of th e best riders in local racing . Ed is not a lightni ng fas t rid er , but accord ing to one of his com petito rs. ..He will j ust Saturday nig ht Ca ry Condotta and frie nds finish ed pu tt in g a four-stroke XLI 75 Honda engine into a C R I25 Elsin ore frame a nd Co ndotta ha d very limited tim e to test and tu ne before t he race . Luckily it a ll wor ked well eno ugh to put Condott a ac ross the fin ish lin e for firs t 200 . Charl ey Beth ards. 1976 Go ld Med al winner at ISDT in Austria and hot shot loca l end uro rid er says he rod e tod a y's race to keep in sha pe a nd to see how the other half lives. Bethards d id a p re tt y fine 14t h overa ll and n int h Open and as ked me to repo rt that he is not 54 yea rs old as one publ ication report ed , and not 72 as anothe r sa id , but a mer e child of 39. Char ley was 40 April 14 . (Ha p py Birthda y, C ha rley' ) As a sm all a irp la ne provided cn ter ta inrnern doing loops a nd rol ls a nd flying over th e finish lin e upside down , R ick Thompson (Yam) was ent eri ng the fin ish area . Morris Williams jum ped on the back of the bike and rode up to th e finish yelling "W e get two T vshirtsl" (T he Stump J umpers gav e fin isher's shirts ins tea d of pins and team riders got one each.) Rick a nd Morris bo th fell off the bike when they learned they were first team . Well , they didn't really fall off, but they su re were surp rised and happy. Teams were requ ired to complete four laps whil e solo riders did t hree and Powder-Puff and 14. and-under's did on e. Williams broke his toe during the first lap, but swears it d idn't sta rt hurting u ntil after he handed the bike to Thompson . Back on in t he third lap , Williams broke one side of th e handlebars off . . . see ms to be his d ay for th at sort of thing . . . but he was still pass in g peopl e a nd figured he was doing a ll right. Back in th e pit s, the crew ch a nged th e ha ndl eb ars (do esn't everybody ha ve spa res?) a nd T hompson took off on t he fin a l lap . to cou nt er Nee di ng something Willi ams' benc h racin g in weeks to co me , T hom pso n fla ttened the rear tire righ t off th e start of the la p . By check four he ha d managed to ge t a co nsiderable a mo unt of ba ling wir e . wra pped around the rea r hub and the tire ha d sq u irmed off t he rim . Seco nd place team riders Bill and Mike An derson (Bu l) slip ped by almost un not iced , but T hom pso n a nd W illiams spo tt ed third p lace Sandy Smith and Andy Anderson (Yam) a nd ra n over to po und th em on the ba ck and tell t hem how great it was to beat them afte r t rying for three years. Sandy a nd Andy h ave been pa rt ners for a long tim e a nd have two seco nds a nd two th irds to th ei r cre d it in th is event. Most racers cheerfu llv a dm its to bein g a little (o r a lot) ex~i ted right at the sta rt of a race , but certainly none more than J ohn Ma ynard's partner Brad Melvin (Yam ), who ran into Gary Nic hols about 1 \1\ miles off the start a nd was so pumped he ran back and got the spa re bike and tore out again . T he tea m was p lagu ed with bad luck . Maynard got a fla t just afterthe sta rt of the fourth la p but luckily it was on th e front a nd he didn't even dent th e rim . With big -eyed innocence Maynard asked "W ho puts th e front . whe el an th e gro u nd a nyway?" John d oes ad m it th at th e three -mil e long ro cky, u phill ca nyo n was, "Su re a th rill." a nd th a t the three mil es seemed like 300. It must have been exci t ing juding fro m the vast amo u nt of spa re eq uipment left in th a t section by ea rlier riders . . . spa res like fenders, clutch and brake levers .. . well , you p;et th e idea . . The well-m arked co u rse offe red noth in g reall y da ngerous, u nless you wa nt to co u nt landing in th e roc k pil e. T he re was a fun litt le washboa rd wh ich riders swore looked like a plowed fie ld but which proved to be fa r less yielding; a very fast (fo r t his a rea sec tio n betwee n checks t hr ee a nd four where th e very d a ring co uld get int o fou rt h ge a r , th en a sec tio n of ro lling whoo p-d e-d oc s t hat would ha ve been a real gas to rid e if you weren 't worn out fro m th e rocks a nd was h boa rd . Between checks five a nd six most of the riders on sma ll bikes wer e pro ba bly p raying for a mi racl e to ch ange their bikes into 400s. The silt was so deep and slippery. like fine fac e powder. th at th e little bikes rea lly had to battle to get u p th e hi lls. Go ing down was easy. Riders pointed the bike down hill. sta rted it rolling and if t hey crashed . gave it a kick to kee p up