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/126262
; *************************************************** I: Desert Hotline '. . ~ t / t"'t"'O) ....... Tom Brooks makes it eigHt ·with Fox HU,nt win By Ga ry laudig RED MOUNTAIN . CA , MAY 15 Tom Brooks out-foxed the hounds at the seventh annual Desert Foxes' Fox Hunt for his eighth AMA·D-37 overall win. The spect~tors and fans waited anxiously as 18 the banner finally fell after an hour 'a nd 15 minute delay. As the dust trail leading th e racers . became visible , Brent Wallingsford on his 390 Huksy maintained about a 100 ·ya rd lea d over Mike Edmonson; then the dynamic trio of Brooks. Larry Roeseler and Bob Rutt en blasted by so close together they cou ld a lmost to uc h . As they • swung right and .u p t he ravi ne , Roesele r and Brooks passed Edmonso n and then raced over the dropoff into the ca nyon tha t turned left and headed the racers into the old mining area, First amateur and sixth overall was the other Wallingsford , Don. Bruce Lewellyn , (a graduate , of the Camp and Schmid bomb run academy) was next with ORA hotshoe Morgan Malocco about 10 yards behind . Jim Lawrence of the Shamrocks was second amateur. Bruce Ogilvie (Can -Am] and amateur Ron Irby were next. Out in the mining area the racers picked their way through hard pan , fire roads and switch -back, up and down stuff. There was no easy way through there . Once out of the crud , the course veered to the left . swung through the wash that shoots right by Trona Road . ' Followi ng the wash for about 200 yards , the " 53 guys ," Alan Thomas (53) and Bruce Jones (53X) diced the distance till the course led out of the wash and across terra in that looked like golden wheat st ubble laced with pucker bus hes . Fro m here on to the first abrupt di tch it was WFO. Paul Christensen nf th e Chec kers had his hands fu ll keeping Sled Rider Steve Cosner off his ta il. Hitting the firs t ditch, which was well marked , Bob Quihodeaux , Dwane Carter , Char lie Barney and Charlie Hamill practiced their lucked up sky shim. The terrain stayed much the same until the third ditch . If yuu crossed it you were in trouble, 'ca use the course stayed in it. This ditch turned into the narrow sand wash that used to beat us to death with whoops and rocks . Well Mother Na ture took ca re of th at prob lem as she swept the wash freeway smooth , save the rocks in the darndest places. T he Desert Faxes are sand wash freaks - t hey used about 15 mi les of th em: This one ran for about four. Brooks was tryi ng to make his move o n Wallingsford but the wash was too tricky for eit her of them to get carried away . Both riders picked up check one, then cleared the wash about a mile further on, coming out into some more straw colored stubble that led to a fire road . ' Shooting onto the road Rich Baxter was eating Team Graffitti's (AKA Mitch Payton) dust , whil e Tony Greves tasted Baxter's. Bob Delliplaine , senior Rover , made enough to more than sa tisfy Dean Hart , Max Eddy and Brian Charters. The fire road dribbled off into a one bike trail across the valley basin . One bike trail is the correct description as Bro oks tried several times to get around Wallingsford but the dust , terra in , and Wallingsford 's des ire to hold on to first place prevented the persistent Brooks from gaining the lead , The terrain now resembled SoCars bo mb ru n only a tad more solid . Clearing this , Bruce J ones was running first 250 as Br uce Ogilvie snapped a countershaft , Pa ul Christensen was right beh ind him for seco nd and Cha rlie Barney was b,!ck five bikes in third bu t wouldn 't stay there lo ng , Charlie Hamill showed Mitch Payton the way as the next 175. Dean Hart resided five positi ons ba ck and moving. Pack Rat Brian Charters fish tailed his C bike up th e slightly whoup faced hill for check two and some (A bove left) Brent Wallingsfor d (751 and Larry Roeseler flan k Fox Hunt winner To m Broo ks, (Abovel Ron Irby finished second Open Amateur beh ind Wallingsford's brother Do n. Unsetl Tr ail Expert w inner Charlie Hamill . ..b ridge running fun . The course ran up and down like a roller coaster. This area was used in the Rovers European Scrambles two years ago . After a hard right turn off the' mountain the racers shot down a small , virgin ravine . Once down this the course was a b ike rider's dream . Up and down , left and right , outta sight. After two mi les of this the course d umped into the wide. tricky sand was h (also of the Rovers run ) th at para llels 395 for a ways. This is whe re Bro oks hit th e bullet a nd sq ueezed past Wa lli ngsford . R o esel e r m a int a in ed the same dista nce as earlier, so -did Edmonson and Ru tt en. O le Fou rst ro ke , Dwane Caner , .methodica lly worked his 14 positions eeki ng ahead of Malocco at sixth overall. Carter hasn't had a decent start 'since Desert M.C . race . Mike "Alpha bet" Quibodeaux cleaned up his act ; bv the time he bou nced through the rollers and -whoo ps after the wash, he had picked up 10 positions. Driving hard through the snaking trail , Don Wallingsford ha d Jim Lawrence knocking at the door for first Open Amateur. Third -place Irby at the lucky 13th spot just had to get a couple of guys by the names of Hamill and Ba rn ey out of the way so he co uld help Lawrence keep Wallingsford on his toes. Corey Timms separated the two darlings of the C b ike class, Payton and Ka p la n , on ly Ka p la n was aboard a 250 . Timms is a welcome sig ht back in the dez. The, course shot down a brief access road and under the rai lroad tracks . Once past the tracks the territory was Brooks' piece of cake. Rou gh , deep whoopers, chop a nd more , ro llers . Approac hing a sma ll hillto th e rig ht, t he Webeos po inted left and Brooks, Wallingsford , Roeselc r and Edmonson headed for check three and the second undercrossing "a c ro ss some ncar. unused terrain . Shooting through this underpass , the racers had to use caution as an equestrian cross country race passed through there Saturday and all us bikers know horses arg messier than two strokes any day . ,. .. Brooks and the next six bik~ seemed to stretch away from each other as they b litzed down the trail leading to the familiar area above the camp ground . Cresting the hill to the right of the pits, Brooks and company headed for the rocky , sandy pea k and check fou r. Mo unti ng this obstacle th~ course wound down to a small wash ; then some real dynamite play stuff; Wa llingsford 's piece of cake. T he a ma teur a nd ex pe rts raced for th e pit; to a well earned d rin k of gato ra de~ The novices a nd begi n ne rs, paranoid with the hou r plus delay, took uff like scared jackrabbits, Mr. Hol eshot , two weeks in a row was Rodney Busse , Abo ut 80 yards back was a pie plater, a Yamaha, way wide to the left then the fastest donkev around (Desert type) Eric Dattola; gassin' his IT 175 for all its worth Steve Nickolson " Neil #804 , Manninen , #694 X , Dez M .C, was Mike Lewellyn (second C bike) , Tom Jones, Lou Orrali and Jan Morrison followed . Bill Atcheson and Terry Mangrum were side by side. The 186 duet new by causing me to dive behind my joshua tree . Mike Thompson (186c) and Zuba Farris (186T) of the Rove rs. The beginners were really thick at mid pack of the bomb ru n , Busse stretched out his lead as he jumped the dropoff. gassed it around the bottom of the' left hand canyon. H itting check OOl' down the sand wash, Gary Covington passed Nicko lson for second place , Mi ke Lewellyn , Dan Aaset h a nd senior H .C . Sm ith poured it to the bikes , as it. seemed like everyone wanted Busse's spot. Ed Walters a nd Lowe ll Co ltra had fast beginner Mark Van Sickle behind t hem just wai ting for a mistake . James Stra chen wanted ' to move up and do battle with Terry ~angrum but John Wright. Rigg ie Becker and R.K . Davis were a few nf the obstacles preventing this . Shooting across t he valley and up