Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Desert Hotline By Gary " Hard Luck" Laudig LUCERNE VALLEY , CA, MAY 29 L a rry Roeseler cruised at about 80 rn.p.h . and zeroed in on the bomb banner and access road tha t wormed through the crater-like terrain at Sunday's Master Links Hare and Hound, leading the field . As Roeseler intercepted the road , he had to make a right -hand turn that looked almost impossible at that speed. Two inches higher on the sandy road shoulder and Roeseler would have been in trouble, just like second place and brand-new expert John Prater Jr. was . Prater tried to follow Roeseler's line, overshot the road bank, hit an IS ·inch.high sand knob, went int o tank slappers , downshifted and continued on. , Next to th e bomb was the red Wheelsmith Ma ico of Chuck Pettigrew, followed byBill "Checker" Saltzman, Gene Rowden and Tim Fitzpatrick. Next bike through was first amateur James Lawrence, chased by Mike Cole, Mike Alexander , and , at 10th, Jim Payton. Eugene Stoops was next , running first C bike; chased b y second amateur heavy Beverly Hughes ; Senior Dick Camp; Tom Grant , second C ; then Charli e " Ra ceway Cycle " Hamill , first tra il. Hamill gets bomb runs that 250 and biK bore riders envy. The course picked up Melville Dry Lake. Instead of going to the right as so many others do, the course swung left to a windy fire road. Surviving five miles of this, the road dribbled off into deep, sandy, bike -swallowing whoop· de-doos . After a bou t a mile or so of this Gary Graefe: Bob Carpenter, (th ird ); and Greg Perkins, first C amateur enjoyed it about as much as we enjoy Bessemer mine road . Turning left up th e sandy canyon , the whoops and helmet -housed profanity got worse, but the Webco arrows pointed right heading Ed Ogden and his tail -gate com p a nion Terry Nicholson towards the giant sandy downhill . Buzzing their engines through the steep, off-camber sand , they rode past the black rocks to th e left that have stood at the top of th e downhill like sentrys. Banzaiing to the bottom Benny Gorton, James Vincent and Richard Watson picked up the only check on the loop then headed out toward the next ridge of rocks. Roesler had been pumping Husky iron for almost 25 minutes and still there was no Novice-Beginner start. The shuffle for position was at second third and fourth spot. Prater fractured his bike's swing arm putting him out of action, and letting smiling Bill Saltzman in for second while Bruce Ogilvie and his shadow (amateur Ron Irby) - who both slipped by the bomb unnoticed - went at it all through the rocky wash out section -. Still no Novice- Begi n ner start. Roeseler had no trouble navigating through the flat plateaus with their vee- type crossovers. He had no trouble with the rocky goat trail that was designed with two cases of dynamite, but by the time Garry Hall , Larkin Wight, amateur Swafford and C bike rider David Woolmore hit this area , it was a handful. In places like this you really see biker unity. Every rider is hoping the guy in front of him makes it up the goat trail without any problems; but as soon as they get back in the flat lands . . . Still no Novice-Beginner start. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a rider with a contrail of dust. Viewing Larry from about three miles away when he is at top speed is like looking at an over passing jet. The speed and contrail of the jet look exactly the same as the Husky man flying across th e 'd esert . Roughly four minutes passed before second place Saltzman 'c rested the rise on th e eight-mile straightaway to the pits . Then came Ogilvie, lrby , Brian Wright , Max Eddy and Charli e Barney. Barney eliminated his closest competitor, Mike Alexander, He and Barney were dicing in the rocky se..ction and as Barney surged ahead , he kicked a rock up knocking Mike's air stem off of his forks . Mike Alexander looked like he had struck oil ;' his fac e , chest , goggles and glov es were coated with Bel -Ray and Swell Seal. Roeseler slid into the Huntington Beach pits. had new goggles postioned on his helmet, several swings of " W et Energy", gas topped off, quick look at spokes and chain and the 390 Husky roared out of the pits. picked up home check , then headed out on loop two . All this took less than 20 seconds. As Oren Beck placed Roeseler's dripping quick-fill can back in its holder, the novice-beginner ' ace was finally under way . These poor guys must have been chewing finger nails through their gloves because when the banner dropped, the dust trails resembled a sky rocket when it explodes - 360 degrees of novices. Some headed for the rock pile, some for Victor Pass ; Others looked like they started straight ahead then decided to go the other way. The bomb was really hard to zero in on and by the time th e beginner/novices got there they were so sp read out it was like trying to keep track of Indians during a wagon train attack. Dean Kirk hit the bomb like a bullet. Then ca me Brett How ell , Don Boese of th e Desert Rats . Marvin Van Sickle (a beginner) , Dan Classon , Jim Rorhier , Kerry Schmidt. then first C bike rider Rick Davis . The first Invader through was Harold Buckmaster, then first trail bike Paul Krause of the Sled Riders, who had to detour through the moon stuff working his way left to the road and freedom . Heading across Melville dry lake it was a real drag race between Art Gertz , first senior Bob McClelland and long time prospector Neil Manninen . Bob Fortune separated the two C bikers Marv Cates, a beginner; and Bill Farrow, a novice. Running first beginner 250 was Sled Rider Paul Ryan who had Gary Brown and Danny Gonzales right on his fender riding escort ,' As leader Kirk approached' the rocky uphill, the amateur/experts had crossed the red mountain uphill used at the Desert Squirrels bomb , then began working their way through the fast ricky stuff to the left head ing towards Camp Rock . Roeseler had already blasted down the big sand wash , made a left turn exit then started into the cross country fast stuff and check four. The hard chargers of the day were Max Eddy (com ing from back in the pack to sixth behind Brian Wright), and Cory Timms doing the same thing settling in at eighth, then Terry Rupple and Jay Orendorf. Pat Norton was real glad expert Gary Graefe was behind him because Graefe kept second place amateur 250 Tony Steffins back for a while. Right behind Steffins was second heavy amateur Dan Thordarson separating third-place 250 amateur Rich Watson . Within six positions, five class battles were going on. Bob Delliplaine had sole posession of first heavy senior as Dick Camp failed to show . Alan Johnson was second, Charlie Hermanson a strong third , Bill Ogden at fourth in Charlie's dust. Invader Steve Webb had Jeff Robbins behind him and moving. The same thing was going on between .R ola nd McFadden, Pack Rat Karl Miller and Dez Fox Kenny Dodd. Senior' 250 Expert Bob Tarazas separated th e three superb trail bike riders as they charged down the wide sa nd wash . After a five -mile stretch of cross cou nt ry, the course jumped into a small sand wash segment. Jack McEvoy, head Pack Rat , jumped in and destroyed his rear brake backing plate . With his brake shoe sticking out like a spoiled kids tongue , Jack cou ld n't go as fast as the other guys so when he came to the road crossing he got to look at the "n ekkid" virgi n twice as long as the rest of the racers did. By this time Roeseler was behind sage mountain, in the soft sandy stu bb le heading home. Saltzman cou ld n't believe he was still in the race as nothing had happened to his tires or bike . Max Eddy, enjoying the same luxury for a change moved into third as the three 250 Experts stacked up fourth , fifth, and sixth - Ogilvie, Wright and Charlie "sabotage" Barney. Cory Timms couldn't believe the C bike expert behind him. It was Rick Shumaker with a grin protruding over the top of his Moto Star. It looked like he was going to wrap up a class win and a finish (his first finish since the Moose run). Second C bik e expert Tom Grant , a die-hard Husky rider, decided to try a monoshock. It seems his left rear shock eye went south and Tom resembled a kangaroo rat bouncing across the m ighty Mojave towards the finish . Intercepting the west end of soggy dry lake , Roeseler gassed his Husky for home . Jogging through the rocky uphill section , clearing the wash , then hanging on through the wash board whoop-de-doos. At a right turn down the sand wash above the camp area , Roeseler did a small sky shot , then shut down for the win . As the finish line girl tucked Roeseler's pin in his glove , novice Dean Kirk took home check. E-ight minutes later Charlie Fowler cruised through followed by Brett 'Howell. About three bikes later the first beginner took the checkered, Sled Rider Robert Beardsley rode a great race, losing two positions due to a get-off five miles from the finish . Dan Drew was next on a rnean -. sounding four stroke. Dan handled it like a trail bike. Next came Sled Rider Paul Krause picking up first ,tr ail novice. Then Marc Cates, the C bike class winner. Dave Quintard picked up first 250, then pie plater Mike Knight came in for third heavy . Another pie plate heavy Clyde Treadway, then second 250 ace Gregg Miller. Rich Little heavyweight , first senior heavyweight Dave Kolek , Mike Roderick heavyweight , then second trail novice Oren Beck II . Lyle Anderson heavyweight, third trail John Staffle, Ken Guyett first trail beginner, Chris Farrow second C bike, Chris Kolek second trail beginner then Jeff Gibson riding his first-ever anything on a Bultaco of course (his brother is ~35X Mike Gibson) . • Turning out of the big wash Fowler kinda figured the only way to close the gap between himself and Kirk was almost impossible so he maintained the fine pace he had throughout the race knowing there would be another day. "Brett Howell , running third overall and third heavy, had to maintain a fast pace as the young Invader Ken Makos had but one thing on his mind - winl Completing the cross country sectin , paying due respects to the "virgin," Jim Rothier continued his pursuit of Rick Davis . Rick Davis was trying to get by Larry Mulch so he could battle Dennis Marchand for second C bike. Getting the last check of the race. second and third place 250 rid ers Neil Manninen and David Byrd diced it out as the adrenalin reserves were called into action due to the intense competiton. One wrong move in this terrain and you get no second chance. By the time the racers cleared the rocky uphill area above soggy dry lake , Dean Kirk paid the lady a quarter for his snow cone. The course as you could tell was super fast, but marked well . The weather was OK but some of the wind that blew all night could have been used race day. The determination trophy of the week goes to Jack McEvoy, continuing on with no rear brake through some rough country (his wife can'[ figure out why he had a big smile on his face at the finish) . The desert "fox" of the week goes hands down to Miss Joyce Haas, as she was the "nekkid" virgin . The I Don't Believe It Happened award goes to Lisa Christensen, whose bike and bod were crunched by a Honda 750 street bike , at Soggy . John McCown, doing a solo performance should break something more often. Since his foot, he 's racked four C bike senior class wins in a row . Bob Tartter thinks his new dog will slow him down. This was Jay Orendorfs first race in four months following his car accident . He sa id the stories in Cycle News made him anxious to get back out here again . . Results OVERALL: 1. I..a

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