Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ .-.-•••.•-•.•.•.•-.r.-.,..-_-•••._-: -.-_ EDesert ~ t -.~.- -.'••41'.'.' -- ;'-line " •••- - ' The Winner and Mrs. Winner - Brent and Penny Wallingsford. Brent Wallings#ord blasted across , Red Mountain fo,the overall win 0# HBMC H&H despite blowout By GarY laudig RED MOUNTAIN, CA , AUG . 28 The Tribe is back Sunday's D-S7 desert race got underway in a segregated fashion . as the novices started down Teagle wash road , their bomb 4 run heading towards the pipe line road around the grey knoll. The experts were across the highway by the tracks aiming at the bomb -way up along Trona Road. The race started right on the money and, wasting no time getting to the bomb, Brent Wallingsford and his Husky flew up the canyon to the right, dropped off the ledge and disappeared into the mining area that looked like it had been used 'for the 1849 miners boot camp. About eight seconds later Ed Zarp made the dropoff, followed by the Wyoming Kid Rich Jackson, Bill Saltzman and Steve Ekardt were next, then Garry Conner and John Watkins gassed it down the canyon. After Bill Thomas came through , the first 250 shoe came by , Paul Christensen then Terry "Ca ble" Davis. After the mines the course wound up in that flat -cross -country area with the three big ditches spaced about ~ -rnile apart. • <, Clearing the last ditch, Bob West, Cory T imms, and Bruce Lewellyn topped a rise, turned left into about 40 acres of wall -to -wall rocks . Sponsoring ' clubs never put a check person at the' bottom of this area , they don't ' have time to clean the course and look for remains too, The course cleared the rocks for a whil e as the racers paralleled a fence a few hundred yards , then they turned right into a rocky, windy, downhill canyon. The trail was smooth but "ouch " is the word for the guy trying to pass . Ken Mille r was happy with this as th e first amateur. Bruce Jones was right on his tail . ' . It was at the base of this canyon some of the fun began. Old "Hawkeye" Gary Charters spotted the ribbon to the left while Ron Bebo continued straight ahead, Unable to raise the rest of the racers' intention , Charters, who came ro race anyliow , took off on the marked course and enjoyed the trail to himself for the next 20 miles. Back below th e rocky area , the nomadic tribe of Indians , no t seen in this area since th e Desert Rats race _ back in January , were trying to ge t ' their bearing on where to go. You guessed it th e Fa -ga -we's were back , led by chief Brian Wright, and his braves Max Eddy , Bill Saltzman, Bruce Lewellyn , Dick Camp, Ken Earnest , and many others. Sub-chief Steve Eckardt , 10 mil es back from home asked "Where's check one?" When he was told it was 20 mil es back, he turned in hi s feath ers and continued on . Once past th e roc ky section , th e course picked up the neat up and down windy section used in the Desert Fox' s race . In fact -t he course was just about th e same until you re -en tered t he mining area . Jim Pa yton , Tom Schell , Ed Whitesid e, and Ste ve Ba iley ridge-ran the' barren range top, dropping down to the right then hooking left across the valley to the grey sandy uphill overlooking the vall ey and the pits far . to the right. By the. time Mike Potts , Bob Carroll , Ed Ogden and Gene Rowden crested the hill , Wallingsford was shooting down the rock-strewn sandy downhill below the monolith canyon past Charlie's Place, All of a sudden t he super-smooth leader was i n dust , The two courses intercepted here .a n d Brent was passing novices . The novices were not left out as far as the excitement was , ·'c on ce rn ed. The banner wa s up , everyone was ready and when the time got to x -rniriu s 10 seconds , some helpful soul decided to do a Cape Kennedy countdown for the racers over his P .A . Th result, some started when he sa id zero, th e others waited till th e banner dropped. Oh well . The leader to th e bomb was 250 ace , Kevin Olen followed closely "by Open bike rider Rick Hall. Third overall was beginner Bill Cook . Lou Ortali gassed hi s mono as Sam Soule was right on his knobby . Tony Epperson was next with Rich Goetz , Larry Platt, Ed Ogden, Jr. first , C bike then Bob Fortune. The course shot up the canyon to the left. Cresting th e top, Jack Morin , Pat Kartoval and Ga ry Gibbons hadn't encountered any dust problems, but it was a short shot to the fir e road which "..'•••' •••. . . . . . ... . . . . . . ... . . ' ••••, •••••- ,•••••'.- , -.y.'•••••- -.-".·.' • ••• v.·.·.·..".. , would ta ke lots of luc k o r skill , wha teve r, to get b y anyone, The cou rse ridge r an clear across the . Searles, the riders holding their breath as the ribhon continued on past the Invader downhill turnoff. ' George Yule held a slim lead on Pat Farris and Gregg Johnston as the trio slid, skidded and oh -shuted their way through the left -sloping , off camber section. Jim Johnston, Sr . 0187, and second trail Bob Ishman repeated the previous act only to ridge-run a few peaks designed after pyramids , The course continued on until the riders were beginning to think their first check would be the military road . Eyeballing the sign saying "funtime" with reserved opinions, Doug Ahuero , Dan Drew, C biker Pat Cain, Kevin Sheehe, and Bill Farrow, two more C bikers, hooked a left and shot down a newly swept sand wash that was really super. The course cleared the wash heading east again, finally hitting the check (3) heading the racers via an access road to the water tank railroad crossing and on into the Spangler Mountain playground. Alex Long led a whole bunch of beginners through the snar ly rock section , They were Cliff Thomas,Ken Oviatt , Paul Roller, Keith Tullar, Zack Peterson , then Tullar's two C bike competitors Paul Walters , and Mark Nelson. Olen held onto his lead with Hall and Goetz not giving him any rest as the course ran up and down washes finally bringing the racers into the basin of the valley heading home to the pits . . As the racers crossed die tracks and turned right, down pit row , the club had the neat job of sorting out the trail no vices and beginners before they could escape down pit row or head for a snow cone. The overall beginner winner was the brother of the overall novi ce leader Dave Olen. Second and second heavy was Doug Ahuero , then the trail bike -ace Pat Farris. Bob Ishman was right on his tail for second , Dick Steffan coasted -in for third . Then the trail beginner winner was next , Cl iff Thomas. The first 250 was a beginner by the name of Ken Oviatt. Dan Theel came through , then second 250 Paul Roller , The first C bike was beginner Keith Tullar, then the. th ird 250 , Zack (Llike that name) Peterson and Dean Frerackson , The ne xt C bike was Paul Walters , hot on his heels second C , Mark Nelson , Bob Tello was third , ,#234T was second trail beginner , Bobby Cha rters , covered with tank card marks was third . The first senior w as trail biker Mike Farris, the second senior was a 250 rider Al Benson. Diana Elias was the one and only beginner girL AS the racers switched sides , Wallingsford headed into the hills, later followed by former 17th place, Bruce Jones. Brian Wright pulled into the pits next , to the delight of the Checker pit crew. He casually took off his helmet and sa id " I' d like to go on but ya see I don't have any marks on my tank card . " Faces fell and Brian mosied over and got a snow cone, Corey Timms , Ed Zarp , and Terry Davis jockied ' back and forth depending on who overshot ' the turns th e mos t. R ich Jackson , one of the Fa ga -we's got back on track but instead of third place, he was running seventh. Paul Christensen , humming the theme from "Sta r Wars" to himself as he blasted a cross th e top of the Searles , glancing down at the two marks on his card a nd getting pumped being in first 250 spot , hooked left and disappeared down th e neat wash to check three . Tim Edmonson , now in second , had R od Bu sse 'b e h in d him then old "H a wkeye" Charters figuring wh ere to put his first place trophy danced across th e mountain top with Ed Ogden , Tom ' Mattox and Ken Mill er following . _ As Br ent blasted into. the rock y sect ion his rear tire met company with a sharp rock , causing the bike to get a little squirrely. Casting 'a n anxious look across th e vall ey, seeing the dust far away, Brent smiled, settled down and continued on . Over on the other side , former seventh place novice Bob Fortune " decided the other six had had their chance and started his charge , By the halfway point he was numero uno. Kevin Olen had dropped back to fourth , Rich Hall had dropped to fifth , while Rich Goetz went from third to 10th. Scott Gonzales and Chuck Short were second and third by the second railroad underpass. Dan Drew moved up 16 positions, and by the time he and Jack Morin crested the sand uphill they were sixth and seventh respectively. As the racers began to merge again , Wallingsford coasted in looking as ' fresh ' as when he started. Ed Zarp made his appearance showing no signs of his two-month layoff. Terry Davis was next. He - must wear magnetic clothing, he had more dust on him than was on his bike. Cory Timms was next , hashing over the race he and Davis .h ad going. Bruce Jones was next at first amateur , first 250 , Bill Saltzman came th rough but didn't hang around. Rich Jackson said Bill got him just before the tracks . Jackson had to stop and fix his shifte r. At the fin ish it was flopping around like a busted clutch lever. The next gu y in was th e first overall novice Bob Fortune. Steve Ekardt was ne xt then Paul Christensen. Now we' know how to make him sm ile at the finish ; firs t 250 Expert. Tim Edmonson was ri" h t g behind him for second, Ken Miller third . M e. C bike of the day , Gary Charters ca m e in, then Randy Devonshire and James Vincent for third. The big gun in the trail bik e class was the quiet but quick Kevin Hopkins . This dude took fi rst amateur, and first overall 'tra il bike . Tom Mattox was the heavy amateur, ~, K e i t h Smith second , Marty Olsen third , The first senior to take the checkered was Jack Kaplan , then George Walker. The rest of the novice lineup went like this . Second overall, second 250 was Scott Gonzalez , third overall , third 250 Chuck Short. First heavy , Rick Hall , Jack Morin and Dan Drew in that order. First C bike, Ed Ogden , Jr . , Gregg Johnston second , Kev in Sheehe third . The courses were long and had a lot of variety. It took Wallingsford one hour and 55 minutes to finish the race, which brings up a good point. People are always ask ing the shoes how they do th ings such as go through ditches , whoop-de -doos and also stay in shape. Take my advice don't ask a gu y like Wallingsford what he does to stay in shape; he 's not. He gets around th e course too fast to get tired . The guy to ask is th e one who fin ishe s second to last. He's -been on top and on th e bottom of every whoop , ditch and ravine in th e desert . That gu y is in sha peI Ken Earnest is th e recipient of h is second aw sh ucks awards . A m ile from th e pits he h ad a bou t three spokes left in h is rear rim . T he quote of the week comes from of th e sen ior Fa -ga-we's Lee Elias (Contin ue d on page 15) o~e

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