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/126279
'The Case of the Secret Check Stop By Larry Langley BARSTOW, CA , SEPT, 11 The winner of CRC's'Sidewinder Enduro hinges on whether or not the last secret check of the enduro will remain in the computations. Many riders on early numbers got lost, apparently 12 following some bogus ribbon near the real course in circles, which fouled up things, to say the least. CRC had plotted in the secret check as the hardest sect ion in the enduro. If it becomes necessary to t h row the check out probably fifty riders or so will be on zero po ints lost , which will not make anyone happy. The unfortunate situation developed when tum arrows were knocked down , either on purpose or accidently, a nd riders went straight on a trail int o some non,CRC ribbon. CRC replaced the downed arrows ' around number 20, but by then the damage had been done. No rider managed to zero th e check and only a few made it with on e point down . " Honda mounted Harry Keast , recent winner of the 0-37 night enduro, probably came the closest j ust six seconds into the next m inute. Another one point rider was San Orrick (Suz), who is battling for the CRC number on e plate. Ed Mazenko knew something was wrong when he dropped into the tight canyon (on course) and had three rows of Barbenders M.C . pull int o th e canyon in front of him. They were on numbers seven , eight and nine. Ed was on number 20 . One Barbender, Robert Mennel, hung himself up on some cactus just before the first check, much to the amusement of the check personnel. Robert hadsome problems extracting h imself as th e m inutes ticked awa y. ••N9, J/rgb,l«;WJ. ~c;re..encountered on the first loop, which was laid out in a much more interesting manner than usual. Except for one check, right out in t he middle of fla t cou ntry in pla in sight , most ch eck p o in ts · we re int elligently pla ced . Mini ' points leader Ch ris Gables zeroed the first loo p, d ro pping 21 second. Second place T .D. Swets zeroed t he fi rst two checks but encountered problems with his RM 80 Suzuki a nd lost three points at th e third che ck. • Women's Division action showed Sharon Willouby in with a zero on her trusty Yamaha and Sue Neesby lost just four seconds on her 175 Husky for a pretty good ride. The second loop was 24 mph all the way, which was interesting in that there was no spee d cha nge signs to calibrate odometers on . Naturally, th e first check was about 14 m iles in to the loop which tested tim ekeeping ability to the utmost . More than one hotshoe burned the check as they dialed in th e wrong error factor. After the last secret check, it was tough making it into th e finish on time. Usually the finish check is a "gimm ie", but not this time. It was petal-to-the-metal time. Results will come when the . big decision of what to do about all those lost ride rs is resolved . Both the riders and CRC wen; bo th sorry it ha ppened , as it was one of CRC's be tter course layouts . • lAbove) The Sidewinder wound around some pretty rocky terrain. making some pretty tough stuffI (Below) The battle of the sexes I Check out the fully equ ipped chick. then the cat next to ~.erl .