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/126289
...'.·,..·...-.'.·.v......-.·.·.-.',.·.-.......'.·,· Desert Hot . o eo l-< V .c e v ;> o Z Balentine has happy'dayat Desert Knights hare scrambles By Gary Laudig RED MOUNTAIN , CA , NOV. 20 The banner drops; first gear, good , second , third , damn that Husky; cut in on my trail . .. break right , break right, ah no dust ; fifth gear and no dust. Flat area , look over my shoulder left side t?ere's 2x ,and' I , glan,ce over my right there s 19, wow I m leadin ' it . .... T he ab ove is a prerecorded dream ' one of hund reds dreamed each'night by desert racers. 14 In reality the "Big 0 ," Bruce Ogilvie looked over his shoulder and saw #1498 Bob Balentine and #19 Larry Roeseler . The Harley crossed th e tracks with about a 150·yard lead on the next bike , the KTM of Ba lentine. The next guy was Roeseler . I don't ~hink anyone would hav e .b la me d him If he ca me to th e Dez this week on a mini -bike and putted around the p its after his Baja episode , but Roeseler is a com p let e competitor. 100 % . Bill Saltzman nearly centerpunch ed th e sto p sign at the crossing , Brian W right was hot on his tail. John Watkins had Bob Rutten ready to go a ro u nd him then Tim Fitzpatrick , Steve Eck ardt and Ron Beb o . The W ebcos and pink ribbon headed the racers to th e right through some soft , rock y terrain . Cresting th e rise past the tracks, th e a rea turned into the up and down rocky d itch es sim ila r to th e a rea the Du sters used . Dropping into the sa ndwas h , inst inct says go straight ahead ; some of th e troo ps followed their insti nc ts, others followed the arrows po inting left up th e wash ; a super one at tha t. John Prat er , Jr . and Mik e " Down hi ll" Alexander were flying low as usu a l but the gu y behind them seems to thrive in thi s area , Gregg Thomas, who seized twice go ing to the bomb , hit the tracks at 13th overall, first C bike, first amateur. Dan Thordarson had Steve Lindsey breathing down his neck th en the first C Expert Gary " Ha wkeye" Charters with Doug Winchell so close he cou ld read the brand of hi: rear tire. Tom Grant was buzzin' his UpTite Husky then it was Terry Davis , Jim Deliplaine and second amateur Steve Nicholson , first Open . Clearing th e wash to the right , th e cou rse headed for the military road . Wind ing back in to th e foothills behind the Spanglers, Ch a rlie H am ill go t by Rust y Sanderson . Second ~ eavy I Amateur Tom Mattox was tryIng ·toa pass th em both a nd contend with a fe~x "Super-Whoopers" at th e same time q which is a handful on both counts d Working graduall y to the left , tlieA course headed up that fam iliar ravine tha t int ercepts the wide vall ey . Turning right Paul Christensen , Ala n Thomas and amateur Gene Peters t....-iste d th eir righ t wris t till it wouldn' tum anymore, trying to make up time S on th e gu ys ahead . Nat Sciaqua passed Wil ey Vaughn , Dawn Grant and 1 Marty Olson just past th e snotty, rock·T scattered downhill that funnels int5 Joo the abrupt . ditch -laden canyon . Rieli s Schumaker and James Vincent were'i trying their best to make time but th e G fast course was m aking it real exciting. o By thi s tim e Ogilvie had cleared the e deep rollers, crossed th e pipeline road (l got a check j ust as Bal entine was') clearing th e deep rollers , skipping a'll few whil e in flight , riding hard b ut th fast co u rse just a bo u t had hi'm:) convinced it was about impossible tc5il ca tch th e b ig "0 ." Crossing Trona'l l Ro ad, Balentine headed into the flai il stu ff and sta rted to pick up dust. J Shoot in g up the lon g , neat sandwasli;E l Bob sa w th e Harley. Bruce waved him on: th e Ha rley had a b ad flat tire. Soon Roesel er got by but Balentine!f> wh o never hesitat es to ca p italize on opportu ni ty, screwed th e KTM to th e"" stops and flew across the neat winding i' trail. VI The co urse picked u p a shor~] segment of fire roa d the n went left 2 over a ridge of new stu ff turning left " aga in int o a super sandwash. Da v""~ Roga czewski (the proper wa y to t r { th is m an's name is to take both han and h it th e typewriter like a piano) wa making up tim e th e hard wa y: Working up from a bad sta rt (35 tl1/ picked off 12 go od riders heading fo T th e p its. The top 15 stayed just about ilie sam e but it was razzle -dazzle desl;n f racing from there on . Winchell a nHo Watkins had bike problems an d" dropped back considera b ly after tl1~iI1 p its. Hamill on his new C bike go t g ~ Charters , Grant L in d se y {n'd) Christensen for first C Expert 6U r Gregg Thomas was still in sol'e I possession of th e C bik e lead. Afte replenishment row it was get to tli" S tracks th e fast est way you kn ew how. Balentine and Roeseler marked the'l way as two long streaks of dust heade'dA across th e va lley. The Big "0," wlicP never gi ves up . was in third with ,th e'l flat and still first 250 Expert gassed ttl Harley down th e wash past th e bom t) ~ Dav e Rogaczewski p icked off five mO d Te rid ers , sett ling in at 17th overall . T o 2 Mattox got by Steve Nicholson for first Heavy Amateur , then proceeded to q put nine bikes between Na te, Sciaqua'" and Steve. Hoyt Statham on his firs?' Yamaha rid e was happy to be still moving toward the fini sh line with no malfunctions. nll b' Aft er th e neat washes and flat fun ' sections across Trona Road , the cou Je 1 ran up and down gradual rises, two' first gear rock shelf sections th en dowt? a wide gray ravine giving the racers 'aj good look at the microwave towi i: 1 . . i l l srraig h t a h ea d meanmg t h ey were.s: close to home . Jim Deliplaine, Garryd Hall and Ken Earnest were having I l great tim e in this section ; Hall loved the whol e thing. •W . . qu Picking up the last check , the cours turned left across a flat , fast , fun area..... soon tu rn ing into th e golden stubble and puckers alerti ng- th e racers th , : "Ditch Demons" lay ahead ; nothing drastic as lon g as you pay attention., Bob Tarrazas, Jack Froelich, Ma n- a