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/126291
;, ".· "v •• "- •.."".." ..,." "..,. "" "· -..·" •••-. ". -. "."v. • ·." " v".".·I1'.".·".".·."".·" " -.".." " - " " . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. ;I - " " "!J Desert Hotline ~ t l' l' 0') ...-4 vb (Above) TIppy-toe time down a rock· S1r8Wn 1Aide. The hill kept ridenI on their toes tim e-wise also w ith a checkpoint awaiting them at the bottom. (Below) Sure-footed as a goat7 Dan "The Goat" McKinney hed a tough 1lme living up to his nick· name. Desert M.C. hosts final '77 D·37 enduro By Larry Langley LUCERNE v ALLEY , CA, DEC. 4 The Diamond Back Enduro, AMA District 37's final run of 1977 , was hosted by the Desert M.e., a club known for tough desert races. After many years of trying, the enduro riders within the club finally convinced the rest of the members to promote a D-37 enduro. Why not ? The diversified club has already promoted a desert race and a motocross this year. 10 . While the enduro went off with a few problems, all in all , it was a very good first time effort. And you ca n be sure the club members learned a lot about enduros. The club had originally intended for all "A" team members to ride alone on separate minutes (one to 24) , but protests from other "A" riders who were riding four to a minute led to a re-draw, and the teams were put back together. The first loop was sand city. Deep sand. Sand whoopers . Sand downhills. Sand uphills, More sand. While the "C " riders left at 10 a.m . on their own slower schedule, the earlier riders were wondering if the "C" riders were going to be able to handle the sand. Most did b ut it was a tough loop for a beginning "C" rider. Check . crews were amazed to see T .D . Swets , 12 years old, on his RM 80 Suzuki pretty close to being on time (in fact he burnt a check by two minutes) . The A&B riders had a fast schedule and the first loop took points from everyone. Best first loop scores were Mike Godfrey, riding a Maieo, down just one followed by Yamaha rider Rick Munyon, also with one. The second loop looked to be tougher, but as it turned out most of the better "A" riders were able to maintain the schedule. Godfrey and Munyon, however, met with disaster at the first check when they hit it early in a 12 mph section down a rock y hill . They protested the check as being .1 mile off but as of this writing, it's still unkown whether the check will be thrown out or not. The biggest problem on the second loop was speed change or reset signs being placed in the wrong spots. The problem again reverts back to plain inexperience on the club's part. The last section of the loop ran down a challenging canyon complete with waterfall drop-offs at 12 mph. Entering the section was supposed to be a speed change (which was present) and a reset (which was not present). The riders assumed the club forgot to put up the reset sign and since it called for the same mileage as the spe ed change, waited out th e re -set time. But. .6 mil e down the trail - 10 and behold - th ere was the re-set tim,e. If the sign was correct the riders were now three minutes late. earlier, hundreds of riders left in ~ small groups. bent on fellowing the ol Sure enough, most were late at the check at the end of the canyon, but the club had no alternative to throw out the check and the finish since the wrong placement of the signs had caused most of the riders to be late. You can bet they won't make the same mistakes next year. Pha nt om Duck of the Desert to La o Vegas in memory of the Iat Barstowto-Vegas Hare a n dHound . How many hundreds there were depends on who was counting. At a minumum, th ere were 200 riders. At a maximum ...who knows? Cou n ting familes an d pit crews, there must have been a t housand people stoogi ng a bout between Harvard Road and Blue Dia mo nd. Nevada on Sa turday. I rode on a seven-year- old Kaw Bighorn (borrowed) this year. Bike and I took a liking to each other , even though I fell off it ge tti ng it out of the campsite. Wasn't the bike's fault - it didn't drink a gallon of wine Friday night. Trail riding is a wonderful hangover cure. The wily Duck, who sometimes walks among us disguised as somebody's grandfather, had made up Quack! maps and info sheets to show people the general route and remind them of courtesy to landholders along the way. There were free "Have you hugged your motorcycle today?" stickies from a dude in Illinois, and matchbooks from the Hacienda Hotel for the starters. Friday evening a " Ba nd of Brothers" showed up with the classic PDo D Tshirts, which quickly disappeared. They are guaranteed to reappear from time to time next year. This was the third year in a row for the trail ride; warmer (very pleasant) and drier (lots of deep sand) than the previous two . The limed route hugged the freeway mo st of the way to Baker , bypassing the Cronese dry lakes. However, the Duck had slipped in one new sneaky downhill to keep us awa ke. The po le line road to Hallora n Summit was a gas , as ever. Now that the Doctor and his wife (who cut their riding teeth on the first Duck Run) are riding faster , our group made good enough time to stop for breakfast. At Cima Road gas stop, we watched a mob from OCMC come in out of the Shadow Mountains. They had The battle for the Number One plate in each division went down to the wire in two divisions. Up for grabs were the 175 and 250cc titles. Mike Adams apparantly clinched his bid for Number One in the 250cc class as he only dropped two points on his enduro-ized CR Honda. After a slow start early in the year and breaking in the Greenhorn , last year's lightweight champ Jay Tullis staged a comeback to challenge Dave MalUS for the 175cc class championship. Tullis looked good for a class win while Matus dropped a bunch of points. The final tabulation will have to wait until the results are issued. Tom Getzfrid clinched the Senior Number One a couple of endures ago but still put in a good ride . Phantom Duck of the Desert unorganized tral' ride Trailing , he t Quackerto Vegas By Lane Campbell HARVARD RD .. CA , NOV . 26-27 Sunday morning and I've come full circle. From this spot, 24 hours