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/126309
Jim Fishback (Yaml gets ready to start Sunday morning. Fishback led the 500cc class both days; took the overall win by nine seconds. Cal City rocks led to a few morning tire changes. Bill Tarling took second behind Hannon in the 250cc. J t , 'lilz . '~riJ AMA ISDT Qual ifier S e ries Fishback ~ins Shamrocks' Two-Day .. . ,) s By Dale Brown CALIFORNIA CITY, CA , APR. 22·23 Formerdesert star and currently one of southern California's top speedway riders, Jim Fishback pushed his YZ400 Yamaha to top honors in the Sunland Shamrocks AMA Two-Day Reliability Trial. losing third . gear on Sunday and Fishback bettered Team Honda's Mike Hannon by nine seconds after approximately 300 miles , six cross country special tests and an acceleration test. Hannon had earned th e top score on Saturday aboard his CR250R despite two flat rear tires. A hole in the base gasket Sunday though repaired with silicone seal - cost Hannon power , but he did win the 250cc class. Yamaha -mounted Kevin Ingalls won the 175cc class , com ing from 49 seconds d own after Sa turday. Saturday's leader, Yamaha rider Mike Haney broke awa y part of his rea r hub a nd had to rid e with a bunch of spokes missing. Motorcyclist magazine 's Brad Zimmerman, riding a new PEI75 Suzuki, was 4 .60 seconds down aft er having to screa m th e last special test in second. Nevada's Phill Smi th , riding Husqvarna, won the 125cc class quite ea sily, wh ile KTM -mounted Russ Powell had things his own wa y in the 350cc class. Powell was also on the winning club team , Pacific Performance , along with 350cc runner·up Fred Cameron and 175cc runner-up Zimmerman. Yamaha Motor Corporation's team of Chris Carter, Carl Cranke and Ken Maahs won the Manufacturer T ea m troph y, besting two other Yamaha mounted entires, th e East W est M.C . and 29 Palms Yamaha . The same course was utilized both days, with Sunday's route a reversal of Sa turday's. The co u rse went north to Camp C, then on to th e first spec ia l test near Government Peak: a ' tight. twisty sect ion run over what is ca lled AI Rogers' Rid ge. The ce ntra l ga s pit was near th e town of Randsburg. R iders left th ere for a loop that crossed Highway 395 a nd paralleled Trona Road to the Sea rles, the n headed back to th e gas pit. The t hi rd loop wound through the Rand Mounta ins back to Camp C , where the mornin g's course was ut ilized to get back to race headquarters, the Lakeshore Inn in Cal ifornia City. The other . two specia l tests on Saturday's course wer e not as tight as the first , and they featured more sand whoop-de -d oos. At the end of th e first da y, Fishback was leading th e 500cc class . (Actu a lly, after Sunday morning he was leading th e class . Results first issued had listed th e first specia l test times in minutes and seconds; the other two in straight seconds. After readjustment of the scores , Fishback had th e lead.) Lying very close in second and third were Husqvarna teamsters Brent Wallingsford and John Pavi ch ; on e and two seconds respectively behind Fishback. Hannon , in spite of the two flat tires. one suffered in th e first special test , was leading the 250cc class .and ahea d of Fish back as well , by " 15 . seco nds . He had a 19·second advantage over previou s ov<;rall win ner Co rd is Brooks, wh o was out for on ly th e seco nd tim e on a Wheelsnii~h Ma ico, KT'M vmounted Bill Tar ling was running th ird . Mike Haney had a 17·po int lead on Zimmerman at t he end of day one . Greg Martz was third , two points a head of Ingalls. ~ The pre· rac e favorite, Larry Roeseler, was a DNF on Saturday when his transmission sta r ted going out and finally locked up before th e second spe cial test. 3 Another AMA 0 ·37 desert star, Bruce Ogilvie, riding a fairl y stock 250cc Harley-Da vidson , was still on Gold , but th e bike 's igni tion was falt ering and th e bike would barely ~ev above idle. He rode the third special test with the bik e that way and his tim e suffered. Sunday morning he replaced th e black box just after ch eck ~ne , taking I I minutes to do so . Witn th e fact that Sunda y's speed average h a d been bumped up to 30 mph , it .mea !'t that to stay o n tim e , Ogilvie woul d ha ve to make th e distance 23 minu tes faster than the previous day. He a rri ved a t check two on the last minute