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/126311
Jim Fishback rode his Yamaha to overall victory at Ft. Hood. scoring 20n points - 23 better than t he second best score. Tom Penton's 2100. Drew Smith put his Suzuki on top of the 175cc class. AMA ISDT Qualifier Series Suzukknounted Tom Penton topped the 250cc category. • Fishback makes it two Ina By Suzie Mann FORT HOOD , TX . APR . 29- 30 Fonner top desert and speedway racer, Yamahamounted Jim Fishback came closer to winning a position on this year's American ISnT team by winning his second American Motorcyclist Association ISnT Qualifier in a row. Fishb ack won the even t overall and took top spo t in the O pen hi h b cla.sson IS 400cc. Yama a y 24 POin ts/seconds In the hotly- 12 contested trial. Second overa ll in th e scori ng was 250cc cla ss winner , T eam Su zuki 's T om Penton , just 23 points off Fish back's pace. Suzuki 's fas t Drew Sm ith topped th e 175cc cla ss, while Husq varn a rider Steve Whitworth won the 125c c class and Danny Schuler headed the spa rsely-contes ted 350cc , class o n a H usq varna . This year's eve nt, the sixth annual on the Fort Hood base which is located south of Da llas , was very dry and d ust y, exactly opposite from last yea r's race which was ex tremely mud d y and wet. Last year, several sections were flooded , and o nly a small loop co u ld be run on the second day of the trial for those who'd survived day one. T he d ay before the 1978 event was exac tly like las t year: hot , m uggy a nd chance of thundersto rms 60 % predicted for Saturday. The rain a nd th unders torms wished for by several of the Eastern ri de rs and Lars Larsson who did a Swedish rai n dance Friday evening - never materialized. m orning dawned Saturday threateni ng a nd overcast. The riders dressed for rain as a few drops barely mi sted th e area a few m inu tes before the 8 a .rn , start, not enough moistu re to even sett le the talcum powder -type dust around the Fort Hood Dirt Riders' clubhouse , site of th e im po u nd a re a and start of th e rac e . T he firs t of the' 290 riders , th ree o n a m inute , left to tackle th e dem a nd ing 175 -mile co urse . Though much lan .l is availa ble on th e base , th e spo nsori ng cl.ub chose to sd.ck to th e sli~h tly higher grou nd this year to aVOId a repeat of last year's m ess. The whole event was co ncentrated in th e relatively sm a ll area whi ch had been pa ssable last year. Two loop s were run twice each day, puttin g th e gas stop chec kpo in ts very cl ose together so the pit crews had no d ifficul ty in movi ng from one checkpoint to anot he r before the ir rid er was due . Co ncen tra ting the course led to some problems for several of the riders as the trails twisted back and forth very close together in some sections. If you overshot one particu lar turn or missed the arrows in severa l sp ot s you could easil y get lost and / or pick up th e course again and miss one of the chec kpoints. Several riders got lost ea rly in th e mo rn ing , and the confusion resulted in a cou pl e of head -on collisio ns. One involved a local p ho tographer who was rid in g backwards o n th e co urse . The p hotogra pher na rro wly missed o ne rid er and then was nailed by SW M rider Stan Simpson . T he phot ographer ended up with a broken leg ; Simpson rec eived a cut mouth , a concussion a nd retired from th e even t. Ken Maa hs had a head -o n with rid er Da n Mc Kinney ea rly Saturday morning. Neit her rid er was se riously. injured th ough th e forks on McKinney's bike wer e fold ed back near th e engi ne . McKin ney ret ir ed with a possibl e d islocated th umb whi le Maahs carried o n un til fu rt he r probl ems caused his re ti re men t in th e a ftern oon . " W e were both on Day T wo a rrows at th e tim e of th e coll ision ," sai d McK in ney. " Ken was getti ng lost whil e I was getting unlost , " The slower " B" sc he d u le was run th e first day a llowin g m ost of. th e good riders fro m eight to 10 mi nutes at most of the checkpoi nts. T he re was o ne tigh t section on t he first loop wh er e rid ers had o nly three m inutes. Dust was the majo r problem in the m o rn ing, until the su n ca me out and the te m pera tu re increased arou nd noon . The riders had been warned at the riders ' m eeting the day before to wear enough clothi ng to he lp reta in body m oist ure a nd so avert a ny dehydra tion prob lems. Two weeks prior to Fort Hood , a t a Nat ion a l End u ro in Lubbock , T exas, two riders had di ed deh ydrat ion and hea t from ex ha ustion. There were two specia l tes ts each day , pl us an acceleration test on Da y One. The first , a terrain test , was rough , very roc ky a nd cou ld be dangerous if a rider made an y seri o us mist ak es. The seco nd wa s a two milelong grass track test , m ost of wh ich was tri ck y, tight and co n ta ined lu rking rocks, trees , stumps, d itches and some off-ca m be r tu rns . The g ra ss track was a very good test of a rider's ability . The terrain test was ru n on t he.second loo p the seco nd tim e a ro u nd . In the m orning o n th e fir st pass a rider had a cha nce to observe the sec tio n, wh ich was m ark ed before he had to ra ce through it. As the tired rider. left the last gas stop of the day for th e l -l-rnile ru n int o the fin ish wher e t he g rass tr ack a nd accelera tion tests wer e loca ted , over hal f of th e field had been el im ina ted . Just 170 of th e 290 sta rters co m p leted the first day. The deceivin g terr ain a t Fort Hood alwa ys seems to ca use so me p robl ems. T his yea r, many rid er s did no t reali ze th ey'd sta rted th e co u rse fo r th e seco nd tim e until they were a lm ost to th e fir st chec kpo int. The passage of ove r 200 riders changed t he tr a il fro m th e mo rn ing . Coming into t he fini sh , th e cou rse hoo ked to t he righ t t hroug h a grove of tr ees where the a rrows were cha nge d to d irec t the rid ers into the finish area rather tha n back ou t on th e cou rse , Unfort una tely , whe n the riders ca me to tha t section in th e m orning several of them had cu t th e co urse . T here was a tra il which co nti nued straight , th en picked u p th e a rrows again a nd cut o ut the couple hund red -yard section wit h the clump of trees . While th e orga nizers had cha nged th e m a rk ings co rrec tly. th ey had not put a ny " W" (w rong way ) a rrows o n th e trai l lead ing ba ck 'ou t to th e first chec kpo int. Tea m Suzuki rid er Mike Rosso had told t he or gan izer s tha t he felt t here was a po reruial prob lem a rea on that sec tion , th at some 0 1 th e riders cou ld possibly sta rt o n a third trip around the co urse. Rosso was riding on number 32 and by the tim e th e 40. were coming through, it beca me obvious tha t there wa s in deed a prob lem . Why it did not start until the 40s is a myst ery . Possib ly a p iece of ribbon in th e con tro versia l spot disappeared , or perhaps the trail pa ce of the 250cc ana O pen class riders was appreciably fast er and co n tr ibu ted to the error. Many of th e riders who got lost just followed the dust of tilt" rider in front of th em , as t hey had been doi ng all day. Non e of th ese was a ny excuse for losing the co urse , however. AMA ho ndo Al Eames. after a lo ng discussion with the cl ub , decided to th ro w o ut the final chec kpoint time fact or , m ak in g it merel y a poi nt the rider s had to rea ch . Sin ce o n ly 20 % of th e riders wer e lost a nd la te a t , the fin ish , it was somew ha t of a "polit ica l decision " according to Eames, Over th ree-quarte rs of last year's ISDT Trop hy T eam were amo ng t he lost riders a nd close to 15% of those lost are very good ISDT a nd Two Day co m pe titors, T he lost list included T om Pent on , Ja ck Penton , Gary Yonki ns, Max Ma rko wit z, Dav e Ashl ey. Rod Bush , Kevin Lavoie . Carl Cra nk e a nd Fra nk Ga llo . A form idable list indeed. Gett in g lost cost Alabama Two Day