Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

! Desert Hotline ~ t 00 t"'O') ...... (Above) Ed Zarp was second Heavyweight Expert at the Desert Foxes hare and hound. while Bruce Ogilvie {below) took the whole banana. Ogilvie outfoxes 'em at D·37 H8H By Gary Laudig LUCERNE VALLEY, CA , MAY 28 22 ' The. or~nge and black HarleyDavidson colors were in the win - ner's circle, as Bruce Ogilvie edged out Larry Roeseler for the win in the AMA 0 ·37 Desert Foxes Fox Hunt with a six -minute lead on the third place bike. The profile of dust against the craggy mountains by Victor Pass seemed to increase with speed as it neared the barren wash and ravine section . Bob Balentine on the aw esome so u n d in g KTM 400 . stre tched out a sizeable lead on second p~ac e , Amateur Lee Scheffers gi vin g hIs . 400 Mon~ an extra dose of gas t r ymg to gam o n th e low -fl ying Balentine . ' . Num ber on e . Larry Roeseler was doing something unusual for a change, eating d~t at the latter part of.•the lunar l.oo~Ing canyon . the " Big o Bruce Ogilvie (H · D) a nd th e pride of th e Viewfinders. Max Eddy were neck and neck . Making a safe road crossing. Bad Brad Henson was chased by hard charging Benny Padilla . Both men were on 250 Yamahas; both fighting for the second 250cc spot , shot down the dusty trail for Iron Ridge. Vectoring left , Gary " H a wkeye" Charters (Suz) wheelied down the high bank into the wash with second "C" bike Charle Hamill of Yamaha Motor Corp. behind, both men going for broke. This is one of the hottest battles in the district. Ti.m ~itzpatrick (Hus) and Jim Delhplame (Yam) were in Bruce Lewellyn's dust as the fast moving Senior turned right and headed up the soft face of the wash bank into some brand new stuff. About the time the leader passed the hollowed out van . the banner dropped for th e Novice/Beginner race . Dupl icating Balentine's run down th e canyon , Pat Cain had a fantastic lead on second place Pete Postel , second overall and first C bike. Bob Schneider, Beginner 437C , Wayne Langer and Gary Covington tackled the deep rollers and crossed the road in pursuit of the distant Expert/ Amateur dust on the horizon . Bob MilIe~ was chasing Rich Zajic. Lou Ortali tucked in behind Dave Woolrnore, and the race was on . Brett Howell passed Cain who was r~'grouping from a getoff, Jim Crouch did the same. Crossing a gully, Gary Cass passed the old van and headed over the rise ahead of Jesse James . Jim Short followed them into the first section of virgin territory. Steve Miller started to make his move passing Keith Tullar and Jeff Moeller'. This section, clear to the powerline road, was helmet sized boulders scattered around giant puckers and Cholla cactus, not to mention the washout ditches ; no place to get throttle happy . By this time the Amateur/Expert riders were clearing the saddleback to the right of Red Mountain and heading home for pit one. Balenti~e had a huge lead on Roseler while Scheffers maintained the I~ad on Ogi.lvie, who was making up nrne from hIS get off. Traibiker Kevin Hopkins had a great lead only to lose ground due to a front flat. The Prospectors changed the tire and Kevin took off after Joe Lockhart. Bill Becker chased the visorless Bill Saltzman out of the pits , wh ile John Fos~er and Bob Sanders, third Open Senior, rnotocrossed their way through the tight , windy sandwash. Coming out of the wide wash, Jay Orendorff and Ed Whiteside headed for the quarry on a course that was to develop into one big experience . Backtracking the Brushbuster course to the base of Mayes Mountain, the arrows headed the racers to the right through the well worn rollers . Ray Waldbaum was surprised when the course went right at the end of the rollers. John Lawson led the way for Verlin VanZee as the racers entered an area not used in years and started picking their way through canyons, washes and goat trails tha t led to the top of a very high m ountain. ~ It was about th is point Bob Bal entine ca lled it quits. On the fiAt loop his front b r a ke cable w~ s dragging; in th e mountains his clute" would not release . Getting off hard . lie pa cked it in for th e day. I Blasting do wn the roa d past t e Quarry Novice Rich Zajic had passed Langner, Schneider, the wounded Cain and just before the check heading the racers toward Mayes Moun.tain, Zajic zapped Postel . Cleamng the gears , Rich looked back and couldn't believe his eyes. Dan Ashcraft was so close he could ha~e kicked his front fender. This is the way it stayed throughout the loop. By this time Max Eddy developed a front flat. D .L. Dorman, running first C Amateur, crested the top of the la~t mountain . Before heading down the long downhill to the check o'n Powerline Road, the racers could see the lava mountain and home. But the . course went left. Bob Perkins just got his bike in fourth gear on the fire road when the arrows pointed him back into the desert ; Francis Christensen followed . Boondockin' for a while , -th e course wound around to the entry of the Camp Rock bomb run. Finding tHe split trails, Mike Powers, Gary Conner and Frank Vancil went their separate ways with one thought; get the lead. Jack Kaplan kept Lee Elias honest as the two vetera ns headed along the high bank to the left of the tank slapper wash. 11 Just at the point the racers thougItt they were go ing to be emptied into th~ giant whoops, the arrows headed the racers up the small canyon to the lefr entering the Desert Daisy's cours~. Making the tum behind Bob Milici', D .R. "Kra u t" Deichman erased all the words said about the Desert Foxes and headed up the trail to the foothills' . Pete Andeman was making up time and set his sights on Jeff Thorpe in the distance. 11 When the Novices reached this point, Keith Tullar got by Jeff Moeller and "Pistol" Pete Postel. Kirk Kandt was sighting in on Dave Woolmoreas the course rounded a small mountain picking up a narrow" ticky wash~ Trace Willis tried to pass in the up and down cross country section , Gene P~ters had. alread~ jumped into the WIde wash In pursuit of Steve Priestly. Wayne Langner was tapped out in fifth heading down the wasli> anticipating what was around each bend. DuRay Endlich crossed the powerline road and started up the snakelike wash , Jim Mort went up and down the gears trying to catch' Endlich. The Expert7. Amateur racers made their way through the last section of ridge running, headed down the long rocky downhill , some taking a shortcut and crashing. =. Roeseler pitted and headed out on the last loop. Just before the RoverS~ pits , Larry's front tire went south. Not ici~g a Husky sitting there he pulled In , borrowed the tire and took, off after the new leader Ogilvie. Henson hustled through the pits in hopes of ca~ching Ogilvie. Ed Zarp took off with hopes of catching everyone, Saltzman held off Becker despite the loss of his visor. Kevin Hopkins had another tire change in store, this time the rear!8 Once done the Trailbike ace took offa after the flying Lockhart, 19 places ahead. The course headed out to the right ~f the rockpile, down a sandy road then to the blowsand. The

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