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/126316
A.C. Bakken replaced the injured Larry Roesele r at t he las t m inute, still rode to second along with Jack,Johnson. George Erion the class-winninq 125cc H usqv arna. " W here to 7" asks Class 21 co w inner Rick Finger. (Left) Dick V ick guides the Class 38-winning Husky down a Baja f ireroad. (M id dle) Bob Rutten (sho w n) and Bruce Ogilvie went fast on the factory Harley, bu t couldn't catch Kaplan and Finger. (Righ t) Tom Ke lly went li k e greased lightning early in the race but the bike fa iled him and Balentine. aja pressure cooker ex hausted Messer at San Mara is rat her than the scheduled change-over point a t Valle de Trinidad , another ho ur or so up the trai l. Harden used his kn owledge of the co urse to o pen up two or three m inutes on Bakken by San Marais , Finger was well ba ck from t he two leader s a nd headin g up Rutten, th e third -p lace Cl ass 21 te am of Rod Ahl st rom a nd Leon a I'd Sikor ski on a Ocr W ienersch nitzel·sp onsored Yamaha , a nd the Ca rt lege b ro t hers' Class 20 lead ing ma chi ne . T he b rillia nt ride of t he Ca rtlege brot hers went down rh.. tu bes a t Va lle de T r inid a d with a broken rod . Several teams were in corucn tion for the lead a t that point. John Ha rd wick a nd Ra nd y Coult er were running well o n a Mac Dougl as-spo nso red Yam aha unt il t he cha in ca m,' off and lockcd up in rhc sprocket at Mike's Sky Ran ch . Bre nt Lcck ich and Tom Brook s wcr e a lso doing well on a Ya m a ha which Icarurcd a water -cooled harre1bu ilt by J err y Lecki ch. h ut th ey a lso had c ha in prob k-ms. The Georgt' Er l/ Tom Grant H usq va rna ha d u nd ergo ne thr ee je tt ing cha nges si nc e the start , bu t th e mac hine was fina lly ru n n ing right a nd Gra TH ha d the class Icad after Valle de T rinida d . The Pfe iffn /M iller effort lost a lot of time at Sa n Fe lipe a fter a hu h s i aru-d brr-ak ing u p . W allingsfor d too k ovcr th e lea d Husky at Vall e .I.. T rini d ad a nd hea d ed for the finis h . T hey had a 10m inute lead over Ba kken a nd J ohnson . Jo hnson tri ed 10 m ake up so me of t he ti m e but 'event ua lly sc u led dow n and co nce nt ra ted o n finis hing. Compared to the sco rching heat of th e d esert , Ensenada was cloudy and cool when Wallingsford finished at 3:3 1 p .m . , finis hing the ra ce in eight hours, 43 minutes and 16.3 3 seconds. It wa s the third straight SCO RE win for th e pair: the onl y one they missed was the Mexi cali 250 , where th ey did not co m pe te . J ohnson fini shed 10 m inu tes lat er. Aft er th e race , J ohnson had good wor ds for pa rt ner Bakk en's performa nce in the last -minute cha nge . Both of the lead bi kes had n't missed a beat all dav . " It ran like a champ ," said H a rden "a t the finish. T he t hi rd bike in was th e C lass 2 1· winn ing bi ke of Ka p la n and Finger. Ka pl a n had had chai n pro blems sta rting a t EI Rod eo , where th e ax le bolt ca me off and t hrew the chain . Th.. holt was repla ced at the pits. The chai n came off aga in , was p ut ha ck on , and came off again when J eff jumped onto the road at Ojos Negros. H is p it crew was t hcre and tight en ed t he ax le agai n an d re- mou nted the chai n . wh ich sta yed o n to th e finis h . Ru t ten was nex t into t he fini sh , seco nd in class a nd 10 minut es be hind Ka pla n a nd Fin ger. Bob fin ished visorless a fte r a slight getoff betw een EI Rod eo a nd Oj os Neg ros. Rutt en a lso had to open two gates in t he scctio n, whi ch Bob tho ug ht "was prell y weird co nsid ering I was th e fourt h b ike th rou g h ." Ho wever , the leading H uskys had ridden o n th e old Baj a 1000 co u rse , wh ich had bee n okayed by Sa l Fish . W a llingsfo rd had to open a co uple of ga tes himsel f. T he nex t bike in was th e T a rl ing / Messer KTM, whic h h~d run out of gas just as Tarling reached his pit at Valle de Trinidad and later had to hav e th e shoc ks replaced at EI Rodeo: Ah lstrom and Sikorski were the next to finish , a nd th e last to do it in under 10 hours. Sikorski had the bik e sei ze on him twice in the sandwash ncar Coh a bu zo Junct ion . " I ha d to pour th e wat er I had wit h m e o n the eng ine ," sai d Sikorski la ter . Thev were third in Class 21. " . A bo u t a hal f ho ur la ter ca me Kem Park , ridi ng with Tim Fagg o n a Missio n H ills Mo torcycles-spo nsorcd 250cc Hu sky. Park had a lon g ride, After goi ng straigh t throug h to EI Chinero. Park gave the bi ke to Fagg , who became sick due to the hea t a nd lost 30 minu tes in San Felipe. Fagg got th e b ike to Sa n Mar a is. where Pa rk got back on a nd rod e to t he finish . Morgan Mal occo , th e next rid er in , a lso had to do a lill ie hit m ore t ha n his sha re of rid ing . Pa rt ner Art W cekly crashcd at Sa n Felipe a nd sepa rated his shou lder . Sti ll, he got the bi ke to San Ma ra is. where Ma locco too k ovcr . A p it acc id ent sp illed gasoline do wn his boot la ter an d he rode in m isery from th e enflarned skin . Their IT 250cc finished fif t h in class . Dick Vick br ou ght t he C lass 38 · winn ng Husky in next. Vick a nd Wa tkins had a 45 -m inu te a dvan tage over the second p lace team of W alt Axhr-lrn a nd Ti m Sm it h ( Kaw) . Th ird was the team of R ich a rd H al e and Thumper McDowe ll o n a Husky. When Class 20 co -winne r Tom Gran t was asked at the finish how th ings went , he re p lied , "T errib le! I a lmost died ou t th ere at Tres Pe sos." The Leckich/Brooks Yamaha finished four minutes later to claim second in class . It was the first ride in seve ra l years on a 125cc for Tom, who used to terrorize the 0 -37 desert races on a 125c c DKW . Third in Class 20 went to Casey Folks and Bill Putman on a Husky. The Hardwick/Coulter Yamaha finall y go t its cha in un j ammed and finished fourth , T hi rty -five of t he 77 sta rters in the motorcycle classes fini sh ed . The ove ra ll win in t he fou r-wh eel classes went to every biker 's fa vorite driver , Malc olm Smit h , who tea m ed up with Bud Feldk a m p to com ple te the co urs e in 10 a nd a ha lf hou rs, despite going m ost of the way wit hou t t hird or fou rth gears in their Fu nco buggy _ • Results CLASS 22; 1. Brent W allingsfor d/Scol Harden IHus) 8:43:16.33: 2. Jack Johnson/A.C. Bakken IHus} 8:53.27.08: 3. BiU Tading/Bob Mess", IKTM} 9:45:32.04: • . Dr. John Elcho,lIS'eve Subith IHonl: 5. Todd Martella/Cuffy Crabbe fHus); 6. Bill Conger fTrudy Bec k f8 t ~n Zachary lYam l; 7 . Marcos Hernandezl Osca r Ochoa (Hus l; 8. Chuck SugarlO.M. DeCamp (Yam); 9. J ohn KimbrellfGary chandler (M ail; 10. Robert Pope/Gary Dunn (Mail. CLASS 21 125Occ~ 1. Jeff Kaplan/Rick Fing", IHus) 9:12:57.32; 2. Bruce Ogilvi e/Bob Run en !H-D) 9:22:52.34; 3. Rod Ahlstrom /leonard Siko rski (Yam) 9:57:20.48; 4. Kern Parkfflm Fagg IHusl; 5. Morgan Malocco /Art W eeklv (Yam); 6. D.A . Davidso n/Dann y Pe- ce (Varni; 7. Errol Clatk elWayne Martin IHus); 8. Steve Clugston/Ralph Griffin IKTMI ; 9. Salvador Bustos/Ernesto Fuentes (Hon ); 10. J oe Moore/Bill Ogle IYam). CLASS 20 1 125cc1 1. Gercq e E,llTom Gran' IHusl : 11:16:01.54; 2. Brent LeckichfTom Brooks (Yam) 11:20:53.14; 3. Casey Folk s/Bill Pulman (Husl , 1:45:32 .76; 4 . John Hardwi ck/Randy Coulter (Yam): 5. Scott CouttsfT om Lama r (Husl; 6 . J orge Her nandezl Carlos Velez (Yam); 7. Francisco Gonzalez/Crlos Hernandez (Hus); 8. Scott Pfeiff er/Chuck M iller (Yam). CLASS 38: 1. John Wa lkins/Dick V ick l Hus) 10:31:39.02; 2. W all AxhelmfTim Smith lKaw l 11:15:27.86 ; 3 . Rtchard HatefThumper McDowel l (Henl 11:20:12.86: a.Lee Hamby/Robeft Bacon IYam): 5. Don L'AllierfLee Midgefy (Hus); 6 . Gene Pow ell/Bill Lyon s IHusl. • 13