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/126317
rt.V.·.·clrA·.·•.•.•'.·W'•••·W'J.....·.·,...•.....·.·.·I.·.....·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·r.·".·.·,r.·.·.·.·".·.·.·".·.·.·.·.-.·J.".!'.·.·.-.·",.-,.·.·.·.·,.·.·....·.·.-...·;.·•••·...·I.·.-.·......_y•._.,•.•~•••••-_._-_yJ\ Desert Hotline Balentine cops Cactus Cats' Rescue 3 benefit By Gary laudig LUCERNE VA LLEY. CA, JUNE 18 Bob Balentine (KTM) cha lked up another AMA District 37 overall win , taking the Cac tu s Ca ts' Rescue Three benefit hare scrambles (A bove) W inner Bob Balentine blasts down a sandwash. (Below) Runner-up Bruce Ogilvie leads Cord is Brooks through one of the fast section s. (Bott om) Desert racers exe rcise motoc ross skills in a tight wash. Standing below the canyon past the bo mb, the roa r of the 8 a.rn . start erupted. The spectators tensed , wondering who would be a head after the three mile dusty trek to the was h. Bru ce Ogilvie (H -D) lea ned over the tank. Gla nci ng to the left he co uld see Kevin Hasten (KTM), a nd to the right was a b lood red Mai co ridden by a man we all res pec t and a re glad to see back in the dez, Co rdis Br ooks. Knifing into th e narrow was h.. up a nd over the hardpa n rise th en into the whoopy wash again , Ogilvie had the edge on Cordis , but H asten shot by righ t on the Maico's line. Super Ama teur Rob in Busse was doin' it again , fourth overall on his 250cc Yamaha . Clearing the wash. the powerline roadcrossing. the bikes were in tall puckers and soft sand . Balentine was making his charge through the interlacing trails . Second 250cc Amateur Chuck Miller followed Bob out of the sand and into the smooth surface terrain . The course entered some hard rollers. Coming out of this , Ed W hiteside took check one. Ben ny Padilla too k the check and headed out into the cross country desert. Ridi ng in Benny's dust were John Pra ter , J r. and Ron Bebo. The trail became a small wash that gradually widened , j umping into a deep wash with tricky turns . Mo nte Lee, on his new AI Baker-sponsored Yamaha , d iced with Ed Zarp as the was h turned into a fire road . Ma x Eddy (Ya m). Keith Smith a nd Cory Timms (Hus) passed the big rock on the rig h t and soon made a rig h t tu rn hea ding u p a mining road . Hal fwa y down the road, Da ve Mat us go t off a nd his KTM ca ug ht on fire. You woul d t hi nk a fire engulfed road would stop desert racers. No way . They drove right through as if no thi ng was there . Steve Eckardt slowed for the arrows and turn ed righ t up the narrow wash . Charlie Hamill turned and cou ld hear a four stroke co mi ng up the ro ad. It was Dean Modesett riding a box stock TT 500 Ya ma ha , 18th overall . Dean hasn't raced in al most two years. The co urse cleared the wash. dropped back in and then out agai n in a span of 50 ya rds. T urni ng left , Jay Oren d orff took check two a nd headed into the mounta ins below th e Cooper Strand m in ing complex. T rudy Beck took the check and gassed her Yam aha up th e small h ill , work in g her wa y along the ridge , through th e up and down ca nyons finally dropping into a na rrow wash full of surp rises. By the time Charlie Hamill reached the wid e wash , he had pass ed 10 bikes . Jim Dellip la ine running 13th overall , Da n Ashc raft surged in to 10th. Bob Sanders, th e Open Senior was stuck between them and wanted a shot at Bebo , four bikes ahead . Crossing Bessemer Mine Road , Bill Beck took che ck three a nd made a righ t turn into som e cr ossgrain chop. Ga ry Neiderhuth follow ed but had a . dice going with Chuck Hermansen , Jr. Turning right again, the racers headed up the wide wash past Vic tor. Crossi ng BMR again, the arrows pointed left. C biker Steve Barklow tapped out his Yamaha noticing the small round puckers that looked like small round TOCk.! . Ken Dodd exited the wash and started down a trail knwon as " Kidney Belt Flats," If ya didn't have one on , your kidneys would be down somewhere around your JT socks . The racers could go fast here but some small lips on the trail jolted the suspension something fierce . Jeff Fries chased Dodd all the way. to the foothills . Trudy worked he r Yama ha throug h the virgi n terrai n just before th e powerl ine access road. Mike Lewellyn gassed his C bike over the lip of the road and began winding high er a nd high er . Joe Lockha rt started up th e road, unawa re Ken Dod d was th e Trailb ike leader . Tom Holmes cru ised in for th e last ehec k th en wound th e th rottle open a nd headed for th e So Ca l p its. T he " Big 0 " sti ll had t he lead th rough the pits but Ba lent ine was closing in. T he big 400cc KTM had the power whe re it counted a nd Bob whittled away on the lead. Co rdis Brooks blasted down pit row clean as a whist le. The Wheelsmith m achine sounded g -o-o .o ·o ·d. Chuck Miller moved up on the fast Prospector Rob in Bu sse ; the pits knew it was a toss up as to who would capture the 250cc Amateur crown today . Benny Padilla had Desert Ra t John Prater on his fender heading up the bomb for the last go around . Benny wou ld soon join his pa l Kevin H asten in the DNF ranks. Kevin Hopkins had a bad case of the getoffs ; so d id Ch a rlie Ha m ill and J oe Lockhart , no injuries though . Ra mon Lowe and Ch a rlie Hermansen, Sr. swapped pos itions a few times . As they nea red check one in the rollers , Charlie had the lead . Jeff Fraser and J im Smith worked their way through the high puckers ahead of Scott Postm a , Dave Van Wormer and Ron Danley. Francis Christensen ha d a nice lea d on Dick Burley, Bill St ewa rt had a line of Seniors in tow: Lee Elias, " Kra u t" Diechman , Leo Marcha nd and the 0 37 . Prez, Bob Perkins. Norm Stewa rt a lways finis hes regardless what kind of course it is. Ma rv Va n Sick le avoided the ro cks in th e tig h t wash , Steve We bb gu nned his bike up the windy road . Cory Ti mms changed two flats , while Jim Brown was out of college and racing again . Anderson led Bru ce - Monte Lewellyn up the mining road, Rich Caselli followed . Bu Moe ller turned up the na rrow wash, Denn is Rosen berg got by Al G uzman. "Coo l" Carl Fjasta ad chased Tim Fitzpa trick down the wide wash, Ken Maw couldn't close on Trailblke Am a teu r Ma rk Davids on . Bob Cronkite took a few lessons from " Q u ickd raw" McG raw as th ey blasted ac ross th e choppy fla ts. Balentine had passed Bruce at th e ha lfway poi nt a nd managed a lmost a minute lead. He d idn't notice his front flat until he hit a few' rocks on th e off camber fire roa d . Ogilvie glanced over his shoulder , seeing some fast moving .dust in the valley. Cordis was comi ng . Robi n Busse couldn't gain on Cord is and he couldn't shake Chuck Miller. Prater ha d an unusual rid e on th e homeward stretch, the privot bolt on his shock at the swingarm 'p u lled halfway out, cuasing some weird dampening. Bob took the last check clea ned th e sh ifting pattern and dazz led the finishl ine spectators by throwing u p a fast moving dust cloud a ll thewa y to the checke red fla g .