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" ••••• == • ••• V.·.·.· V.·.·.VAV ·.Vi!' Desert Hotline ~ • V ..• ·.·A·.· ••• • Kern Park blasts his Husky around the Desert Knights' course. back to win Desert Knights HS victory By Ga ry Laudig LUCERNE VAL LEY, CA,JULY 16 Everyone in Dist rict 37 thinks . h ' I k elg t 0 c oc starts are super. Lining up in the remna nts of the morning cool , the racers were 20 .•' i anxious to get the Desert Knights' hare scrambles underway. The banner toppled, the bikes ignited and Bob Balentine (KTM) quickly assumed the lead. Passing the bomb target knoll , a motion picture camera whirling away , Bobby proceeded to do one spectacular getoff as Ron Bebo and Steve Edkardt blasted by heading for the powdery surface. Next Bill Becker dialed his Yamaha on and headed into the choppy wash . Bad Brad Henson , holding down first 250cc Expert , blasted by followed by Yamaha mounted Paul Christensen and "Chargin" Chuck Miller. Max Eddy, seemingly sponsored by the Bermuda Triangle, had a fine bomb run going when his throttle cable popped out of the slide. Trudy Beck had to b ump start on the line : but wasted no time in moving toward the front. Lee Scheffers, returning from injury, was running seventh, Balentine whizzed by at eighth after regrouping, and Dick Camp hustled down the windy, boulder laced wash ninth. Once the course emptied out into the Johnson Valley, it was a drag race all the way to check one. Taking the check, . Brian Wright took after Torco's Kern Park, second 250cc . 11 1 11 1111 1 1-1. . II I II Amateur. Gus Paull led Ed Zarp back into the foothills, and Charlie Hamill was holding first C bike Expert with a flat rear tire. Rick Schumaker (KTM) was about 100 yards back and closing. Gary Charters was cruising along on the first of two flats holding third. Tom Schell (Suz) got by Tim Fitzpatrick, bu t had a heck of a time catching Senior Steve Merrill. J ay Orendorff stayed ahead of Open Amateur J eff Fries . Rich Hall , first Open Amateur, cleared the Red Mountain saddleback then , headed into some more super-whoopers, Monte Anderson followed the dustrail as did Verlin Van Zee, Picking their way along the choppy wash , the arrows headed the bikes up an old rain excavation. Robin Busse downshifted and hooked a right up the new trail. C & C Ent. vsponsored Trudy Beck had manhandled her Yamaha past 10 racers, but couldn't close on the fast Prospector. "Cool" Carl Fjasrad bounced up the trail with the occasional ditch crossings just ahead of Rich Varner and superb Trailbike leader Joe Lockhart. Ron Surbeck m ade the 'sha rp left leading him toward the foothills again . Russ Jenkins, Randy Devonshire and Dave Rogaczewski spread out and raced for the canyon across some new territory . Randy Brown led third Open Amateur Lou Monterone down the one-bike trial downhill . Jim Lang was next , t hen Lee Elias and second Open Amateur Jeff Fraser. Clearing the foothills it was sand and puckers all the way to the bombrun wash. Max Eddy had worked up to 41st coming from dead last and had Francis Chrsirensen and Fred Collins in tow . Bob Torgerson richocheted out of the pits along with Ken Miller the Pack Rat , Bob Rundquist and Steve Calkins. Torco's Diane Blauer roll alonz at 1111111111 11111 V • V ••••• A ..~ V • 9J : E Balentine battles • 1111 11 11 III I 11 ' second girl trailing Bob Ishman and Ken Maw . Big Bud Wheeler, Rich Caselli, Dennis DeCamp and Harold King wormed their way up the tricky wash , as Dick Evans and Thumper McDowell passed the saddleback following Dennis Rosenberg, Torsten Corum, and John Waggener through the boulder and whoop· laced wash . Dean Meltzer chased Bill Stewart all the way to check one, and "Cactus" Jack Kaplan was chasing the c1utchless Dick Burley. Oren Beck Jr., first Amateur Trailbike didn't like D.R. Deichman's dust, and then the kraut didn't enjoy the powdery stuff John Porno was kicking up. Second Trail Expert Pete Andelman buzzed along behind Dave Hornbeck , George Zuber and Tim ' Harris as the trail neared Red Mountain. Bruce Ogilvie worked his way up from 20th to fou rt h when his chain flew off wiping out his masterlink. Chuck Miller, running fourth, suffered the same fate watching Kern Pa rk dance by for first 250cc Amateur. Cha rlie Hamill changed his rear tire, blew the front one a nd had a heck of a time staving off Rich Schumaker. Bad Brad Henson, the Zuber Yamaha-sponsored flash, was in the lead with Bill Becker second when the bikes turned up the narrow wash excavation, then Balentine edged by Becker and got by Brad just before the downhill. Becker, a little upset with Balentine zapping him , passed Henson and tried to close on Bob , but to no avail. Bebo led the race through the pits , settled in at fourth , with Paul Christiansen next for second 250cc, followed by Eddie Zarp and Dick Camp. Novice/Beginner race After a long, long delay, the second wave got underway. Past the bomb in the high banked sandwash, two very vast dust trails could been seen approaching. The big A, Anthony Bomo and Brett Howell were so close together a cowboy cou ld have roped them with one toss. Where t he canyon narrowed, Bono, the luckless Sled Rider crashed . T he luck of the Irish prevailed as Shamrocks' Howell disappeared over the rise. Bill Vanderbyl passed by, then John Variant, Rod Roderick, John Basso, first Begi nner, then Tim Jasper. Steve Willis didn't see Trace sputter to a stop with a lunched crank, and a hold on first C bike.The wash was wall to wall 250cc's - Pat Cain, Kim Kurisu, Ned Pritchard and Pat Kratoval. The dusty line headed across Johnson Valley, the racers barely able to see the puckers much less each other, Bono dropped out with a flat. Howell was leading, dreaming of his yellow stripe. Past the check, a. cluster of Senior riders made their way toward the foothills. George Pu rser trailed Bill Zoller, and just ahead was "The Duke", Jim Harris. Tom Morgan and back in the pack, Henry Price. When the course m ade a hard right at the Red Mountain saddleback. Cindy Max and Sandy Lowe had Begin ner Dane Bolster sa ndwiched " between them as Dea n na Jenkins and Sandy Perkins ha d a battle of their own going. J ud i Combs was somewhere in the middle of all this. Charlie King and Steve Padilla ' managed the Red Mountain uphill, and Art Short, Jim DeVine, Bob Tello Jr., all Beginners, made their way through the whoops and rocks on the other . . .. . . . . . , J •• • • " " 1"1" I side, Tom Tusko was cruising cross country, ' passing Karl Smith, Tom Elias , a couple of pie platers, but couldn't get close to Sterling Varner. Bill "C rash" Conger, the C & csponsored lad, didn't have a good day, but as the course headed up the first leg ' of the wash excavation F.B. Flittnerur, Murry Kapko and Rich Barr were on the watch for rocks and crossgrain ditches. Jesse James , not up to his usual race, trailed Javioer Enrique. Heading for the downhill, Tim J asper was the second place bike, number 768 was third . Mitch Smiley had moved up from back in the pack and had a strong hold on fourth as Ryan Grosz and Tony Leyrer battled across the valley to the bomb wash. Mike Martin followed running second C bike, the first place C was Smiley nine slots ahead . Steve Zollinger wou ld not know he was third C bike until the pits three miles ahead , Passing through the bomb wash, t he scattered Beginners made their way for home . and water. Two p te plates crossed the line then the first district pla tes , John Basso, John Virant and Kenneth Hansing. Zig· zagging through the puckers , Tony Megla and Tom Elias raced for the finish, with Meg la winning out, bu t Tom sacked first C bike, Lane Reidel was next then Rich Edgar scooped up first Trailbike, Bob Charters was second. The next 250cc was 606x, then back a ways R .L. Dockstader. Second C went to Larry Thompson , Bob Tello took the checkered for third, Harvey Ishman and Karl Smith took second and third Trail. Heading out on the second loop, Rich Little and Henry Price crossed the access road while 604x and Rich Christiansen wound their way through the Yucca -infested wash . Dave Herrera chased Dave Main and Da n Drew through the windy por'ti~n' of the wash. while Craig Baker. Mark Clements and Dave Meadows made their way through the fast stuff. Larry Zeigler could a lmost see Steve Zollinger a head, but ga ining in d ust and fast sections is reserved for a select few. Brett Howell was now passing Amateurs and Experts while Steve Willis had made up seven positions, but not any sizeable gain on Howell. Mitch Smiley didn't kn ow how he was placing. but kept up his fast pace charging into the flatland section past the Red Mountain. Rod Roderick and Tim Jasper knew from the pits they were one/ two in the 250cc class. so they really didn't care - about Howell, just who would be king of the 250cc's. Bill Vanderbyl and Ned Pritchard had the same problem over third and fourth. Mike Martin bagged the C bike win , Rod Roderick won the 250cc clash, Steve Willis finished second overall, second Open. The superb rider, Brett Howell cruised in for the overall Novice win arid a possible Amateur plate, Ya' wonder why people come all the way out here in the heat? Look up and you can see all the Big Bear Mountains, your eyes burn from sweat, not smog, and your chest doesn't ache - that answers all the questions. The race was rated as a toss u p . The fast guys thought it was too fast, the slower sect loved it, everyone loved the eight o'clock start, Thanks to Rescue Three but where were you when 1 did my early morning endo - the dirtiest four letter word in the dictionary? See ya' next week at Red Mountain. • :[1:1 11:1.