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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126347
! Desert Hotline ~ E Jolene Payne leads a competitor in the Women's Division race. Balentine dominates Invaders Dual Euro Scrams By Gary Laudig RED MOUNTAIN , CA , DEC . 9·10 Bob Balentine captured the Open Expert races on both days of the Invaders M.e. AMA 0-37 Dual European Scrambles. Dom- 16 inating the action through.most of the season , Balentine will carry the Heavyweight number one in 1979 . This is going to be short and sweet as by the time the results we re compiled and the long drive home left me an hour and a half to do this . Race one on Saturday staged th e Women on loop two and the Seniors on loop one . The 11 a .m . start enabled the racers to thaw out from th e 12° evening. Loop one paralleled Trona Road , picked up the familiar rollers , the fire road , ridge ran some then headed down a narrow canyon taking the racers to th e valley basin and home check. ~ .. Loop two went up a canyon, ridge ran , picked up a fantastic narrow ca nyon with the walls used for turns . Exiting nea r the old gray knolls, th e course headed home over some fai rly rough te rrain . You ha ve the la you t , here's how th e people finished. T aking th e checkered for the Women's Expe rt . d ivision was "Terri fic" Trudy Beck , " L ovely" Lynette Zuber and Dia ne " H oleshot" Holeman. The Ama teur winners were Lori " T he Flash " Farmer, Linda Shatka and Michele Kasparek , Jolene Pa yne bagged the Novice win ahead of Toni Van Knapp, Ka th y Benson was the sole Beginner winner, T he la dies of the C b ik e catego ry were Sheila Hopkins . Diana . Elias and sister June. Kelly Kline aced ou t Debbie Hopkins for first Amateur. Sandy Love took the No vice win over Nancy Caselli and Jeanette Lang . D~an na Jenkins wa s the Beginner wmner, Over at the Senior race , Ron Bebo too k th e win and na iled down number one For next year. Smokebomb Ga etz sm oke d in for second , Le e " T he Ma rine" Elias bagged third. The next three were J ack Kapla n , Da ve Deichman and Tom Zarp . Chuck Goodban , Dick King, Ron Hubbard and Jim Peterson were th e Amateu r winners. T err ill Cotton , Ke n Summe rs, Nea l Johnson and Bud Campbell won the Novice race; Bob H iggi ns was th e Beginner winner. George Zuber won the 250cc Expert class ; Pet e-Kapko , Fred Hawkins , Ray Williams and Jay Sheldon were th e Amateur survivors. John McCown powered his Can-Am to th e front of the C bike class, beating Ron Milligan , Bob T a m er and Bill Stewart in the process. Fred Prieb e , Bob Shook and Dal e Dorman won the ' Am a teu r C cla ss; Duke Harris and Bu d Gowing won t he Novice class; Cl int Dan iel the Begi n ners. T he O pen bikes too k to the field. The ~~~~t~ ?~ loop one. the Novices Bob Balentine just keeps on winning; he went two for two this time: and Beginners loop two . Bob Balentine literally scorched . th e trail with his MC5 KTM . Cory Timms maintained a distant second. Morris Norman and Steve Eckardt were next. Old number one Mike Edmonson , Rogo, Jerry Kinsvogel , Mike Walters and Verlin Van Zee rou nded out the Experts. Tony Epperson snatched -the Amateur win , beating out some very aggressive dudes such as Gary Gibbons , Jim Smith, Lou Momerone, Jeff Fries and Mike Castro. Zack Peterson bagged the No vice win ahead of John Cline, Bud Adams , Ken Hansing , #819 and DuRay Endl ich. Number 823 won the Beginner race edging out Bob Benson and Harold Andrews. Jr. The 250cc race was nex t and a wild . shuffier took place . Bruce Ogilvie had the lead and. lost it . so did Chuck Miller. When the dust settled, Brian Wright had the win . Bruce " 0" took second then Miller, John Prater. Mike Eckardt . Ke n M iller and Benny Padilla filed in . J im Delliplaine won th e Amateur ra ce ahead of Ken Maw . Rich Zajic and Doug Beisn er. Greg Johnston took the Novice win , ed gin g out Gary Co vington , Jeff Muell er and J im Draves . Tom Edmond won the Beginner event. The C bikes lined up , took off and when th e checke red dropped , "Fast " J ohn Fo st er bagged t he overall , "Crazy" Bob T orgerson was second . the n Ron H all . Ga ry Hengeveld , Ed Ogden and J oe W ilson . D .L. Dorman . t he sleeper of the dez , bagged the Amateur race beating 1525c , Scott A nd e rson , Mik e Smit h a nd Keith T ull a r. Number 481 took th e Novice win J followed by Scott Atchison , Donnie Morrison , Ed Whisenant , Steve J Zollinger, #491 , Dave Johnson and' Tom Elias . Alan Dryden , Bob Tello, Jr. and Murra y Kapko rounded out the Beginners . The Trailbikes lined up for the last even t. Ke vin Hopkins and Joe Lockhart duked it out, with Kevin winning the battle . Lockhart took second , Simi Valley Yamaha ace Pete Andelman th ird, Jeff Robbins fourth . Oren Beck won the Amateur race edging out Dennis Marchand. Chris McDonald came all the way down from San Jose to' show the locals how to win the Novice race. Bill Mattox , Ron Nelso n and Frank Chase won the Beginner event. W ith the radical co ld wea t he r, racers and friends sta yed close to the fire and the confines · of the vans. motorhornes and the few gutty ones ' who sleep in th e back of pickups. Sunday morning was a snap compared to Saturday. Women and Seniors lined up again. Bebo d id it again in the Open class . D Smokebomb was right on his tail. Marty Reider took third , Allan n Snyder, Tom Zarp. Lee Elias and Jack Kaplan took the fin ish. Cha rlie'I Goodban won the Ama teur race over Bob Jones, Dick King, J im Pet erson . W endell Park a nd Pa t Dempsey. Ron Mill igan , smarti ng fro m yeste rday's loss . took t he win ahead of J ohn McCown . Bob Tamer. Willie Eveland and Ha rry Cant rall . Leo Ma rch an beat Bob Sh ook in the Am at eur event.