Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

" j• • • """': "" ·.v ..."". · ·•· ·"".,. · · """" "".,. "" """" 'fI • • , I: Desert Hotline ~ E Leary Kyger fo llowed the sign's advice and won the MRAN Moapa-to-Vegas. Roeseler takes Cactus Cats' snow scrambles By Joyce May LUCERNE VALLEY , CA ,JAN. 28 Larry Roeseler once again took his usual place at the finish line as he narrowly squeaked out Bob Balentine for the overall win at 22 the Cactus Cats' AMA 0 ·37 hare scrambles. Those at the race site on Saturday awoke Sunday morning to find a beautiful white carpet of snow had been spread over the valley during the night. Those who drove in Sunday morning found the roads to be extremely treacherous, but the scenery spectacular. By starting tim e. however . much of the snow had disappeared from the valley floor , but the cold lingered on. The Amateur/Expert start got off the line close to on time, but the next start had a lengthy delay when the ambulance was called into action after two riders collided head-on out on the dry lake behind the start line . With Roseler back out in the desert after a long absence, Balentine back out after a short one and still on is old bike without any official sponsorship , , and Bruce Ogilvie now a ready threat in the Open class. it looked like there would be a fantastic battle for the lead. Ogilvie, on a Yamaha IT 400 for the first time (he had blown the base gasket on the YZ prior to the race), led the pack into the first check followed by Roeseler and Ba lentine. The course on the ba ck side had a good bit of snow on ' the ground making it a b it difficult to follow ' the trail. To see the lime, of course, was impossible. The young threat from Hesperia , Eric MacCracken was running first Heavyweight Amateur at 10th overall. Rich Zagic, impressive 250 Amateur, was running first in his class , 21st overall at check one. ~~i. ~!f;{ oW\lW.O'i1O 1Qqqt~ absence , was Gary Charters, Sr . His 40th birthday was Saturday and decided to celebrate it by winning the Senior class on Sunday. Through the first check he was running 26th spot , first Senior and first overall "C" bike. Rick Shumaker, three spots behind him , was first official Division II . Trudy Beck showed her usual aggressive riding style by leading the gals by an unbelievable lead. . Roeseler and Balentine fought hard as they got past Ogilvie. Roeseler had the lead when he hit a very bad dip, sending him to the ground hard. Balent ine saw Roeseler as he crashed and remembered the same spot as the one where he ate it last year. Balentine took over the lead and held it into the pits. Roeseler was back up again too, and although he had a few aches and pains, once more started chasing Balentine . Close behind this duel into the pits was Ogilvie. The severe cold had begun to take its toll on the number plates. The numbers were falling off , and "un brea kab le" fenders were shattering or cracking when hit by rocks. The cold was severe beyond anything remembered in recent years. Even the number plates were cracking and shattering when hit by rocks . Mike Eckardt had taken over the 250cc Expert lead with Ed Zarp next in for gas. MacCracken followed with 250cc Expert C hu ck Miller behind him . Trudy ahd moved up eight places into 26th and was loo king very strong. It took Roseler until just before first check to catch Ba lent ine once again. It was on the second loop that a controversial check occurred. The cold had caused the rest of. Roeseler's numbers to peel off the plate, so now his plate looked clean. As he headed into a check , the Cats m a nning the check thought he was a play rider and motioned h im through without marking his tank card. It wasn't until they had stopped Balentine that they realized who the other bike had been. It was the club's decision not to disqualify Roeseler as it had been the club's error. Balentine chased Roeseler the rest C?f _t !.t~ .,,:ay_}!t!?~&h__t.!t~ _ ~ig~~ _5~~£! "" "" , ,J'• •, •••••••••••• ' holding off trying to pass until they got to the flats before the finish . But Roeseler's bike had the edge over Bob's and so Ba lent ine had to be satisfied with a second, five seconds behind. Ogilvie was next, followed by 250cc Expert winner Eckart. Zarp took the fifth overall spot with his front fender and number plate demolished and his face covered with spots of blood where he had been hit by rocks thrown up from his front tire. Yamaha -mounted Chuck Miller was next to cross the finish line followed by H usky's Max Eddy. Eighth overall was first Amateur Rich Zagic. Charters, who obviously has not lost any of his endurance during his long layoff, finished 12th overall, first Senior. first 175cc ("C " b ike) to take the checkered. Jeff Cannon, 16th overa ll. ea r ned second Amateur ho nors whi le Trudy moved into 21st, easily earning "first gal" honors. Schu m aker (19th overall) held onto the first -in -class title, but John Foster. only three b ikes behind, didn't make it an easy win for Schumaker. Mitchel Smiley was all "smiles" as he finished with top "C" Amateur honors. Not far behind was hard charging Tim Foster earning second "C" Amateur spot. First Trail honors went to Cliff Thomas who took the lead from Pete Andelman who had had problems on the second loop. dropping way back , but still managing to finish . Don Urbanek took the Amateur Trail honors, 59th overall. In the Novice class a battle raged for the first overall throughout the race. Bill Conger on a Yamaha YZ400 and Paul Ryan riding a 250 Husky never .let each other out of sight. Conger was leading on the second loop when he thought he had blown third gear. He waved for Ryan to go by . Conger soon found , however. that the gears were OK, so he pushed hard and ca ught Rya n again . He dogged him through the hills, continually putting the pressure on him. Once they dropped out of the hills. however, Co nger powered past and took the checkered first. . Rya n followed him across the line , sporting a broken frame. . Doug Mitchell earned second 250cc Novice honors while Michael ' Burke took the first Novice "C" bike spot. • Kyger scores upsetMRAN Moapa-to-Yegas • win By Patricia Warhol Photos by Doug Atkins LAS VEGAS, NV,JAN. 21 In one of the biggest upsets in recent Motorcycle Racing Associati on of Nevada history , Leroy Kyger flew to the finish of the Groundshakers M.C.'s Ninth Annual Moa pa-to-Vegas Hare and Hound so far a hea d of schedu le that he fou nd only a handful of stunned spectators a nd a startled flagman, who had n't go t the flag ou t yet. O ne m inute behind Kyger was Jack Johnson, followed 15 seconds later by Scot Harden. the Team 'H usky riders who usu a lly take the honors wherever they race. A smiling Johnson told Kyger. " Ma n , you were really going out there!" It was a sweet victory for the i~~P!~i,!>l~ ~!oy! .a. v~t~ra~ ~f eigh.t J years of MRAN racing. Almost a legend in his own right , Kyger has had a dramatic (to say the leastl) if frusrraring racing career. Long acknowledged by Nevadans as really fast, he has been plagued by a seemingly endless series of incredible mishaps, ranging from the- hilarious to the near tragic. It finally got so discouraging for him that he decided to take some time off, and Moapa was his first race in six months. The time off must have helped . Moapa was Kyger's race. Spo nsored by Valley Cycle of Las Vegas, he rode a shiny new Yamaha YZ400, the first bike to beat a Husky atMoapa in eight years . Moapa-to- Vegas is the most popular annual race on the MRAN schedule. This year there were 20 I entries lining up at the start, located in a remote area 20 miles west of Moapa , Nevad a . R id e rs from California, U t a h , A rizona, Co lorado, a nd northe rn Nevada were there , The Groundshakers, led by Casey Folks , . had done their usual excellent job with the course. Beautifully laid out and well marked, the course was 135 miles of a little bit of everything. They aim for variety, and this year, along with the hills, washes, some radical turns, and a few of those famous Nevada rocks, they added a waterfall and a trip through the front yard and around the bunkhouse of a ranch belon~ng to one Ron Lewis (whose famJiy and ranch- hands cheered the racers on as they went by) . The biggest impression, according to mind-boggled comments at the finish ("Hey. Casey! What were you . trying to do? My handlebars were touching the wallsl") was made by a natural gorge a half mile long, 100 feet up on either side, and from four and a half to six feet wide . The club' had posted a helpful signed in the gorge that read, "Speed Limit 55 Pa tro lled by Rad a r ." This yea r the mad Groundshaker sign. maker outdid himself, and crazy signs dotted the who le course, the favorite being- a pair of golden arches and the immortal words, "We Do It All For You." The sky was overcast and the desert in perfect condition after two days of drying out from a week of rain (no dust, great traction) when the banner dropped at 9:00 a.m. and the Experts took off. Kyger got the holeshot, but in his haste he had neglected to turn on his gas line. Johnson, Harden , • Nevada's Larry McCall and Utah's Don Fuller went by him in a flash . Kyger got his fuel and his cool back, passed McCall and Fuller in one swoop, and took off after Harden. He got on Scot's tail, and passed him about two miles from the bomb. Then he set out after Johnson. He caught up and kept close, wheel-towheel, for about 15 miles. Johnson's bike th rew so much mud that the mud actually shattered Kyge r's Uvex lenses , but Leroy was not to be stopped by such a small thing as no visibility. Getting by Johnson is not ex actly easy, so Kyger forced himself to cool it a nd just kept on Johnson's tail until Johnson , unexpectedly, hit a rock an d got off. Kyger went by a nd just kep t goi ng. He raced into the first gas wit h nobody else in sight, His amazed pit crew gave him a fast fill and sent him on his way - then went into a wild dance of joy. . At the finish , as the Groundshakers congratulated the finishers, the finishers congratu lated the Grou nd shakers. "Great courser' " Love it," " Beautiful ra~el" were typical ; ' l ", .:.. : ) ~ ~._ I J

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