Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The bikes, over 450 of them, were impounded before start. After some grueling 17-mile laps, many didn't look so good. Balentine takes ninth annual 'Soboba GP By Ron Lawson SOBOBA INDIAN RESERVATION , CA . FEB . 18 The ninth annual Indian Grand Prix became a memory in the minds of over 450 riders when Bob Balentine piloted his KTM past the finish line with a healthy lead over the rest ·of the Open Pro class. The grueling 17. mile course through the hills of h S b ba Tndi R . t e o 0 a. n l a ~ eservat~on was demandmg this yea r, taking around 40 m inutes to na vigate. and it took its toll in broken b ikes a n d bruised bodies. . Even Balentine was sick with exhaustion at the end. Of the 50 Pro entri es , fewer than ' half finished , and even fewer t ha n that made all eight laps. But .those Pros and Sportsmen al ike that d id make It will have potent ammunit ion for bench racing sessions in years to come. This year, the Pros were released in three waves according to bike size and th ey battled d irectly aga inst each other for all five hours , but the Sportsmen . were ra cing aga inst th e clock . They left the start area in groups of five at assigned times and when they finished (if th ey fin ished) a time was ta ken d own ag ai n . After all t he .scores • ha ve- bee n compare d t he Sportsmen winners will be ~nrio.unced and that should be sometime In th e next week . When the fla g d ropped sign aling the Open Pros to get underway it was J im "T he Animal'" Fishback (Ya m) that was first across the sandwashthat was used as t he starting chute . Balentine was soon close behind and as th ey vanished in th e distance, Da ve Aldana (Mai), a nd Bob Rutten (H us) were also pushing towa rds th e front of the pack. The 250ccs came off the line next and it was Marty Miller (Suz) in front . who was running his first race since breaking his leg last year. Last year's Sportsmen class winner Darryl Lumbattis (Mai) was also near t he front of the group wh ile Bill Tarlin.g (KT M) brought up th e rea r aft er his machine refused to stan on th e first kick. It was a long race, though , and T arling could ta ke his ti me about ca tc hing up. - Will y Simons on his DG Yamaha took the 125cc hol eshot ahead of Danny Burtt (Su z) a nd Craig Lee (Suz). Fishback was on th e gas and made the first loop in 32 minutes , but Balentin e was still right behind and during the next lap Fishback dropped out. giving th e lead to th e KTM rider. Also on the early DNF list was DG 's Steve Bauer, who crashed twice 'o n the first lap and then ran out of gas way out in the boondocks. Simons also went down early in the race , but managed to remount before Burtt could catch him , and a few minutes - later he was assured of a safe lead when Bunt's chain broke: An hour later, little had changed in any of the classes. Balentine was still in front , where he would stay to the end and th e second Open class position was being d isputed between Husky riders Rutten and Chip How ell. Miller was still on top of the 250s, but tiring fast. Soon he would pull in to the pits to rest , leaving the lead in his cl ass up for grabs . Lumbattis would have been a good ca nd id a te for that position but the int ake manifold on his Maico decided it didn't like this kind of treatmen t and gave up , putting him out for a lap while he tried to fab ricate some thing. The rider that d id pick up the 250cc lead was 'Farling, who spent th e first pan of the ra ce well , working his way smoothly to the top. Steve Subith (Yam) had been do ing the same th ing and now was second 250cc. As fa r as the 125cc class went , Simons was all alone. Most of the small bores had run into trou ble, but among t he remaining front runners were Craig Lee (Suz). Danny Dobbins (Suz) and Alben Cancino (Hon). Few if any of the riders ran a flawless race. Balentine fell twice and even Tarling had tasted jhe ground three times on his upward march . At one point, he was having trouble getting his bike back upright on the sid e of -a steep slope and an unknown rider took the tim e out to help him . The mystery benefactor then remounted and con tin ued with his own race. The last lap saw Rutten expe rience a more costl y crash. By the time he got ba ck up and dusted himself off, Ho well had gotten by and into second place in the Open class. Rutten got wit h it , but couldn't catch Howell by the end of the race. At the checkered flag , Balentine still had his lead over Howell and Rutten, and TarIing was right -be h ind them , making it a KTM day with first in both the Open and 250cc classes. Brent Wallingsford was fourth Open c1asser a nd Simons had the 125cc class wrapped up . These results are unofficial . ' • 7

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