Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

lAbove) In a surprise ending. Morgan Malocco took the overall win. (Below) Donnie Morrison styled to top amall-bore position. Malocco takes CRC Gold Digger HS after Upp is TKO'd By Terry Rezek , LUCERNE VALLEY, CA . FEB . 18 26 Kenny Upp and Morgan Maloeeo fou~ht' a-7G-mile battle, never more than a few feet apan. In the course of th e heavy action; Malocco crashed . giving Upp just the break he needed to take the ra ce . In a final irony. fa te retook the ra ce and gave it to Malocco when Upp when disqualified in what ca n best be descri bed as a technical knockout . The course was rough and fast. T he CRC cr ew ex tra cted some of th e best an d some of t he worst of th e infamous Lucerne terrai n a nd constructed a '. well-ba lanced course. The -stare was fast , leading slightly uphill from Anderson Dry Lake and dropping into a sand wash with bike swallowing whoop-de -doos and vicious, lurking rocks , the kind that eat tires for Sunday brunch. This was followed by abo.!Jteight miles ofWFO desert to the far turning point somewhere east of Soggy Dry Lake. To get back to the pits. the course first staggered through the incred ible powder-pockets on the western edge of Soggy Dry Lake. There was some more super·fast crosscountry trail to blow the dust out of your lungs and then you jumped (or fell) through the rocky rollers about two miles out. Shooting the gauntlet of motorhomes and campers at the base of the Wilson hills .. the trail dusted its way across Anderson once more and you could cough your way into home check. Liked it ? Good , because everyone but the minis got to do it again . . Upp and Malocco made it a race from the drop of the flag . Malocco had only about five seconds on Upp when the two hit the rough about four miles from the start. Upp would catch Malocco in the tight spots only to lose ground again in the fast open country. And so it went throughout the race, with the pressure building until Malocco made an unscheduled pit Stop and a subsequent crash . cutting the backs of his hands in the process. Upp sped by and, in the few miles remaining in the race, maintained an easy lead to the finish . . Since CRC's second race of the year had been snowed out, Kenny was really pumped for this one and was determined to get his second overall win . For a few glorious moments, it seemed that he had it. Then the bad news filtered back from the course checks; his eagerness had betrayed him. He had inadvertently slid ' through a checkpoint! Yes. he had gone through it allright . but had not stop ped long enough to collect that magic little crayon mark on his card that spells the difference between victory and defeat. CRC officials, adamant in their det ermination to treat all riders alike. had no choice but to disq ualify Upp . When Malocco came in a few minutes later. he found that he had inherited the win . Both riders had ridden magnificently, on ly to ha ve the fates of racing make the final determination . T he 90·m inute int ensity that is a desert ra ce contains more action and indi vid ual battles than one pair of eyes can ab sorb. At the four -mile point th e novices sta rte d about five m inutes behind the Experts, but first Novice to this point . Bruce Joseph . was already making up time on the slower Experts an d Amateu rs. Immediat ely behind him . B. Wells. the first Ligh tweight . was pus hing hard to make th e race. The next 65 miles held the key and at the finish , the first Novice was Bill Meloserdoff who had spent the better part of the race in a no -holds barred battle with Amateur B. Vanderbyl, the m omentum of wh ich had ca rri ed him to 21st overall. In fact . except for Upp and Malocco , the early leaders were usually not the one who showed up high in th e final results. . The first Begin ner to the four mile mark. #335 . was replaced at the finish by David Sweeney, who had been a not -so-close second at the start. In the fierce and rock y rollers just at the end of the first lap , Gary Mulconery was leading t he rest of th e Novices with Troy Moors snarling at his heels. The 'Meloserdoff/ Vanderbyl tornado was .form ing..'a nd •.would . sweep . pa st. them on the second lap to put Moon as second and Mulconery as third Novi ces at the finish . Back near the front of the race. Monte Lee. who finished IIeCOnd tweraII after the Upp disqualifi cation, was having a private race with Greg Johnston, who eventually finished third overall. first 25Occ. first Amateur. The first portion of the race was rough and Johnston was able to Slay right with Lee. When they hit the wide -open desert between checks one and two. the power of Lee's bigger bike became a factor and Lee would pu ll away. Back in the tight rocks near Soggy. Johnston would catch-u p . So it went throughout the ra ce and so it ended. Personal battles were the order of the day. Donnie Morrison, who finished first Lightweight at ninth overall. was leading at the first check. which was about six miles from the start. As he cleared the check, he looked back and saw Scott Atch ison closing fast, looking like a fighter pilot starting a strafing run . Morrison kicked on afterburners and held it there with Atchison in close pursuit for the rest of the race and into the finish. At the halfway point, Morrison flew through the rollers. riding mostly sideways. Atchison was immediately behind. using whatever side of the trail that Morrison wasn't! Larry Upp's ba ttle is usually with Scot Duncan or. rather stopping for him. Scot didn't ride today so Larry didn't have any other excuses and was forced to settle > for first Senior. . m I talked ~th Larry and Kenny Upp. immediately after the race. before word of Kenny's disqualification had come out. As you.might expect, from a { proud father and son , their talk was mostly about each other - and their racing activities. Larry was especially pleased with Kenny's performance this year on the larger machines. Ken ny gave credit to his tuner. How ard Hooper of Sport T ime Yamaha in Tarzana for producing a winning bike. It was gratifying to note the lackof grandstanding with everyone giving due credit. This is a real team effort . . Again, my thanks to the dynamic duo. Linda and Linda , who do so much more than I ever could in assembling the results. The onl y problem is, we're always SO busy right after the race. I forget to ask who makes those dynamite chocolate chip cookies! • Resu lts OVERAll: 1. Mor_ Malocco: 2. Monte leo; 3. Grog Johnston; 4. Heoth Hibberd: 5. Laon Price; 6. JacIcFuller; 7. Ed Mundy; 8. FrankArcero. Jr; 9. Donnie Morrioon; 10. Scali Atch*'n. EXPERT OPEN: 1. ~ MaIocco lYornl; 2. Heolh HibtBd; 3. Ed Mundy. 250: 1. Grog J oh nston; 2. O. M iller; 3. 8 in Riga. 200: 1. Scali Atch ioon; 2. T, Stuert; 3. C. Roberts. JUNIOR lJG.4O) ; 1. Montoleo; 2. Laon "'ice. SENIOR (40 + ~ 1. lorry Upp ; 2. laV.no Gorton. AMATEUR OPEN: 1. Kirk Kantil ia; 2. Ken Hanoing . 250: 1. Grog Johnston; 2. JacIc Fuller; 3. B. Vandorby! . 200: 1. Donnie Morr ison; 2. R. Bock; 3. B. Nowmon. JR: 1. Frank Arcioro. Jr .; 2. Lenny ~ 3. Tom Bok• . SR: 1. R. Hughs; 2. O. Wooldridge. WOMEN: Lori Wllors. NOVICE OPEN: 1. Gory Muloonory; 2. 8ru ce Joseph; 3. Glenn Keukal . 250: 1. Bill Molo_doff; 2. Troy Moors; 3. OlIVO Kennedy. 200: 1. R. Hoopor;2. M. Wiloon;3. R. Tello. J r. ; oil JR: 1. 1354. 2. G. Cox; 3. Dennie Porhom. SR: 1. L MIlton; 2. Jon Rogoro; 3. A . Smllh. Jr . WO M EN: t. Kimberly Honalng; 2. HoIono Il 8 EGINNERS OPEN: 1. Bill Cord; 2. Grogg ~ ; 3. Sandy Nitz. 250: Ray Bowman. 200 : 1. Richard Bergeron; 2. Kent Worley: 3. Cory McConnell. JR: 1. Oovid S-ey; 2. T. Johnoon; 3. AI Yookum. SR: B. Wiloon. WOMEN: T o m m y _ MINIS: 1. Berry Crowford; 2. Stove

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