Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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§ Desert Hotline ~ t ~ t' ~ ~ IAbove) First Novice Rick Burrys really flew at the Brush Busters ' race. IBelow) Tim Nething captured first 250cc Novice. Balentine busts out at Brush Busters' HaH By Joyce May LUCERNE VALLEY. CA, FEB . 25 Close competition was the word for t he action on the course as Bob Balentine and Bru ce Ogilvie fough t for the overall win while 38 Brian Wright and Chuck Miller battled eac h other for th e first 250cc hon ors. Aft er one of th e m ost b rilliant desert su nrises seen in a lon g time , the Brush Busters An nual Bus t Out Hare and Hound was run in terrifi c racing weather. At the bomb the Expert 125175cc riders found themselves all together with Kent Pfeiffer a wheel length ahead of the rest. Steve Webb was in the center with John Foster and Joe Wilson to the right. Ron Hall was right behind Webb. They all jumped into the wash past the bomb together and were really dicing it out unt il they reached a bottleneck severa l miles past the bomb . T hen it was every man for himself. Yamaha -mounted Ogilvie arid Balentine battled th e whole first loop with t he le ad exchangi ng hands . nume ro us tim es. Bal en tine was still ridi ng his last yea r's KTM , so whe re they wer e out in th e open , Bru ce ha d th e distinct advantage. In the rough stuff, however, Bob would ca tc h him . Bob was flying as he hit the pits first with Bruce not far behind. Also having a close battle were two Yamaha riders , Brian Wright a n d Chuck Miller. They.exchanged leads at least five times on the first loop • alone . Bria n , who is sponsored by JD Engineering, kep t having problems with one of his boots which hadn't been buckled p roperly. He finally had to stop and fix it .' Chuck got past him one more time and led the duo into the pits. Brad Henson , also Yamaha mounted , was the "bu m pe r" between the two battling duos, running th ird overall on the first loop. In the Sen ior d ivision it was Gary Charters, Sr. and Morris Norman dicing it out all the way with Charters having the edge over Norman as they came into the pits . Behind Brian was Lee Scheffers and Brian's brother Ron , First Amateur Jeff Matthews was looking very strong as he pulled in for gas running ninth overall . Trudy Beck was holding her own against th e men . Out of the 320-plus entries she was running 24th , first gal. The battle in th e "C" bike class was a close one with motocross rid er Mark Davidson leading the pack into th e pits followed by Wilson, Foster , Pfeiffer, Hall and Webb ; all within 15 bik es of each other. Ace T railbiker Cliff Thomas was right in the middle of the "C" bikes , while the next 100cc was ridden by Amateur Dan Theel, not far behind. The first several No vices came by the photo jump on the first loop leaping into the a ir with the style and grace usually reserved for the Exp erts. Wildman Bill Conger had a sm all edge over Rick Bu rr ys with John McCormick a close third . All three were Heavyweights. Tim Nething, first 250cc Novice was closing in on the group as he came in for gas . Ray Norris, first Novice "C" bike , was running in the seventh overall Novice spot. The first loo p had been extremely fast, and the second loop started out that way too . Webb began working his way up the ranks as he flew past Hall in a sandwash as though Hall was standing still . The fast course abruptly ended in -a long section of "suspe nsion test ing" giant whoop-de -doos that were really killers, Unlike most whoop-de -docs, the edges were just as rough as the center. I Ba lentine got past Ogilvie for the final time when Bru ce threw a chain. La ter at the top of a hill , Bob looked back and couldn't see any one behind . him so he took it a little easier, no longer feeling it was necessary to charge, But suddenly he found Bru ce was breathing down his neck again . Bob held his spot past the checkered, however, with Dale's Modem Cycle ace , Ogilvie, taking second. After the course led out of th e giant whoop-dees it became the most interesting and challenging part of the whole race as it covered new or recently unused terrai n and was roug h, tight , and exhausting. Another one of " Dale's Bo ys," Chuck Miller d umped it about five miles from the finish , skinning himself up q uite badly, but still managing to bounce back up, get the bike sta rt ed aga in , and finish ah ead of Brian. Still sandwiched between th e two duos was Henson , fi n ishi ng t h ir d overa ll. In the sixt h spot wa s Scheffers followed b y Ron W ri ght , who is • looking stronge r every race , First Amateur H eavywei8ht Jeff Matthews was eigh t h with Kevin Hasten in t he ninth overall spot followed by the 'e ver-consistent Terry Da vis. 1 Rich Zajic, firs t Amateur 250cc , wi ; 1 I th overall , while Russ Jenkins , almost running over two numb ~r, takers at th e finish as he flew off the hill into the finish , took second Amateur 250cc . . Charters add ed another win to his m string as he once again became th e first "C" bike to finish as well as being fi rs t Senior. Ron Bebo , first Heavyweight Senior; was two bikes' behind him . The Foster brothers were at it again, John , on a 125cc Anaheim H usqv arna-, tuned machine , took first Expert "C," while brother Tim took second Amateur. Trudy fin ished right behind John in the 26th overall slot . first gal. Thomas held onto the Trailbike lead while Webb mov ed a ll th e way up to sec ond " C" a fter W ilson seized , Pfe iffe r had bik e problems , and Da vidson disappeared. George Zuber ea rn ed first 250c c Seni or. Scott Anderson took over th e lead in the Amateur "C" class , followed very closely by the first Amateur Trail!} )I' Dea n Meltzer. First Amateur Senior was Bob Jones! Nov ice Rick Burrys had a very ' impressive lead at the finish with th ' next Novice, J. McCormick, 12 bilies behind him with at least 'a minute between them . 'd Nething held the first Novice 250ct" slot past the checkered but Scott Sheldon was right on his tail. Jolin Cline, in the third 250c c Novice position, was close enough to spit on the front -running pa ir . First "C" Novice was Steve Zollinger while the first Novice Senior slot went~ to Dale Swa nson. After riding a hard race , RickJones~ and Morris No rman discovered that they ha d "zigged" when they sho u ld have "zagged" not far from the finish . They took the checkered first and second overall onl y to be told that they had missed the last seven miles of the race and the last check. ~ Ogilvie gets first on ref's decision at Moose Run By Joyce May FREMONT VALLEY , CA , FEB. 18 Brad H enson's over-enthusiasm cost ' him the overall win while Bruce Ogilvie " with his rear tire off the rim , was awarded the first-place honors instead , Fremont Valley once again was al ive with bikes and campers as a large turnout showed up for the start of the Annual Four Aces Moose Run. It had been quite awhile since' a District race had been held in this a rea. Beca use th e valle y is a favorite of most riders, any race held here is usually very well attended . This was no exception . The start was fast , alwa ys heading towards "Whitey's Gulch ." Charlie Hamill , racing again aft er a long layoff. too k a ba d spill, flying th rough the ai r well a bove the dust a nd th en la nding hard . He di d n't br eak a ny bo nes , but he' ll be super sore for a long time .