Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Kirk Russell shows off his overall brass f rom th~ OMRA desert race . each la p. They could use one bike or two . Only two classes were entered (lightweight and heavyweight) . bu t with much interest e vid ent. t he Cascade M /C will probably ha ve another team race . with more classes. Tom Lillis and Dal e Demaris wer e th e overall win ners. riding T om's 390 O R Husky. Close behind was Yamaha mounted Ted Lafon and Su zuk imounted Kirk Russell . The 18th overall team was th e first lightweight - two Washington riders on new gre en mean mach ines . Th ese Kawasaki riders took home a bunch of gold . as th ey came ba ck the nex t da y for the 100 mil er and Marty Ness of Pasco took second I25cc Exp ert and Willis Taylor Kennewick took firs t 12-5cc Amateur. One reason th e ra ce was so short. was d ue to th e O.M. R.A . awards banquet later in th e eveni ng. The first t h ree riders in nine classes had trophi es coming from poin-ts accumu lated in five desert ra ces during 1978 . ' class . but Russell had moved up to a 250c c and tal ked the sign -up girls into letting him rid e 250 Amateur. Qu ite obviously he was no Amateur . as his past d esert fin ish es ca n a ttest. He hurt himself though . as he cannot ca rry th ose points to Expert . If he had ridden in the Expert class he would now be in th e lead for th e yea rly standings. Riders from five states participated in this event. Southern Idaho Desert Riders Association and Utah Riders Association ha ve proposed a tri-point d esert race on neutral gro und. This proposed race would hav e a 120 mil e course. with no repeat loops. and will pay points to home org a niza tions . Results 1. Kirk AusseU (Suz); 2. Larry Baker (Mai); 3. Joe McCormtck IHus); 4. Brad Hadfield IHus); 5. Mark Ma tthews (Hon); 6. Teev Bry an (Yaml; 7. Glenn W eisz (KTM) : 8. Ray CrawfOfd IHus); 9. Guy W illiamson (Husl: 10. Kennv Maahs C Hon); 11. Cliff Humbafd (Vaml; 12. Dust'( Coppage (Vaml ; 13 . J oe Kiokk evoid (KTMI; 14 . J oh n Geel an (Varni; 15 . Gary Cartel' ISu zl. Cascade team race and O.M.R.A. awards banquet - OR - HOWE AVE. BOX OFF iCE - (9161 92tH 121 925 Howe Ave.. Sacramento , Cal iforn ia 95825 Ouan t ity Turt ctue Seats Bo ll. Seats Reserv ed Grandstand TOlal $ at $20.00 each at $15.00 each at $12.00 each _ $ S _ _ (Genera l Admi ssion $8.00 on sale at Bo x Off ice on n10ht of race only ) ENCLOSED IS MY CHECK FOR $ _ Pl ease encl ose a self addreS5ed stamped envercee aloogw ith check or money order payabl e 1 0: HOWE AVE . BOX OFFICE - 925 Howe Ave., Sacramento, Cali forn ia 95825 Name' Pllon e' _ 51818 City Ad dres s Z lp _ _ Awards banquet The banquet was held at th e Bend . Oregon Elks Lodge and featu red excell ent prime rib . La rry. Ul ric h . Presid ent of C as cad e M /C . and Central Oregon ' Representat ive for O .M .R .A .. sta rt ed things off by welcoming everyo ne in a tt end a nce and th en introduced Billv T oman . dirt rid er rep for O .M.R.A'. The O .M .R.A: is fo r all riders (st reet a n d d irt ) and th e ir ma in purpose is to figh t a nt i-mo to rcycle leg islation . Billy Toman expla ined in d etail about th e O .M .R .A . and what was going on in the Oregon Legislature this year . T oman the n turned th e pod ium o ver to R on Dillon o f Caldwell . Idaho wh o spoke at some length about th e possib ilit y' of a single d esert race, held on neutral ground . that would pay points to three organ izatio ns; O .M .R .A .. S.I. D .R .A . and U.R .A . (Uta h) . This was a fun filled weekend with the team ra ce . awards banquet and a 100 mil e race Sunda y. O .M.R.A. membership is req uired for Oregon residents onl y. Many outof-st ar e rid ers rode all five events last year and did not join O .M.R .A . At least three of th ese riders would have fin ished ' in the trophies, had they . joined. Conseq uent ly. 25 out -of-sta te r id ers sig ned up fo r O .M . R .A . Saturday . • By Larry Ulrich MILLICAN VALLEY . OR. FEB . 17 The team race was supposed to start at noon. but th e riders were still lined up at th e sign -up trail er at 12:15. Due to the fa ct that th is would be a short race (66 m iles). th e C a scad e M I C took int o consid erati on t hat th e m ount a in passes were bad and possib ly slowed d own th e riders in ge tting to th e ra ce site . (Most rid er s drive over Mt. Hood fro m Portland .) The ra ce was delayed exactly on e hour to all ow 98 teams to sign up . many of wh ich had never ra ced before . Also . many morocrossers wer e attra cted by th e fact it was an I I m ile course and th e rid ers had to cha nge ea ch lap . Many " O ld Timers " th ought it was neat to rid e hard for II miles . then wat ch th e acti on whi le th ey rested. At th e end of the fir st lap Da le Dem a ris had th e lead. H e turned it over to Tom Lillis and that 's the wa y it was u ntil t he finish . Lap time was less th an 15 minutes on this very fast course. This time of year . BLM restri cts th e races to Millican Valley whi ch is very nat and fast. The weather turned out to be nice for riding (m ild terrnpeatu res . but windy). b ut very cold for spe cta to rs and pit cre ws. Riders had to c ha nge armbands when they exchanged riders ,. -_ AVAILABL E AT Please send me ( I of those red T-shirts the sizes checked below. I've enclosed $4.95 for each WDCHTHTDIIG shirt . ( lSm. ( I Med . ( ILg. ) XL Indicate the numb er of shirts you need in the parentheses ,by the proper size. Name' _ ~ Results Address t . Tom Lillis. Dale Demaris: 2, Ted Lafon. Kirk Russel; 3. M ike Ritch ie. Si eve Doane; 4. Lvte Klensk i, Greg Firth; 5. Steve Robinson. Larry Baker: 6. Joe Cit y McCormic k, Allen Son osanti; 7. Gary Laoce. Dusty Coppage; 8. Char les Standefo rd. Jack Heeter; 9. John Cycle Ne.ws Products. P.O. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 Geelan. Jack Till man; 10. J . J ohnson. Terry Finstad . t'.1,{ ~ .. C 'I ' I"' ) _ S ta te Zip _ ~----------------------------------... - . -. -. - . - .- .- ~:- :' -:0 ~ ~ - \ - I 51 \ _-_ -. -. -~-_-_ -_ -:_ : .:. -

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