Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126405
.. , II " II Desert Hotline ~ t (j') l' (j') 1""""4 .M 0.. < Randy Bowman narrowly splits the rider/machine gap at CRC. Amateur Jeff Matthews takes DesertSquirrels HS By Joyce May RED MO UNT AI N , CA , MAR . 25 Heavywe ight Amateur J eff Matthews surprised the AMA 0 ·37 desert racers by taking the overall win at the Desert Squirrels hare scrambles. - 30 The race st arted right on time with the Amateurs ' and Experts heading down th e va lley to the bomb , th en swinging back, trailing along the hill s towa rds Trona Road. Chuck Miller, who had driven ha lf the night to get to the race location from Mex icali where he and Bruce Ogilvie had earned the overall SCORE win , had the lead at the bomb with Terry Davis, Greg Thomas, Matthews, Max Eddy, and Jeff Fries close behind. It was a 40 -minute wait for the Novices and Beginners as the Rescue 3 crews combed the bomb-run looking for injuries . Finally t h e banner dropped for th e second start and it was total chaos. Two pie platers were the leaders at the bomb. Although Miller led it through the first check and was all set to repeat his performance of the previous day , his efforts came to an abrupt halt when he came flying through the air and landed on a rock, cracking his cases . Matthews was close behind followed by Lee Scheffers and Davis , both Expert Heavyweights . Three 250cc Experts were next Kern Park, Max Eddy and Greg Thomas , all out for blood. Second Amateur Heavyweight was Jeff Fries. The Novice leader was 250cc rider Joe Zuidema followed by two more 250s , Steve Kaunke and J im Draves. Art Bartle was the first "C" Novice followed by Heavyweight Tony Leyrer. The Beginner class was led by Don Solberg and Gary Ames. Off the first loop and into the pits came Matthews, piloting a Yamaha . It 's been a long time since an Amateur has won a D·37 race, so most everyone figured Jeff would make a mistake on the second loop and lose the lead. Scheffers (who won overall last .fall while still an Amateur) was next in for gas, followed by hard-charging Park, whose jaw had' been- 56 swollen' from having wisdo m teeth pulled that it wasn' t u n til Su nday morning tha t he could fina lly get his hel met on . He p robably tho ught that if he rode fast en~)Ugh he co u ld get awa y from the pam. Bot h Park a nd Eddy had moved a head of Dav s wit h Bru ce j ones close i behin d Davis a nd.closing in. Christensen , Mark Zoller , and Steve Su b ith , all 250s , were ba ttling for position wh ile #501 pulled into the pits a head of Rich Schumaker. Zuidema and Kaunke continued to blaze the Novi ce trail as they pulled into th eir p its. Draves was not far behind. " Bartle was still the Novice "C" leader with th e 250s domin a tin g the top 10 Novices . They included Bill Lovitt, Craig Freeman, J ack Knox , Bob Bauman a nd Da ve Gordon with Heavyweight Leyrer sandwiched in between. The ra ce was on a really "fu n" course with a little bi t of everyt hing thrown in , while there were still enough smooth spots to grab a minute or so of rest. Senior 250cc rider Bob' Webb , on his brand new b right orange Can-Am , was out to finally beat his brother Tom , a Senior "C" biker on a Suzuki PE 175 . In the pits , however , it was Tom ahead of Bob again. The Beginners came off the first loop to their fin ish line. Early leader Solberg was nowhere in sight. The first honors went, instead , to Ames. Bill Holmes had moved int o third overall, first "C", followed by 1486. Next Beginner to take the checkered was Dan Powell (250cc) followed by "C" b ikers Bob Bowers, Jim Mattox , and Steve Sixberry. Bill Mattox was the first Trailb ike . Eddy, running fourth overall , was pushing hard on the last section of the second loop when the axle nut came off his rear wheel, terminating his bid for points in this race. Matthews shocked the skeptics as he held onto the lead across the finish . Park had moved past Scheffers when Lee got off on the second loop, taking second overall , first 250cc Expert, with Scheffers back on his bike and not far behind in third overall, first Heavyweight Expert. Davis was next to take the checkered followed by 250cc Expert Zoller. " Schumaker kept it turned on all the way , finishing in the first "C" spot , 10th overall, with Senior Lightweight II ("C") speedster Gary Charters, Sr. not olibii heels" - - - . , .- Kenny Upp took the overall win in the CRC Boothill hare Icrambles after the leaders were disqualified for course infractions. First Amateur Lightw eight was J eff H ylton followed by second Amat eur H e a vywe ight #589 a n d seco n d Lightweight #37 3x. In at 15th overall spo t was Anaheim Husky's John Foster , taking t he second spot in cla ss. Se n ior and f irst Se cond H ea vyweight was " Do ctor" Morris Norman. First Exp ert Trailbike Cl iff Thomas, finished 19th overall while first Am ateur "C " was Paul Krause followed very closely , only two bikes " back, by Tim Foster. First Lightweight Sen ior Expert honors went to George Zuber. In the 44th overall slot was the first woman , Trudy Beck . Two bikes behind Trudy was first Amateur bike , Dan Theel. Kelly Kline fini shed in the second girl spot with Lori Farmer in th ird . " Lynette Zuber , Kathy Hopkins , and Lorni Rebec had a super good ride as they diced for pos itions almost all through the second loop. First Heavyweight Amateur Senior honors went to Bob Jones while Hal Hallgath took the first Lightweight Amateur Senior spot , followed closely b y Senior Expert " C" biker AI Guzman. Zuidema hung in there and took first overall Novice honors wh ile Alan Dryden was only two bikes behind in the second overall Novice , spo t. Swallow and Bob Miller finished first and second Novice Heavyweight while Zollinger took over first Novice " C" rider. Darrell Cotton had the first Senior Novice honors. Upp bounces back " at CRC Boothill hare scrambles By Terry Rezek RAND MOUNTAINS , CA, MAR. 18 Begorrah! 'Twas the weekend of Sa int Pat's Da y and t he old sad of the Mojave was sportin ' a fin e man tl e of green . Sunday morning sawall manner of out la ndish Iy garbed leprecha uns lea pin' hither a nd yon ac ross th e moor sea rchin ' for the el usive go ld in th e California Ra cin g Club's Boothill hare scra m bles. Th e O 'Y am aha s wa s engagin' the Husqdoons and th e Mul varnas in a bit of picnic froli c. 0 ' course. in Ireland , a pi cnic is a body contact sp ort . Oc ca sionall y, o n e of these high sp ir ited lads would leap "u po n the ground in a high sp eed search for a shamrock. If they encountered one of the California kind with the prickly stems , they'd like as not leap up just as quickly. The Expe rt and Amateur leprechauns got off the line at 10 a.m . Some evil wood spirit put a hex on the ambulance wh ich delayed its arrival. Consc ious of rider safet y, CRC officials would not start th e race until - the ambulance was present. When things did get underway, the effects of Saturday's light rains were visible , i. e .. things actually were visib lel The lack of dust does not deter the determined desert racer from wandering as far afield as possible. Some riders showed a definite aversion to the marked course until a narrowing canyon forced them into it . This is just plain stupid! This area is poxed with mineshafts and the few seconds gained by such blind chargings m ight be spent falling hundreds of feet to the bottom of a vertical shaft. The first rider through the area of marked course which I was watching was pie-plater, Pl4. (An unfortunate lack of communication between me and the records keepers prevents me from identifying any but the earned number rid ers. We are working on" ways to avoid this.) The omnipresent Morgan Malocco was already applying pressure; an apparently effective strategy since I waited at that same spot until the next lap was half over and did not see P14 come back