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
...... .... I-< 0.. < Jack Zink. amid awards. welcomed motorcyclists to his ranch. (Above) Billy Geier readies for his start at the wet Zink National Enduro. (Below! John Fero headed for shelter when the situation became hopeless. Deluge washes out John Zink National Enduro By Jeanie Flippin SK]ATOOK. OK , MARCH 18 Iowa Can-Am riderJohn Martin won the John . Zink National Enduro amid torrential rains that caused the 125 mile run to be called short at 56 miles . 44 Another Noah's Ark story, th e rai n started about 4:30 a .m. After the first few riders left . the sky opened up and dumped about four inches of ra in within the next fou r hours. The run had been laid out for bad wea ther conditions. but not this bad. Tulsa Trail Ride rs' refe ree Vern Street went out after the ra in started andchanged the third loop, but his efforts-were in vain as the riders cou ldn't ford the creeks on the second loop. Those riders with early numbers were able to get across the creeks before they became too deep and too swift . Martin started on number , 12. Second place overall Texan Perry Dav is on a Maico started on number seven . Both Martin and Davis both dropped all their points, 11 and 13 respectively. between the fourth and fifth checks. The only AA rider to finish in the top six overall, Bill Geier (KTM) . starred on number 30, dropping 16. Fourth overall and top BlackJack Circuit rider Paul Stoddard (KTM) dropped 18 riding on Number 14. Only 43 of the 440 riders made the fifth check where the run was called. Ten of the 43 were the AA riders. Only Don Sanford of that class stopped before the fifth check. Back from a knee injury, Ted Worrell zeroed the first four checks and was ahead in the AA class . Bu t . between the fourth and fifth check he dropped 34 points because of the water. Except for the AA riders, a riding number later that 24 almost guaran· teed that the rider would not get to the fifth check. There were eight excep· tions . Seventh overall Earl Schnell, 23 points, rode on number 40 with Suzuki's George Peck , 26 points, and Bob Sutton, fourth in the Open B class with 60 po ints . Both the Senior winner John Dennis. number 26. and 125·A winner Rust y Reynaud , number 31 made the fifth check. The last rider to get to the fifth check was Greg Shelley on number 53 . When he arrived he was onl y eight minutes from houring out . The Overall B rider and 250B winner was Scott Ripley with a score of 18 at the fifth check. The award for enthusiasm has to go to the 170 Women and C class riders. These riders started last after waiting one and one-half hours in the rain , then , starting in the middle of the hardest ra in , the starter reminded them that it was a dead engine start. By the time the C class and Women riders reached the second check the creeks were-uncrossable-and thqo-we-re' prevented from riding any further . For even th e ea rly rid ers to cross th e flood ed creeks required two people to walk a bike ac ross; even so, bikes were washe d d ownstream b y the swift wat er. Ride rs were stra ne d all along the course between cree k crossings whe re t hey could no t conti n ue or go back, . or th eir bikes were simply drowned ou t. No t only d id the .rain cause trouble along th e cou rse. but the gas sto p and pa rking area were rive rs. The person nel at on e of th e checks. alo ng with 28 riders. were stranded for five hours until the creeks went down . The Rep eaters Radio Club pro vided communication between : th e creeks and the finish and th e Tulsa Four Wheelers rescued stran d ed riders and bikes. O ne of their bigges t jobs was to tow' vehicles ou t of the parking lot. Even Jack Zink got into the ac tion . Driving a dune buggy. he lead groups of riders around the cr eeks and back to th e pits . The assistance of these people proved to be invaluable. Without their help the sweep crews' job would have taken much longer. Jerry Scott and Vern Street scored this . event on a mobile computer which. under ordinary circumstances, could have cut the scoring to 30 minutes. But because the plastic scorecards were made useless by the rain. the scoring had to be done from the backup sheets, which took much longer. Results OVERAll: John M artin AA: Billy Grier 11 61: Jet Fredone 12 Rick Munyon 71; (28); Bob Popiel (29); Oiew Smith (30); George Peck 132); Hotl Jo hnson (34): Ted Worrell 1 34); M ike Hannon 140 R. Burleson 1411. ); 125A: Rus Reynoud 1 48); Ken Brewer 1871_ 11); P. Stoddord (18); Eer r 250A: John Martin 1 Schnel l (23) ; Pout Kellner (24): Jerry Steward 1391; J. At chinson (42); Robert Hackson (65). ; OPEN A: Perry o.vis 11 31 Kronenwener (19); Larry Ross (38) ; R. Caplinger (44); Greg Shelley (Bl 1. 125B: Ken Stewert (25). 175B: 1. Larry Bennen (33) : 2 Ten Hermon (70) ; 3. LDParks 175 1. OPEN B: Jey Hutson (23); DlMd Allen (45); Jacll Carollo 1551; Bob Sunon 1 60). 250B: Scott Ripley 11 81; Tom Thompson 1291; Robert Ripley 1371; Dick May 155). SENIOR: John Dennis (28); Bill Kurth (54). 1 OPEN C: Har Compton 14; M ike Benley 161; Chea. EvenalB); David Conley lSI. ); ().200c: John Ford (3); Jeff Berry 16 Poul Hugh.. 16 Darel Haston 19). ); Black Jack Enduro Circuit Awards Banquet By Jeanie Flippin SKIATOOK, OK , MAR. 17 The Tall Chief Lodge on the John Zink Ranch was the site of the 178 Black Jack Enduro Circuirt Awards Banquet. In addi- tion to 300 .riders and their families , the banquet was a trended by Suzuki , Husky. KTM , Kawasaki and Maico T eam riders. BJEC Chairman Earl Schnell introducedJack link who welcomed all the motorcyclists to the ranch. link said he was happy to ha ve the annual John l ink AMA National Enduro on the ranch each yea r because he likes " d oe r~;" " An d motorcyclists are doers. "Su perH unky" Rick Siernan, editor ' of Dirt Bike magazine, was the next speaker. Sieman d iscussed the need for motorcyclists to work together through the system to prevent any mo re riding land closures. The " P ha n tom Duck," Louis McKe y. discussed his confrontations with the BLM in California. McKey feels the government's position "is that you and ] can't enjoy riding on our land. We need to let them know that we are not satisfied with the way they are managing our land." National Enduro Champion for the last five years , Dick Burleson, handed out the awards to the 52 BJEC winners for the 1978 season. Electro Helmets. custom painted with the winner's • name and the BJEC emblem, and ' plaques designed and donated by Jerry Scott were awarded. Ernie Walker received a standing ovation when he collected the Overall BJEC Championship traveling trophy. Walker also was a member of the number one BJEC Team - Donnell's Suzuki Enduro Team. Don Dowdy, Steve Lewis and Steve Snell completed the best team. Earlier in the day, Walker announced that he is taking some time off from riding and will not compete on the circuit in 1979. Rusty Reynaud was the ]978 Overall B Champion. Reynaud also received the Frank Dixon Memorial Award for the outstanding B rider, Receiving Husqvarna cash awards for their achievements while riding a Husky were: Rusty Reynaud $350 , Overall B; Earl Schnell $200, Oklahoma State Champ; Clell Furnell $100, Open A winner ; Wayne ' Beindorf $75, second Open B; and Lloyd Anderson $100. Senior Champ. The R .M . Wheeler National put on by the Tulsa Enduro Riders Assn. was voted the Best Enduro of the Year. Don Paschal won the drawing for the Vern Street-Hit Point Computer. For the last two years Street has donated a computer for this drawing. The proceeds from the drawing help pay the BJEC riders' entry fees at the .BJ EC versus Texas Enduro Circuit competition. Results in Results Section. •