Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; "" I: ,. -•••••- Desert Hot· I - ,. -, -, " , " -.-, "., • , • W'W' W' t IAbove) Norman Larsen took overall CRC Beginner honors.IBelow) Lee Ballenger and Marge Reeser were married the night before the race. Hibbard was not about to back off; there's always that chance for a break. The break went the other way , however, and Hibbard came up with a flat rear tire just after check one on the second loop . Gary Davies had been tagging Hibbard all the way as had Gary Mulconery and Rick Jones, The four had been within 30 seconds of each other throughout the race and now were able to capitalize on Hibbard's misfortune to drop him to fifth at the finish . During this battle, Upp kept cruising and finished with another first overall a full five minutes ahead of second place, Troy Moore grabbed the lead in the Novice race and was not catchable, although Bill Meloserdoff and Rod Lacey gave it a grand try. Their biggest race was with each other but Meloserdoff was just that much faster today and took second 250cc Novice and Lacey had to settle for third. Tom Aufrance took first Open Novice. Tom is a transplant from Ohio with a brief stop in Arizona where he and MaryKay , his wife, were introduced to desert racing, Apparently they learned their lessons well, for I note that MaryKay also took a first in her class. Except for the battle for second among the leaders, almost everyone who took an early lead in their class was able to maintain it . This was also true in the Beginner class, where Norman Larsen had about 30 seconds over Ray Zylstra at the quarter mark and held that position to the end. Scott Colbert had to fight for his first place in the Mini class because new racer #347 was determined to replace that high number with a lower one. Colbert's usual opponent, Steve Crawford, had more than his share of the infamous Lucerne Luck and struggled in with a flat front tire and a totalled rear brake. A desert wedding ,By Terry Rezek ,', , .. LUCERNE VALLEY, CA', APR. 22 : ", 30 Kenny Upp took advantage 'of a 's uperb start to take command of this race and continue his ' hot .riding for yet another win : , The start was deceiving, smooth and flat -out fast for more than five miles. There was the usual Lucerne powder dust but the area was broad enough that it was possible to fan out and gas it . Just as you settled into a fast frame of mind, they stopped being nice and got nasty . Narrow trails through volcanic rocks , whoop-de-does you could lose Anaheim Stadium in, super· tight little canyons that combined the rocks and the whoops, all comprised the next 10 miles. As you pulled up out of an ugly rock wash, you could see the pits below in Johnson Valley and only • ·.v ,JI ·"" .. - ~ Upp masters,CRC Pucker Bunny HS ,JI about four miles away . You've only gone 15 miles, but it felt like 50 and those pits looked so welcoming. Forget it! You don't get off the hook that easy. Back into the rocks for some more toe-busting. Once more out of the rocks and heading for Bessemer Mine Road, and you can see the pits again, this time to your left. Aha, they got you dreaming again. Now you cross the road and enter that spacy look ing ' rock pile that someone called Apollo Rocks, probably because it looks like it belongs on the moon. The chief feature of this section was a cute little downhill canyon that was so tight your feet might have been better on the seat than on the pegs. From here on home was another road race section - without the road but just as fast. On the first lap , it took Upp 25 minutes to cover the first 15 miles . Since that included five miles of 90 mph flats, you know there was 10 miles of mean country out there. Upp had a full minute lead on Heath Hibbard by the time the race was a quarter .over . What a beautiful night for a wedding! A black velvet canopy with studs of stars and an occasional meteorite covered the bride, groom and about 50 good friends. Here, in the middle of God 's favorite playground, Marge Reeser of Clean Sweep M.C. and Lee Ballenger of Half Fast M.C . chose to combine their lives, their clubs and their passion for desert racing. What a way to put a team togetherl The day was fraught with drama and suspense. Earlier. the bride's sister and a companion were injured in a dune buggy accident. The desert people banded together and got the injured off to a hospital. At about the same time, two riders who were out enjoying the spring array · of wildflowers , got lost and ran out of gas. A racer, practicing the course, found them and relayed the word to the pits. The BLM ranger was present, went out in his four-wheel and returned them safely to the pits . The play, however, had not yet reached the final scene. Theminister, who was on his way from Ventura after performing an early evening service, miscalculated the desert distances and ran out of gas. Once more to the rescue came the desert people. The minister was located and brought to the pits just slightly after midnight and the wedding finally came off; technically a day late but it mattered not to the bride and groom and the loyal friends who kept vigil with them and celebrated their marriage. Not too much celebrating, though , race day comes with the dawn and even the newlyweds were going to be ready. Congratulations , Marge and Lee Ballenger. Results OPEN EX: t , Gary Devi..; 2. Rick Jones; 3, Heath Hibbard. OPEN AM : 1, Gary Mulconery; 2. Bill Conger; 3. Ken Hansing . OPEN NOV: t. Tom Aulrance; 2. Bob Jahrmark. OPEN BEG: t . Ray Zylstra ; 2. Mike Stanford; 3, Bradley Boelman . 250 EX: 1. Kenny Upp; 2. T. Nething. 250 AM: 1. P. Vanderbyl; 2. B. Vanderbyi; 3. Ron Jordan. 250 NOV : 1. Troy Moore; 2. Bill Meloserdoff; 3. R. Lacey. 250 BEG: 1. Norman Larsen; 2. Glen Plummer; 3. GavinBrown. 1).200 EX: 1. M . Smiley; 2. S. Oavies; 3. C. Roberts . 1).200AM: 1. L Crawford: 2. K. Case. 1).200NOV: 1. R. Hooper; 2. J . Braasch; 3. J , Sarl

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