Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Clockwise from above) Dane Leimbach topped the 125cc claaa; Jeff Fredette took the 250cc laurels; Carl Cranke exploded to a 360cc Win; and Kevin laVoie plowed up the course for a 500cc win, try. This stuff is a bit fast for me, though ... " Both Terry and Zimmerman had signed up in Qualifier (not "B") class, and both would finish Sunday, 14th and 19th in class. respectively. For overall honors, it came down to the special tests - run both days on a grass-meadow scrambles circuit of about two miles lap length. (It might have been longer, but four miles of marker tape promised by "a major manufacturer" didn't materialize.) Each rider was to run three laps of the circuit, twice each day. As club workers related Saturday evening. some took three laps, some took two, one took one lap, and one masochist took fourl Times were adjusted accordingly. In flavor, ~ the special test was old· briginal grass-meadow scrambles, like 01' Dad used to ride. The dust, however, turned it into something nearly unreal. One could get an inkling of the conditions from 10 miles away; a huge brown pall, trailing away from the mountainside long before the clearing itSelf, was visible to the naked eye. In the meadow itself, it was like an old war movie. Bikes would come bounding downhill over stairstep whoops, and with each bound, a literal bomb· burst of 'dust would explode under the wheels. Anyone who fell off looked like they'd hit a land mine. You'd see a giant, boiling shellburst of dust, out of which a rider would come floundering, trying to scramble clear of the riders behind. Then he'd plunge back into the cloud to search for his bike, lying obscured somewhere in a crater all its own. LaVoie was spectacular, soaring over jumps on a comet-tail of dust; but Burleson was faster - fast enough to take it by 20 seconds after being four seconds down on Saturday. Jeff Fredette set fastest time of the day on a PE250 Suzuki, turning 397 seconds on Sunday's second test. That helped him win the 250cc "Q" class with a 1743 two-days total, which would have been good enough for third overall behind Burleson and LaVoie. (Fredette was the only one to break under 400 seconds for three laps). Cranke took the 350cc "Q" class after Brad Skreen dropped 1260 route points on Sunday_ Don Cichocki took the 175cc "Q" class after Saturday's leader Mike Rosso dropped by the wayside, Jay Riley leapfrogged Dale Warmuth in the 250cc "B" class. Wannuth's bike (a fonner KTM?) is marked by the beautifully-lettered "Wizzer" on both sides of the tank. Neat, Dale. When's it go into production? • Unofficial results OVERAlL: 1. RichlIrd Bu,lesoo Ihusl 1719. 500cc 0: 1. Kevin laVoie (KTMI1739; 2. Ken Maahs IHusl 1844; 3. Randy Mortin ISuzl; 1904; 4. S,..... VanWatermeulen (Mail 1939; 5. Max Markowitz ISWMI1975. 3SOcc W: 1. Carl C,enk. ISWM) 2335; 2. 8

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