Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ IN I-< Q) ..c o .., u o Diltriet 'S7 rider Mike Godfrey dropped eight finished second. Mike Hennon took his second National win thia year with e ICOnt of six. AMA National Championship Enduro Series Mean Green tops Double Crossers Cal State 100 By Larry Langley Photos by Christie Smith LUCERNE VALLEY. CA, OCT. 7 Team Kawasaki's Mike Hannon propelled a factory-backed KDX400 to his second National Enduro win of the year as he took the overall win at the Double Crossers M.C. annual desert bash. While most of the AA riders went back East for a conflicting national Team Maico's • • Don Sanford and Team Honda 5 12 Rick Munyon showed .up to challenge Hannon. However, It Willi a local District 57 rider who provided th~ lanky ~wuUi rid~r with th~ closest competition. Mik~ Godfr~y riding out of Wh~~1smith Maico, on. a 25~cc Magnum E, d~p~ Just ~I~ht ~mts to Hannon s SIX to mak~ It a tight contest. Th~ n~xt best sco~ was 14. Munyon's throttl~ stuck wid~ open on his trick factory XR250 fourstrok~, and h~ bail~d off in hopes of a ~i-controll~ crash. Sanford had a carbur~tor boot split in th~ last section; h~ nu~d his 400cc Maico into th~ finish sucking air which cau~d th~ bik~ to run very I~an. Don was v~ry lucky not to ~iz~ it. H~ also ~urn~d two chc:cks which hun ~s Imag~ as a tlm~k~per but still managed to finish sixth ov~rall. Third ov~raU went to Tracy Walt~rs on his n~ KDX400 Kawasaki. Tracy had ~n doing ~xtr~m~ly w~1I in th~ 250cc claas but changed to th~ Open class successfully in winning th~ A Open trophy. Fourth overall was KoI~ Honda/Can-Am sponso~ Tom W~bb on his "Grut Pumpkin" 570 Qualifi~r. Tom ~ th~ last 20 miles with no ~ar bru~ which cost him a shot at second overall sin~ ~ had ~n ti~ with Godf~ bdo~ his m«hanical w~. Nort~ California's Dav~ Bertram vmtu~ down south to try his hand in th~ d~n and cam~ away with a fifth overall, anoth~r high National Enduro finish for t~ Husky rid~r. Th~ 100mil~ cou~ prov~ to ~ chall~nging and v~ry tiring on th~ rid~rs. Str~ngthsapping heat in th~ 90 d~~ range contribut~d to th~ high~r scores than ~xp~ct~d by th~ sponsoring club. Th~ cour~ was w~1l mark~d with both arrows ·and ribbon. Whil~ th~ y~llow ribbon u~ wasn't th~ highest visabl~, it was diff~r~nt from what ~~ryon~ ~I~ is using, which can cau~ probl~ms in th~ highly-u~d ar~a. Th~ first loop was som~hat chall~nging in t~rrain for the C rid~rs, but ~nsible s~ averages combin~ with w~lI-plac~ r~ts mad~ for a high finish~r rat~. Whil~ results ar~ not y~t availabl~ for th~ Band C rid~rs, it appears that th~ w~~ som~ C z~ro SCO~ r«ord~d. Th~ A and AA riders got to rid~ th~ first 18 miles of th~ second loop all by th~msdves. Most of th~ loop was a r~ run of th~ first loop but at much high~r s~ av~rages. Whil~ on~ ~ion on th~ first loop was an ~asy 12 mph, th~ second loop had th~ sam~ section at 24 mph. N~esa to say, molt of th~ rid~rs drop~ points. At th~ md of th~ sec.tion, a t~ mph ~on follow~ by a 20-minut~ ~ had many of th~ rid~rs wond~ring just what fa~ them. It t~ out to ~ "Baby Hu~ Canyon," a previously·~ ~ion (back in 1974) that was a horrmdous bottlm«k ~n. With just th~ A and AA riders, it wasn't too bad, and sinc~ th~ resa aJlow~ most to catch up with at I~ast a f~ minutes rest, it didn't tu~ th~ wind out of too many sails. Ask~ why th~ ran it, a club memb~r ~Ii~; ':Just to tir~ th~ rid~.rs out, and b«a~ w~ thought it was ~ilt". Lots of pros and cons on that. V~ry f~w rid~rs could n'de th~ir bikes through, most had to g~t off and pull/lift th~ir bikes ov~r th~ huge rocks which block~ th~ path down through th~ canyon floor. Mike Hannon r~portedly rod~ down/ov~r ~v~rything. much to th~_amaz~ment of th~ struggling rid~rs trying to cope with just surviving. Bad luck award ~ to P~t~ Smith who has b~n t~aring up th~ S~nior class this y~ar wh~n his g~arbox I~t go just six mil~ from th~ finish. Harry K~ast (Wh~lsmith Maico) took advantage and pick~d up th~ Smior win in spit~ of suff~ring WIth th~ flu aU w~k. Harry currmtly holds th~ ~nior 11 pla~ and knows h~ has to ~at p~ Smith th~ rest of th~ y~ar to hav~ a chanc~ in retaining his ranking. Another points I~ad~r, this tim~ in th~ 125cc class, Countdown Engin~ring's J~rry Counts got just past th~ ~t after th~ tough canyon wh~ his cylinder nuts 100RIl~ and th~ bik~ quit. Jerry didn't have th~ right wrmch to ~ abl~ to tightm th~ nuts so had to ~ towed in. jerry's competition for th~ 125« points I~ad, Doug TuJlis on an XR125 Honda four· stroIt~ had chain problems but still fmish~, 20 minutes 1at~ at ~ finish. Dou,'s dad Jay Willi worn out and adrnltt~ th~ kid was running off and I~aving him until tM chain problmu. Looks lik~ ~ will ~ a Tullis on a Honda for many ~ars to com~. Larry Woodruff had a flat ~ on his ClkJ fram~ Yamaha, took off 55 minut~ lat~ on th~ second loop and caught up to his rninut~ by th~ md. A.C. Ballm was out on his ~ 1980 Automatic Husky and mad~ t~ top 15 ~~n with a coupl~ of tirn~k~ping errors. Since the Doubl~ Crossers ar~ a v~ry small D-57 club, another small club pitch~d in to help. Th~ small but mighty Pit Cr~ M.C. donat~d a hug~ amount of tim~ scouting, marking and ~erything ~I~ that ~ into putting on an enduro. The two clubs combin~d to put on a ·w~1I run, chall~nging National Enduro and ~~n managed to scout up som~ t~rrain that hadn't b~n ~d for quit~ a while. e

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