Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

NORTHERN DATEUNE o 00 0') ~ Thomas Gorman takes 8 cool plunge into the infamous Stony Creek. The Grlzzley was a real Bear By Rex McClellan Photos by George McCall FOUTS SPRINGS, CA, NOV. 25 Muddy hills and deep water crossings were the order of the day for the Richmond Ramblers seventh annual Grizzley Bear 52 One Day ISDT type trial. Rain on Thursday and then again on Saturday threatened to cause postponement of the event but it cleared up Saturday evening and everyone looked forward to a good ride on Sunday. This event always brings out an incredible mixture of riders. Everyone, from ISDT veterans to speedway champions, seems to show up for what some nonhern California riders consider the most fun ride of the year. Some of the better known riders were Six Day'en Carl Cran\c.e, Chris c..ner, Ken Maahs and Team Mexico's Dr. Fred Cameron. Class C people were well represented by the likes of Men Lawwill, Paul Bostrom, John Gennai and Rick Hocking. Speedway star Mike Faria was also in attendance. Top District 56 enduro riders Rob Sutliff, Jeff Henning, Matt Cullins, Dave Olson and Dale Warmuth came out for the fun. Many motOCTO&Sen and trail riden who don't like the time keeping of enduros also make a point of nding the Bear each year. Inclement weather forced the club to cut out about 12 miles of the fint loop; some of the hills were just not makeable. The hills they left in were hard enough and had many riden pushing through the clay mud and rocks. Muddy downbills were also big sources of concern, especially for the later riden. In some places the mud was so thick and gooey that you had to tum the gas on to go down steep hills. Chains, sprockets, footpegs and wheels became so clogged that some riden had to stop and clean the mud off in order to keep going. The mud was bad enough, but the real problem for most riders was water. Stony Creek was running full and fast. At times there were as many as 40 riden on the far bank trying to revive drowned motors. Not only the depth, but also the current had to be overcome. It felt rather strange being carried downstream when you were pointing straight ahead. After crossing the creek riders rode a loop and then came back to do it all over again. Pumping a bike out once is bad enough, but having to do it twice is demoralizing to say the least. Many people ended their day's ride right there. This was unfortunate because they would have really enjoyed a hill that followed soon thereafter. After crossing the pavement. the course went up a hill where the Forest Service had posted a sign saying, "Tractor Way, not suitable for wheeled traffic." If you got a clean shot at it. it was rideable but usually there were fallen riden blocking all the good lines. This meant you either went down and staned all over again, or you got off and pushed. Pushing was no fun since the hill was a sort of blue clay which was difficult to stand up on, much less walk or push a motorcycle up. Between the wa ter crossings and this hill many people were late to the check at gas. This was too bad because half the fun of riding these events is stopping at checks and talking to fellow riders and your pit crews. The second loop started along the same trail as the first, went up to the helispot, and then went straight instead of turning left as the previous loop had done. It then went up to Crackerbox Ridge and rejoined the first loop for awhile before it turned right off toward Goat Mountain. This over lapping of loops caused confusion for some riden, and was made worse by a flagman who didn't make it to the point where the two loops split. Riden were riding backwards on the course and some even staned riding the fITSt loop again. Many riden were late into the third check and the check should have been adjusted to compensate. For some riders it was the only check they were late to all day. From there the course went out Love Lady Ridge, turned back to Potato Hill, then back into the stan finish area. By the "luck" of the draw, pre race favorite and overall winner Carl Cranke was on minute one along with Paul Bostrom. Not having to deal with slower riders is an advantage, but this early minute may have led to some other problems for Carl. One really deep, swift water crossing was located just after the fint check and Cranke and Bostrom arrived at the creek together. Bostrom deferred to the more experienced trail rider, Cram, and allowed him to try the waten first. Cranke made it almost to the far bank - but not quite. Carl found a deep hole. lost his bike, and had to swim to shorel His totally submerged bike was recovered downstream where the strong current had carried it. After pulling it to shore, Carl spent about IS minutes getting it going again: he had to wring out the air filter, disassemble the carbo and pump water out of the motor. He probably would have liked to wring himse1f out tool When he got going he had to really fly - and he did, making it into the next check only one minute late, still in his grace period so that he lost no points. This was a check that very few people were more than two minutes early to and most were late that's hauling. Cranke was riding a brand new SWM 570 with zero miles on it at the stan. It has now been baptized. Special tests this year consisted of three cross country tests along the course, an acceleration-brake test, a grass track and an optional tire change. The acceleration-brake t~t consists of riding from a standing start 100 yards to a pylon where the rider pivots and accelerates back to a limed in box adjacent to the start line. The bike and rider must come to a stop in the box and time is not stopped until both of them are inside the box. Many riders overshoot the line and have to drag their bike back into tbe box. This year Cranke got his bike to stop, but he fell off and had to scramble back into the box. The grasstrack test, laid out by Dick Mann, was in the same location but was longer than last year and very tight. Anyone who could change a tire in less than 10 minutes had their score reduced anywhere from five points for 10 minutes up to 40 points for four minutes or under. Cranke was fastest, changing his tire in two minutes and 45 seconds. Although the tire change is optional. if you really want to fmish well it is actually a must. Many riden believe it's unfair that the top rider can improve his already tOP score and thus eliminate other riders from Gold who must score within 15% of him. They believe it should be used only to help you move up - not to place a Gold out of the reach of some riders. This year Hi Point sponsored tbe Grizzley Bear, in conjunction with the Richmond Ramblen. and offered contingency prizes to riden with top scores in each of the special tests. Rick Hocking was tops in the accelerationbra\r.e test. Cranke was fint in the tire change and John Gennai was the winner of the grasstrack. The Gooley Bear is a truly unique event DOt only because of its fannat. but because it brings t ~ a broad spectrum of riders that otherwise would never compete together. All you motocrossen out there should ride it next year. Bring along your friends who flattrack and trail ride and see how you do against DOt only younehes but also against the mduro and trials riders. Its got something for everyone and it's a lot of fun. Tremblay heads up snowcross at Kiona By The Squisher KIONA. WA. NOV. 25 A small bunch of hardcore motocrossers braved the cold today for a chance to race on one of the few tracks operating in this area in the winter. A snowfall during th~ previous week kept the dust down and most of the track was in excellent shape with only a couple of muddy spots. Only five classes were run. with the Opens first, followed by the 250, 100 and I 25cc·s. Minis, and Old Timers. All the classes had Amateurs and Pros mixed in, so it was very difficult to tell who was actually leading each class. Shae McMahan (Mai) led the fint Open class moto followed by Don Lentz (Yam) and Dave Parker (Suz). The fint two riders took a commanding lead with Lentz eventually passing for the win. Lentz was the only Pro riding in the Open class but he was really finding his hands full of McMahan who was in the Intermediate class. Dave Parker holeshot the second moto with McMahan close behind. Lentz fell early in the moto and spent most of the race trying to catch up to the leaden. Shae moved past Parker to take the overall win with Lentz sneaking into second on the last lap. Brett Tremblay (Suz) was never headed in the 125cc class as he won the Pro class despite strong pressure from Art Key (Suz). Key got the break he needed in the first moto when a lapped rider slowed down Tremblay on the last lap. Art was able to pull up even but superior horsepower let Brett win the drag race to the fmish. A second moto fall by Key gave Tremblay an easy victory with Rich Sturtevant (Kaw) taking second overall with 5·2 scores with Key third O\·erall. Dan Little (Kaw) was an easy victor in the 125cc Intermediate class. Ed Wickward (Kaw) made the long trip down from Spokane, as did several riders, and proceeded to win both motos in the 250cc class. Ed was riding the C class but beat all the Briden, also, for insurance. Ed McLaughlin made it a Kawasaki sweep by winning the B class over David Wolkenhower (Hon). Kiona will shut down now for the winter with no more races scheduled as of this time. Look for a lot of racing in this area in the spring as several tracks should be putting on a lot ofraces. • Results 125 PRo: 1. a.et. Tremblav 15uz); 2. Rich 5tu_. IKaw); 3. Art Kev 15uzl. 125.NT: 1. Dan LittlelKal. OPEN PRO: 1. Don Lentz (vaml. OPEN S: 1. Shoe McMahan lMaiI; 2. 0 - _ . 15uzl. 250 C: ,. Ed Wicl

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