Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

it a half mile from where it was supposed to be. Anyway the section following the check (which was thrown out by the club) was tight and fast and only two riders were able to stay within just one point of zero in it - Jeff Henning and Tom Webb. Curiou.sIy the Dirt Diggers didn't make the next check a tie·breaker to measure exactly how fast the riders were. In other words a rider could have been just a hair over one minute late while another rider might have been jllSt under two minutes late. They got the same .score even though the faster rider may have beat the other rider by 55 seconds or so. a considerable amount of time in a section that took only seven minutes to ride. Poor Harry Keast (Mai). His enduro clock gained five minutes on him and Harry burnt three checks by that amount before he figured out what happened. Harry is going to have to have a little more luck to defend his II Senior title. Another number one rider, who switched classes after taking the l!oocc title for the umpteenth year. was Jay Tullis who punched a hole into the cases of his factory XR 500 thumper and had it make some rather expensive sounding noises. An excellent ride was turned in by northern Califoniia's Charlie Morgan (Yam) for sixth overall, first A Senior dropping just 2:57. In at ninth overall. first B was Pasadena Suzuki's Mike Wilcox who uncrated his brand new PE 400 Suzuki on Saturday and broke it in during the enduro! Ann Mennell led all the ladies home, dropping just 11 points in a fine ride on her IT 400. Pam Lehmann (Hus) took first B Woman while Nancy Snidman (Yam) took C Woman honors. The finish was a little hairy for some riders as the Sierra Club again stuck their nose in where it doesn't belong and starting harassin~ the local sherriffs who were watchmg the riders come in on back farm roads into town. "Look officer, that motorcycle doesn't have a mirror, etc." Finally in self defense, the Sheriff had to pull over a bunch of riders. While some were detained for a brief period, apparently none got written up. The Dirt Diggers made the finish an observation check so none would be penalized. All in all, everyone had fun. While the enduro was lacking in its technical aspects, it was a very fun. enjoyable ride. The local townspeople were impressed by the behavior of the riders and the local steak house couldn't believe the business it did Saturd~y night. Let's hope like hell we can do it again next year. • o 00 0') ..... After two years of fighting by Dirt Diggers. the Red Garter was held in scenic Ballenger Canyon. Henning hauls to Red Garter Enduro vvin By Larry Langley NEW CUYUMA, CA, MAR. 16 After a two year absence and many, many long, hard hours of work and determination turned in by the Dirt Diggers M.e., the Red Garter Enduro was finally run. Jeff Henning (KTM), one of northern California's top enduro riders made the long drive down and edged out southern California's Tom Webb 18 (Kolbe CoAl for the overall win by just four seconds. The Red Garter is one of southern California's favorite enduros and many had given up hope that it would ever come off again due to the enviorn· mentalist's efforts to protect the elusive blunt·nosed leopard lizard, a species which many question even exist. or whether the motorcyclists really do any harm. This year the Dirt Diggers had their permit well in advance but 10 and behold, Wednesday before the event. the Sierra Club tried their usual court strategy. But this time it didn't work. The judge hearing the case nat told them that they had plenty of time well in advance to file, why did they wait until the very last minute with very questionable legal points? He refused to stop the enduro - chalk one up for our sidel However you can be sure that there is heavy pressure to deny a permit for next year. The Forest Service had a bunch of pollution monitoring devices set up in Ballenger Canyon to see how much foul air the filthy motorcycles spewed. Guess what powered the. devices? Gasoline generators. I hope they can tell the difference between motorcycle fumes, generator fumes, Forest Service truck fumes, Ventura County heli· copter fumes and play bike fumes. One device was sabotaged Saturday night when someone poured sugar in the gas tank of the generator. When the Forest Service det~rmined that only 160 people could camp in the Ballenger Canyon Campground at one time (which incidently had held 500 entrants in previous years), the Dirt Diggers had to find other land to camp on. Just a few miles north was the little town of New Cuyama with a big heart and a lot of understanding. They let the Dirt Diggers use a park smack dab right in the middle of townl Of course this meant no riding in camp or play riding but that was kinda welcome too. Riders had to push their bikes to the sound test which was run by the Forest Service to pass a rigid sound requirement. Many riders had to come back three or four times after modifying their exhaust systems to quiet them down. Funny, they never checked for spark arrestors. Saturday's weather had everyo.ne watching the sky as the cold, cloudy skies had all the making of rain or snow. Sunday dawned bright and clear much to the relief of all concerned. Riders again pushed their bikes to the starting line for a real dead engine stan. At an early 7 a.m. key time, the first riders fired up and were off through town and into the lush farming land which surrounds the town. A easy ride on roads over to Ballenger Canyon gave everyone a chance to loosen up before the off road sections. A check on the road to make sure everyone was keeping time was one minute off and was eventually thrown out due to clock failure. The 10·milt" sign was .4 mile off which turned out to be a fair indication of what was to come. While the Din Diggers are to be commended for their tireless efforts in staging the enduro, they really need to re-evaluate their people in charge of mileages, etc. The Red Garter was more than a 0·37 points paying event, it was also a California Golden State Championship Enduro along with being a AMA Regional Championship event. Since the Dirt Diggers have at least one former number one enduro rider in the club, I would think they would be able to get things straight. This is not to say I didn't enjoy the r1de; I have more fun at the Red Garter than 99% of all other enduras. In fact this event lured me out of semi· retirement because it if so much fun. The speeds on the first section were very reasonable with JUSt one short fast section of 36 mph to catch riders late if they made a mistake. A dummy check sign at the start of the .section kept most riders honest. The always heart· stopping ride along a six inch path on a narrow ridge demanded total concen· tration or it was a long way down and no way back up. After a loop up and back through Ballenger Canyon, the course took the riders down Highway 33 and into the little town of Venticopa for gas. The Dirt Diggers manned the gas pumps for those riders who didn't have their pit crews haul their gas out and "The Place" served food, refreshments and even a game of pool for those so inclined. The Diggers had a very healthy cooperation from the local communities and a portion of each rider's entry fee was donated to a local community youth organization. Good PRo After the break and gas, riders continued down the highway where knowledgable veterans knew they would turn up the big sandwash. Unfortunately for Ken Lewis, Jr. (Mai), his quest for the overall win came to a .screeching halt when his 440 Mako seized solid. putting the 11 rider out of the enduro. Ed Mazenko seized his Maico in the same spot but was able to continue on after letting it cool off. Many of the good riders were still on zero heading up the wash but that was soon to change. A check leading into the only really fast section of the enduro had riders trying to figure out why they were a minute off. A quick look at their spttdos and the check sign computed a' difference of .5 mile. , .. oops. The mileage demon strikes again. The Dirt Diggers claimed a mileage marker was placed before the check but it wasn't there afterwards. If it had been there, it would have made things OK at the check but the mileage marker would have been off the same amount and many riders would have probably missed it since they weren't looking for Unofficial Results o OVERAlL: 1. Jeff Henning, 1:19 CKTMI: 2. Tom Webb. 1:23.IC·A); 3. Gr.n - . . . 2:26. IDMG Mail; 4. Trocy WlIIt8rI. 2:26, (~; 5. Bob Broolca. 2:34. (Yom); 6. C _ M",_. 2:37. IYom!; 7. Fred Hovel. 2;38. (~; B. DlMd Ilertrom. 2:«1. IHUIl; 9. Mike Wilcox. 2:46. (SuzI; 10. John Slillmon. 3:21. (HUll. Mor_. A SENIOR: 1. C _ 2:37. (Yom!; 2 . _ Smith. 3:42, (CAl; 3.'-~.3:53, (KTMI. A OPEN: 1. J

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