Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126471
outhern Nevada-Southern Cali t ra ffic jam a t th e firs t co rner. T he co urse was mu ch the same as la t year ; out of to wn part th e ce metary , east up the ca nyon, through fa rm ya rds and past and sometimes barnyards , through ponds a nd la kes a nd a ro und a flat -topped m ountain ca lled La Mesa , The ro ute ba ck in in cluded ma ny m iles of ridge and roll er runn ing . Very , very fast but with occ asional su rprises, as in wandering cows a nd ranc h traffi c. Thi rt y-three mi les of this and you re -entered town through the low re nt d ist rict and went righ t into the pit a rea a nd b ac k out. Mor gan Ma locco came back to Baja after a yea r's absence a nd still found th ings to his liking . Com p laini ng a bo u t being out of shape a nd ad m itti ng to a tendency to daydream when leading, he nevert heless had fu ll co ntro l of this ra ce fro m beg inning to end . From a fourth row start , Ma locco ju m ped q ui ckly to the lead a nd hel d it in spite of a wasted tire and a near crash in th e big ro llers of th e home stretc h . At the end of the first lap , Mal occo had about 30 seco n ds over Scott Atc h ison and Er ic Graves, who were close together a nd p ush ing each ot he r towa rds Malocco' s seemingly secure position. O n the second lap , Graves go t by Atchison a nd the two of them had moved to within striki ng di sta nce of the lead er. As they came throu gh the home tu rn , th ey co uld ha ve been cove red with a ten -second blanket. Malocc o su dd en ly realized that this was no time to rela x a nd enjoy the springtime Baja sce nery . H is bik e was jetted a b it too ric h for this a lti tu de, but it was geared so high that th e cle a n ru n ni ng three -quarte r throttle was enough to p u ll aw ay. T hat was OK , however, because " Any faster and you just co uld n' t see ." He could see well en ou gh to gas his Dick Allen / MX L Yama ha to a , co mma nding lead at th e checkered. In the process he co mpletely removed all the knobs from a b ra nd -new Trell borg ..-a n d I mean removed I That poor tire looked like it had been used to fell a redwood fores t. You cou ld ha ve gotten more tra ction from Telly Savalas' head . , While Malocco was sea ling his lead , . Atch ison and G raves were fighti ng it ou t for second . Thoroughly enjoying his first race on a 250 cc , At chsi on was right in there with t he Open class machines of Ma locco and Graves. T he speeds on the back portions of the cou rse must have been bl inding. T here are miles of wide-open roa ds just su ite d for big bore bikes. However, Atchison was a ble to lea d Graves int o th e home chack at the en d of the first la p . In all fai rness , it sho uld be no ted that Graves had to work his way up through traffic from a 14th row start as opposed to Atchison 's fifth a nd Ma locc o's fou rt h . In the seco nd lap , Graves p u t th e grea ter power of his 400 Yamaha to go od use , got p ast Atchison and was seco nd into the pi ts at the en d of lap two. Atchison ha d not yet found the lim its of his 250 cc and set ou t to get ,ba ck in front . He d id that j ust after leaving the pit a rea . Ten miles la ter, just befo re LaMesa , a co llision with one of th ose bandito ro cks tha t lurked eve rywhere , put At chison d own hard and ripped the throttle off the bike. By the time he fou nd what pieces were left , Graves, Donnie Mor rison a nd Mark Heth ha d all gott en by. Undaunted , he grabbed wh at he could a nd , working the throttle ca ble by hand , managed to come in fift h overall a nd first 250 cc . Not too shabby, Scott . 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