Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

fun for the riders. It turned a wellgroomed track into a maze of lakes and rivers . There are no pictures with this report because it seemed foolish to expose a good camera to damage from the ash . Lungs and eyes are one thing but cameras are hard to come byl During practice the Minis were having extreme difficulty with the hills so a course was routed to eliminate the hills for them. Their first attempt at racing was such a confusion of some following the shortened course while others shortened it even further that th ey were stopped, shown where to go again and restarted . Still some went one way , some went the other so a decision was made to score them only on the final moto. The third time was a charm . Marc Armstrong (Suz) knew exactly where he was going all the way to the flag . Jim Sawtell (Suz) tried vainly to catch him the who le way. The 125cc Juniors suffered a terrible attrition rate. Wes Swearingen (Yam) led the field of 23 for half the first moto before he fell. Louis Gregory (Yam) took over the lead only to be passed in the final lap by Doug Boddy (Yam). Wes was down a lap by the checkered but still finished fourth when only Louis , Doug and Ron Hyde (Yam) made the full laps . Less than half finished the first moto. In the second round, all classes used only the upper track and Louis led the entire way . Strangely enough , the Pros were the quickest to chicken out with the inclement weather. Many took one look at the gloomy skeis and left without unloading Some of these were the same ones who left last time because it was too dry. It makes one wonder how they got enough experience to become. Pros. Roy Davis and Jim Wiant split wins in the one-two-fives with Roy the final winner. Both rode Yamahas. Yamaha-mounted Kevin Jansen went 1-1 in the 250s and Mitch Kirkpatrick won both Open rnoros . This was to be a big two- day event and , indeed , a few die -hards camped in tents, motorhomes, etc., for the next day's event. The rains showed no mercy and when morning arrived no one seemed opposed to the cancellation of Monday's race . Everyone packed up to head back to th eir gra y houses with th e gray grass growin g all around. Results MINI J R: 1. Marc Arm strong ISuz); 2. Jim Sawtell (Suzl : 3 . Shane W hitaker IKawl . MINI INT: 1. Tracy Thorn IKaw) : 2. Rick C_ie (Vam): 3. Mon'e Hill. MINI EX: 1. Sean Leichner IYaml. 100 J R: 1. Kevin Hofenbredl ISuz); 2 . Ross Stanley (Vam l: 3. Carl Dilday (SUl) . ' 25 J A: t . Louis Gregory (Yam): 2. Wes Swearing en (Yam l: 3. Doug Bod dy (Vam l. 125 INT : 1. Mar lin Hall (SUl ); 2. Jerry Wilson (Vam); 3. Loch Names (Vam l. 125 PRO: 1. Roy Davis (Yam) ; 2 . James W iant (Yaml. 250 JR : 1. Edwin Sims (KTMI; 2. Kenneth Hinkley (Hon); 3. Brian Budlong (Varni . 250 INT: 1. Lyle Schappert lMal); 2. Craig Bogl e (Yam); 3. Craig Roberts (Hon). 250 PRO: 1. Kevin Jansen (Yam!; 2. Roy Davis (Yam ). OPEN JR : 1. Jeff Jordan (Vam); 2. ' Rick LaL.ack lYam); 3. All en H in~ley (Yaml. OPEN INT: 1. Cr,,;g Bog le (Vam). OPEN PRO: 1. M itch Kirkpatrick (Hus): 2. Kenneth RandaIlIVam): 3. M ichael Bracher ISUl). 30 TO 40: 1. Michael Bracher ISuzl ; 2 . Rusty Garrison (Kawl . OLD TIMER : 1. Jim Newman (Yam). Good weather and Henning prevail at Buckhorn Enduro By Rex McClellan OAK RUN , CA, MAY 18 In a definite change from the past , the Redding Dirt Riders put on an enduro under sunny May skies with the temperature in the 70s and BOs. Unlike the snow of the past two events, this run was a pleasure. In addition to the good weather was a well -designed and executed enduro. Many enduros do not provide a cornplete or fair test of both riding ability and time keeping skill, but the Buckhorn was designed to do both. Some enduros concentrate so much on time keeping that riding ability is totally negated. The ride is slow, boring and with all the zeroes and low scores, there is a lot of complaining, nit pick. ing and protests which create headaches and detract from everyone's en joyment of the event. Other enduros are nothing more than timed hare scrambles with time keeping for all but the best riders being for gotten. The RDR put on an enduro that tested both time keeping and riding ability. Riders had to keep time in all but one section. After gas was a long, tight section through the trees at 20 mph. No one zeroed this one; the best score was a three with good B scores being 12 to 15 minutes late. To avoid making the rest of the event a .race , the RDR wisely and professionally used a mileage reset at the end of the section. This put most riders back near their minute and a relatively slow average following produced a lot of zeroes at the next check. The one negative aspect of the event was the poor marking of turns. Everyone complained that many were not marked far enough in advance and many were also so poorly marked that the rider did not know he had even missed the tum until he started picking up W 's. The course was run in the mountains outside of Redding just north of Mt. Lassen. The scenery was spectacular and riders had the time to enjoy it in the slower sections. The course wound its way around Cow Creek and the numerous water crossings created problems for some riders. One water crossing came equipped with about 15 spectators who rode into a fairly remote area to take pleasure in other people's problems. One fellow , dressed in chest waders, was giving aid to B and C riders and another was recording the misfortunes with a movi e camera . I suppose that will give th e RDR a few good laughs in the months to come . Top score of the day was a three turned in by Jeff Henning riding an Orangevale Cycles and Hi -Po int· sponsored KTM 420 . He was follow ed closely by Matt Cullins on a Yamaha 175 and Ron Stuliff (KT M 420 ), spo n· sored by H i-Point and Ch ico Cycles , both with fou r. Matt took second overall on the basis of the tie -breakers. It should be mentioned that J eff and Rob were riding on a team with Charlie Morgan who was first Old T imer A with a score of 12. Charlie has really been smoking the OTA class this year. This enduro was one of the best rides of recent years and all you riders who didn't come because of memories of the weather of past RDR events should come out next year and have a good time. Stre-e-tch your weekendRide your motorcycle to work Monday! NEW TOTE WAGON BUILT FOR ENDURO AND MOTOCROSS M'ACHINES Results 25OA: 1. Cullins 141; 2. Irwin 17); 3. Lucas 1111. OPEN A : 1. Henning 13);2. Sutliff (4); 3. Charles 171. 2OOB: 1. Jepsen (18.7l; 2. Rego I1B.91 . 250B : 1. W . Smith 1131; 2. Duboldi 117l; 3. Guidize 1201. OPEN B: 1. Hami~on (15); 2. Haaker (16.6); 3. Stanton 116.71 . 200c: 1. Hanlon 162l: 2. Mayfield (177). 25OC: 1. Freemantle (22); 2 . Uttle (26) ; 3. Nick erson (32) . OPEN C: 1. Spinola (19); 2. Harrison 135) 3 . Gardner ; 1371 . OTA: 1. Morgan 11 2l ; 2 . Jenkins 11 31 . OTB : 1. Frisbie 120) 2. How8

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