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NORTHERN DATELINE
.
McKenna
backstrokes to
Wilseyville HS ~In
By Bill Spencer
WILSEYVILLE, CA, NOV. 15
Only the brave and bold appeared at the Blue Mt. Timber
Wolves' annual running of the
classic Wilseyville Hare Scrambles over the hills and through the
wood with the worst winter storm in
recorded history dumping massive
amounts of rain on the foothills of the
Sierras before, during and after the
event. Eric McKenna and his trusty
Maico did the deed in the first event,
run for Junior and :Expen-rated riders
with many good battles going on all
day in the three-race event.
While rain may have dampened
enough pre-race enthusiasm to keep
many away, the morning broke cloudy
but rather dry, and the course was
pronounced fit with little change. At
just shy of 10 miles, it was not fast with
lots of turns and tree racing. The
major change in the course was one
creek that went up a foot (to four)
during the course of the day.
The first shotgun blast came at 9
a.m. with nearly 50 riders in the first
wave, a. slight drizzle accompanying
the way out of camp. Donnie Cantaloupi round~ the first comer in eighth
but took the lead within a mile only to
drop his 495 KTM, remount in the
lead and then tip over in the second
creek crOlllling, filling up the engine
with water and spelling a DNF for his
new ride.
Coming through the check for lap
one was veteran cross country rider
Charlie Sman on a YZ465 with about
20 seconds on DeanJoyner, transformed
to KTM but on a 125. McKenna was
right behind on a 490 Maico with most
of the top 10 a blur that included Rob
Sutliff, Rod Smith and Jeff Henning.
Noticeably absent for a few minutes
and theq limping in for repairs was
Phil Douglas who hit a tree and had to
have repairs before continuing, thOugh
out of the hunt. In exactly 20 minutes
and !l0 seconds, Joyner appeared in
the lead on his Hi-Point KTM and
stopped to adjust things and race off
with a 10-second advantage on Sman
and McKenna. McKenna was easy to
spot by the noise of a loose and then
gone muffler while Ama~r MX point
leader Smith moved up in front of
Sutliff, an e.nduTO type.
In just 20 minutes and !l0 more
seconds, Joyner, an ISDE competitor,
showed up and was expected to stop
for fuel as the KTM boys all said one
hour is about right for a tank of gas.
The Marin-Sonoma, pit crew was ready
with quick-fill gas, goggles, water,
etc., and were promptly greeted by a
big breeze and spray of mud as Joyner
went by covered toe to nose in ooze. It
was promptly felt that he just wouldn't
make another lap, and all felt worse
when it was two full minutes before
Smart and McKenna came through.
McKenna stopped to gas and attend
to the missing pans, but little could be
done. Sman was .surely a go for the
distance with a long range tank. The
prevailing thought had to be with
Sman, but in just 20 minutes and SO
seconds, Joyner rode up and halted at
the pit along with a flat rear tire. The
gas cap was removed, and for those
who want to know what color the
inside bottom of dry KTM tanks are,
the color is white.
Adding fuel and such, Joyner left
camp for lap five with a two-minute
lead. McKenna ran rapidly through
camp next with Charlie Halcomb
riding a small bore bike through in
third over Sman. Everyone was
astounded that Joyner could have ridden the one hour and 22 minutes but
the question was, "could he hold the
point with a flat rear for the last time
around?"
In 21 minutes and !l5 seconds, the
noise coming up the trail proved the
Maico of McKenna had gotten by for
the overall with about a minute until
D-S6 motocross point -leader Smith·
took second place honors over
Halcomb, Sman and Jeff Henning.
Joyner? He was about a half-mile back
according to McKenna and stuck. It
seems that both tires went flat and
being the good ISDE rider, he continued on until he had peeled both
tires off the rims.
Results
OPEN EX: 1. Eric McKlIMIIlMai); 2. Rod Smi1h (Moi);
3. Ch.lle Smert lYlmI.
OPEN JR: 1. John WlIIon; 2. Bob Windham; 3.
S_Curry.
250 EX: 1. Doug NooII; 2. Kent C'-'; 3. Duke
Dowell.
250 JR: 1. Nooi NeeIIon; 2. Mike Gunch; 3. Mike
Spr8It.
250 EX: 1. Cheriie HaIaJmb lHuol; 2. Shewn SCortett
IHonI.
200 JR: 1. Colin MocOonIId lYenll; 2. RIrldy Bl8ir. .
OT EX: 1. Bud Heml1tDn IKTM); 2. John " ' - IHuaI;
3. Ron DoIoon (J(lM).
OT JR: 1. Rich
CorIIon IKTM); 2. Gory NelImon; 3.
S_~.
OT NOV: 1. W.",. Sumner lSuzl; 2. Gory Griol
lKTM); 3. Jim Ropinei (~.
VET EX: 1. Saln oe.io (MIO; 2. S _ Fenoni lYoml;
3. Gory Vendorpool (KlM).
VET JR: 1. Lorry KoI_; 2. Chuck NoIIi1t; 3. Jock
--
VET NOV: 1. Gory PherIon; 2.
3.Bob~.
OI'EN NOV: 1. Bill _
"'"'* CIrovich lYom);
lYeml; 2. HIl SchIIrem; 3.
S_KidweIL
250 NOV: 1. Pout Hert; 2. Lynn Me; 3. Bun EIwDrthy.
replace an exhaust pipe twice, and the
Steve Epstein/Pb.il Cotton Yamaha
250 had destroyed most of their front
brake and one shock after crashing,
leaving an unstoppable monoshock to
cruise the track. They finished second
in class anyway.
The Brad Gray/Scott Gray effon
(Healdsburg Cycles Suz 450) ended
after three hOUTS with a crash, and the
Berkeley Yamaha-sponsored Yamaha
400 of Jeff Hagan and Dwayne Chung
had a dead battery after !I: 15.
All this time,. Woo/Andrew continued to rack up the laps, even after
Jon crash~ at low speed in tum 11.
Then, at S;M gone, Woo came
around tum II, slowed, and made a
V-tum into the pits. There were
expensive noises suddenly coming
from the engine, and closer inspection
revealed that something had tried to
punch itself out of the cases on the left
side of the motor. about base gasket
high.
.
With the leader out of the race, the
actual winner was no longer evident.
Only after Paddy Shopher and crew
had tabulated the laps was the winner
determined. Obviously, the steady
performance by Joe and Wayne
Montoya and Kun Bickel on joe's 550
Seca was good for second place, Cae/
Glover nabbed third, MRA's Bob
Brownell and Gary Glassney brought
their Yamaha din bike out from Colorado for fourth, and Palo Alto's Dennis
Anderson and Dave Elliot took fifth on
a 550 Kawasaki. Ken Evan and DereIr.
Winorfs Suzuki 450 was the only 450
to make the top 10 overall 10th place.
Results
OVERALL: 1. Rhyo/Konyon lYom); 2. ManlDyo/
Washington pair
takes AFM Sears
Point 4-Hour
250: 1. ~ ICoAl; 2. EpItein/Cotlon
lYoml; 3. Von Zeyto/NoMIIIe (CoAl.
450: 1. EvonIWIlIDff (Suzl; 2. ~ lYeml; 3.
By Karl Okamoto
Grey/Grey lSuzl.
600: 1. RhyoIKonyon lYoml; 2. ~
SONOMA, CA, NOV. 1
Rhys Howard and Mike Kenyon,
riding their 1982 Yamaha 550
Seca, made consistency and organization work to their advantage and won the AFM's 4-Hour
Enduro at Sears Point. The Washington state pair inherited the lead after
Jon Woo drove his Kawasaki 1000 into
the pits with a hole through the cases
with only 26 minutes left to go in the
race. The Montoya/Montoya/Biclr.,el
effon fInished second overall, and the
Cae/Glover team made it a clean
sweep for Yamaha's Seca line.
When the green flag dropped, last
year's winner Mark Ingalls got the
holeshot, but. Jon Woo drove around
Mark before they reached tum two.
"Th~e wasn't enough clearance in
there. and it smoked itself," said
Mark.
Woo continued on and set the pace,
and teammate Carry Andrew kept the
pace up. After about SO minutes, the
fIeld began switching riders, and the
action in the pit area began to pick up.
By this time, the Woo/Andrew team
was being hounded by the Danny Coe/
John Glover effon aboard Doug Van
Almelo'sSeca 750.
At the halfway mark in the race,
Glover came into the pits for an unscheduled pit stop, after Cae had
rolled in earlier, unannounced. While
Glover and Coe were visiting the pits,
Wade Boyd (Kaw 650) was staying
close to Wayne Montoya (Berkeley
Yam/Team Bozo Yam 550 Sea).
With the· leaders battling each
other. other teams were just trying to
keep their rides on the track. The Greg