Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Lucerne Valley - Red Mountain - Plaster City - Searchlight - Sidewinder Road - Superstition Mountain -Jean - RandoMountalns - Lucerne Valley - Red Mounta Desert Hotline W ischmeyer held off the pe rsista nt Hill for th ird while Todd T immons ca pt u red an im pressive fift h overall , first 125cc Am ateur. Da ryl Folks managed to get by Beck for a final time to take second 250cc, sixth overall. Ma rk Ha rd y took first Class 30 , well ahead of second place Casey Folks. First Over 38 was Max Switzer and J immy Stevens captured top Novice honors. c-r 00 O"'l Eddy storms D-38 Jailhouse enduro By Larry Woodruff IMPERIAL VALLEY , CA ,JAN. 17 Paul Eddy rode the wheels off his Kearney Mesa Yamaha IT175 to win the third annual Bush Eaters M. C. Jailhouse Enduro • Jack Johnson took the overall win in the MRAN Gamblers race, Johnson jams through MRAN 'almost' H&H By Wayne Gales MOAPA, NV ,JAN. 31 Team Vegas Cycle got into the Motorcycle Racing Association of Nevada winner's circle in two classes again as J ack Johnson took 24 his 490 Maico Alpha I to an overall victory in the Chargers West "Almost a Hare and Hound ." Johnson , who led from the smokebornb, continued to put time on the pack throughout the race and was over five minutes ahead of second place Kevin Steele by the fini sh. As the racers crossed the smoke bomb and headed for the first gas , all the pit crews packed up and made a mass exodus for the central pitting point, about 10 miles away. The racers went from th e start to gas one point to point, and then raced around a 30 m ile loop twice, hence the nam e "Alm ost a Hare and Hound ." At gas one it was Johnson, already with a comanding lead followed by Ne vada Yamaha-sponsored Steele aboard a YZ490, Holding on to third place and first 250cc was Glenn Wischmeyer, with Mark Hardy running a suprisingly strong fourth place, first Class 30, The course was rough and rocky and had already claimed several front runners, including Anthony Pasqualotto, Kevin Welch and Bobby Davidson, who injured his shoulder in a collision, As the second loop started, Johnson had stretched his lead to two minutes, with Steele comfortably in second. Wischmeyer was still in third , but Bill Hill, Jr . was right in his dust and challenging. The race for fifth overall was intense also , as Steve " Ban zai" Beck and Daryl Folks were trading positions every mile . Todd Timmons, running first Amateur on a 125cc , was right behind the pai r and shortly swooped by both the 250cc Experts. At th e finish line it was Johnson breezing in for th e win , with Steele bringing in a strong second . with the low score of 2.106 . Paul, a regular 0-38 desert winner in the 250cc class , is preparing to ride several national enduro rounds in California this year as well as the Tecate 500. Riding literally on Paul's tail was Tim Crowder (first 250cc B) losing an excellent 2.125 for second overall. Tied for third overall was Doug Douglas Can-Am sponsored Larry Woodruff (first AA) on his 400 Qualifier, and John Owen (first Open A) riding an IT425 , both dropping 3.85 . First Open A Vet Guy Biggs took his old but trusty IT400 to ruth overall with 4 .18 points lost. Guy would have taken the overall if he hadn't burnt the first check on the second loop. Husky mounted R .W . Stouffer followed close behind, sixth overall and first Open B Vet , with eight more seconds lost than Guy . The first loop started at 8 a .m . , paralleling the pit road to where the three mile odometer check wasn 't . Conjecture at sign-up had some fourwheelers pilfering the marker for firewood . As 0-38 uses the much desired five mile markers, this posed little problem. The course led away from the pit road out into the desert through a lot of neat canyons and washes. More first loops should be as well designed and laid out as this one. Definitely fun without being boring. After 24 miles the finish appeared next to the jail house, an old shell of a house built out of indidgnous rock. The first loop riders collected their finisher pins while two loopers went to ready their bikes and bodies for ' the long 80-plus mile second loop. First overall one looper turned ou t to be James Walker on a 250cc, losing only six seconds. Mini class winner Greg Thomas lost 16 seconds for second overall. Greg was the only mini not to lose at least two m inutes. First ATV Allen Gerhardt dropped 20 seconds for third. Mike Hillerman rode his 125cc to fourth with a score of 23 seconds lost. Jeff Beeh filled out the top five with the last zero at 29 seconds on his 200cc . Loop two stared out near the jail house and took off directly into the sand hills . Following razorbacks, ridges and valleys , many of us were wishing we had paddle tires instead of kn ob bies, After several steep up and d own hills, we hit the first check in a vertical walled canyon at 5.2 miles into the loop. Most riders hit it on zero but would have lost seconds if it had been a tie breaker. New also to 0 -38 are color coded check flags . Green for tie breaker and red for non tie breakers. The trail then left the canyon and emptied .ou t in to the desert, For , several miles the cou rse led us down the many tributary washes and canyons of Big Cariso Wash at speeds of 30 'and 36 mph. With a check to keep us honest and a storm pipe to ride through to get under a set of railroad tracks soon behind us, the course started to get tighter and tighter with thickets of briars and piles of riverbottom rocks . Only problem with these obstacles was that the speed average stayed at 24. Soon the gas available/reset could be seen ahead but first we had to travel a length of wash with a sign at the beginning: "No mud, no check." Hmmm, something about that sign. Two turns later, there it was ; mud, lots of mud. And water, too . Lots of water. On some bikes it was only gas tank high, on others it was up to the handlebars. Wait a minute, that sign said no mud, no check. If this ain't mud, wha t is it? Checkpointl Nail the throttle, push, shove , curse, stall, kick , kick, curse some more, shove, lift and wait. Wait until the V-cut out of the water and into the check, tie breaker at that, cleared so you could get a run at it . After getting scored, we had a 15 minute reset to gas up, clean goggles and go back and watch and laugh at the poor unfortunates still treading water. Most A and B rider dropped one to four po ints here . Back on the trail, the arrows led back into Cariso Wash and into another check only a mile down the course. Because the reset is used as a mileage ridden, the check was good. Running at 30 and 36 mph again it was back to ha ving a blast in the washes and canyons. The trail was getting tighter again before the 24 mph speed change showed up. By then the damage was done as most riders were a little late at the check. Eddy dropped his other point here, complaining later that he had been asleep. Craig Lair zeroed this one and all the other checks on the second looo p except the tie breaker where he lost four points. Something about a stalled bike in front of him in the Vcut. . Open it up - it was sandwash time again at 36 , this time for a long while before relief. Another check, another point. These Busheater guys are sneaky. With the sand . hills looming up ahead, the odometer started to show 80 miles for this loop. Riders who miscalculated their fule range or failed to send enough gas out the reset were running out now . Husky rider Ric Secor was the first with his thumb out for a ride in for fuel. A couple of miles roosting in the sand hills stood between the survivors and the finish line. A good course, great speed averages and excellently placed and manned checks balanced out the mediocre trail markings. Many riders got lost temporarily at one time or another. Bob Niles lost 4.190 for second Ope n A and seventh overall. Right behind was Craig Lair on his Can-Am 250 with 4.258 showing on his score card. Ninth overall had Paul Beck losing 6.09 for first 200cc B Vet. First O pen B Bill Anderson filled out the to p 10 with a score of 6.18 . First C score was John Roesch (8.118) riding RM400 Suzuki. The next 0 ·38 enduro is March 21 at Plaster City. 1982 memberships will be accepted until then in order to receive points for the Jail House. For more info call 0 -38 enduro steward Bruce,S. !1f rd .a.t 714/27.7;2743 . . • •• a o

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