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Aboard a Triumph, Rod Lake (98) tallied 1 -1 mota scores to w in the
Open Twin Amateur class at Sandhill Ranch .
Kay Mann (X 5) was the overall Women's class w inner, while Rick Nabors
(behind M ~nn) took second in the Premier Lightweight class on a CZ.
Dick Mann Vintage Dirt Bike Rally '88
Patterson sails' at
Sandhill Ranch
By Matt Hilgenberg
BR EN TWOOD, CA, OCT. 23
Lloyd P a tterson called in a truck load of
favors to get him self an d h is CCM from
Barrington, Rhode Island, to n orthern
California bu t made it p ayoff by wi nning
20
th e 500cc Novice class and
pl acing seco n d in the Vet
I'
he f h A
I
•
? V Ice c as~ at.t e o t . nn1!a
DICk Mann s Vintage Dirt Bike
Rall y a t Sa ndh ill Ran ch .
T he event was ro u nd five o f th e
Ca lifo rnia .vin~age Racing G roup
(C VRG) H istori c MX Series, a nd the
fin al ro u nd of the fou r-race Arner ica n H isto ric Racin g Mo torcycl e
Association (AH R MA) Nat ional MX
Husky rider Gary Rabe (32) was the 250cc Expert class w inner. Rabe
went 1-2 for the win, 'w hile Jim Owens t o ok second with a 3-2.
Cha mpions h ip . T om Anderson 's
Sa nd hill Ranch was th e' sit e o f th e
a ll -vintage MX event, which drew
269 en tr ies a nd a good crowd o f
specta to rs. The track was hi stori call y
correc t - fairl y smooth and fast, but
dem an d ing. Du st wa s kept to a
min imum , a feat in it self , considerin g th e curre nt northern Ca liforn ia
drought.
In past years, th e Dirt Bike Rall y
in cluded a MX , tri al s, swa p meet ,
bik e show, a nd fIat tra ck a nd hillclimb exhibitio ns. How ever, du e to
th e level o f participation , th e festiv iti es had to be split into two weekends th is year. Everything but the
MX ran th e previous week , with thi s
d a y bein g d evoted so le ly to
mo tocr oss.
Patterson had a tru ck -driving
buddy ca rry his motorcycle across th e
nation, a nd borrowed a free airline
ticket to ge t to California. Once here,
a Bud get rent-a-van got him to th e
races. In th e 500cc Novi ce race,
Patterson co mbined 1-2 rnoto fin ish es to ga rner the overa ll a hea d of
B.]. Behm, wh o pilot ed a Mai co to
a 4-5 tall y. Third for th e da y went
to recentl y-turned-Vet Ga ry Moore,
riding a BSA B50 single.
In the 19-rider Vet Novice race,
Mai co-m ounted Rob ert Doran domin at ed , sco ring th e victory eac h tim e
o ut , Pa tterson wo u nd up seco nd,
narrowly edging Husky pilot Steven
G yewer.
Even tho ug h he traveled 'a ll th e
way across th e United Sta tes, Pallerso n was a lo ng sho t fro m taking
home the " Lo ng Distance" award.
England sent two o f its contenders
to run in th e Prem ier classes, for
machines bu ilt befor e 1965. Ad ria n
Moss rod e p rom ot er Dick Mann 's
Triu m p h twi n-po wered BSA to the
overall in th e Pr emi er 500 Expert
after a ra ce-long balt ic w i th
Washing ton's Richard Giboney a nd
Pe ter Ford in th e seco nd moto.
G ibo ney, w ho wa s ridin g a
Ma tch less-en g in ed
Ri ckm an
Metisse, was second o vera ll, with
Larry Uba ld i third a hea d o f Gold
Star rider For d.
Bo b G uest was the ot her Englishman, and he was a lso mounted on
a Dick Mann machine, a BSA C 15.
Guest follow ed jim Keeton (CZ)
home in eac h of the Pr emi er Lightweight (250cc) Expert mot os.
Twenty-five Old T im er Amateurs
com pe ted a t Sa ndh ill, a nd it was
CVRG series point lead er T erry Prall
wh o took home th e o vera ll afte r
rack in g up 3- 1 mot o fini sh es on a
Cl. Prall o verca me a co u p le o f
midpack sta rts to win over Triumph
rider Phi l Ra y (4-3) a nd Wayn e
Su m ner (BSA). First-rnot o winner
Bill Verb isci o D NF th e seco nd
con test.
Dick Mann man aged 'to find tim e
betw een running the races to compe te in the O ld Timer Expert class .
Edwin Ga ylord led his sh ar e of the
la ps, but had to settle for the ru nner up spo t behind Mann after a co u p le
of excellent races. Third went to
Steve Mach ad o (Cl) , who was in th e
show spot eac h tim e o u t.
The Vet Exper t. class is alwa ys a
tough one, but with 27 en tries, it was
exc ep tio na lly co m pe titive toda y.
A&A Ra cing Servi ce's Chris Carter
went 3-1 to claim the day's top spot
o ver Yam aha MX 360 rider T im
T olleson (2-2), wh o recently turned
Expert. Husky-mounted Billy Grossi
put in a good ride to win th e first
outing , but co u ld onl y manage
fourth place in moto two , relegating
him to third overall.
Graem e Fox put in a long day ,
competi ng in three classes aboard a
pa ir o f Honda four-st rokes. Fox
claimed th e Vet Amateur victory
ahead o f Bill Ripley a nd Ron Din apoli, th en backed that up wi th fifth
in th e 500cc Amat eurs a nd third in
th e 250 cc Am ateur cla ss behind
w in ner Rip ley (Bu ltaco) a n d
Dinapo li.
T he 125cc No vice class was domina te d b y j a p an ese mac hi ne ry .
Honda rider Dwa yne Lane topped
both races to tak e home th e overall ,
while john Anderson (Honda) and
Yam ah a-m oun ted John Figas
wound up second a nd third .
There were just two 125cc Expert s,
but they pu t o n o ne heck of a sho w.
Friends j ohn Ro itinger and Danny
Tu rn er b rou gh t o ut a p a ir o f
Mona rks a nd proceeded to run noseto-ta il in both mot os, Roitinger came
o ut on top af ter keeping hi s Swedish
