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/140924
Marlino mokes in Smokeless Hare Scrambles c .., '" ~ w Z W ...J o >o By Dick Wright LUCERNE, CAL., Jan. 9, 1972 - The Vikings M.C. held th e first Hare Scrambles o f the y ear and there wer e a lot of riders here wh o wan ted to get started off righ t. Whitey Martino o vercame a so-so st art plus two foul ed plugs to d o the job on the rest of th e hounds. T he ru n wa s held in an area near Lucern e th at we haven't seen for some time. Even then, the local fire department gave the club a b ad time they w ouldn't let them light the smoke b omb . On th e hill where th e b omb was supposed to b e y ou could see th e riders headin g o ur way . Then a lar ge ba tch we n t to th e righ t of the moun ta in, o n th e o utside o f th e b omb. A lar ger gro up ca me over th e hill. Tom Smith led the gro up o ver th e hill but the san d~as h o n th e outside was faster so h e d idn't h old th e lead lon g. Th ey came up the sand was h lik e it was a freeway. T he firs t loop took an h ou r and three minutes. The wor d was it was a rider's co urse with some open st uff (but mostly hi lly country) with th a t good fire road with the Ascot-type jumps. Hairy going in fifth gear. Big Bill Bogner and Martino were fighting it for most of the first half of the course until Whitey b lew his second plug. Bogner brought the lead into the pits but had to figure out a replacement for his lost gas cap . He stuffed a rag into the hole. Martino came in the pits a minute behind. Whitey was able to catch Bogner about half way around. Bill never did make it all the way - he ran out of gas. Whitey's last p lug was a good one and he came in for the win. That is a good go for a guy who was flat on his back jus t a few months ago . . Whitey, as usual, di dn't talk much, but he d id say, ' "The course was good, all different kinds of terrain. I had to pass Bogn er twice." Mitch Mayes, t he 1OOcc ace, change d over to his 400 Husky an d p ulled off a very good second place an d first Amateur . Howard Uts ey wa s right behind Mayes on a Suzuki. Jack Knebel was fourth foll owed b y another SoCai member and old pro Art Knapp. Larry Pfutzenreuter , the new Ligh tweight champ, was once again firs t 250 o n h is trusty Bultaco. The first spot in this ye ar 's new class, 101-175, went to Brent Wallin gsford, an Amateur and Ossa-rider. He b eat first Division II Lightweight (that's the same class) Expert Bill Friant, wh o h ad th e lead until a tire pooped o u t. First trailbike was Cordis Bro oks (Hod ). He was 17th ove ra ll, no t bad considering the r o ugh cou rse. Right o n Bro o ks' rear wheel was young h o tsh oe Larry Roesler o n a Harley Baja. T he V iki n gs stop ped everyone after the leader finis hed, Grand Prix style. T here we re a lot of Novices who had n't finished their first lo op so it was hard to tell w ho the first . second, an d last Novice was. Th ere we re mo re Novices out here today than we have eve r see n before. T here w ere Novices all over the p lace! The new numbers are smaller this year and are h ard er to read at speed b ut o nce everyone gets used to t hem they should work o ut better. A lo t of rid ers for got to send in for their new numbers wh ich caused a lot of confusion at sign up. Let's h op e anyone who wants any poin ts gets th eir cards in b y next week. (Resu lts on page 28)