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/141010
. " C> Q. .... '" Ol ...: .: By Alice Rhea BARSTOW, CAL., Feb . 27,1972 - T h e ~ 100's M.C.'s fifth annual 100-miler was w a real challenge. The territory was z virgin, but as one rider put it, "What's w so n eat abo ut virgin rocks?" c3 As usual, most of the riders who finished liked the course . And just as usual, th e DN F'ers said, "The ground was to o soft, there were too many rock s and the bushes w ere too close together. " De sert Daisy Mary Brooks (Car) , first girl to fin ish , said , "I haven ' ridden in abo ut a month and I can't de cide whether t he course was really that ro ugh or if it was just me ." It was a ro ugh co urse, at least in spots. Abo ut 15 miles p ast the smoke bomb the I OO's ran t he course down a dry waterfall. The waterfall was st ill fiUed top to bottom wi th big-eyed Novices when Ho war d Utsey (S uz) and La rry Pfutzenreuter (Bul) came charging do wn t he seco nd tim e. It m u st be d isco uragin g to b e lapped after o nly 15 mil es. Just to eve n things o u t so it wouldn' t b e a tra ilb ike co urse with aU t hose ro ck s, th e 100's ran th e co urse across 10 mile s o f sa nd dunes, up an d do wn sand washes and across Co yo te D ry Lak e. T he course h ad a lit tl e of eve rything , except rocks; it had a lo t of rocks. Utsey led it most o f the way, f i nis h i ng f irst o ve ra l l. La rr y Pfu t zenreuter (Bul) h ad h ims elf back together this w eek end and put in a go od ride , fini shing second ove ra ll and firs t 250. Larr y said, " It was a tough o ne, i t " Psst , buddv, I w ouldn't stand there if 1 were "'you:' -, .. .. • ' Lo ng abou t I :30 in the afternoon, just as fol ks w ere b egin ning to sunburn, Dick Grah am (Hus) rolled in. Dic k too k first Nov ice toda y and 'sayd he did it two w eeks ago , too, but d idn't get h is name in th e p ap er. So here it is: Dick Gr aham (Hus) w as firs t Open Novice at Desert M .C.' s race tw o wee ks ago . O .K., Dick ? Se cond h eavy Novice wa s Eug en e Bragg (Ya m ). Eug en e just plain looked like he didn't believe it. Randy Brown (Bu l) was a happy lad today as he finished first 250 Novice, foUowed by a grin'nin~ F.R . Garcia (Bul) and Mike Gibson (Bul) . First Trail Novice buzzed o ff before I bu t it was a real rider 's co urse. I lik ed it." FoUowing Utsey and Pfutz we re Art Kn app (H usky), Jack Kn eb el (CZ) , St eve Kirk (Mo n) and Tom Muto (H usky) . It is good to see Steve fin ish ing aga in af ter a long spe ll of bad lu ck. First Division II lightweight was Bob McL aughlin . First trailbike was Cordis Bro oks, riding a Hodaka out of Crowell's Cycl e Shop in Hawthorne. Cord is was reall y delighted with the race, although I ca n ' t imagine why. I'm b eginning to believe th at d esert racers are influen ced by their standing at the finish lin e. J ./ / J Passing was very d ifficult... ...when you p lay f oll ow th e leader . ~rt nilp rJ '- ..... ( n t&. > :