Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

J.i • r1 n l../1 " fc, :J ( h..f OIive·Drab Leathers tu I l..i~Hr'N ' ''' '" '" '" ARMY GETS INTO MOTOCROSS By Paul Hanson Photos b y Ri chard Creed FT. HOOD , TEX., F eb . 13, 1972 - If 1 wer e to su ggest th at y o u try t o guess what organizatio n is h elping promote mota -spo rt s in ce ntral T exas o n a very sophisticat ed basis, you mi gh t say, "A ~"'I.A .?" No wa y. " Texas Motorsp ort Cou n c i l ? " Maybe, "Some rider's organizatio n?" No such thing. Try the U.S . A rm y . Yes, frie nds, it's true. Uncle Sam's New Action Army wants to join you. If yo u d o n 't believe it , try dropping in on o ne o f t he Ft . Hood Dirt Rid ers M.C . eve nts at Killeen, Texas. 1 went to cover a mot ocross and stepped into a hotbed of peo p le who are really stoked on tw o -wh eeled sports. Anyway . th is is what I saw... 1 think.. . Can yo u d ig Med Evac helico p ter am bulance service? Can yo u beli eve Re c o n d o -t rained, trailbike-rnounted, radio co -ordinated course marsh als and flagm en ? T here was all of this an d mo re, incl ud ing a bumpet y-ho p motocross course w it h a wicked, trick jump set in t he A thenian central Texas hill country along T urkey Creek. Fo rt Ho od is an Army post. It is also several th ousand acres of virtually un t o u c h e d , pollution-free, natural t errain , m ost of wh ich is id eally suited to trials , en duro, mo to cro ss, etc., etc . The possib ilit ies a re, as my sidekick Richar d Dun n says , "mind-boggling", R eally . It is a sanctuary that anyo ne with aesthetic or nature-oriented values wo uld drool o ver (well. without the b arrac ks and su pply depot, perhaps). T he out-back at Ft. Hood is a moto sp o rt promoters fondest , most farout, un fen ced dream. A nd it is all U.S. Governmen t p ro perty, as the signs o n th e perimeter fence redund an tl y me ntio n. Th e Hood Di rt Riders are doing monthly gigs like the motocro ss to try t o build a little interes t in off-road rid ing. I, for o ne, h o p e they start doing a lot more th in gs, because th ere is eno ugh ro om o ut there to have a dozen even ts go ing o n at once. Easil y. There is some gossi p abo ut th e Dirt Rid ers t rying to lure th e I.S. D.T. to Fort Hood . It th at co uld happen ... Oh, ecstasy ! The place is i-deel fo r it! I c hatted with Capt. Bob Combs whose present assignment is with a rec on outfit with th e military monik er Combat Support 2 / 7 Cav. Div. Recon. Bob 's m ission was to take a crew of Re condos (m any were no n-riders) and ma ke them trailbike mount ed reco n me n . He d id . Now th ese d udes truck t hrough t he brush hau ling a nt i-tank weapons w it h them o n their o live drab 185 Yamahas. Capt. Co mbs feels that his mis sion is a success. The upcomi ng field maneuvers at Hood will hopefully prove the unit 's va lue. Whatever the military val ue of the motorcycle and what ever the degree of success the trailbike has as a reeonnaisance weapon, Capt. Bob Combs and his m en do what they d ig most , ride, dirt and do useful work at the same time. That is a su ccessful trip by any standard. Combs seems to he a fulfilled perso n. .Un fo rt u nat ely , Combs didn't fare t oo well in the Dirt Rider's motocross. lI e endoed his big bore Maico at the bill up h ill. T his h ill had a 40- or 50-y aid run at it, th en it pitched upward very smart ly for 25 or so feet and flattened o ut at the top. Neal. Even th e stock pro d uc tio n class (classes? I dunno , th ere were so man y of th ose m uthas) rid ers started to lo ok trick on th at jump. - .... '" Cl . ::< ~ w Z W ..J U >- U 'Course so me came over front end heavy ... T he Kasson Racing Klan went to see what t he Army had to offer and came away with a little pi le of go ld for th e effort. J ohn Kasso n took the firs t p lace 250 t ro phy with his only co mpetition co ming from Fo rt Hood's W'ay ne Boo th, who do gged his h eels a ll afte rnoon. Booth t o ok ho me the second pl ace good ies. Richard Bigley was out front in th e first mota , but h e lost a little bo lt and a case of oil , or he would have figured in the final stand in gs. Mik e (L o ng G on e) Kasson hung o n all afternoon to score a third-place troph y behind Flying Sam Finger and Br ad y Booth a Te m ple , Texas sch oolbo y who did a su perio r job o f hauling his Penton sm art ly o ver th e corruga te d co urse. Th e lo cals we re q uick to no ti ce that the top six (o r was it eigh t) 12 5 machin es w ere Pen tons. Si m pl y amazing . Bill Kasson gave it his best but had to settle for second p lace laurels behind b o y w o nd er Brady Booth wh o swept the top spot in the Open class as 'well as the 125 's. The Booth bov seems toknow his stuff and may w~1I be some upwardly mobile talent hereabouts. Bill on his big CZ and 400 Husky-mounted Brady blew a . few minds. Most of the crowd was Army personnel. Many had not been exposed to motocross b efore and were pretty gassed over the Booth/Kasson duel that didn't develop until the second heat. At the start of the first moto Kasso n took out a hundred or so feet of co urse ma rker streamers and made like a fly in a spider web for a half a lap while Brady pulled an ' untouchable lead . Bill managed a second and was edging up at the checkers. In the second mota Kasson made a good' opening move and had the lead until h e overshot a trials-like do wnhill J " "-"'- . "' _.-Ir;. . . Q, ~.~ T he start of the 125 Modified PI race; Brady Booth already has the lead. section adjacen t to the creek. Booth got ahead and pressed the advantage to th e fullest. For Kasson it was uphill all th e way for the second spot d uring the rest of the mota . Comin g over the super jump, Bill and Brad y we re boffo with DeCoster-like antics that had the crowd scurrying over to t he spot every ti me th e O pe n b ike s ran. The thi rd mota was Booth's all the way with Kasso n shadowing him at a stone's throw. The ride r tu rn -ou t was pretty slim, b ut then the Dirt Rider s are n' t t h at h ip to promotional jiv e and ballyhoo. They'll learn. In fact, they're alread y getting the drift. Team Penton is slated to co me down for a look-see at the facility to set up a two-day enduro in , lay. There was also some pit chatter abo ut any Army ISDT team and/or an Army mo t ocro ss team. I saw it but it was d ifficult to assimilate me n tally . But if hal f of w hat 1 experienced was for real, the n all 1 ca n say is, "That's serious! " . - Brady Boo th : Note taped boots. Booth alledgedly practices three to four hours every day and has g.one thro ugh tw o pairs o f F ull Bores and nearly thr ough wha t appears to be some V ikings. ' , ,<'1 ' -

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