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/141018
i BACK & fORTH WITH THE SPOKEBENDERS N ..... '" ~ w z W ...J o >o By Alice Rh ea HIGH VISTA , CAL., Ap ril I, 1972 Sign on the Novice course at the en trance to a canyon: "En tering Box Can yon...April Fool". Distri ct 37 really pu lled a fast one on me. I forgot about their new rule that clubs holding European Scrambles h ad to lay out two courses - one for Amateurs and Experts and o ne fo r Novices. As a result, instead of spending the day watching m y favorite form of mo t orcy cle racing, I dashed b ack an d forth between the two courses all day trying to get a few p ictures of each race an d d idn 't know wh o won what until Sp ok e Benders M.C.'s refer ee gave me th e res ults at the end of th e day. Bu t here is a little o f what I d id see: . Larry Pfutzenreuter standing in th e middle of Sled Ri d ers M.C. camp are a lecturing all the boys on p it racing. I hope mo re of you fellows will fo llow h is examp le and ta lk to th e b oys in your gro up . This co uld solve a lo t o f the p it-racing p ro bl em fo r us. T rail Novices started t he day. J oe Semple (Baja) really 'had a lead , but he bro k e a shock and slu ng off his chain at home check and dr opped o ut, leaving the way cl ear for Frank Keepers (R ic). Novice ho me check was at th e top of a rocky h ill and I can h onestly say I have never seen so man y racers dr op th eir b ik es. One 50 0 pi e-p lat er ' dropped it tw ic e o n th at h ill. I heard th ere was also a n ice j um p on th e b ack sid e of th e Novice co urse wh ich dropped in to a big ta lc bed co n taining a man -eating rock. There were two b roken coll ar b ones rep or t ed at that p oint , along with many less serious get-offs. The old Banner Wagon. I dashed over to the Am-Ex side o f affairs in time to see Cordis Brooks (Hod) wheelie through the checkered flag. Cordis flatened his front tire on the Expert rock pile during the first lap and rode the remaining three laps that wa y and still got first. Looks like Cordis is seri ously after the Number One Trailbike plate this year. Following Cordis were Craig Forney (Yam) and . .. , Naw, they wo uldn' t do that. Cho rt le maybe , guffaw pe rhaps... Rudy Abele (Baja). Was really su rp rised to see Rudy fin ish so we ll. Less than a year ago h e was j u st a fast Novice . A pie-plat er , Bob Hosford (Puch) surprised everyone by taking first in th e Division II Am-Ex race. Bob wa s followed b y Frank Sno ok (Ossa) and Ron Hall (Puch) . Back on the No vice side , Division II racers Rob Morrison (Pen to n), Andy Kirker (Ric) and John Pettis (Yam) took the checkered in th at ord er . Larry Pfutzenreuter (Bul) took first in Div. I Lightweight, followed by Steve Ellsworth (Bul) and Tim Akamoto (Bul). Tim got off pretty hard about a year ago while he was practicing at Simi Valley M.C.'s Hare and Hound but h e seems to be fu lly recovered. Tom Poteet Was rumored to hav e b een about one-quarter of a mil e ahead of Pfutz and Ells , but got off and dropped out a short time later. Back to the Novices. Ron Mus ic (Bul) took first Division I No vice. Mark Steele (Bul) took my advice and rode faster today. He was second, followed by George Stoffel (Yam). First Heavyweight Expert position has been in a lot of hands this year. Today Bill Saltzman (Hus) did it, fo llowed by Jerry Jones (Hus) and Bill Walters (Hus) . Kim McKean (Hus), Tim Walker (Hus) and Dan Murphy (CZ) ended the day in that order in the Heavyweight Novice division. We got no co operation wh atsoever from the we atherman today. The day started off grungy and deteriorated to miserable. By the end of the day everybody felt an d lo ok ed sand-blasted and nobod y lo st any time getting packed to go home. Spoke-Benders M.C. had things pretty well organized and the races went off smoothly. There was a short delay while the slower Trail Experts were herded off the co urse, but other than that things were on time. I saw several girls racing , but like the club referee said, none of them finished in the top three of their classes , and th at's all we counted to d ay . (Results on page 56)