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/141021
co N ~ ~ N r- WHEN IT RAINS DO WN THERE aJ N i;" ::< ~ w Z W ..J U > U Instructio ns for the special test : Go as fast as you can for the next few miles. This was the second special test . By Ron Schneiders POTOSI, ~IO., April 16,1972 - Do any of you remember the Busted Piston Enduro? That was the one that was put on down in Missouri that no one could ever finish because it always rained, and when it rains down there, even Noah gets worried. Well, the Busted Piston enduro is no lo nger. Now it's the Busted Piston Two-Day Trial and the object is to select the riders who will represent us in the Six Day Trial in Fort Hood next year. But the rain's the same. Weather in that part of the country is like something dreamed. On Tuesday and Wednesday before the trial there were tornadoes. O n Wednesday night it hailed . On Thursday it was ungodly hot and humid. On Friday it was absolutely beautiful, with clear skies most of the day and temperatures around 70. Friday was impound day and everybody was goofing around.doing nutty things. One guy had a brand new Matador with less than 50 miles on it th at he was disassembling in the parking lot. The Pen tons were going through their no rm al pre-race rou tine: One of them wheelies 100 yards one direction, turn around and wheelies back, slams on the brakes and slides sideways 50 feet, coming to a stop inches from Dane Leimbach's boot. Reflecting boredom beyond belief, Dane says, "That was pointless." During the sound testing Jack Leh to wanted to test a b ushel basket full of mufflers on his 400 Husky . Jack's managing the Husky East operation, but apparently they didn't give him any budget for R&D . Leroy Winters comes up on Honda 125, one of the quietest b ikes around. Just for fun the tester tells him he flunked. The epitome of sportsmanship, it never occurred to Leroy to question the verdict. He just inquired anxiously, "Can I change the muffler?" It would have been interesting to see what he changed it to, since the only two-wheeled vehicle with a quieter muffler is a Vespa, but the tester was a spoil-sport and he told Leroy that he passed before he had a chance to.change anything. On Saturday the sun came out and blasted its way through building clouds in the d awn ligh t sleepy h o ur between 6 and 7 am. At 7 the first bike went off and the first rain drop was felt. The rain increased steadily until by 9 o'clock it was . a downpour such as most Californians have never seen . By the second check fully half the contestants were finis hed. One fellow who hadn't worn a Barbour jacket was soaked to th e skin . He co uldn' t keep h is teeth from chattering and he wou ldn't even consider the p ossib lity of continuing. even though he was still pretty much on time. "I've never felt so bad in my entire life!" he said, and his teeth made it sound like it was coming i!, over the teletype. The ISDT riders, though, were in good spirits. Most of the m came in q u it e early an d had time to do a little work o n th eir b ik es. Dave Mungenast was ridi ng the new Honda 250 a nd was obviously very happy that it was holding up well. Kneeling in the mud oili ng his ch ain , he looked up at me and intoned piously "You ' take care o f your chain and it will take care of you! tt Uh-huh, it surely will. On the second special test Dave's chain broke and knocked a pi ece the size of a half dollar ou t of the m agn e to cover. For the rema ind er of the run all the mud and water an d go ok flowed in an out of th e case, but the Honda ne ver quit, and neither did Dave . He lost h is Go ld fixing the chain but hung in there You don' t ride that Missouri country without crossing a lo t of creek s but with the rain the creeks had become rivers and every trail was a mud bath. Jack