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/141025
co "' g RED HOT, DUSJ DRY, fAST COURSES Q. N .... Cl M N > :; '" ~ w 2 w ..J U >U By Ali ce R hea Photo s by Al ice Rh ea an d Joh n Ilue tt er CALI FORN"IA CITY , CALIF ., ~ I ay 14 , 1972 - Mo th ers' Day d awn ed with we a ther so beautifu l tha t every body wi sh ed the y h ad go ne to th e river or stayed h ome b y the pool. I t was j us t hot e nough a t the 4 th An nual Moth ers' Day function to make everybody aware of the h eat t o come d urin g J ul y and A ugus t. Lu c kil y : th er e w as ju st e no ugh b ree ze b lo w ing to ke ep us fro m ro asting in o ur helmets. Du sters a nd Red Dots got a varian ce fro m D 37 for this event. T here should have be en tw o course s fo r X ov ice s and tw o fo r Ex per t-A ma te u r, bu t th ey ma n aged to convinc e th e Distric t that there wasn 't e nough r o o m an d go t permissi on to have o n ly tw o co urses. Unfo rt u na te ly , lon g st retch es o f b o th co u rses h ad be en used in th e S RA Suzuki series an d we re th o rou ghl y c h opped up , w ith mu ch o wh oop-de-d o os. Con fu sion rei gned as the rider s tried to figure o u t when an d where th ey raced ; co u rse one (red ribb on) or co urse two (y ello w ribbon ). Bo th clubs laid ou t bo th co u rses and ea ch club held tw o race s conc urren tly , alte rna ting eac h h our. If this soun ds co n fu sin g, yo u sh ould h ave been th ere t ry in g to so r t it all ou t i A ft er all th e d esert even ts I hav e co vered , I s till· haven't fig ured o ut how to cove r tw o races by two di fferen t cl u bs o n tw o different co urse s. l owe J .K. Roberts an o ffic ial apolo gy . lie cam e b oundin g over th e top o f th e hill go ing into th e h ome chec k on course number 2 (ye llo w ), d odged a din g-d ong on a bike in th e middle of th e trail an d th er e I was, came ra in hand an d somewh at surprised lo ok o n face . I can 't sa y I was scared , ' cause I knew J.N .wou ldn't hit m e if I jus t held still.. .b u t it was a dumb place for m e to be. I re all y am so rry , J .N. .. Smo kin ' it on the flat. winn in g th e Division Two U gh tweigh t Novi ce events and Frank Keepers ( Ric) an d Glen Lukens (H od ) tr aded win s in th e T rai l No vice cl as s. Ne ither of the courses was p articularl y difficul t . b ut as th e d ay wore o n , th ey got badly ch ewe d up , ma kin g traction sc arce in so me' p laces. T he red o n e, o th er than a scary d o wnhill a nd the o ff-camb er feelin g ca u sed b y deep sa n d wh oop-de-d oe s, w as e asy . T om Smith cal led it a fast co u rse , and J ack Knebe l, right b ehind So me riders crested the top with style. (P.S . J .N. w on that race with a super-wide margin in spite of m e .] J .N. h ad oth er problems during his first race . The mornin g excursion . His fron t fender b ra cket came lo ose an d dropped th e ro c k deflector o n to his front tire . He de cided it would b e prudent to get things sorted o u t before h e did a Walt G oss an d b roke h is ne ck. First p lace was divided in m ost o f the classes between cou rses. J.N . (Hus) got one first , and th e o n ly surprise is th at he d id n ' t get two . Tom S mi th (Y am ) got the other ri d in g for S o Cal M.C. J im Fis hback (CZ) and Larry Pfu tz enreu te r (Bu l} shared the honors in th e 2 50 Am /E x cl ass : Tom Brooks wasn't sh arin g a n d took bo th 17 5 Am / Ex win s. T errv C lar k ch ased him to the che ckered in the A .M. Cord is Broo ks (H od ) an d Mit ch May es ( Baj a) each w on on e Trail Am / E x, altho ugh [ d on't thi n k eith e r o f th em p la nned it th a t way . Bri an Brec k er (Hus) an d a fell ow kn ow n as number 151 2 sp lit th e Open Novice win s. Red D o ts can ' t find th e sign- up fo r ~I r. 151 2. Ma rk Windsor ( Bul) was an o ther no n-sharer, tak ing ho th win s in th e 250 Nov ice class. The res t of vou 25 0 X ovi ces can ta ke hea rt, though , Ma r k' s n am e is gett ing fam iliar - a good sign th at he is abou t to bec o me an Ama te ur. Darre ll Brown (D KW) and R ob ert Morrison (Pe n) to o k tu rns Tom. said it wasn 't so fast. Take your pick. Novices had a lillie trouble with a long series of bump y dust and rock up hills. on co urse number 2 (y e llo w ribbon), but there was nothing re ally impossible or dangerous about either co u rse . With h alf a d o zen riders trying for the 2 or 3 lines, it go t in te re st in g in the heat of battle, I guess some racers didn't take advan ta ge o f the righ t to practice on the course s bef ore th e races, as some of them did super-hard ge t-offs from flying over hills too fast o r missed tigh t turns in the h eavy d ust. On the oth er hand, maybe errors we re the resu lt of race -s trai n . .... The uphills deteriorated to silt and rock. If you hit a bad o ne in the afte rnoon races, goo d luck. I don't care w hat anybody say s abou t R on Sc hneiders . He w as nice e no ugh to st art m y bike for me wh en it lo ad ed up , so h e can' t b e all th at b ad. Thanks to Chuc k Cook fo r rid in g sh o tgu n for me . (Th at mean s h e ca me al on g and push ed when I go t stuc k.] I have to have an escor t to ven tur e bey o nd th e p it a rea as I am p ro ne to losin g my w ay an d fall in g p re y t o wo rse disasters. De ser t tortoises h ave come o u t of h ib ern ati on an d I w o uld like to rem ind ev ery on e th at the y are a vanishing species. Please le ave the turtles in th e deser t a n d take you r tras h h o me. (T here is a 500 fine fo r t u r tie-n app in g. ) No tic ed th a t Whi tey ~I arti n o pu lled one