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/141029
THE DELICATE , DAINTY DESERT DAISY: ~ w Z w ~ o >o Y ou chase a ri der .for mi les, catch up after nearly killi ng yourself, and yo u see... des-ert dai-sy [dez-ert did) , n, [p I. o A I S I E S (ziz) J ' [I\IE.:O fr ;L. desertum a nd ~IE . daies eige , daies ie; AS d aege s eage, lir., day's eye; genit. of daeg + eage, an eye], I. a common plant of th e co mp osite fam ily, bearing flowers with yellow rays around a black disk . Usually foun d in the h igh desert of Sou thern Ca lifornia durin g March and Ap ril. 2. a fe ma le belonging to the genis moto rcy cle racing club . Usually fo und in the high dese rt of So uthern California on Sundays. girl-t al k, inrerspersc d with comments abou t races won and los t and the latest hot tips o n equipment and rid ing techniques. De sert Daisy M.e. was formed in 1963 by J a n Dit son , Terry Brice and Ro semary Mattina. Th e AMA gave t h em a sanct io n in 1970 and th e club cur rently ha s 10 members. Dese;t Daisy M.C: is a co mpetition clu b . There are two ba sic r equ irem ent s to j oin: you mu st b e a female, and your motorcycl e riding abilit y mu st be ab ove average . By Alice Rhea Nothing is more frustrating than chas ing a guy for hal f a loop. then. pulli ng up b ehi nd h im, recogn izing th e bri gh t ye llow flo wer and. bouncin g pegtail s tha t signify that the ' gu y' you ha ve b een chasing is a Dese rt Dai sy . A s an ad mi rer of th ese unusu al women , I set ou t to t ry and ca p tu re th at elusive au ra that makes a De sert Dai sy. Pres ident Mary Brooks w as more th an agreeab le . I was invited to attend a me eti ng of Desert Daisies and given directio ns on ho w to get th ere ...down t his street , tum le ft the re , right at t h is co rner...an d at th at poi nt I saw t hree st rip es of lim e a nd knew I was o n co urse ... l fo llo wed th e lim e right to the front door and in t he glow from the po rch ligh t ' noti ced t hat it didn't look qu it e righ t. Closer inspect io n proved it . to b e - what else - flour. Th e femi nine laughter a nd chatter floa ti ng o ut the open d oorway made it so u nd lik e the meeting of th e bridge club : and th e conversation was ty pica l The Dai sies said m otor cycl e racing was so me th ing the y just sort o f fell into . They wen t out to the desert with husba nd s, boyfrie nds or fat hers for years and o ne day said, " Hey , I could do that." and can they ever! Jan Ditso n ea rned the nu mbe r 15 Tra ilbike Ex pe rt p late last year, a nd Shar on R oscnauer is currently six th in t he Trailbike sta ndi ngs. A lot of men would be very pleased to b e able to ride that well. The Daisies d on 't th ink there is any t h ing unusual about a girl racing a motorcy cle in th e desert , o r t hat th ere is anyt hin g s pec ial abo ut th e type of woman wh o wan ts to co mpete . "I'm sure you would fi nd t hat during o ur schoo l years we were all ver y co mpetitive." commented Jan Ditson, "W e got th e b est grades and we re captai ns of t he girl s' baseb all a nd ba sketball te am s." Mary An n Eyre agreed . "Th e o n I y ti me I ever though of my self as a female du ring a rac e wa s one time when ' br oke down in ' Vegas an d my so n came by an d said. 'Mo t h er. what are you doing?' " Hu sbands and fami lies are co o pera t ive. "Oh, they just have to be," said Patty Clagg. "You just can't race if yo ur fa mi ly do esn' t encourage you." Th e husband s really take their po siti ons serious ly. I f you th ink you get uptight when your o w n bike break s. you o ugh t to take a lo ok at o ne of these tuner s when his wife is towed in on a broken bike th at he is su pposed to have fix ed . "They tak e it so per so nally ." said J oy Malis. " as if th at wa s th e o nly bike t hat ever b ro ke d ow n d uri ng a race and it is all t h eir fault." T h e men may t h ink t he Daisies are cute out t here on t he co urse , b ut they don't realize that th ese women arc dea d serious. And wh y no t? It is true t hat t h e average woman is not as strong as the average man, but courage and de dication ar e certainly not the exclusive property of the ma le segment of the population . Perh ap s the worst en emy o f women is motherhood itself. Mo st girls can reme mber their mothe r saying. "Do n't sho w t he boy s you can ou tru n. outth ink, outride. o r in a ny other way po se a threat to h is ma le dom ina nce ; you will never have any boyfrie nd s." A nd little girls b elieve t he ir mo t he rs and didn 't ru n so fast o r rh ink so hard and got a re p uta tio n for bei ngso ft a nd cu te; alt houg h no t too brigh t. Well . it ju st isn 't so! Ma yb e most guys ca n lift mo re weig ht t ha n most girls; but most guys can not ' o utt hin k mo st girls an d th inking docs co me in hand y wh en you are in vol ved in a spo rt. A nd wo men sta nd up b ett er u nder stress t han men. Wom en are j us t made of st ur dy stu ff.. .call if grit if you will. Ho w else co uld a wo man spe nd hours struggling in the b ack of the pack. eating d ust an d being jostled as fa ster, stronger riders b low by her. just for t he ho no r of bei ng th e first girl to cros s th e fini sh line? . Diana York. a pr osp ective member. tells about her first race . " I wa s so stoked." Diana recall s. "that I giggled all the wav to the b o mb ," A little late r in the race Diana dove into a sandwash wrong, did a header a nd tumbled right up to the Rescue 3 truck . .., was still rolling when some jerk ran up and shouted . "H ey , can , borrow yo ur tools?" Rescue 3 insisted th at I drink Sharon is lo·ok ing hottest in events th is year ; carries 23T on her Ri ckman Hodaka. Sharon Rosenaur Joy Malis