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/141033
N " '" '" e, N .... '" Silverthorn GET AHONDA AND SEE BAJA QUICKEST 250 sloshes and Fetty's By john H uetter ENSENADA , B.C., MEX ., june 9,1972 C " - Think o f a 450 Hus ky as puny by .., comparison: an impress ion that this " frail, delicate machine and its exp osed ~ solitary rider can ' t reall y be out there, it W mu st be a mi stak e. Then realize th at Z w what y ou 're lo o kin g at is reall y th e 45 -' HP rip -snorter th at off-road bikers U >- usually are in awe o f. Real ize th ose U th ings an d y ou start to ge t an idea of the bru ta l immenseness th at is Baja Califo rn ia. It 's sometimes h ard to co mprehen d th at a two -wheeled ma chine and a rid er are go ing o u t there where - there' s noth ing at all fo r h und reds of m iles but a few ten uously arranged checkpoin ts , Togeth er , th ey battle the d u st an d the dar kness an d keep ru nning fro m th ose devils that are j ust ove r your sho ulder in th e bl ack read y to grab you o ff your bik e. So me tim es th e devils take on four-wh eeled sh ap e as a 400 HP lO-eyed monster co mes screaming up beh ind yo u , roaring an d spi tting ro cks. To actu ally race a u t there , against the clock, th ro ugh the traffic th at is j ust in frcquen t en ou gh to sucke r yo u into wick ing it o n, with no Rescue Th ree and . no w ay to ge t you ou t if you crack up at n igh t, takes steel ne rves , co mplete can tro l o f your min d an d, as a given, o ne hell of a lo t of ski ll. T hi s year's Baja 500 saw mo re two-wheeled entries than h as been th e case recen tly bu t also saw the h ighe st dropou t ra te amo ng the favo red riders, in ad dition to the ex pected losse s am ong th ose wh o are not as well known to cross-country buffs. j.N. Robe rts, ab oard a ne w, super-prepared factory 450 Husky seized three time s before th e end o f th e p avemen t. (T he p aved road ends aro und Cam alu , first check point, and about 93 mi les sou th o f th e st art in Ensenada. ) T he last time h e seized was when he was tu cked in at 95 p er. He saved it with ou t go ing d own but th en hung it up for th e day . Be w as o ut o f the running before d ar k. Malcolm SOlith, perennial Baja master, cracked two gas tanks before the third ch eck , replaced them with the hel p of some official -type Husqvarna pi t crews, then proceeded to get o ff so mewhere o n the way to Rancho Santa Yne z , breaking his leg. Rumo r w as th at it was the here-to-fore "go od" one . Hop e so . Whitey Mar tin o was en tered to ride the 5 00 miles so lo o n h is Hu sky b ut hi s to an overdue win 0" N engine wa s so unding very rou gh, eve n af te r 50 mil es of h igh speeds. He h ad t ro uble be twee n ch ec ks th ree and fou r th at del ayed hi m beyond c on ten tio n for a h igh p ositio n . • .Silverthorn pil ots the winnin g H onda 250 on the pavement. Ge ne Cannady, who led th e OKW charge last year with a firs t in class, second overall , was fast m an in the early stages of th e race. He was as tride a Yamaha 360 RT -2 MX this year an d w as firs t in to Ran ch o Chapala, making th e ch eck abou t 5 :45 p.m. aft er taking a 12: 06 st art. T he re w as a sale Honda 250 en te re d , officia lly by Honda of Lemon Grove, bu t with enough j apanese reps in attendan ce to let yo u know there was co nside rab le fac to ry interest in this effo rt. And, it proved , enough support to mak e the d iffe rence. Bill Silverth orn was second int o Ran ch o Chapala (th e ch eckp oin t at the in fa mo us Laguna Chap ala dry lake) , unoffi ciall y ahead of Gene Cannady o n tim e. lie had abou t o ne an d a h alf h ours of d ayli ght and 35 miles to go through th e n arrow , ro ck y canyon n orth to Bah ia San Luis Gon zaga an d th e rider trad e-o ff pain t at Alfo nsina's , S ilvert horn passed Cannad y on the leg no rth to th e coast o f Baja an d was first in to the hal f-w ay point. The Vespa team on ly made it to a little past the first check . Proving that they do what they are designed to do - give dependable tran sportation on secondary roads. He re linquishe d th e stro ng-ru nning 25 0 to Gen e Fetty at 6 :38 p .m. leaving an hour of un certain Iigh t fo r Gene to charge in to the narrow cu ts and pe rpe ndic ular strea m bed s th at mark the ro u te n orth to S an Felipe. Bill Silvertho rn had covered abou t 305 miles in five hours , 20 minutes: a tremendous ride on a sto ck-framed XL250. Gene' Cannady was second to h an d . off , leaving Nevadan Max Switzer almo st as much time in the sun to chase Fetty. Cannady made it in one h o u r flat from Ran ch o Santa Yne z, When he got h is machine back together, he moved. j .N. an d Malcolm were out. Terry Clark, soloing on an H-D 125 was out be fore Check Three. Larry Bergquist's Sp ortst er (n o kidd ing , Harleys will try anyth ing . If Brelsf ord can do it in IT, th ey'll try it in Baja.) dropped a valve abou t two m iles north of Cam alu. With a lo t o f th e big names o u t , it was th e or etically any body's race b ut th e Silverthorn -Fe tty Ho nda w as in fron t and Max Swi tzer on the 36 0 Yam (He has said he prefers to ride at nigh t. ) was just a few minutes behind. Micky Quade w as running way up in th e 125 class o n a six-spe ed ll usq varn a. As in every race , there are sc re w u p s at the pits and Malcolm go t Mick ey 's gas, which didn 't do either of th em any good sin ce it co st Mick ey 10 -15 minutes in elaps ed tim e an d Malcol m DN F'd with a n on -fun cti on al leg. Cecil Os wald brough t in th e bi ke as first 125 across th e line , abou t fifth bi ke to ta ke the che ckered . Right behind him w as ~litch Ma yes ridi ng th e seco nd leg for the Ro seler-M ay es Harley-Davidson 125 . The co rrecte d ti me p u t th e little II-U as first lightweigh t since it started 27 minutes after th e CCC sponsored Husky 125 . Nex t across was th e Froel ich-Owen Yamaha 250, h app y to h ave made a good finish . Mike Burke brought in a bi g ole red BSA next. T he weather w as wet bo th a t the be ginning and the en d o f the veri t, which kept some of the bike times down . The last 3 0 mil es from che ckpoint 9 (Ojos Negros) wa s all mud, Diablo Dry Lake was not d ry ; it was soggy, and for back-breaking straw , the riders squirreled over rain and mud-slickened roads co ming down to the crus h of soggy (inside an d out) spe ctators at th e finish: was a me ss of people and co ngested vehicles. Gene Fe tt y wisel y kept on go ing afte r takin g the ch ec kered, and passed us in the rain as we we re wen ding o ur way th rou gh th e obstacles in the opposite di rection. The 250 sounded like a 350 in the dark and w et. Max came by soon after that , fighting t ra ffi c and dru nken wanderers in th e night, after 200 plu s miles of figh ting rocks and bru sh . T hey were both surprisin gly fr esh. It looks easy when you win. Felty did break a chain On h is leg, bu t th e supp o rt bike willin gly gave up its ch ain . allo wing him to con tinue to take th e overall. He said th ey will h ave an oth er 2 50 prepared for the Baj a 1000. The first two h eavyweigh t mach ine s had super lighting arrangem ents: the first H-D 125 (unoffi cially on co rrec ted