Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

o N . " '" e, N .... '" .... N FIRST RACE IS FAR OUT " .., C ~ ~ w Z W ..J o >o '- r .- - . " " You're in first . Ar t . My God. you're winningl It 's never happene d befo re." E nthusiastic fan keeps on truckin' . By Alice Rhea L UCE RN E VALLEY , CA., J u ne 18, Forty-year-old Art Knapp, 197 2 mo unted on a Husky turned by Tracy of Burbank, put the swoop on all 550 en tran ts in the Rim Runner's Hare Scram bl es. Art leads a lo t of races and he almos t always finishes well, but has never won. Today Art ch an ged that , win ning by a good margin. Jim Fis hback (CZ ) was se cond overall and first 250 Expert. Both Art and Jim we re hot and bone tired, but said the co u rse was su per-well m a rk ed . A rt sai d it was a hard course an d Jim agreed , adding that it was a "real rough riders' course ." Wes Anderso n, Jr. (CZ ) was next across the line, finishing third overall and second ligh tweigh t Expert. This see med to be the d ay for ligh twei gh ts as Tom Po tee t ( Bul) pulled in ne xt. Tom admits th at he is c reep ing up to w ar d th at First Ove rall sp ot agai n. Each week he h as been finishing a little better. J er ry J o nes (lIus) and Tom Muto (H us) finished pretty close together. Both were tired and thought the co u rse was rough bu t agai n sa id it was very well marked. Mike Patrick was still we ari ng number 41x th is week and riding the 250 Yam when he finished seve n th overall . Mike say s th is is the las t week he will rid e the 250; next week he will b e b ack on num ber 10. Jack Kne bel led the race on his M id-V alley CZ unti l he brok e his shoulder. T hat slowed him down a bit . J im Sov ie (Kaw) cam e up next to say this is th e roughest ra ce he h as rid d en sin ce Barstow-to -Veg as. I didn't ge t to talk to T erry Davis (Yam) but could see him grin n in g from ea r-to -ear. so I gue ss h e was p leased with som eth ing .. .perh ap s his ninth ove ra ll p ositi on . Cordi s Brooks (Hod) was first Trail Expert again to day. I do n 't know if it is Co rd is' age o r hi s diet but h is enthusias m th at is in h is favo r, b ut he didn't even reall y look tired. He h ad to be riding pretty h ard to fin ish lOth overal l, esp ecially on a bike that small. Bob Russell number 6 1 (H us) is one o f th e phantoms o f the d esert. He finishe d six th He avyweigh t Expert at II th overall, and nobody has ever h eard of h im. He m ust b e one of those who just keeps on finishing, but not high eno ugh to ever ge t his nam e in the p ap er. Dean lI am m o nd s (H us) has not been riding much this year b ut today he decided 10 come back in a big way. Seve n th Heavyweight Expert and 12th overall, Jeff J effri es (Yam) was first Division II Exp ert , bu t I h on estly ca n't say wh ere he finis hed ...Iong abo ut twenty-five overall , I think . The Amateurs were really havin g a bash at it today . Randy Brown (Bul) captured top spot both overall and for the ligh twei gh t d ivisio n, followed by David Pleasan t (Bul). Wayn e Ro ach (lIus) was th ird Amateur and first Heavyweight. Way ne said the co u rse was beautiful. Rudy Abele (Baja) was first Trail Am ateur again today, ousting Dean Modese u (D K\I') again. Those two battle it ou t all the tim e , and so fa r Ru dy has come ou t on top , First Division II ligh tw eigh t was Andy Kirker. Andy didn't h ave a bike with him at the finish line, just a tank card ...Second Division II Amateur, and first with a bike was Richard Tinkham, on a Yam ah a. Larry lI ern (Bu l) ca me in 55th overall and first No vice again . " I j us t go tta get new shocks ," moaned Larry as they pushed his bike away. Tony Vern on (Bul) was second Xovi ce and first ligh tw eigh t. lie says we are go ing to b e seeing a lot more of h im n ow that he h as this n ew Bul fro m C-B !\I a 10 rs. R on Hol st (H us) w as third Novi ce an d second ligh tweigh t, R on looked pretty tir ed , but also quit e pleased . A t abo u t 89 th o verall , Tiin Bowma n (Hod) took the honor of bei ng first Trail

• Cover