Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

co " '" '" 0- M .... '" M '" c: '" -, ~ W Z W ..J U >- U There was a lit tl e congestion in The Sandwa sh right after the bomb . At last, some open desert for Jack Knebel. -\ First 250 Expert to Jim Fishback. A finish for John and Kookie. by A lice Rh ea LUCERNE VA LLE Y, CA L., J an . 14, 1973 - " If a guy rod e th is th ing on a trials bike he could have been first ove rall," mu ttered o ne disgruntl ed rider , rubbing h is sore p arts. T he Vi kings Ll o yd Co x Benefit Hare and Hound, th e first race of th e 197 3 season, generated m ix ed emotions amo ng th e rid ers. T hey weren't luk ew arm; th ey ei the r loved it or hated it. Y ou ng Tom Brooks, w orld's fa tes t 125 DK W rider, had to love it; he wo n. R unning about fifteen th o vera ll at the bomb, Tom looked in bad shape, but near the end o f the first lo op h e st rea ke d past second pl ace Tom Smit h (Ya m), t he reby m o vin g in to secon d pl ace be h in d Mit ch May es. Rich Ma rk (Hus) took the lead eariy b u t remem bered his New Yea r's resolu tion in time and slo wed down to ride hi s ow n rac e. Rich d id some leadin g last year b u t ei the r got off o r bro ke hi s b ike. This year h e pl an s to fin ish so me races as he has discovered tha t th er e are no p oin ts awarded for lea ding at th e b omb. Rich was running fourth th rou gh th e pits an d man aged to han g o nto that position . Mitch Mayes was second at th e bomb but n ob ody recogni zed him. We are too used to seeing him on a Harley Baja an d so me how haven ' t co nnected him with the 400 H usky ye t. J im Fish back (C Z) 197 3's Nu mber One X , came through the pits in thi rd positio n, fly i ng si deways, m o re b o un cing th an riding. Vik ings used th e san d wash (Yo u kn o w, the san d wash we always go th rough in Lucerne Vall ey.) righ t after th e bomb and in spite o f th e number of times th ey h ave race d the re th e Am at eurs an d Expe rts man aged to pile up , delaying th e N ovice start. Ea rlier an Amateur and a Novice h ad mi xed it up in th e wash while trail-riding, delaying the AM-EX start f or abo u t tw enty minutes. The fir st loop was super-tight and lon g, ca usin g many riders to run ou t of gas. Am ong those were A.C. Bakken , Art Knapp and Tom Smith. Some of the guys quit wh en they decid ed that it was too late to b eat th e N ovices. Bakk en ra n o ut of gas ab o u t three miles o u t. A club member too k him so me gas (Tom Muto in formed th em wh er e h e was as h e went by .) and A.C. w as ab le to finish . Bu t h e ran o u t of gas again on th e secon d lo op and fin ishe d so mewhere be hind the first Novice. Oh , well , a finish is a finis h . T he secon d loop was where things really got interesting. Tom Broo ks, ta king th e lead at the start of th e second loop, ha d th e DeeK wo und o u t whe n he hit the b ottom of th e first hill and we n t sailing over it. Mayes, Fishback and Sal tzma n also rode o ver, b ut th ey we re about t he only ones to make it. Co rdis Brooks was o ut o n a 10 0 DKW tha t is asai d to really b oogie across the de sert. He almost made it up th e hill bu t th e b ig b ikes kept getting in his way and h e fin ally ended up j u mpi ng off an d runn ing up the h ill. La rry Roesel er (Baja), run ning second in th e tr ailbi ke class, 'd ro pped into secon d gea r as he hit the bottom of the hill , felt it star t to lu g and leap ed off and ran , p ick ing up seve ra l pla ces as h e passed sta lled bikes. Fro m th ere th ings deteri orated and b y th e tim e th e Trail Novices arrived th ere were a co up le h und re d bikes stuc k on th e sid e of tw o hill s; one rocks and th e o th er san d . Try ing t o p ick y our wa y up a hill li tt ered with bikes isn 't the easiest thing in th e w orld. To make eit he r hill yo u h ad to b e d oin g abo ut 60 , mph when yo u hit th e b o ttom and mos t of th e riders h ad neith er th e gu ts nor th e horsep ow er to d o it. T he results w ere alm o st funny . unl ess you happen ed to be one of the unfo rt una te rid ers pinned to th e side of th e hill . Th is is one race wer e bein g in good shap e really paid o ff. One E xp er t reco un ted ho w . he push ed the bike up several feet and could n't keep up the p ace so he woul d drop th e bike and le t it die, rest a while and get up and start over agai n . A rest period was in o rder fo r man y riders wh en th ey final ly topped the hill s. Several clubs are p lo t tin g re talia ti on . Bu t th e course really could n't have been th at hard. Sharon Rosen au er (S uz), J o y Malis (Ric Hod) and Chris Fields (Yam) all fin ished th e race. Sharo n said the Vikin gs were sadists and J oy an d Chris agree d (alo ng with abou t 5 00 male riders). No rm an Mon ohan an d Loren J ones rode th e ' wh ole co urse o n a 500cc Matchless sid ehack . T here w ere places in th e co urse that we re so tigh t th at so me of the solo bikes had tr ouble getting through . so we assum e that Norman and Loren picked up the ha ck and carrie d it over th ose spots . Tom Brooks and his 125 DKW have won overall so many times that nobody ' is surprised anymore. Today makes abo ut the seventh time Tom has won a D-37 desert race o verall. Mitch Mayes finis hed sec o nd overall and the Heavyweigh t win seemed to convinc e him th at switching to th e 400 Hu sk y this year was the smart thing to do, although he admi tt ed that th ere were se veral times durin g the race when h e wishe d h e was on so me th ing a littl e ligh ter . Jim Fishback (CZ) finis he d t hird ove ral l an d fir st 250 Ex pe r t but later said hi s back was a little so re from the ro ugh stuff in th e second loop . A ninety -mil e co urse ma y be jus t a little much after fo ur weeks away from ridi ng and man y rid ers comp laine d of bli ster ed hands (" Bu t I never get b lis ter s!" ] and aching b odies. Chuck Gates (Yam) though t it was w orth all the aches, pulling o ff firs t

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