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/141042
by Ali ce Rhea LUC ERN E VALLEY, C AL. , J an . 21 , 197 3 - Jim Fishback, riding a 250 C Z with n o left foo tpeg, dash ed in to th e fin ish overall at Cactus Cats' Hare Scrambles today. Seven hundred and fifty rider s lined up fo r today 's D-37 an d D· 38 co mb ined d esert run , th e pr oceeds of which go to aid EI C ajo n M.C. in their figh t against th e BLM. About 15 0 of th e ride rs came up fro m San Di ego on ly to be gre e te d with so me of th e w orst weather th e Moj ave has t o offer; numbin g c old co upled wi th hi gh winds th at sent b ack clouds scuddi ng across the sky wi th pro m ise of snow. The start was dela y ed for an h o ur wh ile we waited for the amb ulance. T he n when th e b anner dropped, A.C. Bakken (H us) lea p ed in to the lea d, seized th e engi ne, an d promptly dropped back to abo ut fo rtie th, giving the lea d to Tom Br ooks. Jim Fish b ack gave sp irite d chas e an d by Ch eck One had a hale-bike length on Tom. Tom Smith (Yam), Rich Mark (Hus) and Todd Cornish (C Z) wer e all in h o t p ursu it. Chu ck Cartledge had th e T rai lbike lead at the b omb b u t sh ortly thereafter w en t o ver a stee p san d hill which loo ks fo r all th e world like a cliff from th e top . Chuck an d b ike went end-o ver-en d to the b ottom an d ro de b ack in to , th e pits, bruised an d shaken, but O .K. , givin g th e T railb ike le ad to , Cordis Br ooks (D KW). T hro u gh th e p its, Jim Fishback h ad a glori ou s lead with n o body in sigh t b ehind him . Tom Br ooks h ad a flat rear tire about h alfw ay around and drop ped o ut of the rac e. Tom Smith fla shed by in sec o nd pl ace closely followed by co .. 8Q. .... M co ~ g .. .., " ~ w Z W .J o >o View from the front of the pack. When the dust cleared, Jim Fishback (e Z) was way out front . He lost a peg and still held on for the win over Steve Staats (Gre!. . Co rdis Broo k s looked to do a repeat Tr ailbike win unt il the rocky course start ed de-spoking him for aO NF. Steve Staats (G re) an d T odd Co rnis h (H us), w ith Bill Friant (Puc) first Di v. ll Ex pert in fif th place. Here th e p ack spl it with half o r better ch arging down the ro ad behind - th e pits ra th er than tan gle with gas cre ws an d spectators . Co rd is Brooks (DKW) h ad th e Trailbike lead go ing out of th e pits, b u t cam e sliding back into the Sledrieders' pits, alt hough not a memb er of that cl ub, lookin g fo r assistance. Fo ur teen people jumped in with wr enches and helped Cordi s tigh te n the rear spokes an d das hed o ff in chase of Larry Roeseler (Baj ) an d Mike Cartledge. T he wheel was eviden tally to o far gone to save as Cordis did not sh ow up at the finish lin e. R ichMark (H us) had dropped out by this tim e, h avin g caugh t one o f th e co urse 's many ro cks on th e en d of hi s nose. Back in ' th e Nov ice ranks, Ken Evans (Htis ) an d Mike Powers (Mo n) were ba ttlin g it o ut fo r firs t place. They ran m ost of th e race trading p ositions b ack and forth until Mike's b ike bro ke at th e th ird check. Bo th b o ys are member s of Sled Ride rs M.C. Ken went o n to take fir st No vice , foll owed by Ch uck Ca rr (Hus). J i m Fis hback los t a footpeg somewhere on the second loop an d Steve Staats (Gre) got so close by the finis h that Jim real ly h ad to hustle to keep first place. _ The G rand Pri x-type finish is always a mess, b u t third place Tom Smith 's re d Ex pert p late stuck o ut like a sore thumb am ong the Novices and Pie Platers an d Tod d Co rnish (C Z) in fo ur th, was easy to spot b eing head an d sho ulders taller than everybody else. T odd bl ew out hi s fork seals an d rear sh ocks an d flattene d hi s fro nt tire . [ wonder h ow he wo uld do if his b ike had so me su sp ension ? He said th e bike problems, " Slo wed me down a little." Bill Friant (Puc) hung in fo r fir st Div, 11 Lightweight Expert, with Ponderosa ace, Monte Lee (Y am ), and J im Gilchrist (DKW) tak ing sec ond and third in that class. Poi nts Steward Ron H all, ridin g a b o rrowed DKW was fo urth and Tom Smith (Yaml gets in the act Bob Massey (Oss) w ith first A mateur. The Ca ts used th e last few miles of virgin terri tory in the Lucerne V alley fo r th is race and man aged to th row in j ust abou t eve ry thing a rid er coul d wan t, including a wh ole bunch of ro ck s tha t n obod y wan ted. Th e co urse w asn 't easy, bu t it w asn 't to o hard except that it go t p re tty ch oppy the secon d tim e aro un d . The lack of technical d ifficult y was brought to light b y Don D avis an d Fed Acevedo (Hod) and Bill Zaremba and GOLD DOT BY UNI LEVER " I F I T DOESN'T SAY UN I A ND HAVE THE GOLD DOT IT'S LESS THAN T H E BEST." UN I FILTER INC. , 35 0 W. Coll ins, Orange, Ca. 92667 1 Nei l Plumber (Oss) whose h acks co m pleted the wh ole lo op. Neil esp ecially deserves congratula tion s fo r hanging on to th at side car fo r fo rty mil es. Ne il is ju st 13 years old. After the race, everyon e gathered aro un d sign -up for th e d rawing. Yamalta In ternational had donat ed a bike to hel p rai se m oney for th e EI Cajon M.C. , an d no half-way - fo r th em; the bike was a sp an kin g n ew DT-3 250 MX . It was wo n by J oh n Gregory, wh o came all the way from S an Di ego . FROM THE PEOPLE WHO INTRODUCED PLASTIC LEVERS TO THE MOTOR· CYCLE WORLD COMES THE MOST THOROUGHLY DESIGNED AND TESTED LEVER ASSEMBLY IN THE WORLD. eSUPER LITE eSUPER TUFF elMPERV IOUS TO GAS, CABLE LUBES AND OTHER CHEMICALS e DIRT PROOF CABLE END SLOT e ADAPTER FOR SMALL CABLE ENDS eNO NEED TO REMOVE GRIPS TO INSTALL eFULLY GUARANTEED