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/141045
.. N M co Q. ... M '" o N . .ri u, ~ W Z W ..J o > o b y A lice Rh ea Pho tos b y Dale and Alice Rh ea J EAN, NE VADA. Feb . 4, 1973 - " Yo u want me to drive all me way to Las Vegas to cover a m inibike ra ce ? Are you . . ._ - . Mo torcycle Corporation out of your mind ," I screached a t me 172 Freedom Ave nue 'man gling editor over ' me ph on e ? When Anaheim. Ca lifo rnia 9280 1 he ha d me calm ed d o wn enough to listen, J ohn explained mat this wasn't a tw enty-minute moto, but a full -out des ert race. A ch anc e fo r the kid s to pre-run me co urse o f the Mini -Min t under race co ndi tio ns. I called me Las Vegas p h one number and was lu cky to catch Leon ard Mills and Roger Welsh. They were both so nice an d eager to get coverage for me kids mat I was already beginn in g to like m e assignment : I had no idea what lay in store fo r Saturday it was rain ing so hard in Los Angel es mat I th ou gh t I had bet ter call and m ake sure the race was n 't can celled . Mrs. Welsh said it was cloudy and cool b ut not rai n ing ; to come on because th ey were goi ng to rac e regardl ess of th e weath er. Gutsy little kid s, I th ou ght, . 1 1 17 Foun ta in Way , Anahe im ,. Ca l. 9 2806 .........................• •.•••••.... Th e Sou th ern Neva da J ack r abbits M.e ., cousins to t he J ackrabbit s of .r--~~ - ---..,1 1Distric t .3 7. o ffered the ir h ospitalit y an d I so me ho w forgo t to me n tio n m at I hav e a van in which I h aul my bi ke an d sleep three w ee kends o u t of th e mo nth . A nice wa rm b ed . so mew here out of the rain just see m ed like a go od id ea. I wasn' t p rep ared fo r m e plush tw entieth -sto ry room a t the Mint. fo r lCo:::,;;:;':':":~~~.l::.Ol.:::~~1..l.:i.l..=~~~;;:::J i whi ch I owe Mr . Del Webb my th an ks. Nor was I prep ared fo r the meals. I was really begi nn ing to like this assign ment. Sunday mo rn ing was a bit rus hed, as always, an d I loo ked forward wi th less than eagerness to me b ike me club had offered to loan me . Well. they had said that I needn't bring mine as they would furnish "transportadon." The transportation turned out to be nothing less man me "Baja Bug" belonging ' to Lu th er Kutcher with Luther h imsel f as driver . (Those of you who are Baj a racing fans will recognize th e name... for the rest of you. I can only say he is an ex celle n t dri ver. ) T he little booger s ga thered aro und as me rid ers' m eeting got under wa y. Some o f th e kids had never raced and it was all new to memo Well o rganize d. the club had co pies o f th e d ang er marks, chec ks and o ther signs th at w ould be on 714 1870-5243 BulfaeG "IT FITS" me. \ .~ ~-.;;~~ IBas~9~!J ~~~:~, .... me co urse, wh ich they passed o u t. It was old hat to some of the riders and their attention wan dered. Fo r so me of the littler guys it mu st have been like a foreign language. I wondered how much an eigh r-year-old would absorb. The starting line looked for all m e w o rld like the start of any d esert race. A little smaller p erhap s, with on ly about seventy rider s, bu t m ere they wer e : full lea thers, helmets , glo ves, bo ot s. face , ches t p ro tectors an d sh oulder pads. If y o u w eren ' t close enough to see o6Mini-enduro" written on the tank, you would have n ever known the difference. The first wave of riders got off to a good sta rt; smoking away on wh at was me landing strip for J e an, Nevada, head ing to ward a section of m e Bars tow- to-Vegas co urse. T he specta tors SSOUNO GRO.UND and 'kib it zers cro wde d in to give last mi n ute w o rds of encouragemen t and instructio n to the little guy s. (Bikes 60cc an d under had a separate start although Ex perts and Novices . ran together.] The starter jabbe d h is rolled flag in the air, in dica ting mat m e spec tators wo uld h ave to move b ack. Under p re-race tensio n, one rider mistook me gest ure fo r m e sta rt, kicked his bike over and roared away . followed quickly b y fifty o the rs. ' Oh, well, maybe it was a false start. but how to you round up fifty \\11d little Indians who are smoking across me d esert faster than so me p aren ts would dare to ride? Anyway, they got off pretty close together. The co urse consisted of th ree lap s a ro u n d a n e igh tee n- mi le loop . J ackrabbit s h ad flagm en at ' all me danger 'spots suc h as road cr ossings an d ditch es an d the re we re. three track gua rd s. Two blocks from m e fin ish line me course crosse d two sets of railro ad tr acks and m e club was taking no ch ances wit h th eir young ch arges. The .riders 'had to get off and w alk their bike across. S ome of me younger boys sto pped way b ack by m e comer and walked 100 yards or so across the track. Older, wi ser racers hit m e ground on m e run , d ashed across me track an d leap ed back on sidesaddle , th rowing a leg over m e bike after th ey h ad p ic ked up speed again. Kn ow ing . mat in regular ra ces me tank card has to be on me gas tank I was puzzled to see mat all the riders h ad them on th eir helmets. Then it dawned on me . D id you ever try to mark a tank card on a bike mat stands eighteen inch es high ? Out fro m me landing strip the co urse mad e a faril y sharp lef t turn and dro pp ed into a san dwash. The club was fo re sigh ted enough to station th ree men here as fifty percen t of me little riders d ropped it an d were quickly helped up to kee p them fro m getting run over by rid ers b eh ind mem o san d wash p r o vi d e d T he en te rtainme nt which should h ave been on te levis io n . Something on m e o rde r of candi d came ra . T iny ' faces p resen ted OOPS!! SHOULD HA V E READ " ESCA PE BY TRAIL BIKE" . ~~ /1 REED ORTING Port CZ Barrels Engine Building pet it ion Headquarters eat On CZ Or Hodaka EBIKE SHOP (7 14) 532·3634 Wo rds, pldu res and ,d iagram s worth thQlr w eight In gold . Bill Brokaw an d W iltz , Wagner comb ine th eir t ale nts to p rov ide ". an Introductory Into t h e off.·roa d w orld . Should b e mandatory read ing f or all begin ne r cvcnsts and recomm end read ing f or even ex pert riders. ,L im fte d ed it ion $3 .00. Cycle News PrOdUcts . P.O. Box 498 Dept . CNP, Long Beach, C. : 90801 . . Calif . Resident s add 5% T ax