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/141052
MINT 400.. Lotsa Money and Lotsa Get-oIls Ci « ~ w Z W ...J U >- U Ro lf T ibblin in repose on a camp stool in the pits. T he comb ination of riders. machine and organizati on proved unbeatable in the M int . Mi nt 'phot os by Marcia Holley and Al ice Rh ea. Rolf Tibblin and Mitch b y Ali ce J EA N, NE VA DA, Mar . 19, 197 3 _ Rolf T ibblin won the Mint 400 for th e second year in a row today. He and partner Mitch Mayes brought th e 400 H usky in to vic tory in eight hours, nine minutes and .0 30 seconds. Tibblin three times World Motocross Champion' and his protege, Mit ch Mayes, several time overall winner in California desert even ts, were heavy favorites to win this year's classic, although me starting lineup was filled with· top names in desert ra cing. But the ro ad to defeat is paved with if's. Terry Clark (Hus ) was leading th e race nearing Ch eck 3 on th e first lap, ayes Take Overall Rh ea whe~ h e ~o t o ff hard and broke his hip , pu tung hIS te am o u t of the ra ce. Both '\om Bro oks and Gary J on es stoppe d to aid Terry. . . Th: B ~o o ks brothers , favored to Win If their bike co uld h old toge the r, wer e plagued with wheel problems, stopping to tigh te n spokes tw ice and to ch ,,?,ge the r;ar .wheel .oncc: But the course Just wasn t httle bike co un try, .and B~oo~s was flat ?ut-powered WIth ~lbbh n wo und o ut In SIx th gear and loo kin g for seventh . T hat puts Tibblin's speed somewhere between 95 and 100 MPH on ~arts ?f the co urse. JIm FIshback and Larry Roeseler had th eir CZ right up th ere dicing for the lead between Ch ecks 3 and 4 in th e secon d lap wh en th e fuel tank spli t and th ey dropped o u t. Perhaps th e story of th e CZ team, sponso re d by Yamaha of Fon tana, is the mo st heartbreaking o f the day . Both teams, Fishback and Roeseler ; Kn ebel and Brecker were in the lead at some point only to drop out w ith bike problem s. But certain ly the Californians we re no t the only ones with problems . The ~in t 400 is a professio nal ra ce, paying big money to those who hack it, and onl y twenty-two of the origin al s eve n ty-on e starters were able to co mple te th e c our se , with fla t tires and ruined wh eels taking top honors for break ables. Ma yes and Tibblin displayed true t:~ effort ; May es takin g it easy and ndmg under con tro l, trying to maintain a good position un til he handed th e bike over to Tibblin who sm o ked it on his half o f the cou rse. T he effo rt paid off well . . Se con d place and first 250 team J ack Joh nson an d Dave Laca had prob lems. They slung their ch ain several ti mes th en put o n a new chain , only to hav e that flung off as the newness wore off. J o hnso n and La ca are sp on so red by Valley Cy cle , In c. in Henderson Nevada. Pra cti ce paid off for the pair a; knowing the ' co urse helped them ove rcome problems with th e ch ain and a flat tire. Encroaching civilization forced Mint officials to find a new co urse for this year's running and the result was one long, hard two h undred mil e loop. Whil e that sounds imp ossible from the pi t crew stan dpoin t, the pitting pro bably co uld have be en done by tw o team s " as ~ccess ro ads wh ,izzed you cro ss country In plenty o f u rne to sit and hav e a nervo us brea kdown wondering where your ride r was. The professional teams, th ose who h ave been to b ig races be fore, came with a n army of twenty or mo re people an d en ough spare parts to star t a small repair shop. Crews arrived at th eir pi ts in the pre-da.wn darkness and se t up, alr eady worrying wh ether they were trul y prepared for everything. . Most riders elected to trade off at ' 100 m iles and a d river was ke pt on stand by just to sh uttle th e team b ack an d forth be tw een th e Start/Finish area an d Ch eck Six. T hrougho ut the day the public address system at the chec kp oin ts , fed by CB ra dio, kep t pit crews an d press informed, calling out the numbe rs of b ikes passi ng thro ugh the various checkpoints, relaying information fro m riders asking their crews to have ce rtain parts read y for them , and advising o th er crew s that their bik e was out of th e ra ce an d where to fin d it. Par tl y du e to organization -of th e Mint-Sah ara sp onso rs , pa rtl y because of the pro fession al attitude of many o f th e riders and crews and because of th e relati~ely small entry, (7 1 bikes) there was li t tle of th e hubbub whi ch usuall y surro un ds these lon g races. Pit crews st ill waited with .sweat ru nnin g down their rib cages , but there were none of the traffic jams an d frantic jockeying fo r position in the pits so typical of