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/141063
o . " '" e, M .... Cl '": c " .., " en ;;:: w Z W ..J U >- U b y Peter Starr WEST O N . ORE .• May 19 / 20 - The farmers were n o t the only people wh o we re p ra y in g fo r rain th is weeken d. Some 170 st ar te rs in th e Bad R ock Two-Day T rai l we re wish in g that medicine m en fr om th e lo ca l Umatilla tribe would d o rain dances to quell th e dus t sto rm s and dry trails. Bad R ock was rel a tivel y u neven tful, th e on ly accidents being ca use d by lac k o f vision from dust clouds in ' the special sp eed se c tio n s, T he wo rs t casualty w as Hodaka rider Bob Canfield f ro m Rich lan d . Wash in gt on. He broke hi s leg wh ils t blinde d by dust in a fall ca used by a p ot h ol e o n the Spring Creek section fo llo wing chec kp o in t fo ur on day two. He is reco ve rin g fro m a su ccessful o pe ration t o pin th e leg together. D ave Ekins al so to o k a sp ill . aggr ava ting a previous c1avical fr acture . T he weath er was e xcell en r, th e course real ist ic (Malcom Smith said eas y ) bu t th e dust was a killer. The co urse ran in a un te r clockwise circle be ginnin g from Wes ton an d cove ring the . su rro u n di n g Blue Mountain s through the U m atilla a n d Wa llowa Whi tman Nation al Forests . and su ch ro man tic places as C ayuse. Spring Creek, Lost Pin e Cr eek, an d w inding its wa y to th e moun rains where sn ow shi fted an d prevailing temperatures we re 26 degrees. T h is Was th e se cond annual Bad Ro ck , an d t h is y e ar was al so a qualifier for th e upcomin g ISDT event . in Massachu setts. Weston, a town o f so me 660 p eople, h o st ed the event and were sh ow a good return on th ei r h ospit alit y fr om so me ve ry r esp on sibl e m o torcy cli sts. The course m easured 234 mil es. the first d ay's ave ra ge wa s 24 MPH givin g a G old Medal time of 9 hours and 4 7 minu tes. S a turday morning the riders wo und th eir way through the sunlit streets of Weston an d up into th e hill s, th e sm alle r classes firs t. Frank Wheeler fro m Lancas te r. California . delighted th e locals wi th a wheelie from th e st art all the w ay down th e s tree t. N o tables in the start ing line up in cluded Mal colm Smith. Lar s L ars on . la st y ear's winner D oug Wilford , th e Trask Mountain winner J ack Pen ton. Charlie Vincen t, th e husband an d wife team o f Ka rol and Rich ard DeGraw, and Army h o t sh o e from Fo rt H o od. Texas Michael Casp er. A total o f 24 w orks teams were ente red ; out o f th ese on ly fo u r fini sh ed in tact : Pento n (Carl Cran ke , T om Penton , Bill Uh l) who won th e m an ufacture rs team pri ze: K aw asaki (Ron Bish op . Eric j e n se n; Mik e Pa tr ic k); H usq varna ( Fran k Piasec ki, M alc o m Smi th , Ed Schmi d t) , an d OSS A (Charlie Vincent , Don Cu t ler . D ave Lat h am ). Sh ort ly after the s tart On S a tu rday. an d h ard ly lo n g en o ugh 10 allow th e d u st to se tt !e , G len Vince nt push ed in to repo rt an altercation wi th a d it ch a n d a fast -movin g femal e rider. lIe had dri ve n ' all th e wa y fr om C onnecticut for a 3 0·min u te rid e. Foll o win g him. A rmy .favo ri te l\Iichale C asper re turned his R o kon with a sei zed en gin e. T he re tire me n ts h ad started. Ov e r 4 0% of the ride rs were due to dro p ou t th at day. in spit e of the c once nsus that it h ad bee n fairly easy. Pen t on team rid er Carl Crank e f ro m S a cr am en to, California . was the ove rall leader at th e en d of th e first 2 34 mil es. Sunday's start had b een m o ved forward to 7 a.rn., and t o co m bat th e eas in ess of the p revious day , th e average was in creased to 2 7 MPH. O ver 10 0 ride rs s ta rted a lo ng th e same course b u t in the rev ers e direction. The fir st surprise was a t chec kpoin t o n e. 2 2 m iles out; snow Was fallin g. Riders numb with cold were . grabbin g w a rm glove s a nd gulping d own h o t drinks, But up in th e mountains that fo llowed, ov erall Bad , Rock w inner Jack Penton w as laking time out to lo o k .at the magnificent view from th e Blu e Mountains o ver 10 'LaG rand e Val ley. On th e firsl sp eed se ctio n th a t d ay riders R ed Lumsden stopped to a id a fal le n riders. After m a kin g sure h e w as in tact. Red returned 10 th e start of th e section and re -ran th e speed tes t. As iI w orked o UI. Red lo st his G old Med al st anding due t o the co ur tesy stop. h owe ver, the jud ges la ter re conside red th e si tutation a n d d a wa rd ed Lumsd en a " Gold" . Th e o n ly in ciden t o f con ce rn was o ne of c ou rse sabotage. A substantial part of t he course h ad b een "re-routed" by p ersons unknown . They led the firs I tirders in to a wire fe nce o n priva te propert y . Dave Leimbach, th e first ride r to arrive . cras hed into and bro ke th e fence. The saboteurs als o felled three tree s across th e course; fortuna tely cou rse marshalls led by Leon Wilban ks were able to clear the obstacl es befo re any furth er damage was done. co BAD ROCK Dane Leimbach at Deadman 's Pass after his enco unter with a fe nce. Diek Bu rleson (Hus) topped 125 class. Joh n Larsen photo . Last year' s wi n ner. Do ug Witf o rd, gets gassed.