Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Winner Kent Miller accelerates out of check one. ftliUerrushestosea to take ftlexico H&Hwin By Peggy Stewart SONOITA/ROCKY POINT, MEX., DEC. 4 The morning of the sixth annual Sonoita toRocky Point Mexico hare and hound found most of the largest entry list recorded for the race camped in the cold morning air. Few were willing to take the chance of getting h~ng up at the border and missing the start. The Arizona Desert Racing Association had close to 200 motorcycle entries. Dune buggies ran the course a few hours before the bikes. - Many of the riders came prepared to win, some more than others. Some won and the others had to settle for s~afood dinners and some great shoppmg. The annual contribution of gifts to the Family Social Agency was a great success. Each year the riders are asked to bring a new toy, wrapped for a child. The wife of each mayor in Sonoita and Rocky Point (known as Puerto Penasco) sponsor a Christmas party for the underprivileged children. The gifts are then distributed to the children, making their Christmas brighter than it otherwise would have been. Riders and' their families are also asked to donate any unwanted clothing to the agency. These clothes are then distributed to the needy families of the towns. The two towns are primarily fishing villages and they have been hit very hard by the turn in their economy. The annual race is one thing that helps their local income [at least temporarily). This race and the donations have really spawned a lot of goodwill between Mexico and Arizona. 8 In the six years that this race has been run, there have been virtually no problems with either the Mexican government or the local citizens. Riders are given special help at both' the Mexican and American borders. This race is known as being one of the fastest of the season's scheduled races. The course is approximately 135 miles long. The race starts in the border town of Sonoita and finishes about 60 miles down the highway in the oceanside town of Rocky Point. Riders send their pit crews to various poi~ts to provide them with gas and water. Most riders had to have more than one crew, as it was next to impossible to have one crew make all the stops and get there before the rider. From the start line to check point one, the course was about 33 miles long. This was some of the roughest terrain, according to Veteran class rider Tom Boone. Boone also stated that this part, referred to as "the loop," was the worst of the entire race. He described it as being very rocky with tight turns, dusty and lots of ditches. Also, there was Cholla, Cholla and more Cholla. For those not versed in desert vegetation, Cholla is known as the jumping cacti. Its spines penetrate most anything. Gett~ng the cactus out of your skin is much like getting a fish hook out. Check one to check two was 16 miles. This was the first of the high speed sections. Riders were wide open through this area. Check two to check three was 57 miles. About seven miles of this section was a silt bed, with lots of traction. Many riders agreed that this section was in much better condition than last year. The only real problem was a few washed out areas, due to the area's 'recent rain. Check three to finish line was 27 miles. This area was mostly sand (sand dunes and beach sand). Riders could finally get a glimpse of the Sea of Cortez from there. As far as spe~d, it was WFO - just as fast as rider and bike could, or dare, to go. John Bruckbauer rests at the finish after 60 miles. At nine a.m. Saturday, the first buggy left for Rocky Point. After all the buggies had made it through checkpoint one, the first bikes were allowed to start. The time was 11 :26 when the first line of bikes took off. Five bikes started every 30 seconds. The Experts started at the front, the least experienced riders in the back. Last year's ADRA season champion, Kent Miller of Scottsdale, was one of the first riders to leave the start line. Miller is a Husqvarna support rider. Miller, who rode the 250cc Expert class, proved to be the man to beat. Last year's winner, Paul Bennett. was also on the first line of riders to leave. The real battle of the day was between these two riders. The overall ADRA season championship for.l982 was at stake. Going into this race Miller held only a few points lead over' second place Bennett. Bennett's win here last year seemed to give him the advantage, since Miller didn't ride this race last year. The race had very few injuries. The worst injury of the day went to Jim Weaver of Gallup, NM. Weaver, an Open Expert rider, went down hard on the first loop and was run over by at least one other motorcycle. Weaver managed to get to checkpoint one under his own power. Weaver put a scare into a few people, as he had just recently recuperated from a broken back. Weaver suffered a couple of broken ribs. The first rider into checkpoint one was Kent Miller. Miller came into the check roughly two minutes, five seconds ahead of Paul Bennett, Dave Miller, Kent's father, was third. Dave is 44 years old and rode the Open Expert class. First Open Amateur into check one was Ed Hickey, with a time of 46 minutes, five seconds. Into checkpoint two, it looked like a carbon copy of the list from check , one. The first five riders were (in order) Kent, Bennett, Dave, Pat Prosser and Mark Mitchell. The only change was Hickey,'who slipped a few places between the checkpoints. Checkpoint three was a copy of check two. The first five bikes remained in the saf!le positions. At the finish line, it was Kent Miller finishing with a fantastic time of 2:20.55. Miller's time was about five and one half minutes faster than Bennett's winning time last year. Miller took the overall win, the 250cc Expert win and the ADRA season championship for 1982. Bennett finished a respectable second overall and first Open Expert, with a time of 2:26: 15. His time this year was about 18 seconds faster than the previous year. Talk about consistency! Third overall went to Dave Miller, who pulled off second in the Open Expert class. Fourth overall went to Ed Hickey, who also won the Open Amateur class. Pat Prosser of Flagstaff took fifth overall and third Open Expert. Jerry Johnston did a great job of riding. Johnston turned in a time of 2:36: 10 for an overall finish of eighth, and first 250cc Amateur. Lee Carmody won the Veteran's class (riders from 30 to 35 years of age). Carmody's time was 2:39:47. Less Foss won the Fabulous Forty class (riders 40-45 years old) with his time of 2:46:57. Ed Hooper won the Young Oldie class (35-40 years) with his time of 2:49:33. The winner of the 200cc Expert class was Mike Stewart. Pete Weaver took the win in the Open Novice class. This year, the fastest bike time beat the fastest buggy time. First bike beat the buggy time by a whopping 20 minutes. Phyllis Auernheimer of the ADRA. said that all riders were in and accounted for by nine p.m., the .earliest of any year. This race drew many riders from out of town. At least half a dozen drove in from Colorado, several from California, a whole hoard from New Mexico and, of course, the many from Arizona. One guy decided to try the course in a different manner. This gentleman flew the course in his Ultralight. Many of the local children had never seen such a contraption. They weren't sure whether to be delighted or frightened by it. This year's race went off without a hitch. and many will be returning next year. ADRA as usual, did a great job of running such a difficult race. • Results 250 EX: 1. Kent Miller; 2. Merk Mitchell; 3. SconMcGough. OPEN EX: 1. Paul Bennen; 2. Dave Miller; 3. Pat Prosser. 200 EX: 1. Mike Stewart. OPEN AM: 1. Ed Hickey; 2. Greg Leeds; 3. Wayne Decklever. 250 AM: 1. Jerry Johnston; 2. Jim Thompson; 3. Geno Branagan. OPEN NOV: 1. Pete Weaver; 2. Paul Pate; 3. Robert Sulk"s Jr. 250 NOV: 1. James Dunlap; 2. Lanny Benson; 3. Ed Zukowski. 200 NOV: 1. Cliff Allison; 2. Barbara Wright; 3. Ken Asch. OPEN BEG: 1. Kris Kelfas; 2. Rick Emmons; 3. Dale Wadlow. 250 BEG: 1. Ken Kozlik; 2. Barry Plante; 3. Craig Paxton. 200 BEG: 1. Curt Koenne; 2. Rocky Witner ; 3. Robert La Badie. VET (30-34 YRSj: 1. Lee Carmody; 2. Charlie Hahn; 3. Tom Boone. YOUNG OLDIE (35-39 YRS): 1. Ed Hooper; 2. Georve Tachick; 3. Mike Putnam. FABULOUS 40 (4O-44 VRS): 1. Leu Faa; 2. Brooks Jeffrey; 3. Bill Nichola. OVER THE HIU (45 VRS • UP): 1. Nile Downer; 2. AI Baca; 3. Del Langham.

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