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/84161
Con mucho gusto Roeseler & Bakken vol~~ Larry Roeseler heads out to greet countless rattlesnakes, lizards, man-i!ating cactus, sheer rock cliffs and WFO desert terrain as the Mexican dawn greets him. Charlie Hamill Jr. anxious to hit the road known as Desolation Blvd. By Bobi Scott ENSENADA, BAJA CALIF. FRONrERA,JUNE 11 "It's probably the fastest Baja course we've ever run," remarked Bakken at the finish. The only trouble. they had was a flat tire on o a rough section of the course. "But.it wasn't too bad," Roeseler e.xpIarne c~u y. 0 d all "I on y . 0 I had t nde on the flat about 20 miles! We changed it between checks one and two and everything went super-smooth after that. .. At 6: 11 a.m, that clear sparkling moming, Larry Roeseler had rolled the Husqvarna 360 off the SCORE·Bilstein Baja lntemacional starting ramp in the Mexican port of Ensenada and headed east, into the dusty haze of bright early morning sunlight. 8 hours, 50 minutes, 41 seconds, 415 miles and one flat tire later, A.C. Bakken adventurously appeared, on the same Husky, under a Carta Blanca finish banner stretched across a road located in an open field a few miles outside of town. The 1976 Baja lntemacional challenge had been confronted, conquered and was already in the process of fast becoming past history in off-road racing books. 13 minutes later, another 360 Husky crossed beneath the gently billowing banner and the team of Terry Clark and Howard Utsey became thesecond place overall finishers of the biggest and richest SCORE Baja event ever held. It took .th em 9 hours, 3 minutes and 21 seconds to complete the rugged course; six minutes quicker than the fastest four-wheel vehicle, a Modem Motors Funco SSI, manned by "Bobby Ferro and Ivan Stewart. They were clocked into the finish at 9.12.27 for third overall. 6 83 motorcycles had purchased a $235 tic ket to ride against the Baja. The route left Ensenada and poured the riders up and over t!.'e mountains in the northcentral !Ughlands, looped do~ to San Felipe, followed the southern tip of Diablo Dry Lake and returned to Ensenada via Mike's Sky Ranch, Valle de Trinidad and OJos Negros. One bike left the starting line every 30 seconds with the last two-wheeler leaving approximately one ~our !;>efore the first four' wheel vehicle hit the dusry course. Riders were on a 25 hour clock (in previous years, time had been re-started at each check) which should have made it easier to keep track of who was doing what and where. At least it should have, but it didn't. Pit crews and second leg riders in San Felipe were nervously hovering around the radio communications area waiting for word on teammates and riders. It was next to impossible to figure out what was going on due to the fact th~ everything , information, except was transmitted emergentt in Spanish. At each check, riders' numbers were relayed, in Spanish, on to the next check where a translator copied them out in English. The time element involved' in this ridiculous situation bordered on the insanity level. To make matters worse, Mexican radio crews had not appeared by the time the first riders had passed through check one and some of the quicker riders were missed at check two as well. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to edgy participants, some word of hope came through as numbers were relayed and repeated, slowly, on to the half-way check. After riders had p~d through San Felipe no word w~ received on h?w the race was progressmg after that point,