Racing Review
RACING REVIEW
THE TRASK MOUNTAIN TRIAL
RON SCHNEIDERS
The Trask Mountain Trial produced the most exciting contest yet held in the current round of ISDT qualifying events. Most rounds have been runaway Penton victories. At Trask, not only was the competition close, but the dedicated Yankee Ossa team actually scored a dramatic upset. The upset victory thoroughly delighted the Yankee team, which has participated faithfully in all the trials without much success against the seemingly unbeatable Pentons. ISDT competition is at least as much a matter of rules (and occasionally how to cleverly break the rules) as it is a matter of performance. One without the other guarantees failure. The Ossa team fell a little bit short in the performance category, and even shorter in its mastery of the rules.
Although the course was in general quite ridable and a number of the better riders complained that the schedule speeds were too low, there were some spectacular exceptions. On Saturday’s run, some 40 miles after the start, the riders were routed through a messy logging operation. In the middle of the only feasible trail there was a mud bath to end all mud baths. Several riders worked for well over an hour to free their entombed mounts. It was definitely high quality mud, so viscous that the bikes could not even be pulled over on their sides.
Also in the early part of Saturday’s run (and late in Sunday’s run, since the course was the same, only run in reverse) was a log jumping exercise. A section of the road being used was blocked, so the course was routed through the woods. In Oregon the floor of the woods is littered with fallen trees in all stages of decomposition. Crosscountry going ends in exhaustion after very few yards of jumping the downed trees and avoiding the standing ones. But that’s just what was required. Fortunately, the section was not long, probably not more than three-quarters of a mile. That was enough. There must have been 50 to 100 logs to hurdle in that one short stretch.
The Motorcycle Activities Club, sponsors of the event, made a very workmanlike job of it, with some consideration due to their extremely small numbers and relative inexperience. There was more trail in the event this year, and less asphalt, which pleased everyone, but there still remains a ways to go before the course is really of Berkshire or Six Days difficulty. “Too much road,” says master Lars Larsson, “Boom, Boom, Boom...” and he pantomimed a farmer behind a plow.
The technical aspects of the trial were a cut above last year. The sound test was more realistic and the tech inspection seemed more thorough. They even provided some secret route checks to catch riders who elected to conserve energy by skipping a part of the course. Marking was something of a problem and might have caused a lot more hard feeling had the schedules been faster. Marking is an art of which the McMinnville lads are not quite master, as yet. There were many arrows, but as often as not they were in the wrong spot, generally too close to the turn. If Dave Ekins had a nickel for every turn he overshot, he could have bought dinner and drinks for the entire club! Complieating the problem was the fact that the club was using very small arrows, which had been donated. With few entries, it’s hard to turn down free material. But the fact remains that the arrows in the dark woods had approximately the same visibility characteristics as blonde hair in a hay bale.
Scoring also caused a problem, and several tired members of the club were up until nearly dawn trying to determine the winners. When the smoke cleared Ossa emerged as the victor. Here’s how it happened. Dick Burleson of the Penton team set a blisteringly fast time in his class and, in fact, set the fastest total time of the trial through the special tests. Teammate Tom Penton had an excellent time, but he was considerably behind Burleson. Doug Wilford, third man on the team, was really quite slow by comparison. The Yankee Ossa team members were all slower than Burleson, but their times were close together, and Charlie Vincent of the Ossa team set the best time of the 250 class. This being the case, his score was treated as “O” and his teammates Latham and Cutler accrued points according to the difference between their test scores and his. When totaled in this fashion, the Yankee team emerged with 144 points to the Penton’s 330.
THE BAD ROCK TRIAL
RON SCHNEIDERS
Although not planned that way, the Bad Rock Trial, held near Pendleton in eastern Oregon, became the last western event in the current series of qualifying rounds for the 1973 ISDT. Just before the event started, Mike Hinshaw, representing the AMA, quietly spread the word that the Fort Hood qualifying round, along with plans to hold the ’73 ISDT in that location, had been scrapped. Since the Silver States Trial had been cancelled two weeks before, the Bad Rock was the last chance for prospective western competitors to earn a place on the ’73 ISDT team. This trial, however, did not appear to signal any significant changes in the prospective lineup; only one rider who had not shown his talent in previous rounds did spectacularly well—Don Stover of Herald, Calif. He finished 4th overall on the basis of special test scores, beating such stars as Lars Larsson, Frank Piasecki, Bob Grodzinski, and the entire Yankee team.
The Penton team, having, suffered a defeat at Trask Mountain due to poor understanding of the scoring system, came well prepared for this event. Doug Wilford, acting as team manager, kept a running total of the team’s special test scores and made sure that the totals stayed close together, as is required under the scoring system employed at the Oregon trials. It is significant that his team had such control that they not only took three out of the top five positions, but maintained a spread among their scores of less than 100 bonus points! This means that in the 12 three to five-mile races in which the team participated there was less than 100 seconds difference in their total times! The 2nd place Husqvarna team consisting of easterners Frank Piasecki and Ron Bohn, and Californian Lars Larsson, also did quite well. Ron Bohn won his class and finished 3rd overall, while Lars was 6th overall. But when the match points were totalled they were over 100 points behind the Penton team.
The Yankee team, so successful at Trask, switched bikes for this event and rode the new Yankee 500s, but they had no luck. A total of five flat tires effectively wiped out their team effort. Dave Latham and Dave Eames (substituting for Don Cutler) had only one flat apiece and managed to hold their golds, but Charlie Vincent with a total of three flats was reduced to a bronze. Their team was 3rd.
Eastern Oregon receives much less rain than the Trask area, so it was expected that the trial would be dry and dusty. It was anything but. It rained continuously on Saturday, varying between a light drizzle and a heavy downpour. The woods were turned into soggy dark masses and the riders into soggy muddy messes. Many riders were demoralized by the rain and over a third of the 106 entrants dropped out before the first check. Most went out on a hill that was nicknamed “Cardiac Hill” by Yankee teammember Dave Latham. The hill was steep, very wet and loose-surfaced, a bad combination under any conditions, but considerably worsened by the rain. Adding to the expert riders’ problems were inexperienced riders who functioned very effectively as blocks to forward progress.
In spite of the rain, the tough hill, and some very long woods sections, it was generally agreed among the top contestants that the Bad Rock was an easier trial than the Trask Mountain because the distances between time controls were much longer. In most cases the riders had about two hours between time controls, as compared with one hour or less between many controls at Trask. This meant that a 5or 10minute problem, such as getting lost or having to make a repair, was not quite so serious; the time could be made up.
The same schedule (about 24 mph) was run on both Saturday and Sunday, but on Sunday the sun shone every once in awhile and when it did the riders had some magnificent views from the long, long grass-covered ridges that are the most notable feature of the east Oregon countryside. Marking caused quite some problem on those ridges, as frequently there are very few suitable spots for arrows. One rider (a member of the Yankee team) said he went over 12 miles without seeing an arrow.
Apart from the marking, the trial was run beautifully. The special test locations were ideal and very competently run, as were the time controls. Any lingering doubts about the success of the trial were very quickly resolved soon after the last rider appeared. The club moved activities to nearby Athena and hosted a picnic in the park. Mountains of roast meat and several kegs of beer were sufficient incentive to keep most of the competitors bench racing until midnight.
The Bad Rock was hosted by the Pacific Northwest Trials Association. Primarily interested in English observed trials, rather than reliability trials, the club sponsored this event in order to raise money to send one of their members to Europe to compete in the European round of observed trials. It was so much work for their few members that there is some doubt that they will host the event next year, which would be a real shame. They now have a unique combination of experience and fine terrain which is sorely needed by our ISDT competitors.
FOUR IN A ROW FOR CALVIN
JOHN WAASER
Cal Rayborn owns a piece of Indianapolis Raceway Park, they say; about six square feet of Victory Lane, to be exact. Calvin, who hadn’t won an American roadrace since his victory here in 1969, marked the return of the AMA Championship Trail to Indy with his fourth straight victory at this track, and the first roadrace victory for the new alloy Harley-Davidsons.
IRP can be a boring track to watch sometimes. The leader just gains and gains until he’s so far out of touch that nobody can see him. The same can happen with subsequent positions so that you have to go way down in the pack to see any real scraps. But in spite of that, Saturday saw some good dicing up front.
It was obvious from the start that Ted Henter would be right in the fray in the novice event. Ted rode a Kawasaki at Loudon, and held 2nd place until the exhaust pipe came off on the seventh lap. So everybody started to notice, then forgot him. A native of the Panama Canal Zone, he raced there for three or four years, until coming up to go to school in Florida, where he started racing this year. This week he was on his own Yamaha, and held second to Johnny Long in his heat.
In the final, Long grabbed his early lead, and just kept extending it, par for the course here. But 2nd place was a race-long battle between Henter and Pat Evans, with Ted holding it most of the way, including at the finish line, where it counted.
In the first 250cc expert heat, it was Ron Pierce who had a chance to show that he’s back on form this year, as he led pole to pole. Gary Fisher was running neck and neck with Ron, to show that his Loudon wins were no fluke, but Gary could feel that all was not right with his Yamaha, so he pulled off the course for some richer jets, rather than risk having to overhaul it before the final. Running 3rd in the early stages was Don Emde, who was passed by Kenny Roberts; Kenny really closed the gap in the last lap or so, but couldn’t pass Ron.
The second heat brought Marty Lunde to the front for the first lap. Marty’s another rider who impressed everybody at Loudon. But he dropped back after the second lap, as Kel Carruthers, then Mike Lane passed him. Marty finished 3rd, followed at some distance by junior rider Jim Evans.
These heats neatly set the stage for the final. Lane and Emde had the hot-rod starts, but as the first lap came around, Ron Pierce was in front. By the third lap, it was Pierce and Roberts, then a gap to Emde and Carruthers, then a smaller gap to Lane, Gary Scott, Lunde, and Fisher, who started dead last but had zapped the entire second wave before they even got to the starter’s box. Gary should maybe go out for drag racing.
Running about 13th was a two-rider scrap involving Howard Lynggard, trying for top junior, and Jim Dunn. Jim Evans was three places behind, unable to get by the two intervening riders. On the 15th lap he zapped them, and just proceeded to devour the distance (over a quarter of a mile, I’d guess) between himself and the top junior slot, just passing Lynggard on the last lap. On the 16th lap Kenny Roberts had the lead. By the white flag lap, Kel Carruthers had taken command; still, the first three places were not decided until the very last turn. Kenny went a bit wide, and Ron Pierce had 2nd. Neat. The three of them were just as close at the end as they had been on the starting grid.
Sunday morning was a beehive of activity. The sound system was poor; there was a large time lapse between the various speakers, and if you happened to be between any two, the noise was garbled and unintelligible. Bill Boyce was traveling in a sound car so he could be heard in the pits; “Keith Mashburn, will you tell your crew to keep the mini bikes on two wheels?” And so on. Gary Fisher had crashed his Honda in practice, and decided to ride his Yamaha. He let Jimmy Chen and Roger Reiman practice on the Four. Mark Brelsford went by on Dave Sehl’s bike. Everybody was trying to find the fastest machine they could get their hands on.
Evans looked a sure bet to repeat his Loudon win, but he got a typically poor start, coming around in 8th spot on the first lap. On the second lap, his foot struck a curb while he was trying to make tracks. When he got to the end of straight, he hit the brake—and had to get off it immediately because the pain was excruciating. He was convinced he had broken his foot, but pressed on regardless. Of course he had overshot the first corner, when he got off the brake; he lost 12 seconds, and a lot of positions, in getting back on course.
March had the early lead, with Jerry Greene 2nd. On the fourth lap Greene took the lead, and Lynggard had moved to 3rd. But Jerry’s wrist was still sore from his Loudon mishap. He dropped to 4th, as Jim Deehan took 3rd. About this time Jim Evans had gotten past Chen and Dottley into 5th. Lynggard and March were having a super dice for the lead, swapping it frequently.
There had been a multi-bike pileup in one of the back turns early in the race. After four bikes went down, Bob Pepper’s pit crew chief (the prettiest one on the circuit) claims the flagman dropped the flag to go do something else. Bob saw no flag, and became bike number five. Officials spread a new compound, much better than cement, and did an efficient job of cleaning up the oil.
Lynggard and March were still going at it up front. Howard knew he could pass Jeff and win, in one of the slow turns near the finish. Jeff was equally sure he could hold the lead. In the last turn, on the next-to-last lap, Howard, riding right behind Jeff’s shoulder, bit the dust. All March had to do was cool it, and come home a winner. But he didn’t know Howard was down; he was in a mad dash to keep that slim lead through the last lap. Halfway through that last lap, his shoulder went out—the one he’d injured at Loudon. Down he went, and Jim Deehan, who had held a steady 3rd, inherited the lead. The two “walking wounded”—Jerry Greene and Jim Evans, got 2nd and 3rd.
In four junior races this year, they’ve had four different winners, a black-onwhite contrast with the novice class.
In the first expert heat, Gary Fisher got off the line in front, but Calvin passed him easily, and just kept extending his lead. Ray Hempstead, Dick Mann and Don Emde followed with large gaps in between.
In the second heat, Yvon DuHamel built a huge lead, doing the heat gobs quicker than Cal. Second was Yvon’s Japanese teammate, Masahiro Wada, while Ron Pierce was 3rd, Gary Scott 4th and Kenny Roberts 5th. But Yvon could not be too optimistic about the final.
In the final, he would be racing Cal, not the clock—and Yvon’s Kawasaki would require one or two gas stops, while Cal could do the whole race on a tank of gas—with three quarters of a gallon to spare. The Team Hansen crew was planning two gas stops for most of their riders, but were contemplating pulling Yvon in for just one, and trusting their luck. “It all depends on how things are going out there.”
As the first lap came around, who had the lead? Gary Fisher, on the diminutive Yamaha, with four Kawasakis breathing right down his neck. It didn’t take Yvon long to correct that situation; if he was going to win, he’d have to build an incredible lead before his gas stop.
By the fourth lap the order had completely changed. DuHamel, Rayborn, Wada, Nixon, Smart, Fisher, Pierce, Carr, Carruthers, Hempstead, Roberts. This held for a while, until Gene Romero started moving up, about the time Cal took over the lead. Yvon had broken a spark plug, and pulled into the pits for a change, and got a load of gas while he was there—though he would definitely need one more gas stop, anyway.
DuHamel came out of the pits in 23rd place—just nine places ahead of Rayborn, who was steadily lapping the field. Fisher and Pierce were running 2nd and 3rd, with Gene Romero 4th on the British Triple.
Disaster struck the Harley Davidson camp. No, not Cal Rayborn, who was motoring to the lead, but Mark Brelsford, who was leading the national championship standings, and running in 2nd place. The tip fell off his throttle cable. While they were repairing it, they lost a screw, and tipped the bike, and banged the fairing, in the best imitation of a Ringling Brothers clown act, before they got it together. Mark took off, but turned around in a pit lane, rode serenely back, and parked it. “Not enough time to fix it right,” explained Harley’s racing chief later.
The finishing order read Cal Rayborn, Yvon DuHamel, Gene Romero, Gary Fisher, Gary Scott and Kenny Roberts, who picked up some championship points on Brelsford. Scott is a dirt rider with limited pavement experience. His 350 is privately owned, though he indicated that Don Vesco will be maintaining it from now on (he rides one of Don’s 250s.)
