RTMC-MX at Carlsbad Raceway
Rolf Tibblin MX
at
Carlsbad Raceway
Saturday February 22, 1975
By: The Scene & Bonzai Billy
Remember the old days? I'm referring to the golden days of "Another Saturday at Carlsbad". Can you remember AMC south? Dig deep and find the AME Double-Crossers? Remember? Those fat guys chugging around on their Suzuki 400 red-tankers? How about the eight year-old riding a Van-Tech forked DKW? The fat tanked Pentons blowing away the fast DT-2's? The super-squirrel wading and paddling through the mud, never missing a beat, falling flat on his face every single lap, in the mud, slop? Five guys on the starting line for the combined class of 100, 125, 250 Beginner, Novice, Junior, Under 12 Schoolboy class? Remember? Oh I miss those days. Remember those times?
WOWWWW!! Has it changed! Just to think that the “old days†was in it’s prime just over a year ago?! The Rolf Tibblin Motocross Club sure has changed the name of “Another Saturday at Carlsbad†around! What has inspired Saturday racing to grow so much bigger? Hmmm, it doesn’t really take long to figure it out. High School Motocross. Why, TRMC is really onto bringing up the HSMXers. One way is by LOWERING the entry fee to $3.50, if you didn’t know it already. See, something hasn’t been blown up like a balloon by inflation. High School Motocross, aren’t you proud of RTMC? You bet. Running along side of the HSMX program is aregular cross, so you out of high schoolers can race too, and at the same price of $5, as it has always been So, there's no need for you guys to hesitate coming out because you feel like you're going to be tossed around like a bean bag.Far-out, you feel like yelling, "I want to race!" I know, I always do. But let's get on with the naps in today's races. Here ya' go, a tour in the day of RTMC: Wake up. (Huh, what do you do?) Wake up. Get out of bed and look outside the window. Bitchen! Another RTMC day! Run to the bathroom, pull on your garb, run to the garage, load your bike, tie it down, gas it, and run to the races...(Whoops! Knowing me, I would! I mean..) drive out to the races.
You can get there at eight and make it Almost everyone is there by a little over eight. Tents being pitched, bikes being unloaded, hot chocolate being passed around, pit tootsies being checked out. It's quiet for a while. Until..that first bike is started up. Whrrr...your mind freaks out-race! Race! Race! Ah, the smell of fresh, crisp air mixed with the smell of two-stroke oil. It's totally intoxicating. You run to your bike and make it buzz. Practice, It's fun, it's not too crowded, so you can have as much fun as you want in that one hour of picking, testing, checking, or whatever. Practice. Is it ever known as being fun? I thing it is, and it is. At RTMC. Stoked.
You get a feeling of disappointment when you're flagged off by a four foot flag. But you gotta stop sometime to start the racin". Riders meeting. Pure and simple. A meeting to discuss any changes or problems, if any, and most of all, for the rider's safety. We got that far. Now, here's the race haps, beginning at the beginning, right? Steve Smith was berserkin' his Maico around the track like it was his tenth birthday. Happy day. Smith took home first overall in the 250 Junior class with a 2-1 score, as he traded off with Randy Haas on his Orange YZ, who took second by finishing 1-3. Ron Tebbs rode his Honda to third by going 3-2.
Steve Rhyan slammed the 250 Intermediates on his Maico by winning both motos over Anthony Kirkpatraick on an Ossa and Mike Sole, as usual, on his Husky. Ray Baum is always out at RTMC, and always up there, hey, you got first again, on a Maico in the 500 Junior class. Mike Brooks brought out a BSA for second. Val Deilgat of ECO-AIR grabbed first on his new Honda in the 125 Junior class, with Don Lincoln, who holeshotted the first moto, grabbing second in front of Rick Renning (Suz) and J.D. Deilgat, Val's big brother, on another ECO-AIR Honda. Real berserkers for twenty-five minutes.
Kon-Tiki's Shane Smith traded off moto wins with CRTs Jim Fukuda for first overall. Behind the Kawasaki and CRT Suzuki rider was John Josepho on a Honda (is there anything else? Can-Am, Penda, urn, Carabela, oh, lots....) for third in the 125 Intermediate class. Mark Guinto and Ralph Longo had a dice for the top mini spot today. Do you know what string cheese is? I don't, but it looked like they had a piece about five feet long attached to them. One lap, it was Ralph in front, the next, Mark. Soon it got to corners, one for Ralph, one for Mark, the next for Ralph....Mark ended up with the win. Walt Molloy cruised it for Campbell's Suzuki on his 100 for a win in the Junior class. That bike looked faaast for l00cc.
Tamali Smith holeshotted the Pro class on his Honda, but was quickly passed by AMA District 38's No. 1 Ron Turner on a 125 Elsie. Ron was really pulling his neat looking blue Honda way out front John Smith had his CRT Honda berserkm' as he tried to keep Rich Graf ton from getting by. It was Rich Grafton's first time out on the bike, which he borrowed from Ron Turner, as he slowed down a bit to allow Tony Wanket to pass. John was WFO, but he couldn't get near the quick District 38 champ. He stuck to second, while Wanket grabbed third, Grafton fourth, Terry Turner in fifth. Tamali Smith ate it pretty bad in the beginning of the moto, so he was sort-of out of it from the beginning.
Ron Turner made it an instant replay in the second moto, as he made his competition look like string cheese. (Wonder where I got the idea?) Smith was running second again, until his chain came off on the uphill. Rich Grafton ended up taking second, with Tony Wanket third, in the moto and overall. John received fourth overall for his efforts. Really take a look around you. If you just came back from a trip to 1972, you'd be surprised. Saturday? What! Today? Naw, couldn't be. It's changed-but you can still call it "Another Saturday at Carlsbad". Yep. Right along with it is RTMC.
