RTMC-MX at Carlsbad Raceway
Rolf Tibblin MX
at
Carlsbad Raceway
Saturday December 21, 1974
By: The Scene & Bonzai Billy
By the time this story is in print, another year would have been brought into existence to hit off three-hundred and sixty-five more days of banzai berserko motocross. Ya' know something? The past year sure has gone by quickly, I really hate to see 1974 pass away, but the memories will forever linger on and on... Like the time I did a remarkable flying "W" while leading a huge pack of thirty tank-slappin', throttle-happy, do-or-die, trophy-hungry, half-crazed 125 Beginners, which ended up with this squid lying in Emergency in the local hospital.
How about the time I was about to go over the beeeg drop, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a shaggy dog with a terrified look on it's face ran directly into my path, and I endoed. "Hey man, ha' cum ya' in da hospital, again?" "Uh, do I have to answer that?! I, well, uh, you see, oh, uh, hmmm, well, ahumm, I did it for the sake of a four-legged mutt! Now get out of here!" Orrrr, how embarrassing, I won't tell ya' that one... how about the time I tried to get a shot of Wolsink hitting the bank at the finish (Finnish?) of the USGP trying to escape the closely following shadow of Heikki Mikkola, only to find out that the picture came out as an image of a "thumb." Argggh!!Oh, what pains I took and suffered during the past year, broken bodies and broken bakes, and not to forget, throwing the Dektol developer across the darkroom when my pic of Gerrit came out all "thumbs." But, I have no sound reasons to be sorry, 'cause I did my best to help keep motocross as America's faaastest growing sport. There are many memories of the bad times, which seem sort-of funny now, but there are many more of the good times. One thing that immediately pops into my magic flying thought factory is the many Saturdays I spent racing and writing RTMC. Those were the not-so crowded, kick-back, fun-around days at Carlsbad.
I'll never forget those days, it was all too far-out to forget about forgetting the unforgetful affair, although I might forget about the forgetfullness of me about forgetting my camera, sometimes. I think! Ah, forget it!! Anyway, forget about what I said about my forgetfullness and let's get down to what happened today at Rolf's last Saturday of the year nineteen-hundred and seventy-four: The first to go at it today were the Pros, all bunched up in one big class. When they refer to the Open class, doesn't that mean unlimited engine sizes? Anyway, the one-two-fives, the 250's and the 500 bikes combined for one solid class of Open bikes. I almost forgot (See, I did it again!) to tell you this, the track was run backwards today, for the first time in ages! It sure did look like a lot of fun, but I had to settle for writing this article. Godzooks!
Getting the holeshot on the rest of the Pro and Intermediate riders was quick Monoshocker Chuck Rouse. (Surprise! No one turned left, I was practically in a state of shock 'cause I was standing in their path at the start trying to get a picture.) Ron Turner and Terry Turner (no relation) followed very closely gassin' it behind the Yamaha rider. While the two Elsinore riders chased after Rouse, John Smith (What an outstandingly original name.) was running fourth a little ways back emitting a big blue cloud from his pipe for everyone else to follow.
Two laps later, Ron Turner took his quick '75 Honda around the outside of Rouse in the Suzuki tower corner to grab first, then Ron poured on the gas, knowing that he didn't have top spot licked yet. Then Terry, along with John Smith, made their move to pass Rouse, leaving him to fourth. The two Carlsbad Raceway team members diced for a while, but John decided it wasn't it for him and berserked it past Terry in a wild all out chase of Ron, who was way ahead by this time. Ron was a firm twenty seconds ahead, but John made himself look like DeCoster chasing Adolf at last year's Trans-AMA (uups, uh the year before). With only four laps to go, Ron looked like he had it made, but he was still gassin' it. John Smith had his throttle stuck wide open also and was catching Ron at an alarmingly fast rate. John cut down the gap between himself and Ron to a few seconds.
Withour rear brakes and a partially loading up bike, Smith was unable to make too much ground, yet he kept everything on to the stops. Now, with only one lap to go, he was about forty yards behind Ron, coming off the ledge, he was only 25 yards away, around the hairpin, John was a mere ten yards back. Almost at the flag, John dragged it out, but he couldn't quite get to Ron's rear fender. The next moto would show something distinctly different. The 125 Intermediates were running their race along side of the Pros, with David Gerig on his quick Suzuki of the Carlsbad Raceway Team grabbing the top spot, followed by Ron Lafranchi on his red Honda and Scott Davies of WTE Racing Team. At the start of the second moto, David Gerig snatched the holeshot away from the Pro riders and held his lead for a lap, after which, John Smith quickly took over. This time, with a smoother running bike, Smith was totally berserkin' it, everytime he went over the drop, he flew high and far enough that he'd have to apply for a pilot's license.
Ron Turner was second and gassin' it, with Chuck Rouse, Gerig, and Terry Turner following closely behind. It was all over for Ron when he fell in the far side of the track and had to drop out, leaving Smith to an easy time way out in front. Mike Jennings and his Honda got into the act and shot past Terry to take over third, at this point, John had a tremendous lead and was going around the track doing tricks for the cameras. Chuck Rouse was holding down second on his Mono, while Dave Gerig had his CRT Suzuki cruising an easy first in his class and third overall in the moto. When the finish flag fell for John, he was pretty stoked, this was the first time he'd done -good in a while, usually his bike would break or something, (note: Smith was beating Marty Smith, no relation, except that they're both faaast, the next day at CMC, until John tired out and settled behind Croft. That showing gave an indication of another guy that's going to be in the hot-shoe circle). Chuck Rouse finished up second, followed by Gerig, placing first in his class, Mike Jennings, Terry Turner, and Scot Davies finishing second in the Intermediates but third overall. The 250 and Open Junior Intermediate race had a lot of quick guys out. Jim Butts on his trick looking Honda holeshotted both motos, but quickly tired after a while. During the first moto, David Brinton and his CZ was berserkin' it in first, until he crashed. Then Craig Breihan was holding fast to the top spot, until...can you guess what happened? He fell. Then Mike Tague took over the lead on his KTM, but he didn't fall.
Then in the next moto, David Brinton once again grabbed the lead away from Butts, only to be passed by Mike Tague on his quick white KTM, who led it all the way to the finish. Tired of ending up in third the first moto, Craig Breihan and his blue Bui swapped places with Jim Hanley on his CZ for first. David Brinton settled for two seconds for second in the 250 Intermediates. Jim Butts combined a 2-1 finish for first overall in the 250 Junior class. He was followed by Eduardo Garcia on his Husky with a 1-2 score. Mike Hamel ended up third overall on his Honda in the Junior class. Ray Baum cruised his Maico alone in the Open Junior class for first, while Chuck Lanzarone took a second in the Open Intermediate class. Shane Smith of Kon-Tiki Cycles grabbed the holeshot both motos of the 125 Junior class on his quick Kawasaki, only to be taken over by George Speck on his sharp looking blue Honda. Mike McNatty and Hugh Good were chasing each other like they were DeCoster and Adolf, only Mike was riding a Honda and Hugh, like Roger, was riding a Suzuki. Mike took third overall with a 4-3 finish, Hugh grabbed a close fourth by finishing 34. Gorki Moore of CRT ran from the 100 bikes and hid with the 125's. While Cork was battling it out with the faster one-two-fivers, Steve Jugan and his Suzuki played with the middle-of-the-pack 125 riders for a first in the 100 Junior class. Mike McEntee placed his XR-75 for a first in the Mini-Junior class ahead of sharp looking Sarkis Spanjian on his YZ-80. When the last rider of the day wheelied past the finish flag, he did it, I guess, 'cause he was the last rider of the year. Next year will bring more and better races. If you're a high schooler, you gotta go to RTMC and qualify for the Superbowl of Motocross High School race. See ya' next year.
