1969 Cherry Creek UT Utah Triumph Motorcycle Racing Al Rogers - 4-Page Article

Description

1969 Cherry Creek UT Utah Triumph Motorcycle Racing Al Rogers - 4-Page Article
Original, Vintage Magazine Article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
CHERRY CREEK
HOW MANY TIMES can you win an
annual Hare and Hound? If you’re
real good, and your machinery is fast and
holds together, you should be able to win
it at least once or twice. If your luck is
better than usual and your riding ability
is better than average, you might be able
to score a win possibly two more times.
AL ROGERS 'TRIUMPHS'
IN UTAH'S ANNUAL
CROSS-COUNTRY RACE
HIS 5th WIN IN 7 STARTS!
Over the years, to win the same event
four times ought to be pretty spectacular.
Would you believe that Al Rogers, aboard
a Triumph, has won Utah’s Cherry Creek
Hare and Hound five times, and finished
in the top ten two other times? What
makes this even better is that the Cherry
Report by D.D. Beatty
Photos by David James
and Eric Raits
Creek thing has only been run for nine
years. Anyone care to beat that record?
Quite a bit of the Cherry Creek bash
looks just like Big Bear in California’s
Lucerne Valley. At the start, it’s a scream-
ing banzai charge thru gas-tank deep sage
and unmarked ravines. This, in turn, leads
to a clump of mountains wherein the
smokebomb burneth. Leading up to the
bomb and the first check was a strate-
gically placed super hill which gave Al
Rogers a chance to show the local troops
just how well he can crash when he’s really
trying. This was one of his famed double
endos which utilize the principles of lever-
age, kinetic force, gravity and fear. As
usual, very little damage was done to Al
or the Triumph, and other than a folding
peg that had folded and refused to come
down, all systems checked out “A-OK”.
At the top of the hill a gigantic member
of the sponsoring Salt Lake Motorcycle
Club staggered out of the underbrush, and
barehandedly wrestled the peg back into
position.
Minutes before the run began, Al had
snapped a chain, and finally his friend
and Indian companion, Jim Davis, had
managed to scrounge one. On top of this,
Al was running on a square rear rim which
had previously been provided by a large
immovable rock on the Mint 400. The
only place that might have had a new
wheel was the Triumph dealer in Ely,
Nevada, but at 11:00 AM on Saturday, it
was found that no amount of pleading
would get him to come open his shop. Al
and his travelling companions worked
over the rim with a lead hammer, and
although it still looked square, it was the
best that could be done under the
circumstances.
On the other side of the mountain, the
trail turned into a rocky wash, fast fire-
road country and then finally level sage
land. From here it dropped into a long,
deep ravine that proved to be tough going
for the Triumph and Mr. Rogers who has
been riding for so many years, that it is
rumored that he helped with the design
work on the Pyramids.
Once out of the ravine, the trail
bombed up thru fast sage country again,
but ran along next to a barbed wire fence.
While running along the fence line at
speeds between 50 and 60, our hero
suddenly encountered a deep ravine that
refused to move. He crossed up, applied
both brakes, dropped his flaps, geared
down but it still didn’t do any good. The
bike again checked out okay, but Al had
A5OVE: If you didn't push the mini ring-dings thru the
sand, they just didn't go. By the time this Hodaka rider
reached this point, you could have struck a match on
his tongue.
TOP LEFT' If you think the desert sled is dead, check
with Al Rogers, and he'll tell you differently.
FAR LEFT: How many trophies can a guy win? Poor old
Al had to haul all this gold back to California again. The
funny looking little guy with the funny looking hat in the
background is Al's tuner, George Wahl, Dean of the
American Triumph tuners.
CENTER: Dick Fish came all the way from Vancouver to
ride his Triumph-Greeves, Triumph, Trigre, Greumph or
whatever you care to call it. He's shown here the night
before putting the finishing touches to this potent
chunk of iron.
LEFT: There's something about the clear, smogfree
Utah air that.................
15206-AL-6908-02