SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/590058
in his Cessna, they began the arduous trek north, though they decided to stick to the eastern side of the peninsula this time. Having not pre-run that route, it was no surprise the two got lost, especially after the sun set and Fulton had to ground the plane in deference to Mexican law. Ekins and Robertson finally made it to Mulege where they got a couple hours of sleep before Fulton rousted them and got them back on the trail for a second day. Fulton, however, decided it was going to take too long to get back if they kept riding so he'd ferry one bike and rider at a time from Rosalia north to an airstrip 65 kilometers south of Mexicali where Bill Robertson, Sr., had a small house trailer. He and other family members waited there for Bill, Jr., and Dave to arrive. Eventually, the whole gang was reunited, with Ekins and Robertson crossing the border back into the U.S. the next day, more than a week after they'd started their adventure. While the trip warranted coverage in the few motorcycle magazines of the time, it failed to generate widespread attention, not that it mattered much to the group. Robertson and the Ekins brothers continued to race, Honda eventually sold more than 89,000 CL72s and variants, and life went on. But one thing that also lived on was a gnawing feeling of a task left undone. The original Ekins goal had been for both Bud and Dave to make the peninsula run together, but corporate politics threw a road block into that plan. The Ekins Brother's Make Their Own Trip After a few years, though, the bug bit the Ekins boys once again. This time, Bud calculated that if they used Triumphs, they'd enjoy nearly twice the range that the Hondas got and could go faster. So his time they could try to not only beat the 39:56 Honda time but do it without any assistance, aerial or otherwise. In addition, Bud planned to have four riders. Though well used, the Triumphs were not standard by any means as they had been ridden in the 1964 and 1965 International Six Days Trials (ISDT) by the four members of the U.S. Silver Vase team. Prepared at the factory for this, the oldest international off- road race in the world, the bikes were the state of the art with many non-standard features like wide-ratio gearboxes and quick-detach rear wheels. Two were TR-6 650cc twins to be ridden by ISDT gold medalist Cliff Coleman and Bud Ekins while the other two bikes were the TR-5 500cc variants to be guided by ISDT gold medal winner Dave Ekins and accomplished desert racer Eddie Mulder. Remarkably, "They hadn't been touched after the Six Days," said Dave. All of them had known and raced each other for years and got along well. As in the Honda journey, the team crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Tijuana at midnight; the date was May 3, 1966. Though the foursome would be entirely on their own for this attempt, spirits were high. However, the troupe ran into problems almost immediately; on the toll road out of town (at the time, still being built), all four hitting grease left on the pavement by a construction crane. They emerged angry but relatively unscathed, though Bud Ekins' Triumph suffered the most damage, the Tarmac grinding a hole in the primary drive cover. Fortunately, it was still rideable, though its lifespan would be shortened considerably without keeping a close eye on the oil level. After taking inventory, they continued south. Instead of all riding together, they split into pairs, thus largely avoiding dust issues. Coleman and Dave Ekins led off, then Bud Ekins and Mulder would start off and pin it. When they caught the leading pair's dust, they'd simply stop and take a cigarette break. Things went pretty smoothly for the first half of the ride, though Dave Ekins got a couple flat tires. The second one occurred just before the sun went down as they approached El Arco, their halfway point. For some reason, Coleman decided to forge on alone from there, probably because he was determined for one of the group to break the old record. The thing was, he'd never ridden in Baja before and knew only that he had to end up in La Paz. As expected, he got lost during the night somewhere south of San Ignacio and inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the peninsula where he decided to grab a few hours of sleep after ending up a Bahia Concepcion. The other three rode throughout the night at a slower pace and unknowingly 053 SCORE JOURNAL