Throwback Thursday: Kenny Roberts, Malcolm Smith and Bruce Penhall Ride the Dunes (1980)
Larry Lawrence | October 26, 2023
Great British photographer Don Morley took the photo during filming of On Any Sunday II
In this week’s Throwback we travel back 43 years to 1980 and set down on California’s Imperial Dunes. There we find three legends getting together to ride their dirt bikes on the dunes to be captured on film for the movie On Any Sunday II. The legends in question were (l to r) Kenny Roberts, Malcolm Smith and Bruce Penhall. In a 2010 magazine interview Morley recounts a harrowing ride at the dunes photo shoot on the back of Roberts’ golf cart, which had been fitted with a Yamaha TZ750 racing engine! Morley somehow survived the cart ride to capture this beautiful photo featuring the riders with a gorgeous backdrop of deep blue desert sky. While the sequel to the original On Any Sunday, wasn’t nearly as successful as the original, it at least provided a good reason for these three racing legends to get together for a fun day of riding on the dunes.
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