Flashback!

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## Briefing

A gang around California are stealing police motorcycles. A new recruit rubs everyone the wrong way which reminds Ponch when he started in the CHP.

## Report

A motor officer parks his bike to get something to eat. A biker clad in leather tells his accomplice dressed in denim to steal his bike. The man steals it without issue.

Jon and Ponch are playing tight maneuver drill and Ponch wins. Ponch tells Jon he has to buy lunch at Maranino's. Jon wonders why it has to be Maranino's all the time. Ponch tells him he likes the standing ovation he gets when he enters. Jon tells him he's lost his appetite. Ponch bets his appetite will come back by noon.

Ponch offers Jon a double or nothing, but Jon passes since he knows Ponch knows he's still psyched out. A young officer walks up to them and tells Ponch he'll take him on with odds like that and someone needs to learn a lesson. He then tells Jon he'll use his bike. Jon wants to know who he's trusting his bike to. The young officer introduces himself as Brent Delaney and tells them they'll be working together. Ponch asks him since when and Delaney tells him to get the details from their Sergeant. Delaney asks Ponch if they're going to ride, and Ponch tells him he will since at least one of them should learn a lesson. Jon asks if he wants to use his helmet but he declines telling him he has his own in his car. Ponch declares him a wise guy and a voice from his past. When Delaney goes to get his helmet from the back seat the front seat hits the horn. Jon laughs and Ponch thinks back.

*A guy pulls into a garage and honks his horn and waves at Ponch to check his tires since they feel low.*

Ponch is playing tight maneuver drill with Delaney and loses. Delanay tells him he owes him two lunches and declines another double or nothing as he doesn't want to eat taco's four days in a row. He tells Jon he needs to check the throttle out as he wouldn't trust it on the freeway. Jon asks him if he transferred from a gung-ho station. Delaney tells him he's fresh out of motor school. Ponch, doesn't believe it and Jon, tells him he passed motor school but flunked public relations.

At briefing Getraer, introduces Delaney to the rest of the officers and commends him for being top of his class. Ponch thinks back.

*Ponch asks Getraer when he introduces him to everyone not to forget he was the best rider in his class. Getraer tells him he read his file and realises that he's the number one goof-up. He tells Ponch they're a team and he doesn't need showboats. He tells him he left motor school on probation and he's here on probation. The last thing he wants is a headache and tells Ponch not to be one.*

Baricza turns round to speak to Jon and Ponch and tell them both that he missed off the best part. Delaney is the son of Senator Delaney. Ponch questions the name. Jon tells him he's the Chairman of the Highways Committee in Sacramento. Baricza believes Delaney will use his connections to become head of the CHP by the time he's 35. Jon tells him that they don't know that. Bear tells them to watch themselves. Getraer gets down to business and informs everyone there's a gang that operating in the area stealing police bikes. The LAPD has lost 3, and the Sheriff's department has lost 2. Getraer urges his officers that they don't want to file a report on a missing bike since the form is called a D-1251. He tells everyone that the D stands for 'disgrace'. After briefing, Getraer, asks for Jon, Ponch and Delaney to see him.

Getraer tells Delaney he has to partner with Ponch today and Jon tomorrow and he'll alternate this way for a few weeks until he learns the area. Delaney tells him he doubts it will take a few weeks. Delaney tells him he'll do it his way for now and tells Ponch he'll meet him outside. Ponch tells him to call him by his nickname and asks him if he has one, Delaney tells him his family don't use nicknames. Ponch tells Jon he can have all his turns at breaking him in.

Outside Jon gets on his bike and watches Delaney and Ponch ride off. A patrol car passes by and Jon thinks back.

*Jon is in a patrol car and receives a call to check out Turnbull Canyon as there's reports of a dirt bike in the area. Jon stops and he can hear the bike but he can't see it, he steps out of his patrol car. All of a sudden a dirt bike appears and jumps over his patrol car, the rider stops when he lands and it's Ponch. Jon chases after him. The chase ends when Ponch hits a ditch and is thrown fowards onto his back. Jon runs out and checks on him and asks for his drivers licence. He tells him he should wear a helmet as it saves lives. Ponch tells him is there anything that save people up there giving lectures to people down where he is. Jon helps him up.*

Jon puts his helmet on and rides off.

A hitch-hiker hitches a lift. He tells the driver he's late for class. The driver mounts the embankment to get to the off-ramp. Ponch spots it and chases after the car requesting a pull over. The car stops around the corner and Ponch tells Delaney to cover him while he deals with the driver. He tells the driver to get out and starts cuffing him. Delaney recognises the man as, Albert Atchison, a friend of his fathers. The man in the passenger seat makes a run for it just as Baricza pulls up behind them. Ponch chases after the man and catches him on the other side of the road. Baricza shouts at Delaney to look after the driver and chases after Ponch. Baricza is mad at Delaney for not covering Ponch and shows it. As they come back to the car an APB goes out for the man they just apprehended for a liquor store robbery. Ponch asks Delaney if he searched the car, Ponch does it instead and finds a handgun hidden in the seat where the passenger was. Delaney apologises to Mr Atchison for the way he was treated. Ponch asks Delaney if he cited him for his traffic violation. Delaney tells Ponch he's troubled Mr Atchison enough and wonders what Getraer will think when he tells him. Ponch tells him he doesn't have hassle him on his first day on the job. A pick up truck passes by and there are two dirt bikes on the back. Ponch thinks back.

*Ponch has taken Jon out on a dirt bike trail and he's wearing a helmet this time. Jon gives Ponch something to read and fill out. When Ponch checks it, it's an application form for the CHP. Ponch doesn't think it's funny. Jon believes in him and believes that they need him. Ponch tells him CHP is the last place he belongs.*

Getraer is quizzing Ponch on the Mr Atchison situation. Delaney is complaining that Ponch handled it improperly. Baricza's report tells him Delaney left his position to speak to his fathers friend. Getraer wonders what his reports will say. Ponch tells him it was his first day on the job. Getraer tells him not to cover for him and wants to see him.

Delaney is in the locker room trying to justify his actions to Grossie and Baricza. Baricza tells Delaney that he was supposed to cover the passenger and he didn't and he can't justify it in a million years, he walks out with Grossie. Ponch enters the locker room just as Delaney punches his locker. Ponch thinks back.

*Ponch's bike is being picked up. Jon tells him he should have gone around the oil slick not through it. Ponch doesn't believe this is the line of work for him and believes he wasted his time. Jon tells him Getraer will understand and it's only been eight days and he should give himself a chance. Ponch tells him he'll meet him back at Central. Jon is about to ride off when two girls, Annie and Peggy, come out of a house and get in a car in their garage. The Annie looks behind her to get ready to reverse but the car isn't in reverse and crashes through the garage and into the swimming pool. Ponch gets out of the tow truck and tells them to radio for an ambulance and a wrecker. Jon gets off his bike and runs to the house and jump in the pool to rescue the girls. After some time they manage to smash the window of the car and pull the girls out.*

Ponch tells Delaney that his luck can change and not to let a bad day throw him. Delaney walks out.

Delaney is on his way home when a woman jumps out and tells him that her friend is in trouble and she thinks someone is trying to kill her. She tells him where to find her. When he's far enough away a man from the other side of the street comes out and steals his bike, the woman is excited and her friend arrives on a bike and she makes a getaway.

Delaney arrives into work in his car. Jon wonders why he didn't come on his bike. Grossie tells Jon if he had a car like that he wouldn't come into work at all. Jon tells him he loves his patrol. Grossie doesn't understand why he's here at all. Jon thinks back.

*Jon introduces Ponch to Getraer. Jon asks if he could look at his application to check it for mistakes before he sends it in. Getraer tells him his background is marginal and asks him why he wants to join. Ponch tells him it's because of that margin that he wants to join, since it's always been them and us, he now wants to part of them. Getraer tells him to send it in.*

Ponch arrives and Grossie is there to great him. He asks Ponch if he's heard the latest. He tells Ponch that Delaney's bike was stolen when a woman he was helping sent him on a wild goose chase. Ponch asks where Delaney is, and he's told he's with Getraer. Ponch walks in the corridor and passes an officer who's walking past with a long haired blond woman. Ponch thinks back.

A girl is at Central looking for Ponch, she's smitten with him. Ponch hides. Getraer tells Jon what he thinks of Ponch not knowing that he's behind him in a room. Jon can see him and defends Ponch.

Delaney comes to briefing and Grossie cracks a joke about him to the others and they laugh. Ponch joins him and gives him words of encouragement. Delaney doesn't believe he'll be a cop that long and Ponch tells him he will be. Ponch thinks back.

*Ponch is in the back seat with his friends and one of his friends, Henry, throws a can out of the window. Jon in his patrol car spots it and chases after them. The chase ends in a parking lot when Jon cuts off their exit. Jon is outnumbered with the gang. Jon wants to speak to the driver but no one is co-operating, Jon however knows who was driving. Ponch, recognises Jon's voice and gets out of the car and tells everyone that Jon is his cousin. Ponch's friends decide to leave. Jon tells them he has to write them a citation, Ponch whispers to Jon that he's signing his death warrant. Ponch tells him the family motto, "You do your job, and I'll do mine."*

Getraer tells everyone they still haven't found those responsible for ripping off police motorcycles. Ponch requests that Delaney rides with him, Getraer tells him he's got a spare motor. Jon tells him he's a glutton for punishment. Ponch tells him he's his cousin.

The bikers are fixing their bikes on the side road, Delaney recognises the woman. Ponch recognises one of the bikes as their own. As one of the bikes is broken the leader of the gang throws his accomplice to the ground and uses his bike to get away. The others run but Ponch tells them they're under arrest. Delaney chases after the leader.

Baricza arrives to apprehend the woman while Ponch puts the man in the patrol car. Jon arrives and Ponch points in the direction Delaney went, Ponch follows after. Jon and Ponch catch up to Delaney and watch him from afar. The biker attempts to ride the bike up a hill and falls off his bike. Delaney apprehends him. Jon tells Ponch it looks like they have a CHP officer. Ponch agrees. Delaney trips over. Jon laughs along with Ponch.

All the bikes are accounted for and everyone congratulates Delaney on a job well done.

## Notes

* Jon never gets a chance to ride with Delaney.
* When Jon and Ponch jump into the pool their socks are under their trousers but later in the scene their socks are over their trousers.
* When Delaney changes into his civvies before leaving Central, he ends up in full uniform going home when his bike is stolen.
* Edward James Olmos is famous for Miami Vice, and Battlestar Galactica.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Larry Wilcox: Jon Baker
* Erik Estrada: Frank Poncherello
* Robert Pine: Joe Getraer

### Recurring

* Brodie Greer: Baricza
* Paul Linke: Grossman

### Others

* Joe Penny: Brent (Delaney)
* Robert Sampson: Atchison
* Edward James Olmos: Henry
* Chester Grimes: Rex
* John Furey: Sonny
* Jon Linton: Artie
* Maureen Marchini: Ginger
* Agneta Eckemyr: 1st Woman in Car (Annie)
* Maggie Cooper: 2nd Woman in Car (Peggy)
* Meridith Baer: Mindy