Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

the motocross special tests on Day Two, Munyon had a I. 15- point advantage in the acceleration test. (T h e ac tual times a re m u ltiplied by five to give the test some weight in the sco res .) John Fero made it a Yamaha sweep as he finished third. Few riders fro m the eastern half of the country competed in the event , but of those who did, Suzuki's Mike Rosso had the best performance as he won the 175cc class . Missouri's Rusty Reynaud (H us) also did well . winning the 125cc honors . Out of about 185 starters. only 66 finished. The weather was superb and not a factor in the low finishing rate. The Sh am rocks tightened the loop schedules, and the fastest rid ers were coming into the checks only 1-3 m inutes ahead of their number. T here was no room" in the sched u le for ill fort une . T he event consisted of two 40 ' mile loops, ea ch run twice a day . The cross country special tests of years p ast were eliminated in fa vor of a tight , twisty motocross specia l test laid out near th e p its. Riders rode on e lap of it eac h morn ing. two eac h afternoon. This event was held in memory of Bob Steffan , a mem ber of the Sha mrocks and one of the best en d u ro riders in southern Cal iforn ia during t he 60s and 70s, who passed away earlier this year. Day One Troubles struck Team Suzuki's Drew Smith early in the day . Sm ith. who had gotten the cast off his left wrist and was riding with a brace. apparently had troubles with a fouled plug and with his exhaust system. The 13 minutes he lost and resu lta nt 780 route points he received put him on bronze. but his special test scores would be the best of the da y in the 250cc class . In the first special test Fishback had the fastest time. but was only one second in front of Roeseler. They were the only ones to break the 230 second barrier. The seco nd time a round the loops , Suzuki h ad m ore troubles as the transmission of Jeff Fredette's 250cc machine shredded itself out on the trail. Three -tim e Nationa l Motocross Cham p Gary J on es was competing on his 250c c Amrnex. but a reported five flats on the first day put his effort dow n to bronze status. Only four or five riders were allowed out on the special test at a time during the afternoon . as two laps were ridden by each rider. Roeseler beat Fishback by II seconds to hold a 10-second lea d at the end of th e day . Las Vegans Scot .H ar den and J ack Johnson (Yam) were holding down third and fourth in the Open class , respectively. In the 250cc ranks. Munyon was seven seconds faster than Miller in the morning test . but Miller responded by being seven seconds faster than Munyon in the afternoon . putting them in a tie for first. Fero was mis takenly credited with about 800 extra points in the morning test, but when the scoring was cleared up . he was only four seconds behind his teamma tes . In the 175cc ranks , only two riders were sti ll on gold with Rosso leading ~att Cullins (Yam) by 20 seconds. The sit uation was not mu ch better in the one- two -five ranks, where Reynaud led Sco tt Atc hison (Ya m) and Ga rt h Will iams (Yam). Kent Pfeiffer (Yam) was only 10 seconds behind Reynaud in spe cial test times , but an accident in the pits left him soaked with gas . His crew rinsed him with water but it wasn 't enough and he had to return to the pits for a change of lea thers , losing 12 minutes in the pro~~:.. . • . _. Don't be caught without a Cycle News HAT! Mail to: Cycle News Products P.O. Box 498 Dept. 10W17 Long Beach. Ca. 90801 Name _ Address _ City State Please send me • "!!!! ~ liiiiiI !I!iiii!!I Zip _ hat(s)at $6.95 each L-J......J.....~~~ Card expires _ _-'- (Red and W hile) n _ Ih,o ' _ 0 1 II. . ,......._'" Order yours today! ~~ ~~ 1 each large & small Cycle News stickie w it h or der Please fill in your complete account nu mber and expiratio n date. Signature Now ava ilable at yo ur Cycle N ews Dea ler "p.,,' d ... lIon' _ ocl , .. d .. .., t o .... , p•••• ".... .... , ch 1 0'.' p.o, . .. on, 'I t ' - c _ w-o tho ao: ora."" c _ .how.. .. T0 1 Al P'QuO' I""""' '0 ....,..,,-,. _II. c.. d ''' ''t0tl _ " .... 10 end ....n' ~_ 0 1 ....,I>C• •d Calif resid en ts add 6% jQ/'J t~. _ Dealers In quiries In vited 19

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