Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

D8ythr•• E For the second time, LaVoie made believers out of those watching him as he did his top end repair within his ten • minutes and started on time. Fog, ... _a switch to the faster A time schedule and a re-routing of one early section combined to have most riders reaching the first check running well into their two minutes of grace. (A rider is allowed to hit any check except the final one up to two minutes past his normal check arrival time. Once he does, he may only regain his grace time by getting back on his minute. ....-4 Grace time is a built in cushion to help I-< when a rider encounters a problem on Q.I the trail or the secti'on is very tight.) ~ One of those burned at check one -and burned up as well -- was Trophy Team rider Dick Burleson. "They rerouted the hill section which made the course longer. • took it easy until • realized that their mileages weren't correct. I'm not happy at all," said a moody Burleson. Lojak also lost a minute at the first check. "I got behind a bunch of slower riders and was about 30 seconds out of grace when they stamped my card." Cries of gol gol gol echoed over the hillside in many languages as suppon crews waved their riders on into the check without stopping. Rod Bush was stuck on the trail with a tire that wouldn't hold air. The tube had been fixed with a flat proofing agent, but refused to work. Bush got an extra air bottle from Burleson, but lost about 12 minutes limping into the third check. Frank Stacy's Trophy team ride was slowly coming to and end. He made it to check three on time with a transmission that had only first and third gear still functioning. ". knew • was in trouble almost as soon as • staned," said Stacy. "Second gear started to slip and then it went downhill from there. I've still got first and third gear and I'll run it until it won't go anymore." Gallo didn't look any too good when he hit check three. He got a couple of aspirins, mentioned he had kicked just about every rock in France and gaII)ely took off. Most came through with smiles and on time. Some, like LaVoie, had to do their maintenance beyond the check. "I spent all my time 40ing those top ends in the morning work period; now the bike is slowly falling apart. I just do a little at each stop and keep on plugging." Roeseler, with a smile, was cooking right along on the first loop, but would eventually accrue three minutes (180 points/seconds) on the second loop and end the day on silver. Although the trails weren't that hard according to many riders, the - switch to the A time schedule made the day like a 300 km hare scrambles with many riders not able to find the speed in sections to' keep on time. More than one was heard to say he had to run flat out in order to lose as few points as he did. How tight was it? Only three riders - top American Mike Melton, Jeff Fredette and Dick Burleson -- stayed on gold. Ron Ribolzi, Mark Hyde, Matt Cullins, Ed Lojak, Terry Cunningham, John Fero, Drew Smith, Darryl Kuenzer, Steve Van Watermeulen, Larry Roeseler, Carl Cranke, and John Ayers dropped from gold to silver. Kevin Brown, Rod Bush, Barry Avery, Rick Munyon, Frank Piasecki. Scot Harden, Ray Cosgrove and Kevin LaVoie dropped to bronze from silver. The new special test took its tool. Run on the opposite side of the mountain valley from the first, it, too, was a collection of tight off·camber turns connected by uphill and downhill sections, huge rocks. and plenty of dust. It would be run .- E! S to o U O 16 changing direction each day -- for days three, four and five. In the work area before the final check things were in a somber mood. Stacy was down and out. He had nursed the bike to the first special test repairing the clutch twice on the way. Then the flywheel key backt;d during the test and Stacy repaired that, continued to finish the test and begin the second loop. One check more and the engine made expen;;ive noises. "I tried to go as long as I could," said a dejected Stacy, his head in his hands. ". feel sorry for the team, I don't like to let them down like that. I really felt I had a chance to do good and make up for my day one problems. I learned a lot about the ISDT. The bad luck hasn't soured me. I'm ready for another." Flat tires and other problems cost Lojak nine minutes (540 points) "It was a long day. I'm beat," said Lojak. Husqvarna's Greg Davis came in looking beat. "It's the hardest I've ever had to ride. I jumped off once and it knocked the stearn right out of me. Plus I think I'm getting sick. I don't look forward to day four," said Davis. "It's more important to finish right now than to think about all the problems I've had," said Rod Bush. ".t's been a long day." "I sprained my right wrist in a National enduro the week before we left," . said Husqvarna's Terry Cunningham. "Today it hUTt so bad that I had to stop a couple of times. Those rocky sections are hell. It's swollen, but I'm not giving up now." Desert racer Bruce Ogilvie, riding for Yamaha in his first ISDT, was having a fairly decent ride. He dropped two minutes on each loop, but what hurt most was a bail-off on the trail that skinned up his arm. He was riding on silver. Darryl Kuenzer wasn't smiling. The KTM rider had gotten lost on the start of the second loop and lost eight minutes overall for the day. Carl Altier was plugging along on Bronze. He didn't let that faze him. "This is too easy," he joked to Kuenzer and Bush. ". want something harder tomorrow." LaVoie was at it again and dismantled the top end for another ten minute surgery when he wheeled his bike into the work area to start day three. When Yamaha'sJim Fishback came charging into the pits, he was screaming for a hammer. Fishback propped his bike up against a truck and staned beating the front rim and then the rear. "I was cooking down this road stretch," said Fishback. "I got into a comer a little hot and went off the road hit something and kept on going. When • checked later, I found that I had bent both the front and back rims." Other than losing a few spokes and duct taping the tire to the nrn so the tube wouldn't poke out around the rim, Fishback was OK. D8yfour . Between day three and day five Doc Myer dispensed a lot of chalky tasting medicine and many pills to calm the stomachs of more than a few riders. He also wired up Altier with electrodes to soothe damaged neck muscles sustained in a day four get-off. If some of the riders looked a little sick at the stan, they looked even sicker at the finish. However, only one -- Greg Davis .. actually called it a day and parked his bike when he found he couldn't go on. The story from several riders went like this: "I rode as fast as I could so I could gain time to stop and run in the bushes. Then I got back on, rode fast again and headed for the bushes again. That was my day." Carl Cranke was one rider who was very sick at the. start. However, with a (Above) Desert racers Jack Johnson (395) and Scot Harden took silvers. (Belowl Rusty Reynaud neft) was our sole 125cc finisher. Carl Cranke.

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