Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

• • &I • ••• ••• Lucerne V..I.y - Red Mountliln - .....ter CIty - Search...... - Sidewinder Road - S...... stJtJon Mounblin - J.... - R.nd Mounbilns - L _ V.II.y - Red Mount ; Desert Hotline which gave them a good laugh at the finish. Sick humor guys. Also moving up was McCasland who made it up to fifth behind Cha.sc where he stayed after picking up a flat tire in the cross-grain leading back. Following McCasland to the fmish were. Phil Stumho (Open), first Open Amateur Tom Bullock, Tony McgIa (25Occ Am), Postel. Ellis and Mulconcry. Seniors following Chaners included George Zuber (Open) and Invader Dick Burley (25Occ). Veteran winners were Pete Kinney (Open), Jim Bringhurst (250cc) and Amateur Vet George Jaggard. Second Open Amateur was top D-'7 enduro rider Grant Palenske who left the clock off his DMG Maico for a change and braved the bomb stan. Trailbikc honon went to Pete Andelman with, top Woman rider Lori Fanner (25Occ) out of Fullcnon Yamaha close behind. Lori was way ahead ofJolene Payne for a IOlid win. On the Novice front John Rudder had edged out Conway for the win with Dale Criske (Open) and Dave Allan (C) also taking firsts. Pit racing was totally out of hand this weekend with one particular nasty accident resulting. Do we have to wait for a real tragedy before we do something about it? E .00 0') M 0.. < Den Smith took the c:hec:kered first 8t the Preirie Dogs here lICrembles. Smith smokes Prairie Dog.' D·37HS By DeVore Fortney Photo by Joyce May LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, MAR. 22 With many of the top riders down in Baja for the Mexicali 250 the Prairie Dogs put on a race guaranteed to make them all homesick for the District !l7 dei. 26 One pcrenniaI top finisher who did come out was Checker Dan Smith (Hus) to take the overall by leading from stan to finish. Dan was blazing. and his form was 10 perfect no one could have passed him. Not ~ a broken rear brake arm on the second loop slowed him down. Dan couldn't afford to slow down though as Mark Zoller, on his first ride aboard a ncw Pro Cycles KTM 495, was never 10 far behind that Dan had any brcathinJ room. This was Mark's first heavyweIght ride on the machine 10 the big KTM is obviously forgiving enough to adjust to quickly althouJ(h Mark was very tired at the end of the 88-mile race. The stan was a late one at 10 a.m. which on a bright sunny day left the riders with a few houn to waste beforehand. It was probably best though since the bomb led nonheast off Anderson Dry Lalte and an earlier stan would have put the IUD right in their eyes. Out of the more than '60 riders who made that stan it was a member of the Invaders who was first off the line. His lead was shon-lived _though as Smith and Zoller found a line to the left that put them way ahead of a bunch that included Shamrock. Dave Chase, Chccker Howard McCasland, C biker Kevin Hopkins, Amateurs Chris Crandall and Tom Bullock, and flI'lt Senior Gary Chaners. The Novice/Beginner Itan got off about 20 minutes later with a pie plater holding a shaky lead to the bomb where he got into a tank slapper that was almost to the point of no return, allowing Masterlink Ray Conway to blast by for the lead. The Prairie Dogs' excellent course included everything from a wide open "freeway" towards Bessemer Mine Road to a tricky ridge trail leading back to the pits. Just as the pits were in sight from the trail the Prairie Dogs decided to put a nasty one-line downhill in which elicited numerous comments from all the Senior riders . like "Is this fun?" to various unprintablejcwcls. Coming down that hill the first time thinp were getting IOned out behind Smith and Zoller. Crandall had his Yamaha 250 in an amazing third which be would hold to the finish for first !5Occ and first Amateur followed by Cha.sc. Hopkins, Kenny Upp. Bullock and McCasland. Running I,th was CharteD having a great race for a ~ in his cha.sc to catch Senior points leader. Masterlink Jim Harris, who was back in the pack having front end problems. The Bcginncn were spared this downhill as they were routed over tbe other side and on into their finish. At least all tbe Beginners but one. Paul F1eming was mistaltenly flagged down the hill and lost first 250cc in the process to Steve Goosclaw. Tim Catterall (Open) was first overall with Eric Hallgate first Trail Novice and Bruce .Logan first Vet Beginner. Not too far into the second loop Kevin Hopkins wrote finished to a great ride with a broken gearbox. This left Pete Postel in first C bike with Amateur C biker Tom Ellis and Mike Mulconery (O&n) right behind. Postel and Mulconery battled hard enough to lock bars at high speed Johnson scorches Silver City Scramblers MRAN HS By Chuck Harper and Mari... Mascolino JEAN, NV, MAR. 15 It was all smiles and big red as Vegas Cycle Center/Maico West teammates Jack Johnson and Kevin Welch captured first and second places at the second annual Bent Spoke Hare Scrambles at Jean. Troy Fitch ~ his Nevada Yamahasupponcd YZ250H to top !5Occ Expert honors in a ride that saw him pressure Welch most of the day for second overaD and finish with a five minute cushion over the second place 250cc Expert effon of current MRAN quaner-liter champ and Sportsman Cycle/T,eam Husky rider Chuck Rush_ Kevin Gash1cr utiIizcd his MXpcrtiac to massacre the 125cc Expert class with a stellar sixth overall showing on his Team Valley Cycle Yamaha YlI2SH water-cooler_ AI HOlIkins found the winner's circle for the first time in '81 with a 14th overall finish on a Nevada Yamaha YZ465H that earned him top Over '0 Expert honors while Sam Bass (Hus) survived a shed Ohlios and a hardcharging Ron Loomis (Mai) to win tbe Over '8 Expert class at 20th overall. The 'Scramblers are Southern Nevada's oldest club and with desert legend Max Swiuer at the helm their races are designed to tire Expcns. This one was no exception. The stan was a nasty piece of real estate with five-foot wide ditches every three gears and cross-grain washes in bctwccn. From tbcrc raccn encountered steep rocky up and down hills, moist red sand, boulder-strewn trails, rocky fircroads and more t Iing rocks! The riders were scheduled to make four passes at the 20-mile tonure test before they could receive their finisher pins, trophy, glory and MRAN points_ * .... Jack Johnson mauled his Moto-XFox-assisted Maico into holeshot status where he remained for the day, unchallenged, in what proved to be a rewarding tune-up for tbe approaching Tulsa Two-Day Q.ualifier. Jack was no doubt pleased at the triumph, his first MRAN win since Dec. of '79, however. be commented, "It didn't mean anything since Scot (Harden) wasn't here." but quickly added, "I was worried about the "Kid" (Kevin Welch) with my two flats (both rear, one at mid-race, the other on the last loop). It was hard riding in those rocks and be's 10 consistent if anything happens he's right there." Harden was also preparing for the Oklahoma Two-Day and was not entered in the event. Kevin Welch battled with Troy Fitch for second overall most of the day with the nod going to Kevin although Troy tried every trick he knew including some wild, lock-to-Iock tankslappcrs on the steep, double dangermarked downhills in crued attempts to overhaul the smooth Welch. Troy's ride was good for top 250cc honors. Maico blue-chip prospect Anthony Pasqualotto was running ncar the front of the pack on lap one but was hampered by a broken front btake lever councsy of a baseball-sUe boulder thrown up by Kevin Steele during the frantic smoke-run. A flat rear tire halfway through ultimately dropped Anthony out of the hunt and to his eventual ninth overall, third Open Expert fmish. The battle for runner-up 250cc Expert positions saw lOme definite dicing as Kevin Steele (Yam), Mike Welch (C-A), Chuck Rush (Hus), Ty Bothwell (Hus) and Mel Chapman (Mai) filled overall places five through nine on lap one. Kevin Gasbler rounded out the top 10 as he circulated first 125cc Expert while his foes Randy Honeycutt (Yam), Daryl Folks (Hus), and Danny Anderson were nearby at I'th, 14th and 16th overall, respectively. As the duel for second 250cc Expen intensified, things staned happeDlng. Kevin Steele suffered a rear puncture that relegated him to a lCVenth overall, founh 250cc Expen finish. Chuck Rush got down to business and put Mike Welch away before they crossed the chcc1ters for a hard-fought founb overall, second 250cc cffon. Welch finished inches later with a lock on fifth overall, third 250cc Expert. Mel Chapman moved by a faltering Ty Bothwell for eighth overall, fifth 250cc ~. Ty finished the day I I th overall, SIXth 250cc Expert. Gmlt-clwgc-through-thc-pack award goes to Sponstnan Cyc1c Team rider Glen Wischmeyer (Hus) who braved the rocks and dust and a bad stan to capture lOth overall, fifth 250cc Expert at the final flag. Kevin Gash1cr was riding superbly and crossed the finish ·\ine sixth overall, first 125cc Expert. Daryl Folks moved by Randy Honeycutt for second 125cc Expert but could do not better than 12th overall at the checkered. Danny Anderson lost a swingarm bolt on his Kawie Uni-Trak and called it a day after the first l~. Roger Peters (Hus) was first overall Amateur at l'th overall and if he keeps up the pace will be racing with a white plate. The Southern Nevada Volunteer Rescue group were kept hopping with their most notable customer being Trey Kimberlain. who broke a foot while running near the front of. the 250cc Amateur race. Thank you volunteers. •

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