Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126594
t er City - Searchlight - Sidewinder Road - Superstition Mountain - Jean - Rand second and Mike liked every minute of this fast choppy course . Kaplan took third after losin g his back b rake on the last lap. Fou rth was Dan Ash craft (H us) and Da n once again had his p roblems. Fifth was motocross rider Dave Pe tti grew . Sixth was Hunnicu t. Seventh was another motocross rider, Danny Sanchez. Eighth was Up p who had stopped to fix a flat and then played catch -u p for the ne xt five la ps. N inth was Scott Postma . T enth was Bill Saltzman, First Amateur was ha rd riding Ra y Conwa y. First Novice was Mike Fitzgerald who had a good race today. First Beginner was P24 De nnis Boulware , turning in a super ride. In the Vet class , su pe r Vet Bill Sa ltzman took the lead righ t aft er the start and as usual Bill never looked b ack . and every lap he stretched out his lead a little farther . Lynn McGraw rode hard and took second overall. Monty Lee must have liked this course today because Monty turned on the gas and held third overall and first 250cc. Fourth overall and second 250cc was Jim O 'Neal. Robert Torgerson turned in a super ride for fifth . Sixth placer Ron Gray, first Open Amatuer, is really having some great rides and today was no exceptionl Seventh was Rex Pitts and eighth was J im Lang. N inth overall was Vl03x Larry Gorden. Holdin g 10th was Paul Torgerson and Paul took first Open Novice today. The Open race . the final race of the day. was a good on e and well worth wa iting for . Three top ri ders, Chuck Stearns, Brett H owell a nd Dave W asden go t off to a bad start by p ick . ing up a wron g tra il and get ting off the m ain tra il. Ken Upp entered his YZ 250 in this ra ce . not for points b ut just for some hard riding. Ken jumped on the m ain trail and Da n Ashcraft (H us) go t I n front and these two ri ders held firs t and second for three la ps. T om Ma ttox was another front runner with Mu rray Kap ko staying close . Gary Davies was running fifth after one lap bu t Gary had to make a pit stop for bike repa irs. Dan Sm ith (Hus) was playing catch up after having bike problems on the start an d Stea rns. after finding the trail, was not running seventh. After three laps Ashcraft dropped out with bi ke trouble and Upp held the lead on his 250cc for two laps . Stearns. turning on his big m achin e and using all the power. overtook Up p on the. last lap about two thirds of the way around the course. These two super riders spent more time in the ai r dicing handlebar to ha ndlebar than on the ground until Stearns could use his power and take the lead . It was Stearns who took the checkered first with Upp second. Sm ith had mo ved up to a third . Fourth was Murray Kapko . Fifth was motoc ross rid er Ro n Gibson . Da ve Wasden took sixth. Gary Davies had a good finish after his trou ble . Brett H owell had fu n today a nd enjoyed his ride. First Beginner was Ro n Shu ler . has been away fro m local racing wh ile earning a gold meda l in Ita ly and taking the overa ll in Baja . went la rgely u nch allenged in the two -loop , 103 mile race. lea ding by over five m inutes a t th e finis h line . Race day was clear and mild . a sharp contrast to last year's Camel Ch ase . when it snowed nearly all day. T his yea r the snow was a week early (or the ra ce a week la te ) an d the ground was still fair ly m oist , m aki ng for near perfect racing condi tions . As the Experts left th e sta rt line at 10 a .m . it was Bill H ill . J r . m oving by Glen Wisc hmeyer to ta ke a very brief lead . u nt il Harden moved int o the front and never loo ked b ac k . Among other front ru nners ea rly in t he race were Bobby Davidson and Br ad H ilton. Check Chase winner Kevin Welch got off early in the first loop and was moving u p from the back . As the racers loo ped back toward the pits , they came up a deep sand wash directly below the starting lin e . offering spectators a spectacular view and also giving the pit crews a two m inute warning th at their rider was coming in. already with a / Harden. commanding lea d was firs t through the pi ts , followed by Bobby Davidson on a Yamaha 250 . who was showin g everyone what he could do when he came to the races with a n assembled mo torcycle. Bill Hi ll . Jr. ca me into the pits in third and left in fou rth as Glen W ischmeyer moved by at the ch eck po in t , foregoing a gas stop , wh ich later proved to be a mistake as he ra n out of gas on the second loop. Anthon y Pasqu alott o. after a slow start . was in fifth ove rall at first gas . and on the move. The second half of the 53 mil e loo p was b y far the rou ghest. The highlight (or lowlight ) was " Morris Fall s." a seven -foot -high vertical wall of ro ck that the riders had to go up . " It looks wors e than it is." said ra cem aster Ca sey Folks . "T ha t depends on how you looked at it" remarked a n anonymous Novi ce . who got a look while pinned underneath his bike at the bottom . As the ra cers com pleted the first half of th e ra ce it was still Harden wit h t he lead and Dav idson in seco nd . Pasq ualott o had wasted n o tim e moving int o thi rd and Hill was ho ld ing fourth , first 125cc . " Ba d Bra d " Hilton had pulled his 250 Can-Am into fifth . Pa squalot to kept the pressure up and moved by Da vidson just before th e last gas . H arden took the ch eck er ed flag about five mi n ut es ahead of Pasqua lotto. and received his fin ish ers pin. " I want to dedicate the win to Mike Morris" said Harden at th e fini sh line. Mike was severely injured wh ile pre-running the Baj a 1000 a nd -had spent several weeks in th e hospital. The Ca mel Chase was his first a ppearance since he was hurt and he was forced to watch the race from th e back of a van. Welcome back. Mikel Third overa ll. first 250cc was Bobby Davidso n . with Kevin Welc h moving up to fourth. thi rd open . Hill . J r. came in fift h . first 125cc . his third class win in a row . Top O ver 30 honors went to Max Switzer. who ma naged to get by Ed Sivon on the last loop . First O ver 38 was Ken Guio , who . fought off impossibl e odds. a flat tire . a nd a tendency to stop and wave at everyo ne he rides by . and he still be at Ron loomis. Todd T immons was fir st I25cc Amateur, Larry Job took honors in the 250cc Amateur class and Mike Hanley was first Open Amateur . • Harden takes MRANCamel Chase By W ayne Gales MORRIS FALLS . NV. DEC. 6 Husqvarna's p remier off-road racer Scot Harden returned to his first Nevada desert race since m id-summer to take the overall honors in the Groundshakers 12th annual Camel Chase. Harden . who SUIAKI... 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