Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

son , who re-in jured the foot he in jured in Flor ida and dropped from th e even t after th e second mot ocross. Tied for second in th e 250cc Intent class were Drew Sm ith and Fritz Kadl ec, both Kaw asaki teamsters . Sm ith rode a KX250 wit h a disc bra ke while Kadl ec rode Sm ith 's p ract ice KDX250. T wo other rid ers tha t showed speed wer e Husky's Kevin Bro wn wh o put in a fourth pl ace 250cc ride. a n d Chip Howell , wh o picked up third 500cc Intent on last year 's Yamaha IT465. At rhe rid er's meetin g o n Sa turda y, the even t wa s looking lik e a dust bowl. Eight o' clock roll ed aro u nd with a thunders torm, lightning a n d the wh ol e west T exas shooting mat ch. Several inc hes o f ra in , h ail a nd £l ash £Iooding all occ urred on th e Qual ifier course. The morning dawned bright a nd su n ny , mak ing for excellent traction a ll da y a nd virt ua lly n o dust till the last IO mi n utes of the race. The ent ire co urse was laced with cact us a n d th orn y pl ants, but Penton was th e onl y Intent rider to su ffer a flat . All riders used tire sea la nt, n ot a normal pacti ce for Qual ifi er rider s. Lubbo ck H onda d eal er Geo rge McMahan had 10 ga llo n tubs of sealant o n hand for riders wish in g to use it. National The 125cc Intent riders were away firs t an d a ll di sp lacem ent Intent riders mad e it th ro ug h ro ughly 30 miles a nd the acceleration test wit h n o ro ute points acc u m u la ted. T he run to the seco nd ch eck sta rted with th e acceleration test whe re Chip Howell and Joe Coppedge turned in low scores of 25 points. H igh score was 49. Hollingsh ead topped th e 125s with 41 points. Surprisingly the 175s were topped with 43. Roe seler , Kadl ec, Smith and Kevin Hines had the ponies and refl exes in 250cc Intent. Each carded a 39 point run . Immedi ately after the seco nd check was th e first motocross test. The test was a cha lle n gi ng three mile run , in and out of gullies, str eam beds a n d mudholes. Harden's 446 second blast took the fast time slot. Roeseler was faste st in th e 250s by seven seconds while J ack Penton had a 12 cl ick advantage over the 125s. Twentyfour secon ds separated Penton and fast I 75cc Elkin s. Route points were not a p roblem for any rider that d idn't have machine diffi culties. Only th e fin al section and che ck caught any of the frontrunners late. The rac e was decided by the tests. Several riders did brake rnaintea nce at ga s one , just before th e fir st gr ass track test to try and find brak es that had gone away with th e ma ny mud crossin gs. Enough moisture was in th e ground to make berms in th e Ila t grassy corne rs a nd th e speeds were h igh. Roeseler was a o ne- man gr ass fire. H e scorched through in 267 seco nds ahead of Miller at 269 and Harden and Howell with a pa ir of 270s. Fast sma ll-bore was aga in Penton. but 20 seconds orr Roeseler's pa ce. Fast 175cc was four seconds beyond that. From the grass track the trail led o u t into th e hills for 30 miles. This was the onl y sectio n th at some riders found monotonous. There was a check a t roughly 25 miles. Riders were giv en 14 minutes to reach th e seco n d and fin al gas SL . Op This was so the riders could become familiar with th e hardest section of the day. Addin g to th e confus io n was a gi ant mud bog th at ca ugh t severa l name riders. Harden came in to gas wi th Iitt le tim e to spar e after p u lli ng the previous week 's 500cc winner, Bob R u tten ou t o f th e engine cover- THE GREATEST GRAND OPENING SHOW ON EARTH!!! saturday & Sunday, March 20 & 21 Free Key Chains see The Latest ~ ATC Collection in CaDtivitv!!! Well, at least the biggest stock in Southern California. And because we want to sell the most, Pacific Coast Honda Suzuki ' offers Big ATe Group Discounts! I =-- ~ I I j Free PaSSport i~ ~ ( , \/IU-..,. ~ ·~ I Meet The . '- (2\ t£ ~~u \l: You'll Cheerll! ~ You'll Gaspll! You'll Save A Bundle!!! 0-- BrandOpening . ~1t7 World's _~ ~ _ ~ ~..-- ~ Handsomest -/>-.. ........ salesman! "--""' Our own Handsome Paul Smith. Because we believe that good-looking motorcycles deserve good looking salesmen. So Pacific Coast Honda Suzuki-The Warehouse of Motorcyclescan guarantee you California's lowest price on the motorcycle of your choice. Mike and April Salisbury are placing warehouse-size' orders 'on hundreds at great bikes. And we're passing our quantity discounts on to you-every day of the year! Pacific Coast Honda Suzuki The Warehouse of Motorcycles 1820 Pacific Coast Hwy. in Lomita-L block west of Western 213/326-3810 • Open Sunday » Financing Available 13

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