Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Utah-Alaska-Can NORTHERN DATELINE backma rker let Ash ley grab th e lead. T his class fea tured the widest assortme nt of machinery ranging from Tom's Cn ' B wha teveritwas to Ashley's KLX 10 a p air of Yamaha IT s 10 T oby Ash ley 's vintage BSA sh o rt tracker. Color it interesti ng. T he n it was time for th e Experts. The Min is led o ff wi th Corey Ba rt on wh upping a pass on Toby Ashley and R itch T hursto n to gra b the go ld . Nex t, th e o ne-two-fi ves go t into it with fast ma n Darrell Murp h y d umping comi ng ou t of th e first co rner. Pete Kell er (Cycle Nuts n ' Bolts) gassed h is H onda into th e lead an d was in control un til the checkers. Murphy rem ounted a nd tried val iantly to catch up o n ly to cras h agai n a co uple of laps lat er. Darrell was still down wh en th e race en ded. It 's hoped h is situa tion is not serio us . T he sta rt of th e n ight had to be th e 250cc Expert s! The first corner was tota l co m mo tion as Arn ey Wi ck, Denny Lee, Bart Nelson an d MXer Mark Olberdin g a ll tri ed to end up with th e hol esh ot. J err y Moore (H o n) was right up there. too ...until he cras hed . Wick also fell , lea ving Ne lso n, Olberding a nd Lee to slug it o u t: Moore showed so me style in th e lat er la ps, ho wever , by movin g to the o u tside so as not to impede the progress of the fro n t-runners . In the final result, it was Nel son (a ll the way fro m Coeur d ' Alene ) wi n ni ng it despi te lat e ch ar ges by Ol berdin g a nd Lee. Arn ey Wick was to be de nied in th e O pen Expert even t, too. Lew Alter . J r. (H o n ) looked a ll busin ess as he mo tored smooth ly aroun d for th e win . Denny Lee. riding Honda of Ca ldwell salesman Gl enn Mu rray's stroker, took a soli d seco nd in th e race . ...... ... . l-o 0. ~ Results POWDER PUFF: 1. Denis Alte' (Suz); 2. Vicki Young (Suz); 3. Sue Chapmen (Hon). THREE·WHEELERS: 1. Tim Beehlki (Hon); 2. Kim Moon (Hon); 3. Leonerd Pancher (Hon). MICRO MINI : 1. Pet Lovelady (Suz); 2. Joe Win nett (Suz); 3. Bert Jorda n (Suz). MIN I BEG: 1. Du sty Stri nger (S uz); 2. Br ian Hale (Hon). MINI EX: 1. Toby A shl ey (Hon): 2. Corey Berton (Suzl; 3. Ritch Thurston (Kaw). 125 BEG: t . Jeff M iller (Hon); 2. Sam Hut chinson (Honl: 3 , Troy Nor ris (Han) , 125 EX: 1. Pete Keller (Hon); 2. Roger Cromwell (Hon); 3. Ray Ahnstedt (Suzl. 250 BEG: t . Sho n Ashley (Kaw); 2. Tom Siobarg (Suz); 3. Rick Stone (Cl). 250 EX 1. Bart Nelson (Yam); 2. Mark Olb erding : (Suz ): 3 . Denn is Lee (Yam) . OPEN BEG: 1. Dick Rockrohr (Hus); 2. Roger Reid (Mai). OPEN EX: 1. Lewi s Alter,Jr.IHon); 2. Denn is Lee (Hon); 3. Pete Keller tHus). That stack of Cycle News piled over in the corner could become an attractive addition to your living room or trophy shelf. All you need is our new, bright·red, top quality binder. Each one holds 2S issues of America's Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper. They also provide a handy filing system whe~ you need to refer back a few issues to an informative article, and they're a positive statement about the sport you like best: Motorcycling. Riant coasts to victory at Jackson Creek Road Race By Delbert Longbrake JACKSO NVI LLE, OR, MAR . 21 Dav e R ia n t, 125cc ISDE asp ira nt, w ok th e overall honors a t th e third running of th e Great Jackson Creek Road Race held Just fill out the order blank below, mail it to Cycle News, and we'll ship you the Cycle News Product that's bound to please. -------------------------_.._------ I_ Please send me I n,. ,. _ ." ' .'l': I • - I • • • • , 46 Nam e '. Add r es s .' . __ ' (213) 42'7.7433 c harges du e , h.'eonlsub • ' • go.,... " • Exp iration P.O. BOll 498 Long Beech. CA lIOIG'l.()498 . wn h the itV' Nment _ Zip_ _ Send t o : Cycle NewalWeat hogethe, w It h a ny o th., - '"9 t he us e o f such card .. ' State_ • "'. ,e ct t OOnd,nocc o, .o n.o ., Signat ure City • omoun, .hown o. TOT At VISA • • "'on 0 ~ ...'•• on.h,'0 p am,. e authorllllld y th bi nderl sl at $14.95 each li nclu des shipping and postage.) V isa I Date I I .- MC I . I ._------------------------------------ n ear J acks onvill e. Dave's wi n in th e celebra ted sou thern Or egon even t will u ndou bted ly rocket h im to fame an d star do m. Well. th at may be a littl e exaggera ted; however . h e will be remembered as th e man wh o too k on a n d defeated all co mers aboard h is 125 KTM. Th e race was held a little lat e this year. Usually th e event ta kes place on New Year 's Da y. But on-january I, th e riders who came to ra ce up and th en coast back down th e two-mile gr anite road found two feet of fresh snow. The Great Jacks on Creek Road Race was ca ncell ed when it took riders more than an hour to make the two-m ile run 10 the finish line. and whe n the frostbite treatment (brandy taken orally) became more fu n tha n riding. And in keeping wi th the dub's luck with graders, the one h ired to smooth the course for this year's race slipped off the road, nearl y tipping ove r. It too k six hours to get it unstuck. (This, however, was nothing compared 10 th e time a gr ader hi red by th e club DNF when it bl ew up, caugh t fire and burned to the ground!) Two and one ha lf m on th s later though, the snow m elt ed, a nd all th e preparations were co mpleted. R iders dep arted fro m the start line at30-seco nd intervals. Riant was calm before hi s run to the top, keep ing his co m posu re even wh en faced with th e fact th at event organizer , Tyrrell Hart, would indeed have th e much rumored 500 Yankee Z twin a t th is year's race. But wh en th e g ra n ite fin ally sett led, it wasn't R ia n t or H art who go t up th e h ill the fast est. This year' s uphill cha m p io n would be G ar y Wilks who took hi s 400 Mai co up th e road in two m inutes, 28 seco n ds. Two seco nds beh ind Gar y wa s Curt Hutner who was ridin g in th e O pen Four-stroke class. Rian t took h is 125 to th e top in two m inutes, 36 seco nds wh ile the Yankee Z, entered in th e p re- 1975 class. turned in a time o f two m in u tes, 57 seco nds. It was now ti me to coast down th e .road. Coa stin g do wnhill without power is very pecu liar, a nd it tests th e rider's skill rather th an ho w much p ow er he has under h im . A l25c c rider. even though he is ridi ng against 250 a n d Open bikes, co ul d pull off th e overa ll win with a good downhill run. And Ri ant, a boa rd the only 125, turned in a fantastic downhill time of three minutes, 49 seconds, cli nch in g th e title of 1982 Downhill Champion. But th is yea r, Riant would hav e to sha re th at honor, for tieing th at downhill time exactly was Dave Cossett e. Since Co ssett e was one second slower tha n Ri ant on th e uphill run, h e would be seco nd ov erall ; R ian t would not have 10 share overa ll honors with anyone. Wilks' do wn hi ll tim e of four minut es, two seco nds, 13 seco nds slower th an Rian t a nd Cossette, put him o ut o f co nte ntion for the overa ll even though he was fastest uph ill. Dave wa s justifiably proud o f his performance, bu t he was reluctant 10 share his secret s on bein g a successfu l coaster. " I hav e a few secrets that th e rnotocrossers don 't know, a nd I' m not goi ng 10 tell, " he said wi th a laugh. When pressed, he did sa y, however, that th e p us h off at th e start was im port a nt, and tha t th e ligh t 125 was advantage in th a t respe ct. T he n ew overa ll champion also co m me nted th at loosen in g th e rear brak e didn't hurt ei ther. T he Ya n kee's performan ce was a littl e d isappointin g , especially on th e downh ill run . T he cla ssic twi n was put toget her, after many years of being scattered over a garage £loor, just before th is year's road race, not a llowin g much tim e 10 break th e old girl in. And si nce th ere was no opportunity to use th e front di sc brake on th e uphill run, it was virtually untested. T eam Yankee Z p ilot Tyrrell Hart explained his seven minute, 27 second downhill time this way c"] was coastin g down th e hi ll . pi cking up speed. I kept wanting to use the front brake, but I resisted , knowing it wou ld slo w m y downhill time. Finally I just h ad 10 slow down so I gentl y reached o ut and, with one fin ger . sq ueezed the front brake lever ."

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