Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Winner Scott Pearson leads Steve Eklund (Bland the pack in t he ExpertTT. Warren " Pud " Hickman won both 250 and Open Pro in Saturday's MX. Pearson wins fourth straight Boise Regional TT as Hondas dominate Word with Yamamoto barely hold ing off H u rst fo r fourth. Ro n 's ride gave some credibility to the modern two-stroke as potent TT artillery and, like Pea rso n 's win on the 500cc single, was something of a record for Boise. The Novice races were highly competitive with some (as always) very , very eager young men. Doug Chandler had one of, if not the, fastest bikes on the track a m o ngst the 15-inchers. His Honda water-pumper would consistently pull most any other scooter it encountered toward the end of the straightaway. 'Course, Chandler was also riding it into corners longer and getting on the gas coming out sooner. It's doubtful he'll be a Novice much longer. Chandler also took his Trophy Dash over Dan Bennett on a Honda and Vince Gildner. Gildner, Benneu and Chandler were winners in their heat ra ces, too. Local Novice hopes rode with Montesa-rnounted Kelly Perkins, Denny Lee and R ick Henson on Yamahas . Perkins ended up six th, H enson was seventh, a n d Lee was 10th in the main. The Junior class was dominated by Randy Green who swept the Trophy Dash, his heat race and the main . Green, like Pearson , used XR500 equipment todoit to 'em. Pete Hames on a Yamaha and C. Barry Pelkey on a Can-Am chased Green home in the final. Honda-mounted Paul Iwanaga took second in the Trophy Dash and was fourth in the main. Local hopeful Jerry Moore put on the best show of any of the OMC riders with a fifth place. The boys got a chance at the track under the lights for the Friday night Sportsman TT. Brad Hurst nailed the 250cc Expert main with a wi n over Honda's Mickey Fay. Junior Ra nd y Green ran third in that o neon his H onda . The Open Expert race on Friday night saw Hurst run second to Mike Sullivan with Ro n Yamamoto in third. Local fast guys Darrell Murphy and P et e Kell er were 1-2 in the 125cc event o n their Hondas. . Sa turday was bright and hot, a fi ne da y fo r a m ot oc ro ss. T he usual glu t o f Beg inner s ma ndated the run ni ng of three groups i n th e 1-2-5s a nd tw o groups in th e 250s. T here were so many Bs and Intermed iates, th e Expert races were about two hours la te in geuing underway . Howe ve r, with fema les catching rays in string bikinis on every front ... who cared? Con flicti ng events o n t he P ro schedule kept folks like Bob Hannah By Marty Gregory BOISE. 10, APR. 23-25 Honda's Scott Pearson won the Owyhee Motorcycle Club's 28th Annual Northwest Regional TT by outlasting Yamahamounted Steve Eklund in the 20-lap main. The victory was Pearson's fourth in as many years and marked a "milestone in machinery" for the famous Boise race. 30 This was the first year the TT has been won by a 500cc machine. Pearson, riding under a brand new American Honda contract, powered his XR500-engined bike into the record books with an impressive ride. American Honda-supported riders also took home the cash in the NoviceandJunior races with Doug Chandler copping both the Trophy Dash and main for the Novices, and Randy Green doing a similar number on the Juniors. The weather, always a factor in the latter days of April in Idaho, cooperated beautifully for the Friday night Sportsman TT and the motocross on Saturday. TT Su nday turned out to be a nice enough day except for the wind which created an additional obstacle the riders had to overcome up (that's right, up!) the straigh taway at Bo ise. T he uphi ll straight, the wind and the loose track co ndit io ns all seemed to conspire agai nst anyone on a smaller bike, but Pearson prevailed against the odds. The track surface had a cushion of about two inches of loose soil which may have helped the men on the smaller bikes and tired out those o n larger machines. Holes and ruts which developed in the comers also gave those on less-than- agile bikes something else to worry about. A group of quality riders were on hand, however. and there were very few crashes throughout the day. Eklund pulled fast time of the day and sat on the pole for the Expert Trophy Dash which he won handily over Yamaha rider Jeff Campbell and Don Dodge on a Triumph. In the main. Pearson copped the holeshot only to get zapped by Eklund coming out of the first cor ner after one lap. Eklund looked strong and began to pull away from Pearson for the first half of the race. Then, at the midway point, Pearson closed the gap, and when Eklund's tire found a patch of looser stuff, snuck by to take the lead. Steve got on the gas hard, and he and Pearson put on a tremendous show wh ile gradually pulling away from the rest of the pack. Toward the end, it appeared Ek lund tired as Pearson stretched o ut his advantage by a couple of seconds and held it to the checkers. Meanwhile back in the pack, Ro n Yamamoto o n a 490 Yamaha rnotocrosser was m ore than busy trying to keep the X R H a rl ey of Frank Word II I at bay. Yamamoto lo o ked like a mad dog i n a m ea t locker as he ten a ciously carved his way around the track to the delight of the spectators. Word simply overpowered the twostroke, however, and lef t Yamamoto to worry about Triumph-mounted Brad Hurst, who holds the la p record at Bo ise. At the flag, third belonged to (late of Sun Valley) away a nd left the local boys with a chance to "show 'em how it's done in Boise," Warren " P ud " Hickm an de monstrated his stamina by ta king bo th the 250 and Open overall wi ns o n his Yamahas. Hickman worked a 2-3 moto record for the win in the 250s and won the Open with a rather convincing I-I. Yamaha support rider Jim Anderson from Longview, WA, won the first 250cc moto but was involved in a horrendous first comer pile-up in the second. Suzuki pilot Mark Olberding got by Warren's Suzuki-mounted brother Ed Hickman to win 250cc moto number two. Jim Anderson got another chance in the 125cc Expert race. There was no one named Hickman in that one, but there was Boise's Derrick Personeue. Riding for High Country Suzuki, Personeue seemed on the very edge of disaster during his mad dashes down the 400 + foot "sand hilL" The second 125cc rnoto (the last race of the day) saw Anderson pull off the holeshot on ly to be passed by Personeue on the first trip down the hi ll. Anderson h ung close for the rest of the race but could not quite get by Derrick's Suzuki. Saturday's motocross was wound down by 7:00 p .m. Beer, if you can imagine, was being consumed, and reluctant girlfriends were being recruited for a wet T-shirt contest. Folks were just starting to get ready for the big TT the next day. As noted, Sunday's TT race was not blessed with perfect weather as were the Friday and Saturday races. Long faces in the pits told a few stories. Lew Alter, Jr. sat behind his XR750 H-D and looked glum. Lew, Boise 's only Expert entry, was experiencing motor difficulties, and he didn't expect to do too well. He didn't make the transfer. Sonny Bu rres w ho, like Pearso n , had won this event three times in years past, was b usil y tryi ng to clean u p h is chai n after an encou nter with a grader-produced berm d uring his hea t race. Son ny ha s been co mi ng to Boise for as lo ng as most o f us can rem em be r, a nd if there's a Most Po p ula r R ider award, he gets my vo te. H e m ad e the main th is year after co ming back in the semi. Bu rr es led h is hea t race briefl y u ntil losi ng h is line (and several places during the aforementioned trek into the soft stuff). Bu rres ba uled wi th Honda ri der Arney Wick (winner of the first two indoor short track races at Caldwell earlier this year) a nd showed Mr. Wick a few TT tricks th a t a decade-

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