Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Lucerne Valley - Red Mountain - Plaster City - Searchlicht - Siclewinder Road Southern California-Arizona-Southern Nevada- Southern Call Western hotline • Chris Crandall took his second overall w in. (File photo.) Crandall trims HBMC Wild Hare H&H By Shirley Upp LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, AP R. 24 H onda rider Chri s Cran da ll took th e second overa ll win o f h is career a t th e a n n ua l Huntin g ton Beach M.e. Wild H are ... 38 Hare ' n' H ound. T he early leader , h owever , was Husky's Dan Smith . Teamma te Dan Ashcra ft was ru nning seco nd wi th Cra nda ll third. T hey were foll owed by Yamaha rider Ch uck Stearns and O pen Senior c1a sser Bill Sa ltzman (H us) . H owa rd McCa sland had the 250cc lead a t sixt h, Oren Beck had the C bike lead a t eigh th , and Ron Sh u ler wa s ru nn ing first Amateur. At th e co m p letion of the first 45mi le loop , Ashcraft came th rough homecheck firs t. Crandall ca me through seco nd, a bo ut 30 seco nds behind. Sm it h and Sa ltzma n were bo th out of th e race af ter seizing on a long , san dy uph il l. That m oved Stearns to th ird , a nd Ed P ierce jr. moved him self u p to fourth, a nd the first 250cc Ex pert posi tion . Ted Hunnicutt had advanced to fifth , with McCasla nd still ho lding sixt h. Righ t beh ind him, Darin Ca rtwrigh t had p u lled into th e C bik e lead . As usual , G a ry Cha rt ers (250cc Sen ior), Art Knapp (Open Senior) a nd R icha rd j ackson (Open Vet ) were leading th eir cla sses. j a ckson, h ow ever, wa s leading in sp ite of a ge t-off o n th e bomb run th at to re h is lea th ers a n d left h im wi th a very raw backside. T he second loop was a nother ro ugh 45 m iles of prim e dese rt racing. Ashcra ft's lu ck didn 't h old as he made a wrong turn an d was passed by Cranda ll as h e was loo king for th e co urse. Crandall ha d no idea he ha d won th e race until the HBMC marked number one on hi s lan k card a t the fini sh . Cr andall th anked h is bro th er Curt for h is hel p , a nd O ' Nea l and A-Trak for th eir sponsorsh ip . S tearns took seco n d, say ing tha t th ere were a few bad ditch es o n th e co urse and tha t he'd ha d to put h is hand u p to wa rn the ride r beh ind h im , P ierce, as to th e danger. Ni ce sports ma ns hi p. P ierce took th ird o verall and first 250cc Expert. Ashcra ft fin all y foun d the course agai n and finish ed fourth. Hunnicutt hung in to fin ish fifth , w hi le Charters advanced four spots on th e seco nd loop to finish six th a nd first Senior. Ca rt wrig h t took the C bi ke honors at seventh, follo wed by MeCas la n d, O pen rider Phil Cl owar d a nd 250cc ace Steve Zoll inger. Aftersomed icin~ with Greg j ohnsto n, Shu ler rem ained o u t fro nt to tak e first overa ll Am a teu r. joh nson co llec ted first in th e 250cc yellowpla te class . An d ba ck after two months' layoff , Lori Far me r led bo th loops to win th e Wom en's Divi sion Expert class . T he Novice/ Begi n ner race began with 250cc riders Ti m Alki re a nd Ri ck L u ndi n leading the wa y, fo llow ed by G eorge Sco tt jr. and j oe j esseph. H an s G iese was leading th e C bikes a t fifth , fo llo wed by first Beginner Chris High to wer, who was rid in g a big Husk y. Coming o ff the first loop , h owever ; H igh to wer ha d the overa ll lead as h e p u lled off for the Beginner Iiriish . mak in g h im o ne o f th e fa stest Begin ners we've seen in a lon g tim e. Fo llowing him through on the firs t loo p was j esseph, wi th H arol d Alle n ru nni ng in fro nt o f the 250cc Novices a nd Ri ch ard Patterson (Open Vet) a nd G ary Brick (250cc Sen ior) doi ng th e same in th eir classes . At th e fin ish , j esseph an d h is 490 Yama ha were th e overa ll Novice win ners. R. Certa in took a close second. T h ird was 490 Yamaha p ilo t Craig Tim ms . There was a separa te kids' race which wa s wo n by speedster Keith Loonsfoot. Chris Langer took seco n d with Brent Farrel in for th ird . Ma ny . th anks to Bob Bal ent ine for donat in g the trophies for thi s race, and p resent ing them to the wi n ners. It was good to see Bob back in th e dese rt. Results OPEN EX: 1. C. Cranda ll ; 2. C. Staarn s; 3. D. Ashcraft . OPEN AM : 1. R. Shul er; 2. T. Epper son; 3. S. W illiams. OPEN NOV: 1. J . Jess eph; 2, R, Guert in; 3. C. Timms. OPEN BEG; 1. C. Hightower; 2. K. Hein tz; 3. M. Rot h. 25 0 EX: 1. E. Pierce; 2. H. McCa sla nd; 3. S. Zoll inger . 250 AM : 1. G. J oh nston; 2. K. Tu lla r; 3. R. Hethe- rington J r. 2 50 NOV; 1. H. Allen; 2. J. Nesm ith ; 3. R. Lundin. 2 50 BEG; 1. D. Mertz; 2. P. Woo d; 3. D. Chres ie. 125 EX: 1. D. Cartwright; 2. B. How ell; 3. B. Lawrence . 125 AM: 1. A. Water s; 2. B. Bauman . 125 NOV: 1. C. Koncul. VET OPEN EX: 1. R. Jackson; 2. C. Snyder . VET OPEN AM : 1. R. Nelson; 2. S, Thomp son; 3. W. Lang er . VET OPEN NOV : 1. R. Patt erson; 2. L Ku nkel; 3. P. Martin. . VET OPEN BEG: 1. S. Pricopie; 2. R. Hamm ack, VET 25 0 EX: 1. J . Vau ghn ; 2. R. Jones; 3. W . Ande rson Jr. VET 250 A M : 1. J. Sheehy; 2. D. OeSimone; 3. B. S mith . VET 2 50 NOV : 1. H. Oolan; 2. #V l 0 8x; 3. J. St even s. OPEN SR EX: 1. A. Knapp; 2. J . W eaver; 3. W. Cooper. OPEN SR AM : 1. J. Owings; 2. B. Morris; 3. C. Sims . OPEN SR NOV: 1. #07 3; 2. #09 B; 3, R. Duarte. OPEN SR BEG: 1. A. M oller; 2. J. Norblad; 3. #0 100 . 250 SR EX: 1. G. Chart ers; 2. W . Goodm an; 3. A. Guzman. 250 SR AM : 1. #56><: 2. J. Sers . 250 SR NOV: 1. G. Brick. C SR EX: 1. D. Kerstin g; 2. M. Teney; 3, R. Hansi ng. C SR BEG: 1. P. Terp; 2. #0 37c W OM EN EX: 1. L. Far mer; 2. J . Payne. W OMEN AM : 1. C. W aggoner. W OMEN NOV; 1. V. Scott; 2. L. A nderson . KIDS' RACE: 1. K. Loonsfoot; 2. C. Langner; 3. B. Farr ell; 4 . C. Racelss : 5. Shu ler l e han e rs; 6. J . A ustin; 7. M . DeSim one; 8. O. Davidson; 9. J . Fisher . Ascot winner Randy Goss leads Jeff Johnson in their heat. Goss grabs Ascot I HM, Hames second I . ~ By Maureen Lee Photo by Dan Mahony GA RD ENA, CA, AP R. 22 . Randy Goss, currently tied with Bubba Shobert in the National points lead, came to Ascot tonight, found th e track the fastest it's been so ,far th is season, and, despite a slow start for the even ing, went on to wi n th e ma in event. Pete Hames took seco nd , not able to catc h Goss, b ut th e n C o ss co u ldn' t lose him eit her. Mik e G arr ison set fastest time o f th e even ing, 22.59, a nd to ok off wit h th e lead in th e firs t Expe rt heat fo l- . lowed by S teve Mon ger a n d j eff H aney. Haney went down eas ily in th e so u th turn n ext go ,arou n d, h e wasn 't hurt bu t h is H arley eru p ted in fla mes. It look ed na sty, but he a n d tuner Sa l Acosta hu stl ed back to the pits to see wh at th ey co u ld do with it , a nd the h eat re-started. Monger was in Iront this tim e, th en Garrison, j eff j ohnson , Ra nd y Goss a nd quick juniors Ch ris Ca nn on a n d Darren Hu lbert. The two fro nt ru n ne rs kept th eir pl aces, but on the last la p , after chec king o ut severa l li nes , Goss wen t by j ohn son low o u t of turn three a n d ended with th e fin al tra ns fer to th e ma in . Seco nd h eat was Pete H ames all th e way with th e fastest Ex pert h eat of the seaso n. Don H oward had second then los t it to Rod Su ll iva n . Bria n Yocum ret ired on th e wh it e flag la p afte r ru n ning a close fourt h . Wit h a n a nxious-Sal Acos ta wa tch in g , j eff H aney was a ble to lin e u p for the Expert sem i. He d idn 't get a terrific start, bu t was he flying u p through th e pack. j eff j ohnson was out fro m start ' to fini sh with Brian Yocu m seco nd. Haney came dash in g up to ta ke third with Rob Ely becomin g the last transfer. First a lterna te, Chris Cannon . Wi th new sta rte r Roy Kelling still br eaking in , th e start s a t ti mes go t a bit ragged a n d th e Trophy Dash was n o excep tio n . T h e line-up wa s Mi ke Garr ison, Pete Hames, Steve Monger a nd Do n Howard. On th e restart it was H a mes into th e lead in stead of G arrison who go t aw ay seco nd on ly to slide o u t in turn two. He's h avin g a time o f it learn i n g the fin e line betwe en th e ragged edge and loss o f co n tro l. H ames zoomed on ah ead with Don Howard seco nd a nd Steve Monger th ird . Garrison aga in got to turn one first in th e sta rt of th e main event, but a lmos t im me dia tely h is bike sta rte d slo wing an d H ames blew on a head in fir st place as th ey came around the first time. He was tailed by Steve Mo nger, Rod Su llivan an d Ran dy G oss. T hey sh uffl ed quickl y, and by the en d o f lap two Goss wa s in seco n d, stayi ng beh ind Hames until a bo u t la p fou r. Wh en he went by, Pete went with h im, but ex perience showed a nd Goss stayed ahead. H ames wasn 't to be sha ken loose th ough , a nd as th e laps went down, it d idn ' t mailer if Gos s sped up, Ham es was tu cked in back th ere, just ma in tai n ing hi s d istance a nd lea rn ing hi s craft. Not far beh ind th em , Monger, j eff H an ey an d Don Howard were having a t it with Rod Su lli van for th e o the r top spots. T he real fight was betw een H a ney an d Monger , with J eff not th e least slo wed down from hi s ea rly even ing bo n fire. He took over third place in th e so u th turn . Almos t as th e race wa s over, Do n H owa rd , wh o had been right with them, slid by Monger to get fourth ,

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