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/126638
........ ........ (Above) Overall winner Terry Cunningham do m inated the tough event. (Above right) M ike Melton leads Kevin Hines in t he M X t est . (Right) Mark Hyde. the 12 5cc winner. is pursued by Dick Burleson. ANA ISDE QuaUlier Series: Round 3 Cunningham'clobbers Athens One Day By Dan McCauley , ATHENS, OH, APR . 24 Team H usq var n a 's Terry Cu n n in g h a m p iloted h is 430 Automatic t o the best individual score in the Athens ISDE One Day Qualifier, organized by the Athens M.C. Cunningham wa s o ne of on ly 14 survivors in th e grueling . 123.2 ml~e eV~nl. Extref!lely to ugh trail sections, com bined 18 with 'steady rain , elim ina ted a ll A, B and Senior class rid ers lon g befor e th e fin al check. Cunningham's score wa s so stro ng th at a lt hough teammat e Mike Melton posted th e second best tim e, he , would only receive a silver medal for his efforts, as hi s sco re did n ot come wi th in ten percent o f C u n ning ha m 's . Husqvarna su p port rid ers Kevin Brown and Kevin Hines fin ish ed first and second, respectiv ely, a nd earned th e on ly gold medal s in th e 250cc ranks. Husqvarna 's Mark H yde wa s th e sol e survivor in the I25cc Intent class. H yde ha s done su ch an imp ressive job a.t eac h oft he Q ual ifiers, h ~ co u ld possl.bly be the on ly ~25cc rider t.o quahfy for th e ISDE In Wales this fall. H yde is th e o n ly rider in th e AMA Qualifier Series to have zero evalua tio n points, which mean s Mark has led th e class in th e Ten nessee Qual ifi er a nd a ll th ree da ys of th e Oklah oma ro und. King R ich ard Bu rleson mad e a spec ia l guest a p pearance ' on a p ro du cti on Husqvarna 175 WR . " I' m just h ere to have some fun ," sa id Burl eson . T here is n o 175cc class in the Quali fiers nor ISD E, bu t Dick did n ' t seem to mind co m pet ing in th e 250cc class wh ere h e ea rn ed a si lver medal. ' H onda support rider Drew Smi th, who topped th e O pen 4-Stroke class in th e previ ou s ro u nds, sa id, " I can exp lai n why we have had so much rain this season. See, th e space shuttle has pun ch ed a hole in the upper ozo ne layer, ca using an im ba lance in . th e atmosphere." Well , Cunningham wasn ' t about to let a littl e rain get him down . " R idi ng an Automatic /s hould be th e hot ticket toda y," said the Nati onal Endu ro Ch ampion. The Athens M.C . provided three tim e sch edules - A, Band C - wh ich would determine the amount of time riders would have to reach the ten , tim e chec ks. The B sched u le wa s used with speed averages ranging from 25 to 15 mph. Starting o n th e firs t minute a t 8:01 a.m ., Mark H yde led th e 157 starters on what may have been the most demanding even t they had ever en tered. Four-tenths o f a mile from the sta rt, riders were faced wit h the first gras s track specia l test. To say the winding test track was sli ck wo uld be an understat em ent. Du nl op tir e man Frank Sta cy set th e fast est time with last week 's Nati onal Hare Scramble wi n ner Kevin Hin es only seconds of f. H i-Point Ra cing Products' J ack Pen ton set the hot time in th e I 25cc class on his Cagiva, three seconds faster th an H yde, in the first grass track test . Shortly th ereaft er , ou t -on th e trail , Penton made a n incorrect turn and some how went from the first check straigh t to th e th ird check, "It was my fault. I guess I wasn 't pa ying a tte nt io n. It's too bad, because I was hav ing a good time," sa id J ack. Th e first gas sto p was at th e second chec k, 29.6 miles o u t. Riders were not allowed to receive assistance there. C heck number five, which was back at theAthensclubgrounds, served as the ,site for the second gas stop. O nly 32 riders made it to this point. Of th e 32, some had not lost any points on the trail. In fact, Mark H yde was four minutes ear ly to chec k five which was the halfway p oint. The grass tra ck was run again, in a reverse di rection. Ron Ribolzi sli d his Moto Race sponsored Husqvarna 250 WR around to post the fastest tim e. Wit h th e two special test scores combined, it was Kevi n H in es wi th the best score -bar non e. T he second loop wou ld tell the stor y as none of the remaining riders wo uld be able to m ake it to th e checks without adding route points to their scores. Strangely, this was the identical 60 mi le loop that so me zeroed on th e,first go 'ro u n d , but the trail had