Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. " 'round th e seco nd loop: 1 'b'roke th e '. rear hub a n d the bra kes kep t goi ng away, so 1 had to stop and tigh ten th em up . T ha t let th em past. " Whi le Ogi lvie made h is repa irs, Zoller slip pe d by to ta ke the lead. But h is first ta ste of the n um ber-o ne slot was short lived. as Pau l Kra use's 250 went storm ing by. " I ca ug ht Ogi lvie a nd Mark a lmost together - a bo u t h a lfway arou nd the second loo p: ' said Kra use. " I' d been p us hi ng rea lly h ard , p icki ng th em o ff one by o ne trying to get to the lead . T hen a ll of a su dde n there it wa s." Paul Krause came from behind to win the Prairie Dogs Suzuki RM250. (Below) The end of the bomb run. M.e. race on a Krause wins first D-37 desert race By Anne Crawford LUCERNE VALLEY. CA. JAN . 13 In a last-minute dash to the finish , P a ul Krause won the first AMA District-37 desert race of 1985, hos ted by the P rairie Dogs M.e. Kra use, who was o n ly n inth o vera ll a t th e bomb, was a surprise winner in a race th a t sha ped u p ea rly to be a battle between seco ndo verall Mark Zoll er and thi rd - 10 p laced Bru ce Ogi lvie. O gil vie, o n a four-stroke H onda , stormed into th e lead o n the bom b run, an d h eaded into th e first sa ndwash with Zolle r ha rd on h is h eels. O gi lvie main tained his lead for th e firs t 34-mi le loo p . hol d in g o ff con- tinua l cha llenges by Zoller to rea ch th e p its in first p lac e by a na rro w margin. O gil vie a nd Zoller were followed in quick succession into th e pits by Ken Ovia tt o n a KTM. Ron Schulur on a Yamaha, and Kra use, who had worked h is wa y into fift h overall a t th e halfway point . It look ed like an O g ilvie victory was in th e m aking as th e big H onda led th e pa ck ou t o n th e seco n d loo p . " I shou ld've wo n ove ra ll ," said O gilvie, " bu t 1 lost it abo ut halfway Krause said his win wou ld have been easi er o n a tigh ter course. "I thought the co urse was a bit fast ," h e sai d. " I though t it co u ld ' ve been a bi t tighter - 1do bett er in th e tight stuff . It was ro ug h enough, th ough." T he course made a loop from Besse me r Min e Road to the Camp Roc k Road area, and back, runn ing through deep sa nd wash es, fast fire ro ads, a n d n u mero us wh oops. Rid ers seemed pl eased with the cho ice of terra in, wh ich avoided most of th e over-raced ro u tes com mon ly used in Lucerne co mpetition. " Fu n a nd fast" was th e wa y most riders described th e co u rse, which had man y co m pe titors looking for seventh a nd eigh th gea rs. A su rp rise fin is h for su ch a fas t co u rse, was ninth-overall Tom Eli a s o n a Cag iva 175, th e first C -cl ass bike home. " It was a fast co urse - rea ll y fast," said Elias.: " I was right up the re with Schulur a nd Mattox ma king a pass o n th em a nd m y swi ngarm sta rted to co me loose. 1 h ad to h it it back in with a rock. Apart from th a t a n d a crash on the first loo p , I rode wel l. T he crash cos t m e t hree p o si tions. " E lias than ked h is sponsors, H oward and So n in Ph elan , a nd Du ralu be for th eir support. Th e first woma n across th e finis h lin e was Joanna Brownell , wh o descr ibed th e co u rse for th e seco nd loop as " a ll che wed up , a nd very ha rd wo rk ." The first Novi ce to tak e th e ch eckered n ag was J eff Bouchillon, who fin ish ed a hi gh 75th overa ll a fter a hard -fought battle with fellow Novi ce Mi ke Spano, who fin ished on ly in ch es behind. Spa no m ay have an eas ier time in hi s next ra ce, as District-37' s new referee fo r 1985, Lori And erson, was seen practici ng her refereeing skills o n Bou chillon o n the finish lin e, an d we rn av sce h im as a n Am atcur o n h is next a p pea ra nce in th e desert. Th e " ca r-to-ear grin " awa rd o f th e da y went to th c first Senior Begin ner acro ss th e line, Bob H eron. " I wh at? 1 won - a t last!" he said. " I thin k th e course was a bit fast and they should've had so me more moun tain s a nd ca n yons in it. Fu n stuff , not th ose whoopdee-dos. But I wo n - so who's co m pl ain ing?" Fears o f a low turnou t at th e race due to its co n £l ict wi th th e World Championsh ip Hare a nd H ou nd race a t Whis key Pete's proved unfou nded. AIthough some of the usual top-ranked co m petitors were mi ssing , the race dr ew a respecta ble 360 entries and a high standard o f competition . A co m p lete set of results for th e race was no t availa ble for printi ng du e to th e issuing of new d istr ict n u m bers for this year. More co m p lete resu lts w ill be carried as soon as su fficient n um bers h ave been issued, and a list o f names an d number s is avai la ble. • Results OVERALL: 1. Paul Krause (Suz); 2. Ma rk Zoll er (KTM); 3. Bru ce Ogily ie (Han); 4 . Ron Sch ulur (Yam); 5. Ken Oyian (KTM ); 6..Tom Ma nox (Yaml; 7. Craig Raml inge r (Yam); B. Shawn Ma hn (Han); 9. Tom Elia s (Cag); 10. George Scan . J r. Ne~ 'lrish two-stroke A radical new kind of two-stroke with direct fuel injectio n a nd designed to burn unl eaded gasoli ne is under development a t Queen 's Univers ity in Belfast , Northern Ireland for the Ford Mot or Compan y. It cou ld be o n th e road in test veh icles with in three years . T h e first ver sion of the ne w engine to be road teste d will be abou t 1200cc a nd will del iver 80 bhp, measu ring a bo u t 15 inc hes hi gh by 15 inc hes long and 6 in ch es wide. It will weigh abou t 120 pou n ds. Ford has recently sig ned a n agreem ent with Q UB to fund its design a n d d evel opmen t, foll o win g tw o years' work on th e new concept by the Department of Mechan ical and In dustria l Engineerin g u nder Professor Gordon Blair, a world au thor ity o n two-strokes who, for years, h as been a consultant to suc h internation ally known co m pan ies as Yamaha and th e O u tboar d Marine Co rporation (Evinrude), He has been heavil y involved in th e development of Yamaha road and racing motorcycles. Ford agreed to spons or the pro ject a fter learning of Pro fessor Bla ir's in itia l work o n the en gi ne a nd the first sta ge o f the work for Ford, now under way, is co ns tructio n of a single-cylinder demonstrat or fo r ben ch testing wi thin the next fewm o nth s. After th a t, Ford in tends to p ro vid e additi ona l back in g for the design an d development o f a th ree-cylinder roa d test version. T he secre t of th e new a p p ro ach is a n ew sty le o f piston wh ich Professor Blair designed a fter going back so me decades a n d " rehashi ng" - h is word - ideas that were cu rre nt in th e ea rly 1920s. The "cross-scavenged" twostrokes bu ilt th en, with cu rious lydom ed deflector pis tons , had a number of attractive character istics suc h as good id li ng, cool ru n ni ng and ease o f ma n ufactu re - wh ich were lost wh en the " loop scavenged" two -stroke wi th a fla t-to p ped piston was pa tented in 1924. It quickly became the norm an d rem ai ns sta ndard in motor cycles today. Professor Bla ir 's piston is a lso flatto pped over most of its cro wn but has a recessed portion on on e side which, o n th e co m p ressio n stro ke, becomes a co mpact co mbustion cha m ber. It produces grea t turbu len ce in the a ir dr awn into th e cylinder , promoting very rapid mixing a nd co m bu stion of the fuel / air mixture for maximum th erm a l eHic ie n cy a n d eco n omy. T ested in itia lly in modifi ed o u tboard m otors - a BritishSeagu ll 40 and a two- horsepower Evi nrude - the new p isto n showed considerable impro vements in per formance a nd eco nomy and much cooler runnin g, typica lly dow n fro m 4280 F to 248 0 F at the sp ar k-p lug seat. One result was th at n o trace of p iston burn ing, com mon in two-strokes, wa s found when th e eng ines were stripped down a fter IOO-hour fu ll-th rottle end ura nce tests. T he piston design permit s simp le scavenging of the cyl in der wi th just two ports - a n inta ke port on o ne side with an exha us t p ort diametrically opposi te. Convention al loopscavenged engines h av e p orts a ll a round wh ich , with their transfer ducts, substa ntially increase th e overa ll wid th of the cylin der assembly. So th e Q UB " slim line" cylinde r barrels ca n be spaced closer together. Ford 's fu nding for th e Q U B co n cep t, now being pat ented, ca me after h e p rese n ted a p aper a t a Soc iety of Au tomotive Engi neers co n ference a t Milwa ukee, Wisconsin la st Septem ber. •

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