Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

C II: en > al 8 o J: 0.. Losing on ly 27 seconds on t he 70-mile- long cou rse , M ark " Cu ddl es" Wiechmann took top honors in the FRA's Fro sty Cactus End uro . Mesecher pou nd ed h is kick sta rter and cou ld no t get hi s new CR250 10 fire. H e borrow ed Ran dy Kem p 's new CR250 and pl aced third overa ll, When the event wa s over, Mesech er suddenly rem em bered the rag th a t was stuffed in the air bo x! Enduro ace Bill Fullmer Jr. (KT M) had the enduro wo n excep t he m ust practice h is trials riding. Comi ng into the fi nish tiebrea ker check. Fullmer was too hot a nd had to actually tria ls-ride the KTl\f in to the ca rds and lost va l uable seco nds. Fullmer finished o ne second behi nd Mesech er. Kurt Butler (Yam), rid in g 250 AA. a lso had h is eyes o n th e to p position but a burnt chec k drop ped him to 33rd overa ll. Ame rican Ho nda' s Grant Palenske p ut h is 250 in fifth o verall wit h the last a nd fin a l zero score o n the day. 0.49. Ro u n ding o u t th e top 10 wa s six th overa ll Mark Cook (KT M), Garner Pa lenske (200 Ka w). R ick Daniel (H us), J ack Simmerman (Ya m) a nd finall y J o h n Owen (KT M). Simmerman 's score of 1.72 was o utsta ndi ng co nsidering he was the to p B rid er. Sufferi ng fro m a smas he d foo t , Ha rry Keast (Ma i) managed 22nd overa ll. a score of 1.11 5 and received th e overa ll class win in the Super Senior division for yo u n g men 46 and up. Chris McClella nd (Yam) tu rne d in th e best tim e of th e da y for a ll th e C rid ers entered , 3. 185. An swer Products' rider Dana Bell (H us)agai n top ped a ll the women riders a nd most of the me n. Resu lts FRAEnduro Wiechmann wins FRA Frosty Cactus By Mike Kling er RED MOUNTAIN , CA, JAN. 6 Mark Wiechmann used a new 1985 YZ250 Yamah a to zero all I I checks in the firs t-ever Fam il y Racing Association (FRA) Frosty' Cactus . Enduro. Duralube, Sco tt G oggles, Ban zai Bro thers and IMS all shared in sponsoring th e Frosty Cactus , the first endu ro o f 1985. T he organ izers of the eve nt stated that if they drew around 300 riders the enduro wo uld be a big su ecess. Well , rid ers and spectators poured into th e old Charlie 's P lace pit area to the tu ne of a lmosr 400 entrants. Many enthusiasts wer e on h an d 10 help includ in g CO RVA a nd several search a nd rescue teams. Ba rstowto-Vegas winner Chris Crandall rod e th e event along with T eam Husqvarna 's Ma rk Blackwel l. At 8:00 a .m. Sunday morn in g th e first riders h it th e tu rf. U nder cloudy skies a nd some sp rin kles, Scott Sarnpson , David Lem aster J r., Sco tt J acobsen an d Chris McCa rrell were the first rid ers to mak e tracks on the virgin co u rse. T hey traveled so u th towards Red Mounta in in th e open desert a nd a p p roached th e first special test, a 30-m p h sectio n tha t had everyo ne hu stl ing for th e three-mile d uration. Kawasaki-mounted and Jones G ogg les/Oakl ey/Duralube -sponsored Scott Jacob sen turned in a n o u tsta nding score - losin g only 3.0 seco nds, over th e six -check loop one. Jacobsen 's arc h rival, Yam aha rid er Mike Cham ber lain j r., pl aced seco nd to J aco bsen with a score of 33 seco nd s. Bot h riders top ped the ho tly-con tested Min i A division . Third overall went 10 Women C rider, Sandy Van ce (Ho n ) w ho n arro wly edged out Brent Ba in bridge (Ya m) a nd Bill Ostrom. Ostrom won the Begin ners cla ss with hi s fifth overall , the lar gest class entered with 23 riders. Loop two proved to be ver y cha llenging for a ma jority of th e riders a lt ho ug h five hotshots did manage to zero th e en tire event. Starting a t th e same location as loop one, the rider s hit th e gea rs beneath the huge FRA banner that made it look as if th e ISD E was h ap pe n in g. Again headin g for Red Mou ntain th e loop in cluded five checks, of which th ree were tiebreakers incl udin g the finish check. T he Fros ty Cactus fina lly had so me good u ph ill s and some breath-ta ki ng dow ners, natural in the Red Mou ntain area. Th e loo p ended a t 30 mph thro ugh the moon rocks. . Whe n the d ust had settled - sorry , the re was not a ny du st - " C udd les" Wi echmann ha d co m p leted th e 70mil e co urs e losin g on ly 27 second s. Fo ur o ther riders gave Wiech ma n n a rea l run for the go ld. Hon da- moun ted Sco tt Sa mpson lost the overall by 13 seco nds with a sco re of 40 seconds. Ro bb Mesecher was five seco nds o ff th e pa ce set by Sa m pson o n a borro we d scoo te r. Sunda y m orn in g OVERAL L: 1. Mark W iechman (Yam ); 2. Scott Sam pson (Honl: 3 . Robb Mesecher (Hon); 4 . Bill Fullmer J r . (KT MI : 5 . Grant Palen ske (Hon ); 6 . Ma rk Cook (KTM): 7 . Garner Palenske (Kawl: B. Rick Dan iel (Hu s); 9 . Ja ck Simmerm a n (Yam); 10 . John Owen (KTM). MIN I A : 1. Scott Jacobsen (Kaw); 2 . M ike Cham · berlain Jr. (Yam I. BEG: 1. Bill Ost rom (Yam). W OM EN C: 1. San dy Vance (Hon ). B: 1. Jack Simmer man (Yam). SUPER SR: 1. Har ry Keast (M ail . C: 1. Chr is M cClell and (Yam) . W OME N: 1. Dana Bell (Husl. CRC Endur o Williams wins CRC Frosty Desert By Bill Hern don RE D MO UNTAIN, CA. JAN . 13 Open AA rider Stev e Williams too k advantage of an a lm os t dust-free course to top 340 riders an d tak e the overa ll win at Ca lifo rnia Racin g Club 's 1985enduro sea so n opener. This event wa s the first CRC th reelooper in a wh ile, a nd o ffered no la te po int s o n the first loop for two and th ree loopers. The first loop headed south parallel to Trona Road . then broke into th e Spangler Mountains. Due to lack of checkers, tiebreak er check two was tossed. Bu t a fun supercross section wiggled aro u nd for 7.5 mil es into the next tiebreaker check three. at seven m iles. T his check wa s n ot very well hidden, as several sharp riders SPOiled it in time for perfect 30's. The 10minute reset was too long for most ride rs. But drop p ing into Pa inted Ca nyon fo r a m ile, th en o ut across the open desert for fo ur m iles. a nd finally under the railroad tracks a t th e 20-mile marker to Old Rad emache r m ining a rea , th ere was plenty o f terrain variet y. R u n n in g two mor e tun nels (no t the head scra per variety), a nd a re turn to T eagl e Wash brought th e comple tio n o f loo p o ne a t 32.8 m iles. Aft er a 19-minute break , ri ders h eaded north n ea r Tro n a R oa d . H eadin g ou t through o ld Cha rli e's Pl ace, check two hid a t 6.3 m iles a nd was the "check-in" to the Spec ial T est at 24 m ph. C heck-out came at 10.4 mi les, but aga in, many alert but ea rly riders saw th e ca rds , as th ey were no t obscu red we i I. At th e reset, several rid er s sa id the spe ed in th e rocks sho u ld have been set a t 30 mph , because th ere were too man y zeroe s. Also , th at the IO-m in ute rese t a t 11.2 miles was too lo ng . The co urse resu med th rough open desert. then into a rocky section that was us ed backwa rd a week before bv the FRA End uro. Dro pping down ' in to a 30 m p h sa nd was h had everyo ne banzaiin g a ll the wa y 10 the railroad tracks, up a nd over them, then a nother 1.6 mil es to the home check at a 24 mph a verage. It wa s in th e a bove 30 mph sectio n that there was a monster road-crossing rut th a t co u ld have caused instant endos for a nyone not tapped o u t. It had a down arro w da nger sign . But being right at th e lip . th ere wa s n o ti me for ri der reacti on. Loo p th ree started af ter a nother short 16-m inu te brea k, a nd provided no zero scores . Startin g o ffsou thbound nea r where loop o ne had sta rt ed , it seemed to go at a seemi ngly-eas y 24 m p h . Wrong! R ider s soon fou nd their ha nds fu ll with the cha llenging a nd undula ting ca me lba ck hi lls a nd off -cam ber and tigh t turns. One o f th e best -p la ced en d u ro chec ks ever , a t3 .6 m iles, came in thi s secti on. o n ly a bo u t 20 feet over a .ridge. a nd on a fairl y steep d ownhill ; th ere wa s sim p ly n o way to sluff or gai n speed . Th is was a lso a tiebreak er. a nd th e check-in 10 the third loop Specia l Tes t section. With a 4.6-m ile d uratio n , the las t th ree miles j um ped to 36 m p h . Th e chec k-out. also a tieb rea ker , wa s up in a canyon in the Spa nglers. It wasn ' t hidden well at all, and it didn't need to be: Everyone wa s late! Then , 0.4 m ile after this check. there was a l O-min u te reset u p at th e to p of the mountain. This time, most of th e riders felt it wa s a good length rest. Rem ountin g , riders jumped into a lo ng sand wash road, turned left up a big hi ll a nd opened o ut into some virgin end uro terrain for a bo u t one and a half mi les. The go-for-it third loop co urse th en dropped down into Teagle Wa sh , doubled back up th e Spanglers on e last tim e. a ll the way to the to p , down the back side into open desert 10 a sign sayin g " Boogie - No Mor e Checks." So me mor e virgi n terri to ry at 24 m ph brought riders back to the fin ish o f a crea tive loop three, a nd the fin ish er pin crew. T he bigg est problems of the day proved 10 be ma rki ng , or lack of it, a nd not enough chec k person nel. O pen A Vet H ea th Hibbard. who put himself out of class-win co nte ntion when he burned a check by onl y one second, said. "T he best thing about th e event was lack of dust. but th ey could have us ed twi ce as much ri bbon as they did ." Bruce Bor ing. 250 A Vet, echoed n early everyo ne 's sentiments: "T hey goua have more check s, even if it is a three-looper," The long-distance awa rd m igh t have to go to Fresno 's in cred ible h igh school Juni o r, Do n n ie Sim mone . Wh ile Don Sr. had the misfort u ne of sheari ng the lo wer shock eye o n his 250 KTM in the loo p thre e ch a llen ge, Donn ie took hi s KDX200 to second in class, fourth o verall , o n lv 23 secon ds behind th e overall win ner Will iams. Results OVERALL: 1. Steve W ill iams. Open A (1.71); 2. Ken t Perki ns , Ope n AA (1.Bl I; 3 . Ph il W illi ams. 200A (1.B9); 4. Donnie Simmone. 200A ( 1.94); 5 . M ark Cook. Open AA (1.99 ); 6. Don Dudek. Open A Vet (1.103 ); 7. M ike Hasting s. 25 0A (1.104); B. Randy Pretzer. 25 0A (1.10 7); 9. Everett Angl os. Open AA (1.1131 10 . J im Boll ing mo J r.. Open AA ; 4 -SI. (1.1 17). TWO LOOPS : 1. Rob Peter s, 2ooB· 16 (0.0); 1. Bill Lapw orth. 250C Vet (O.Q) 3 . Dana Bell . Women A ; (0 .01 ); 3 . Chr isty Hamner (0 .0 1I; 5 . Terry Huff. 200C VET (0 .02 ); 5 . Scott Daw . 25 0 B·'6 (0 .0 2); 5. Bob Reid. 125C Vet (0 .0 2); 5 . Kat hy Labram. 200S (0 .0 21. 21

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