Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ )- W ...J c:l Z ~ )- cc cc e - ~ )- co rJ) 0 0 J: a.. I- ~ 00 O"l ~ t- c-r ..c u l-o ro ~ Mike Sixberry ro de his all -w hit e Honda CR250R to the 250cc Vet Expert class w in. and ninth overall. . (Above) Dan Smith was the overall winner. and v ictor in the Open Experts. (Below ) Third overall f inisher Ted Hunnicutt. Baeh r for th e class wi n. Vetera ns were led by Six berry wh o pow ered his CR250 H onda to n inth o vera ll. Wes Anderson Jr. took home th e Vetera n O pe n Expert tro p hy. In the Women 's ran ks, it was J o a n na Bro wn ell ( Hus l AXO) who got to the fin ish lin e first aga in bea tin g Vicki SCOIt. Lori H a m mel (KT M) took first Amate ur. Eric J ensen of lO SE fame fin ished o n h is Eri c's Motorcycles 250XC Husky look in g like someone had th ro wn a ca n o f o il a ll over h im - ma ybe because he snapped th e brake line o n hi s Husky and the bra ke flu id sp lat tered him. R iding withou t a fro nt brake was not really fun , ei ther. And last bu t no t least was a you ng rider by the nam e o f Keith Loonsfoo t who rode hi s Kaw a sa ki 80 in the Mini Beg inner class. Loonsfoot took hi s mi n i to 33rd overa ll for o ne loo p riders embarrassi ng ma ny bigger bikes in the process. It was h is first lon g desert race. • D-37 Huntington Beach M.C. Hare and Hound Smith rolls to giant win By Larry Langley SEA RLES STATION, CA, MAR . 10 Team Husky's Dan Smith powered his 500Xe to a big win over Yamaha rider Mike ' 'Down hill " Alexander in the H u n tington Beach M.e. 's D-37 H are an d H o und . Sm i th (BelRa y/ Au to lite/ Cold Belt/ Sco tt _ USA/ H i-Po int ) was ru n ning fourth at the bomb behind T ed H unnicu tt (Yam), Eric H al lga th (Hon) a nd Derrick Pa iement (H us): but by th e end of the firs t loo p had moved up to cha llenge H al lgarh for the lead. H allgath'got by H unn icu tt wh en Hunnicu tt sta lled hi s bik e j us t past th e bomb a n d th en la ter seized. " It sta rted p in g in g o n me a nd I backed o ff but it still locked u p " said Hu n n icu tt later. " Bu t it broke loose ri gh t a way a nd I o n ly dropped a co up le of posit ions." H allga th was doing a ll he co u ld to keep his An swer Prod ucts-spo nsored CR250 H onda in fro nt of th e big bi kes, bUI at th e ho me che ck Smith got by wh en th e checker mi ssed H all ga th 's ta n k ca rd a n d tu rn ed arou nd to mark Smith 's. Smi th gOI o ut of the check first whill Hall ga th had to wait to get marked. Pa iement was running a very stro ng th ird overa ll a nd was favored by som e to overtak e the lead ers a s th e race was in his " bac kya rd " just o u tside o f hi s home of R idgecrest. Bu t Smith was not to be deni ed as he p u lled away to a four-m in u te lead a t th e fini sh . Disaster struck for both H a llgath a nd Pa iement as Pa iement broke a couple of m iles before the fin ish and Hall gath ra n o u t o f gas before a bout a m ile o u t. H allgath ga me ly pushed his bi ke in to the finish, exhausted a nd sick af terwards, Newly Answer Products-sponsor ed Alexander took adva ntage of th e 250cc rider 's m isfort u nes for th e runner- up spo t a head of Yamaha teamma te H unnicutt (Dura lube/ AXO) . Fourth overa ll went 10 four-stro ke rid er Chris Crandall on h is AT K. Crandall bro ke th e bi ke's rea r ar m o n loop one whi ch slo wed hi s cha rge somewhat . " I was o vershooting everything a n d just had to slow down " sai d th e Wh iskey Pete's/ Ba rstow 10 Vega s win ner. a Dan Ashcr ft (H us) had a horren dous start ; fou r or five kicks to fire up th e big liqu id -coo led Husky. H e was a bo u t 50th to the bo mb bu t p ut o n a tremen do us cha rge to fin ish fifth overa ll ! Sixth over a ll went to Amateur Rob Mu rray (H us), who thanked Kern Cvcle a nd h is mo m and dad for th ei r support. Ken O via tt (P ro- Cycle KT M) took seventh overall to co mpl ete a big-bi ke sweep o f th e race. First sma ll -bore was Tom Eli as (ProCycle KT M) who took th e I75cc class h on ors a nd a lso beat a ll th e 250s. Results Ni nth overa ll wa s Vetera n rider Mike Sixberry (Hon ). Elias had a long battle goi ng with Cagiva rider Duane Su m mers and fin all y passed Su m me rs whe n Summers stopped for gas. Sum me rs DN F to co ntinue a stri ng of bad luck. Jull ian Guerr a, w ho wa s recen tl y p romot ed to expe rt a fter domi na ting the Ama teur ran ks, crashed hi s KX 125 Kaw asak i and suffe red a reported broken h ip. Charlie Barney was nursing a very sore foot and had problems starti ng hi s 500cc Can-Am and got a med iocre start but moved up 10 fin ish in the top 20. T he Senior co n tin gen t wa s led by Carl Ne lso n (Pro- Cycle KTM ) followed by Desert M.C.' s Dick Meyer , who is Chris Crandall 's u ncle . Ch ecker Ron H all (Ya m) too k a well ea rned victory in th e Senior 250cc Expert div ision. Novice's wer e head ed up by Brad Eyre (KT M) for th e 250cc cla ss win an d first overall Novice. Ridgecrest resident Eric Wicker too k a week o ff o f ridi ng mo tocross to na iI d own th e I75cc Novice class win o n his Desert Sport Cycle CR I25 H o nda. Wi cker beat Desert M.C . member Ro bert OVERALL: 1. Da n Sm ith (Hus); 2. M ike Ale xand er (Vam); 3 . Ted Hu nn icun (Vam); 4 . Chr is Cranda ll (ATK); 5. Dan Ashc raft (Hus); 6. Rob Mu rr ay (Hus); 7 . Ken Ovian (KTM) ; B. Tom Eli as (KTM); 9 . M ike Sixberry (Ho n); 10 . 29B. OPEN EX: t . Smith ; 2. A lexander; 3. Hu nn icun. 250 EX: 1. 257 x; 2 . Ron W ehr (Vam); 3. Eric Hali gathlHon). 17 5 EX: 1. Tom Elias (KTM); 2. J im McG rat h; 3. Scon And erson . OPEN AM : 1. Rob M urr ay (Husl; 2. Brian Harr is; 3. Nick Voung. 250 AM : 1. K. Olen; 2. J . Part ain; 3. C. Cranda ll . 17 5 AM : 1. 176 c; 2. 411 e; 3. 163c . OPEN NOV : 1. J eff Bocch illon; 2. Steven Ot is. 250 NOV: 1. Brad Eyre ( KTM~ 2. Darro l Taylor (Hus); 3 . L Sch weika rt . 175 NOV : 1. Eric W icker (Hon); 2. Robert Baeh r (Yam ); 3. David Donoh a. SR OP EX: 1. Car l Nelson (KTM); 2. Dick Mye r (Hon). SR OP AM : 1. Ste.. Ho llister; 2. Don Burc h; 3 . Bob Scon (Hon). SA OP NOV : 1. Ed Denbow; 2. Art Ga rci a; 3. J im Ham ms . SR 250 EX: 1. Ron Hall (Yaml; 2 . Don Wh itehorn; 3 . Earl Shuler (Yam). SR 250 AM : 1. 096x; 2 . Bill Newkir k; 3 . Jerry Hayes . SR 250 NOV: 1. Art Knaak. SR 17 5 EX: 1. Ed Ddge n; 2. J im Harper . SR 17 5 NOV: 1. Ken Me ter; 2. Gary Brick. VET OP EX: 1. We s Ander son Jr .; 2 . M ike Martin ; 3 . Rick Shirey. VET OP AM : 1. V273; 2. And y Rocco; 3. Steve Manin . VET OP NOV : 1. V257; 2. Steven M itchell ; 3. Ken Hayden. VET 250 EX: 1. Mike Sixberry (Hon); 2. S. Sra ngle; 3 . C. Harr is . VET 250 AM : 1. V 14 9x; 2. K. Hogden . VET 250 NOV: 1. Ch uck Lennox; 2 . V 145 x; 3 . Ma rke Reese . WOMEN EX: 1. Joanne Brownell (Hus); 2. Vicki ~~. W OMEN AM : 1. Lon Hammel; 2. C. Me issne i. 31

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