Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1985 05 01

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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(Above) Despite having mononucleosis. Geoff Ballard f inished fifth in the 250cc Expert class, (Below) Mark Hyde also took fifth in the Open ExPEtrts. AHA National Hare Scrambles Series: Round A RonNa~lo.. wins Redding By Henry Miller REDDING , CA, APR. 14 Local rider Ron Naylor and his 1985 CR500 Honda emerged victoriou s at the fou r th annual Shasta Dam Grand Prix Hare Scambl es in Redding, California, also being the fou rth round of th e AMA Na. I S ' . tiona H are ~rambles Senes. Nay lor beat a held of 75 Expert class ri ders and cap tured a 100- 32 . . .. ounce si lver bar for his wm; this was Nay lor's second Shasta Da m victory. Can-Am 's and series points leader Geoff Balla rd led the very early pan of the race, selling a blisteri ng pa ce, bu t a serious throat in fection slowed him down . "1 kept spi trig blood," said the Australian Ba llard. " 1 had a good stan, bu t I had p ro blems with my bod y. My throat swelled up and I though t I was going to choke out there. I got pretty scared. Basica ll y, I thought I was going to swallow m y tonsil s; it was the worst da y of my life. '! started noticing it a week ago, but it got rea l bad Saturday night a nd Sunday morning." The infection was originally thought to be ~onsili tis , bu t tests ta ken the fo llow ing day of the race revealed that he has mononucl eosis and will be o u t of action at lea st four to six weeks. Defen din g Shasta Dam cha m p io n , Eric McKen na was betrayed by electrical problems for the second time. In 1982, McKenna's spark plu g broke a bo u t four miles out. Toda v, MeKen n a pitted after the first 19:4-m ile loop with a two-minute lead on the field , then started slowing with electrica l failures. He was still 15seconds ahead o f Na ylor, who elected not to pit heading into the second lap . "1 •• ~o~ld spi ;; -th~ ~~reiai;;on the pl~g," sai d McKen na . " It either works o r it doesn 't - there's no th in g in between." In th e pits, McKenna franticall y searched for the problem, then had to take a pi ug out of a not her dis abled bik e a nd replaced it with his broken p lug. He re-entered th e race but che wed up a tire trying to ca tch up. Once again he limped back into th e pits with a n at, ending hi s race. Meanwhile, Nav lor was ou t in front cruisi ng with a b'ig lead over Husqvarna 's Kevin Hines. " O n th e seco nd lap," said Na ylor , " 1came by th e pits an d th ey told me I was in seco nd pl ace. Then I went by a big mud hole and sa w him (McKen na) stuc k in the mud. I kn ew I was in the lead an d I never took a chance a fter th at ." T h ro u gho u t the race , Naylor had to o verco me a series o f minor problems. Du rin g the first lap, Na ylor took a spi ll that wrench ed his rear fend er p ret ty good. " It rubbed all the kn ob s off th e tir e," sa id Naylor. T hen , du ring th e third lap, Naylor wa s a victim o f a fla t tir e. " 1 had a cha nce to cha nge it, or not ," said Naylor. " Bu t I told th em (p it cre w) that it di dn 't mak e that much difference . I'd a lrea dy ridden a la p o n the flat." Afterwa rds he sa id he spent a week and a half practicing riding th e co urse, mu ch o f that time o n a flat tire in anticipa tio n of a situa tio n that occu rred during th e race. Hines was gaining round on Na ylor th rough o u t th e race over rugged hills west of Sh ast a Lak e, moving up fro m fou rth place aft er the third lap 10 second near the finish, but mechanical problem s robbed him of a ny cha nce h e had to ca tch Naylor . " O n ' the fifth' (last) lap, I lost th e ch ain (when th e cha in guide came off th e bike ), th en I got a flat tire. It reall y took away my ch ance," said Hines. The co u rse consisted of short sections of asp ha lt road, d in roads with tir e-slashing ch u n ks of slate .with jagged edges and pea gravel. tw isting narrow trails through wiry manzanita brush. Some sections offered onl y in ch es of clearance on ei ther handl ebar. "It was a lillie easier on the bikes," said Nay lo r ta lking about the shortened loop that was run in reverse of last year's race. "But there was lots o f dust, more dust th an I'v e ever seen up here. In so me pla ces, th ere's two or three inches of powder on th e trails. " 1didn 't get a good start (ri ders n ot in th e first wave were slo wed to a snail' s pace in th e ch oking , impenetrabl e dust cloud kicked up a t th e start ). I was abo u t 30th to the pavement, and I made up a lot of time ' th ere. That's what I was hoping for ." Na ylor won th e race in three hours, 42 minutes, 41 seconds o ver Hines' 3:47:40 times. Third overall went to KTM rider Duke Do well. National motocrosser Ricky Ryan . a nd his Ka wa saki won the 125cc Expert class, beating Husqvarna rider William Perkins. In the 20 1-25 0cc Expert class, Do well took the win , whi le Ca n Am's John Manin finished second. Ken McKenzie finished third. T he top five riders in the 251-0pen class were Nay lor, H in es, Ro n La Pointe (H o n), Doug McCalb (KTM ) a nd Mark H yde. • . Results SO-125 EX: 1. Ricky Ryan (Kaw ): 2. William Parkins (Hus ). 126 -200 EX: 1. Ron Knarr . 20 1-250 EX: 1. Duke Dow ell (KTM): 2. Joh n M artin (C·At. 3. Ken McKen zie: 4. Dean Joyn er lYam); 5. Geoff Soliard (C·A). 251 -0PEN EX: 1. Ron Naylor (Hon); 2. Kevin Hines(Hus); 3 . Ron laPoint e (Hen); 4 . Doug McC elb (KTM); 5. Mark Hyde (Hus); 6. Kun Wilco.lYaml . SR: 1. Wall Feylin g (KTM); 2. Carl Nelson (KTM); 3. AI Water s; 4. Kurt McM.hon. SUP SR: 1. Sill O'Brian (Yam). FOUR-SlK: 1. Man Cullins (Honl. Rovers H 'n' H • (Continued from page 20) upright with no rear damping. El ias bai led tryi ng t o kee p Su m mers in sight and broke his co lIarbone . He got up and fini shed second I75cc in a gully finish. Summers' ride was especially no teworthy as he had ridden in the Las Vegas 400 the da y before as did Ashcraft and Dan Smith, w ho DN F'd. Smith 's previously-injured wrist was hurting him as h e had crashed on it a t th e Las Vegas 400 - it hurt enough to cause Smith to pack it in . H o n d a -m o u nt ed Nick Young (Desert Sport Cycle /Graziano's P izza) took the Ama teur honors with a first in class in at 12th overall on h is CR500 . " 1 really liked the course" said Young. "It didn ' t put your life in jeopardy like some of the high -speed co urses we've seen lately ." (R esu lts next week in R esu lts Section.} Latest Poop (Continued fro m page 1) Moto-Guzzi is developing a 1000cc. water-cooled. threecy linder street bike. The new triple features double-overhead cams. four valves per cylinder. and a forward-inclined cylinder angle similar to Yamaha 's FZ750. AMA Na tional Hare Scram bles Champion Geoff Ballard has been using a new version of Marzocchi's leading-axle forks on his factory CanAm. The forks look conventional, but o ne leg holds the compression damping assembl y;,rebound is con ta ined in the other. Also , there is only one spring in on e leg. It' s not known if the unusual fork design will be standard on future Can-Arns. Former World Road Racing Champion Freddie Spencer is featured in Castrol Oil's film "Freddie Spencer Explains Motorcycle Racing." Contact Burmah-Castrol Film Library. 401 Hackensack Ave.• Hackensack. NJ 07601 for information, Former mini-motocross star and I25cc Intermedia te Sean Delvenne, 17, of Yorba Linda, California was killed' April 16 in a sh ooting accident, acco rd ing to his lather. Sean , who ra n . number 411 in NMA events, won severa l major 80 Stock and 80 Modified races in 1982 and 1983, although he and hi s father withdrew from racing in 1984 for financial reasons. Godspeed, Sean . Continental Motosport Club (CMC). in cooperation with Baja California's Department of Tourism. is planning a pair of international motocross events to be held at the University of Baja California. in Tijuana. The first race is scheduled for May 25-26. the second for August 24-25. For information. call the CMC at 714/2616116. Udo Geitl of Team H onda has agreed to let 16-year-old J oh n Koci ns ki of Li ll ie Rock, Arkansas try a ' works H ond a Superbike a t a test session at Cal ifornia's Willow Sprin gs Raceway o n Ap ril 26; Am erica n H onda has rented the trac k exc lusive lv th e morning of the 26t h, wi th open p ractice that afternoon. The July 13-14 WERA Inaugural Spring Meet at St. Louis (Missouri) International Raceway has been upgraded to a round of the WERA National Sprint Series. <.

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