Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.~ Z w w a: > W al Z ~ ~ :::E 0 ... > al l!") (/) 0 ... 0 00 0") ....... :I: 11. l!") ....... >-- C\l Dan S m it h (left), Dan Ashcraft (center) and Eric Hallgath pose after their 1-2-3 sweep for Husqvarna. Chris Crandall was fourth on an ATK. ~ Dan Smith flies his Husky 500XC oft a dropon his way to the Vikings M .C. hare and hound overall win. AMA n-37 Vikings M.C. Rare and Round TeamRusky sweeps Vikings RareURound By A n ne C ra wfor d an d Tom Van Beveren L UCE RNE VALLEY, CA , AP R. 28 Team Husky riders Dan Smith and Dan Ashcraft, and Husky pilot Eric Hallgath finished 1-2-3 at the Vikings Motorcycle Club's Hare and Hound held at Camp Rock Road. The race was a runaway victo ry for Sm ith . who looked impressiv e from sta rt to fini sh , stre tchi ng o ut a IO-bik eleng th 36 lead at the end Of the bomb run to a full three-m inutes at th e end of th e 9 1-m ile co urse. Smi th, w ho wo n the Vik in gs event la st yea r as well , se t a bl istering pace fo r th e race, fin is hi ng th e course in a record two hours a n d 15 m inutes. "The firs t loop was fu n but i t was a bit fa st for m e," said Smi th . ' T he tighter a nd to ugher it is, th e be tter it is for u s. but w hen yo u h a ve to go stra ig ht across the d esert like we had to to day th ese bik es a re a bit fast. In sixt h gea r it ge ts sca ry ." Dan Ash craft, who was tra iling Eri c H allgath in six th p lace a t th e end o ft he bomb r u n, worked hi s way u p into seco nd place a t th e halfwa y poi n t, a nd held o u t for seco nd ove ra ll. " I was in si x th gear a ll d a y," sa id As hcra ft. " 1 just ca n' t beli eve th ey wou ld run us through things like' that, It was wi de.open a.I!.t he way. " Yo u didn ' t hav e a chance u nl ess you got the lead righ t off the start. Yo u ca n ' t catch up in tha t stuff - no way . T he firs t lo op was fu n in pans, bu t overall it was th e worst co u rse I've ever.ridden ." Ashcraft said. T hird overa ll a n d fir st in th e 250cc class. was H u sk y p il ot Er ic H all garh , wh o was ear-to-ear smi les after fin is hi ng o ne m inu te. behi nd Ashcra ft. " !t was a gre a t co u rse ," sai d H a llgath , " I had a great time. I wa s ru n n in g secon d a t th e bomb, but th en Ash craft got p ast m e. I wa s ca tchi ng up to Ashcraft in a ll th e rock y sectio ns, b u t it was a fast co urse a nd th ey would just pull a way on th e fast stuff." Chris Crand all p u t o n a n impressive show , rid ing hi s 560 AT K wid eo pe n a t every o p po rt u ni ty a nd usin g eve ry in ch o f the co u rse, o fte n trav el lin g m o re sideways th an forwa rd s. Fearless C h ris worked h is wa y up fro m nint h a t th e bom b to fourth o veral l.desp ite th e handicap o f a very flat front tire for much o f th e secon d I ~p'. T h e two-l o o p h are a n d hound cou rse lai d ou t by th e Viki ngs received very mixed rev iews fro m th e ri de rs. Ei ther yo u lo ved it, or yo u hated it. T he co u rse co ntai ned a lillie bit of everyth ing . with fast fire roa ds, sa nd d un es. rockv d own h ill s a nd sa nd wash es. . T he d eep sa nd and hi gh-speed sections han di capped th e C -class bikes. wi th top fin ish er Du an e Su m mers o n a Cagiva ru n n i ng a lmos t 15 m in ut es behind th e leader s a t th e end o f th e firs t loop. Sum me rs, wh o fi n ished 12th ove ra ll, said he th ough t the co urse wa s easy - j ust fa st. Sum mers wanted to th ank hi s sponsors Cagiva North America, O 'N eal USA a n d Sidewi nde r sprocke ts. T he fir st neck -and-n eck raci ng o f th e day was see n in the 250cc class, with five riders ba ul in g it o ut fo r second place. Kenn y Pa rr y, ridi ng for Granada Yama ha , sto le second pl a ce from Edd ie O gden J r., Phil Gorgone (P ro Cycl e and L ubrad yn e), and Ed P ierce J r. T he fo ur powered over the finish line o n ly inc hes apart. First Vetfi n is he r, a n d 19th overa ll , was ' Wes An derson J r.. with SoCa I M.e.·s J im R obinson in hot p u rs ui t. "The second loo p was 49 m iles," sa id Robin son, " a nd 48 o f tha t was the worst cross-gra in crap I've eve r seen . I loved it. " T he first Senior to ta ke th e checkered flag was Bill Sa ltz ma n , who worked h is wa y u p from 50 pl aces back a t th e bomb a nd fin ish ed with a co lla psed rea r shock. " I hit a bu sh o n th e wa y to th e bomb a nd my gas line fell o ff," sai d Sa ltz man. "Then I blew the shock a bou t h alfwa y 'ro u n d th e second loo p . I lost a bo ut a d ozen p laces a t least ove r th a t. I'm surp rised I' m this h igh u p . " I love th e KTM ," Sa ltzma n sai d , " a n d th is is the first problem I' ve ever had wit h i t." Firs t Novice finisher Ken j i Ga u th ier (H o n ) rode th e w hole second loop with a fla t tire. " I th ought it was grea t," he sa id, " especi all y the m arking. !t was m a r ked rea l we ll - w h ic h is important to Novices lik e me wh o don' t a lways see th e m arkings to o we ll. It w as just mixed up enoug h to o - th ere was a lo t o f hi gh speed, a nd a lo t o f ro ugh st u ff." T he Novice/ Beginner stan got off o n tim e, 20 min utes after th e Amateur/ Experts , a nd was o veralled by Beginne r Ron Rapp, who finished a n imp ressive ei g h t min ut es before second pl ace Bri an Lov e, a nd got bum ped u p to Novice o n the spo t for h is trou ble. Rapp, o n a 500cc H onda , is a new comer to d esert racing. "Tha t was my fir st desert race ever," h e sa id, "a nd it was better th an a ny m o to cro ss race ever. I took up d esert racing because all th e m otocr oss track s a re closing - and now th at I've tri ed i t, I lov e it . I'll be back -a gain. This is a m a n 's game. " Second-place Br ian Lov e (Hon) crossed the fini sh line with flat tires front and rear. " T his is m y first race in a bo ut 10 yea rs ," h e said, "it's g rea t to get back to it." T he fir st 250cc rider across th e line was Bill y Ra y Dennis, o n a Yamaha. " It wa s real fun exce p t I got o ff th e co urse a bo u t th ree ' times," he sa id. " In a few p laces it wa sn 't to o easy to foll ow - a n d it was a wfu lly dusty." T he Wom en ' s class Tor thi s race was sma lle r th an usu al , perha p s o win g to so man y o f th e women r iders bel onging to th e spons o ri n g cl u b. T he Women 's Novi ce cl ass wa s o vera lled by Rosa Tay lor, who enjoyed the race bu t found it d iff icult to find an o peni ng in the dusty co nd itio ns . " I ca me o ff twice o n o ne hill too - it wa s reall y bad ," she sa id. J oanna Brownell was th e fir st (a nd o n ly) Women Expert fini sh er, riding her husband 's Husk y 500 instead of h er usual 250. It was h er eigh th win o f the yea r a nd h er 30 th co nsecutive vic tory si nce Feb ruary 1984 des pi te 40 m in u tes lost to cl utch repai rs o n her Suzu ki o f Van Nuys a nd Sport Tracks Tires-sponsored bik e. Ra ce entries to ta lle d 402, slig h tly dow n fro m recent turnouts. Viki ngs' spokes man Norm Stua rt a ttrib u ted th e decreased entries to the h igh wind fo recasts for the weekend. Another reason fo r the slightly lo wer tu rnou t m a v hav e been th e announcement o f th e' formati on o f th e Super Seni or class, wh ich is due to begin in June. A number o f th e regu la r Senior ri ders said they wer e holdin g o u t un til th e new class was fo rmed because po ints ea rned before th e sta rt- u p date would not co u nt in th ei r new classifica ti o n. Ri ch ard Fra n klin o f Spectro Oi l su rp r ised m an y o f th e Beg inner r ider s wi th Spectro Gear O il for th e twostroke rid er s or Cha in Lube fo r th ose o n four-st rokes. T hese were no t " tria l size" samples ei ther, but full size quart bo tt les o f o il o r la rg e ca ns of chai n lube. Many o f th e Ama te ur / Expert s a lso recei ved a ca n of chain lu be. • Results OVERALL: 1. Dan Sm ith (Hus ): 2. Dan Ashcraft 3. Eric Hallgath (Hus ); 4 . Chr is Cranda ll (ATK ); 5 . Ron S hu ler (Yam); 6. #3SS(Hon); 7. Kenny Parry (Yam); 8 . Eddie Ogden (Yam); 9 . Phil Gorgone tKTM ); 10. Ed Pierce J r. (Yam). OPEN EX: 1. DanSmith: 2 . DanAshcrelt; 3. Chr is Crandall . OPEN AM : 1. Jamie Haas ; 2. M ike McDonald; 3. Doug Clark. . OPEN NOV : 1. #151 ; 2 . Dan Olson; 3 . #434. 250 EX: 1. Eric Hatlgsth: 2. Kenny Parry; 3 . Eddie Ogden. 250 AM: 1. Cunis Crandall; 2. #325<: 3. Tom Bradshaw. . 250 NOV: 1. Kenj i Gauthier: 2. #319<: 3 . David Brown. . C EX: 1. Duane Summers; 2.4)(; 3. Scon Anderson. CAM: 1. Sean Sradley; 2. Roben Baehr; 3. #1 8&. SENIOR DIVISION 15t OPEN: Bill Saltzman. 15t 250: AI Guzman. , st C: David Kersting. VET OPEN EX: 1. We s Anderson Jr.; 2. Jim Robinson: 3. Verlin Van Zee . . VET OPEN AM : ' 1 ~ Peter Medina; 2. Fred Biscoe; 3 . Glen Lyles . VET OPEN NOV: 1. Michael Myers; 2. V2 57 . VET 25 0 EX: 1. Craig Harris; 2 . Wayne Carlton. VET 250 AM : 1. Ted Overholt; 2 . V157x; 3 . Gary ( H u s~ Jones. VET 250 NOV : 1. Eddie McKenzie. BEG OVERALL: 1. Ron Rapp (Hon) ; 2. Br ian Love (Hon); 3 . Billy Ray Dennis (Yam) ; 4 . Henry Ford (KTM) ; 5. Dana Baltzer (Yam); 6. 436 (Hon); 7 . Gordon Gallicle (Hon); B. 30Dx (Kaw) ; 9. 433 (Yam); 10. 406 (Hon) . WOMEN NOV : 1. Rosa Taylor. _ WOMEN EX: 1. Joanna Brownell (Hus). _ • _ •.

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