Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..- Ron Naylor rode his CR500 to the Sun Valley GP win. AMA National Hare Scrambles Series: Round 7 . N ayl ~ r dusts SVG P: By Marty Gregory H AILEY, !D', J UNE 16 Creating the dust instead of fighting i.t,Ron Naylor scored a decisive win over a strong field to capture his second overall win of the 1985 AMA Hare Scrambles Series in Round 7, of the Coors Light/Dirt M.e. . Sun Valley GrandPnx. Na ylor trailed ea rl y leader Brad Strong . (H us) for the first tour of the 16 34.4-m ile co u rse an d was ' ac tually leading by th e en d o f th e init ial lap o n adjusted time. At th e fin ish, th e H onda CR500-mounted Na ylor' s margin was in excess o f n in e minutes over H onda devel opment rider Drew Smith wh o . narro wly edged Stron g for second Open bik e a nd second over a ll wh en final tim es were co mputed. Naylor , Strong an d Orego n desert star Brad Tu rnidge (KT M) were well in front o f th e pack fo llo wing a first row crash th at crea ted ha voc as wa ve afte r wave o f hungry Experts jumped 0 [[ th e in it ial 100 yards of as p ha lt in to a section o f sagebrush -strewn mead ow . C ha rg ing into that fir st' turn , Nick Ta lle na (Yam) was in a slide when an erra nt roc k kicked o u t h is rear wheel. Idahoan Dan Lees (Yam) na iled T al len a 's rea r wh eel wh ile ma king h is move o n the outside . Both Lees a nd 'Ta llena went do wn in a grea t cloud of d ust as the Open Experts, and then the 250 A ride rs, h ad to sort o u t a line through the confusion. Strong, 1984 and 1985 Ch erry Creek win ner, was di cing with T u rnidge for th e lead on th e first loop until ~u!n idge ' s bike's rear backing pla~e di sintegrated. Nay lo r had mad e h.1S wa y. through the dust to settle in ~h md Strong for the bal ance of th e first la p. Chris Crandall started on the fourth row a nd moved up behind U~h's ~haun Gerber (KT M) to be.runnmg m fourth by the end of the Iirst loop. Crandall 'sATKwasunmislakable as he'd crest a ridge and head down the long, steep desert foothills in pursuit of Gerber. About five miles out on th e second lap, Crandall was nipping at Gerber's heel and passed the KTM rider to move into third. Disaster struck wh en Crandall 's rear backing plate blew-up (as Turnidge's had) when Chris was attempting to negotia te th e "Switchbacks of Death." Eyewitness Shaun Gerber was heard to remark that Crandall sh ot straight off one switchback in a 40·feet-in-theair endo and then rolled and bounced a couple hundred feet more down th e mount':l in . T he crash , wh ich wo u ld have killed most a ny body else, left " T he An imal" with a' bruised sh o u lder and a trashed ATK. The bike had already suffered a 60 mph ge t-o ff from its trailer o n the drive to Idaho a nd barely made th e start with lastminute repairs being necessary. Crandall was last seen bandage-less around the pits discussing his mi sfortune with sympathetic ladi es. H e's oka y. Naylor and Strong took adva ntage o f th e dry co nd itions a n d th e iremendous dust kick-up on th e first lap to pull well a hea d of th eir pursu ers. In th a t fir st 34 m iles, surviva l wa s th e key element. " You co u ldn' t race," said Ca nAm's J ohn Martin wh o , alo ng with teammate Geoff Ballard , sta rted six a nd seven rows back on 250s. Both C-A riders were chargi ng wh en ever possib le in th e dust and were 15-20 men back by th e latter portion of lap one . Balla rd , winner of th e first two ro u nds of th e ser ies, wor e an " iro n boot" (p lastic) o n his left foot an d a lea ther o ne on the brake side. Nu rsing a ten der foot as well as recent illness, ma y have kep t the Austra lia n (who's n ow based in Dul u th , Minne SOla ) from h is pheno men al best, but even that co u ldn't keep h im fro m a n 11th overa ll / fourth 250 fin ish. The diminutive Martin showed th e stuff h e's made o f by ro cketing past lot s of very fast guys o n th e last two laps to wind-up six th o verall a n d seco n d to Ed Lo jak (Hus) in th e 250s. Can-Am's J eff Smith 's tr ip to Idaho worked out fin e a s th e former World MX cha m p nipped Charles Galbraith (H us) from T ennessee by one seco n d at the flag for th e Super Senior Expert cla ss victory. Lojak brought hi s T eam Husky 250 to race for th e overall. Lojak was .in fourth wh en all was sa id a n d done, and he'd won the 250cc Expert class. Yet fierce competitors like him and his tra veling partner Mike McCarren (Yam 200) are after overall s. McCarren 's day was spoiled earl y on with two flats ; he ended up fourth in his class and ma y be feeling Series points pressure from Boise's Jeff Miller (Kaw) who won th e 200cc Expert clas s in 24th overall. Florida's Mark Hyde (H us) ch arged hard for the first two laps and was runn ing up in the top five. He fell ba'ck som~~ha't..J~ng .th~ last loO'p .... ~rjtsh fr~nl his.fron:t ~rak~ hydraulic and was be~g pressured by. Martill.~~ ...•hne. once-.·~le.!:~S~l1!g t!t~_bro~~n : "' he nearedthe finish . Around the last . "-down T urn li]ge shortly after tne nalfcouple Ofbendsand through the trees ' ·w.ay point ~ the first loop and nipsurroundingLions Park, Hyde held · p m g S .trong o n lap t.W?, N.aylor rode off the charging Can-Am rider until a dust-~ree. ~ce to Iinish m 3:18.29, . . the last bend when Martin blasted some rune mmutes ahead of the conpast as the pair. along with M-Star's stantly moving up Drew Smith Doug Noell , shot through the flag who shavedenough off with his time . and all but took th e gates out in an adjustment to nip Strong by only 23 exciting finish to 103 miles of racing. . seconds. Shaun Gerber (KT M) just manStrong ran an impressive race bu t aged to sta y ahead o f Martin for an Naylor would not be denied: "Everyovera ll fifth. Gerber, th e 18-year-old time I looked around . . . there he'd flash from Lehi, Uta h, was beset with be." Na ylor fin all y ca ug h t Strong o n mech an ical gr emlins o f a ll type s befor e and during th e race . some tight uphill switch backs: " I " Every rime I look a t it, I find some just .h it th is ~rm (~ t the base of the thing else wrong. This is n ot a good uph rll ) hard m th ird gear a nd he (Strong) was up t~ere a ~ u~ threeday ." Gerb er 's bike held together , though, an d th e tal ented desert rae quarters of rhe wa y just spmrung . .. er 's fourth O Pen Expert fin ish p roba nd I. went by him ther e. (Stro ng's a bly wouldn ' t be termed a bad day by rear m e went flat short ly th ereaft er man y. ' a nd he fell furth er behind. ) From Sha u n's dad, Pr eston Gerber (KT M th en o n, I didn ' t see anybody.". 500).. carr ied bron chi al mi st taped . The Hondas ran ~ t rongaga ms~ a h eld .largely comp nsed of J:I~sk} es ri ght to hi s faceguard io co u nteract - any dust-induced breathin g difficula n d KTMs. AI Bak er brought a tri ck four-stroke.but let ldahoORV Planner ties a nd rode to a so lid 33rd o vera ll a nd third Senior Expert behind Rick" > Chuck .Well s twist the grip.. Our McUne (KTM )and class winner Barry "Go~ernment Gasser" respon.ded with Higgins on th e H&H KTM . a grrttv 50th o~e~all and third fourc' Higgins hasn't been 10 Idaho since stroke Expert Iinish. the Inter-Am seri es of th e early '70s Results bu1still h as a lot of fan s in these SUN A DV · '. b k f 'OPENEX: 1. Ron Nllylor (Hon): 2. Drew Smith parts. H 199ms got ac up, a ter a 40 (Hon): 3. Bred SCronv (Hus). mph get-off left him with a gravel 250EX: t.EdLoieck(Hus): 2. John MeninIC -A): hed f f 3. Duke o..-U (KtM). r~s . orearrn, or a 23rd overa II SR EX: t. Berry Higgens IKTM): 2. R MoUne ick fini sh. (KTM); 3 . Preston Gerber (KTM). 2~ EX: t. . Idaho's first-ever AMA National . (Yem), 3. LarryJeff Miller.(Kaw): 2. Tony Hendon Ucey (Kaw). t25 EX: t. Cheney Br_{Kew); 2.William Perwas a smoothly run, super-fun affair .h h .. bod D' M C kins (Hus); 3. Kevin bogsdon (Yam). Wll t e orgamlmg . y, 1rt. . " 4-STROKE EX:"f.. Cun Dice (Hon); 2. Chriscasand promoter Ron Dillon putting on des (Vam); 3. Chid _ (Honl. a fine show. AMA Referee Bill Tomich OPEN INT: 1. _JoItnson (Hus); 2. Mark Boyca . f h d h id (Hon); 3 . RIIy Wons (KTM). was ecsta IlC a ter t e race an ten 5 .5 . EX: t. Jeff Smith (C-A): 2. Chrtas Galb

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