Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

...... Despite crashing early in the race, Dan Ashcraft won Sunday's Expert class over Yamaha rider Ted Hunnicutt at the California City GP , SoCaI MC Calilornia Citt GP Ashcraft Dies 'a t California City By Larry Langley CALIFORNIA CITY, CA, JULY 6-7 Team Husky rider Da n Ashcraft ca p ped off a long , ho t weeken d o f racing with a twom inu te m argin of vic tory in the Expert race late Sunda y afternoo n a t the Califo rnia City GP. Ashcraft (Autol ite/Bel. . Ra y/ D u n lo p/ H I-POln t ) survived a fa ll in a mudhole on the Ii I d II II d irst ap an eventua y pu e 12 aw ay from Ted Hunnicutt (Ya ma ha / Duralube/Scott/ AXO) in the fin a l laps. Hunnicutt led for the first three laps, but Ash craft seemed to be in better physical shape to cope with the heat. Hunnicutt rode a hard race Saturday in winning the Unclassified race and la ter admitted th~t th e ~aturday race took some of hi s stam ina a wa y from Sunday's outing. The first ra ce Saturday was th e Senior/Women . Bikes were pushed from impound to the starting area behind the mall where the racers started in line with both hands on th e rear Iender. Wh en the banner dropped. riders jumped on th eir bik es, kick started them and immediatel y turned a hard right on the street, down a short stra igh t, then another hard right on the street, down a short straight, then another h a rd right on a slippery turn onto another street for a half mile, then a sweeping high speed left hander onto a road leading out of town into the desert. Gearing was crucial as it was a high speed race until the short motocross course in the pit area. After the riders came through th e scoring ch u te, they entered th e technical portion of the race. A series of ditches greeted them , then some tight turns , a jump and th en the mud hole. The mudhole was actually too much: th e SoCaI club dug· it too deep, and th e first riders had a tough tim e ge tting through. Bob Ashcraft had th e early lead but immediatel y got stuc k. Son Dan jumped in and pulled him out. Woman rider Vicki Scott ended up, bike and body, completely under water! Only ' h er head was showing, much tq the delight of the sadistic crowd. Finally th e sponsors rerouted the line to the right allowing the riders to bypass the deepest part of the hole. After an hour and a ha lf of racing, Jim Bringhurst (Hus) led all riders to the checkered flag. Ash craft recovered for third overal l' behind Ed Duncan. The next race up was the Division Two (0- I75cc) and Brett Howell came o u t on top after a long duel with Cagiva-sponsored Duane Summers. John Braasch Jr. was third. The Four-Stroke race was claimed by Randy Morales on his factory Honda thumper. Roger Hurd led JeH Bauchillon in for runner-up honors. The U nclassifieds had many of the top Experts in the race, many were learning the course for Sunda y's points-paying race . Ted Hunnicutt rode a 250 a nd smoked evervone. Kenny Parry (Yam) took second, ~\'hile Randy Norman (H us) took th e show p osition . The Veterans started Sunday 's races 0[[, an d MikeSixbery wasted no time in assuming a co m ma nding lead that he held all th e way to th e finish . Sixbery (Mont clair Yamaha /P J- 1I Scott USA /Graydon ) rode a 250cc Yamaha. Jim Fishback (H on) pressured Sixbery for most of the ra ce but DNF near th e end. Fishback is one of southern California's most versatile riders: He 's competed in desert, ISDT. speedway a n d motocross, a nd has won in each category. Rich ard Jackson (Hus) lost second place when he ran low of fuel on the last lap and Rick Shirey got by. Jackson was run n in g a supplemental fuel tank on the front fork , but when the main tank ran out, the supplemental tank wouldn 't flow fuel fast enough so Jackson had to back off. Finally, the last race of the long, hot weekend, and it seemed every toprated Expert was on hand. The 250s were racing with the Opens but no one gave the 250s much 'o f a chance

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