Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ .. • :.- 0- ~ 0::; c:;.. . ....- c-r ... en ~ eo ~ < • " ..... . !- - - . " , - #'' ' :: -' ,. - , . - Team Husqvarna 's Dan Smith won the Open Expert classes on bo t h days of the Huntington Beach MC 's European Sc rambles . Smith, Hallgath dual winners at H.B.M.C. European Scrambles By Larry Langley L UC ERNE VALLEY, CA, AUG. 10-11 Team Husky's Dan Smith a nd Malcolm Smith Motorcycl es-sponsored Eric Hallgath won their races on Saturday and Sup-day to highlight two days of racing at Huntington Beach Motorcycl e Cl ub's AMA D-37 DI E ropean Scrambles. . ua u Smith ~on th e ·O p en Expert races while Hallgath came close to locking up th e N u m ber One plate in th e 250cc class. Smi th wo n eas ily o n Sunday bu t had to figh t o ff a furio us challe nge by AT K rid er Ch ris Crandall before claimin g victory o n Saturda y. Cr andall finish ed just five seco nds beh in d Smi th on Saturday, bu t fell to 45 seco nds shy a t th e finish o n Su nday. Mot ocro sser l SCORE racer Kevin H opk in s ret urned to the D-37 desert Saturday to ca pt ure th e I75cc Expert win , beati n g Cagiva rid er Du ane Summers, who was figh tin g o ff a n ea r infecti on. Su m me rs had to go to th e hospita l Sa turda y ni ght, returned to race Sunday , but didn 't look well at a ll. J ohn Braasch Jr. p ow ered his KXl25 Ka wasaki to thi rd . The Veteran war was won by Mike Fitzgerald aft er Mik e Sixbery dropped out with a flat tir e Saturday. On Sunda y, Sixbery (Yam) returned th e favo r a n d reversed th eir standings with a hard-fought win. " I really m ade a n effort to ge t o u t in front ea rly " sai d Sixbery. " T he dust m ade it har d to pass so I wanted to be in th e lead. It wo rk ed o u t bu t Fi tzger ald was right th ere if I mad e a mi stake." . Sa turday's Sen ior ra ~e ~as hig~ h g ht ed by Bob Ash craft s victory , hi s la st as an Ama teu r. There was a (Expert) red stripe waiting for h im a t th e fin ish line. Dick Postma took seco nd O pe n Senior w h ile AI G uzman (Suz) took the 250cc class honors. On S u n day, J o anna Brown ell (AXO /Sport-Track/ KaI-Gard) led th e Women 's race wi re- to- wire o n a borrowed H usky as h er bike bro ke Saturday . Sh e ra n o ut o f gas in h er race Sa turday o n he r husband's bik e bu t had no proble ms Su n day. Rosa Ta ylor won th e Amat eur hono rs. Bob Ash craft 's transfer to Ex pert d idn' t faze him a bit as h e aga in took the ov era ll in th e Senior race , bea ting Tom Cra nda ll (ATK). Larry Gord en took home th e l75cc Senio r wi n. T he l7 5cc Expertl Am at eur bash wa s a good race with Kaw a saki-m ounted Brett H ow ell leading wire-to-wir e H ow ell was ch ased by Du ane Su mmers (Ca g) a nd a t th e end of th e two la ps, Su m mers was really movin g up but o n th e third a n d la st lap had to d ro p ba ck when his ea r infecti on was sta rti ng to make h im sic k again . H e ende d up seco nd . barel y a ble to hold on . Sea n Brakl ey (H a n ) rode a very strong race to finish th ird . T h e 250cc Expert ra ce had a very nerv ous Eric H all ga th bu rst ing into an im med iat e lead . H all gath wa nt ed Double 250cc Expert winner Eric Hallgath ri des his Malcolm Smith Motorcycles-backed 250XC into a checkpoint. th e win . to virtua lly lock up th e Number One p late for the year and h e wasn't to be denied , win ning by a minute o ver Yamaha -mounted Eddi e Ogden and Kenny Parry (Yam ). H a llgath won Saturday's race ,by six min ut es. _ The Open Expertl Am at eur race was wid e-open with a number o f riders po ised to ta ke th e win. Dan Ashcraft wanted to make up for Saturda y's DNF when his 500XC Husk y seized. " I h ope we got it fix ed ," sa id Ashcraft on th e line. " I don 't know why it lock ed up. It was running good." Smith an d Derrick Pa iem ent shared a milkcrat e as they waited th e banner drop . Paiment had a new, big , gas tank m ounted to a vo id th e lack -of-fu el p ro blem that cos t h im a win two week s before. Cra ndall was p ri med as he wa nted to make up th e five -seco nd deficit th at cost h im th e w in Sa turday . Smi th just wanted to win, period. The banner moved sligh tly be fore dro p p in g a nd a coup le o f qui ck reactin g riders got a jump o n th e field b u t the h o t lin e was o n th e righ t side. wh ere Ash craft sho t o u t to th e lead. " I h ad th e lead a way s o u t, but I slo wed slig h tly for a bad dip an d I co u ld n' t bel ieve it ! Smith went by me in th e a ir on m y right!" said Ash cra ft lat er. " I figured he was crazy for su re a nd th en Crandall went by, too l I passed Cra nda ll back and went for Sm ith bu t th en th e bike seized again ! I tri ed to baby it but it kept lockin g up . I th in k I go t a bad bore jo b a n d th e bore is tapered ." Smith opened up abou t a lO-seco nd lead over Cra ndall w i th Derrick Pa iement th ird a t th e end o f loo p o ne . Smith kept p u lli ng awa y to a n even tua l 45-seco nd victory. " Hey, two in a ro w, it was great!" said Smith a fterwa rds. "It did scare me a bit when I passed Dan (Ashcraft) but I wa s going for it, I wanted th e lead rea lly bad. Derrick and I collided off the start a couple of times and we a lmost locked handlebar s and went down . It was scary ." Cra n da ll sa id , " I reall y pushed it trying to cl ose in on Smith but 1 think 1 tried too h ard. H e wa s really riding smooth up front and just pulled a way . He deserved to win." First Amateur was Mik e McDonal d . o n hi s new Kawasaki KX500 arou nd fifth overa ll. • .. Re sults SATURDAY OPEN EX: 1. Dan Sm it h (Hus); 2. Chris Cranda ll (ATK) OPEN AM : 1. M ike McDonald (Kaw ), 250 EX: 1. Er ic Hallgat h (HuBI; 2. Kenny Parry (Yam). 250 AM : 1. K. Gauth ier , 175 EX: t. Kevin Ho pk ins; 2. Duane Summers (Cag); 3. John Braasch Jr. (Kawl. 17 5 AM : i . Dennis Creason. 175 NOV: 1. Devid Donoho. VET 250 EX: 1. M ike Fitzgerald . VET OPEN EX: 1. Wes Anderson Jr. VET 250 AM: 1. Eddie McKenz ie. VET OPEN AM : 1. Fred Biscoe. SR OPEN AM : 1. Bob As hcraft (Hus). SR OPEN EX: 1. Dick Post ma. SR 250 EX: 1. AI Guzman (Suzl. SR 175 EX: 1. David Kersti ng. SUNDAY SR OPEN EX: 1. BobAshcraft (Husl; 2. Tom Cran dall (ATK), SR 17 5 EX: 1. Larry Gorden. VET 250 EX: 1. Mike Sixbery (Yam); 2. M ike Fitzgerald. VET OPEN EX: 1. M ike Martin. 175 EX: 1. Brett Howell (Kaw); 2. Duane Summers (Cog); 3. Sean Bradley (Hon). 250 EX: 1. Eric Hallga'h (Hus); 2. Eddie Ogden (Yam ); 3 . Kenn y Parry (Yaml. OPEN EX: 1. Dan Smit h (Hus); 2. Chr is Crandall (ATK); 3. Derrick Paiem ent (Hon) . OPEN AM: 1, Mike McDonald (Kaw). 55

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