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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126838
Strong (H on ) pu lled th e hol esho t
in the Open division. fo llowed by
Brian McGonigal (BBRP Racing Rtx)
and Junior Pro Randy Roose (H -D).
Donald Wilson (R tx) a nd Novice
.Do n a ld Paul (Hon ) joined th e battle
a n d th e race became a clos e five-r ider
duel. IIco u ld have gone anyway. and
as it was in th e past . it went Stro ng's
way. S trong held off McGonigal,
who put in o ne of hi s best rides th is
sea son holding off Roose for second
place. Wilson rod e aeross fo r fourth
with Paul fifth .
Results
Winner Ricky Orlando (1 2 ) along with Chuck Lee (5 ), Dan Tu rner (2 ) and
Scott Elledge charge off the line at the Aspen Six-Hour.
Annual MRA Asp en Six-Hour
30
End ura nce race . Dimick . sponsoring
h im self a s owner o f Yama ha Motorspons of Loveland. hi red O rla ndo's
tuner Dennis Zick rick to prepa re th e
Fl. wh ich p ro ved to be one o f th e
mor e relia ble mach ines o f the day.
T he race was o ne of the most hot lyco ntested a nd exci ting in Aspen 's
hi story. Ri sing star Chuck Lee. after
wowing spectators a nd racers a like
a ll season, g ra bbed the hol esh ot a nd
ran from Dan T u rne r a nd O rlando as
well as th e rest o f th e pack. By th e end
o f th e fir st lap , Orlando ca u g h t
T u rner a nd was pursuing Lee a t a
sp ri n t-race pa ce. Meanwhil e, Sco tt
Elledge a nd Greg Sm ith batt led for
fourth on a pai r o f Rl350s. Lee' s
g lory wa s short- lived . how ever, as hi s
G S750 sta rted p roducing large amounts of blue sm o ke before th e end
o f th e first hour. T h ree laps la ter . a
p it stop to assess th e problem turned
into a -lO- mi n u te rebuild effor t, T he
Alp ine Su zuki-sponsored machine.
a lso ridden by Steve Scott. experie nced
no fur th er difficulties th roughout the
day. but th e 35-lap defici t was too
d ifficu lt to ma ke up.
Orl ando assumed the lead. followed
by T urner o n a G Pz750. JT T erry on
a 500 Int ercep tor , Smi th and .G eoff
Cesma t on a n FZi 50. T h e Orlando/
Dimick team expe rie nced no serious
difficulti es for the remainder o f th e
race. Dimick la id the bike down briefly
to a voi d an un flagg ed fallen rid er.
bu t resumed speed witho ut los ing
significant time. Orlando lik ewise
slid o ut d uring a sho rt rainsh ower
lat e in th e race.
Meanwhile. th e Turner broth ers.
with third rider J acobsen , put in a
fin e show o n th eir GPz a nd succeeded
in taking the lead a t th e th ird-hour
mark during Dim ick 's stint o n th e
Fl. Orlando 's reappearance at th e
co n tro ls cu t that effon shan. th en the
big GPz started faltering during th e
fourth-hour . foiling any late-race
comeback. T he team fini shed six laps
down in sixth position .
Geoff Cesrnar 's Fl. also ridden by
Mik e Pet tiford, simultaneou sly moved
slowly up the ranks , from fifth p lace
a t th e first-hour m ark to th ird by the
second a nd into th e number two
position by th e fifth-hou r. Some confusion a t th e en d o f th e race had sp ecta tors think ing th a t Orlando was 15
seco nds behind Cesma t with a p pro ximat el y five laps rem a in ing. Orlan do 's th ree-second-per-lap ad vantage
ca lcu la ted 10 a ncar pho to-fini sh .
Traffi c was th e unk no wn va ria ble,
however . and Orla ndo fin ished th e
ra ce with what a p pe a red to be a twoseco nd defici t , but in fact was two seco nds sh y o f three laps a head o f th e
seco nd-place fin isher.
\Vilh th e ra ce o ver, co ntroversv
a ppea red wh en Cesmu t a nd Peuifor il
protested th e a p paren t winner. MRA
ru lebook s sp ecificall y sta te th at a
crashed bike must be re-reched pri or
to entering th e race: th is. it was
claim ed, wa s no t do ne a fter O rla n do's slid e-o ut. From Orla ndo's perspective, th e bik e had been cleared by
th e co rne r worker a t th e loca tion o f
th e accident . bu t he p itted the bike
a ny way fo r a double-ch eck. T he offi cia l in spector was n o t to be fou nd ,
sta ted team manager Zickrick , a nd
a fter a hurr ied search, he sent rhe bik e
back int o th e race. No officia l tech
inspecti on occurred . Had th e protest
been accep ted. Orlan do and Dim ick