Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1985 09 18

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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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

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