Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

before it sta rted worki ng, a nd [ had 10 replace a muffler mount o nce . [ love the trail a nd [ like riding th e roc ks, bu t th e dust is k ind of bad ." Becau se Bert ra m 's au tomati c ru ns hotter tha n most mot o rcvcl es, h e wa s for ced 10 cha nge gear oi l a t a lmost every chec k. Bra ke p roblem s a lso pl agued Husqvarna rider Kevin Hines (H usky ;:1 T eam ). " My wh ol e fro nt brake asse mbl y fell a pa rt, a n d it reall y hun m e in the seco nd specia l test ," sa id H in es. " In th e cross co u ntry test , [ fell o nce and had 10 pass three riders . One guy wouldn 't let me by. so I had 10 kn ock him down . In th e bottlen eck , I had to run over bik es a nd riders to ge t to the top o f th e hill , but ba sica lly [ didn 't hav e much p roblems. I'll be th ere o n da y six - a lot o f g uys won ' I." Suzu ki RM I25-mountl'd J im Norris did n 't get o ff 10 a good stan. " I had a bad day, " said Norris. " I su rvived, th at 's about it. I got st uck in tha t bott len eck a nd had 10 push a lo t, so [ go t p ooped o ut. I didn 't hav e m y bike jelled right and it lat er seized. I h ad 10 stop a coup le o f times to let it cool o ff. Then I sta rted rid in g sloppy and I twisted my knee. T omo rro w I'm going to have 10 ride with a kn ee brace." Bill v Fu lmer , o n a Team Honda XR350, lost three mi nu tes on th e h il l. " I wai ted at th e bottom o f the hill a nd pus hed m yself to the front," said Fu lm er. " T he n later o n , [ hit a big tree bra n ch tha t pu lled me right off th e bik e." H usk y four-s tr ok e rider J o hn H aak er (Sa linas Ra m blers MC) a lso dropped m inu tes o n the first day. " Beg in n ing with th e seco n d loop , th e bike starte d quitting on m e," said Haaker. "It wou ld di e, th en run, th en di e aga in . I th ou ght it mi gh t be th e kill button so I took it apart, but that wasn 't it. It took me 10 m in utes to figu re ou t that th e gas ta nk vent tub e was twisted sh u t. Lat er o n in th e da y, a roc k kn ocked a hol e in m y clutch co ver, so [ h ad 10 d uct tape th e h ol e until th e Swedes loaned me a sidecase. " Haak er lost 2460 p o int s. T he man o f th e da y wa s Roesel er. The Ca lifo rnia n didn ' t lose a nv ro u te points whil e turning in th e thi rd fast est specia l test score o f th e da y. The end result : top Am eri can for day o ne . "T h e trail is real good ," sa id Roeseler, " bu t is a little tough for da y one . Th ere a re a lot of two-tracker trails o u t there a n d il a lmost feels like Baj a (Mexico ) - [ a lmos t hit a cow one rim e. T he key is n or to mak e a ny m istakes; don 't go 100 fa st, bu t ma in tain a rea l smoot h pace. You ha ve to reall y ta ke ca re o f th e bik e by stayi ng away from th e ro cks a nd no t ge tt ing a fla t tir e." P ri o r to th e start of day o ne , CanAm 's J ohn Ma rrin was feeli ng sick. " My stomach was cra mp in g a nd aching pretty bad," sa id Ma rrin , " but I took some co ncrere pi lis in the morning wh ich helped, but [ still felt q ueasy a ll da y." Despite h is p ro blem s, Martin did n ' t lose any route poi nts a nd ma intai ned good spe cial test sco res. Ma rrin wasn' t th e on ly rid er feeling ill at th e start. An ISDE rookie on th e squad, Nay lor, was nursing a 106deg ree fever and stomach pai ns two days before th e event a nd was bed ridd en . He d id, h owever, manage to make th e sta n, fever and a ll, without losing a ny rra il mark s. Tom Buckl es (H us ky #2 Tea m) was ha ving a good day befo re punchin g a hole in hi s left sidecase wh en h e hit a rock co m ing o u t o f a creek bed . He rod e to th e next chec k wh ere he was a lso a ble 1 bo rrow a sidecase 0 from th e Swedes. He rep laced it, but lost 20 minutes. " I' m nor bummed, " sa id Buckl es, " there 's p lenty o f time to work back up to 'silver." The spec ia l test sect io ns a re wh at rea lly hun th e U.S. lea rns o n da y on e and through out the six days. T he first spe cial test was a grass tra ck and Mull fell wit h two turns ,left to ea rn a n u m ber 57 ranking in th e 125('(: class a r th e end of rhe da y. Ford T annock (Tras k Moun tain M.e. ) fin ished lap Am eri can in th e 125s with 21st. wh ile next ' Am eri can was J ohn Miller at 341h. Ital y's Rena ro Pegurri, riding a 'I'M, had th e fastest co m bined time. Henk Seppen woolde fro m H o lland cl icked off th e fastest ti mes o n the 250s, while lap Amer ican was Fredeu e in 16th. Ma rtin placed 24th , wh ile Kadl ec a nd Ra n dv Hawki ns were 26th and 29th. Fast~sr Am eri ca n o n a 500 wa s Geoff Balla rd , who placed six th. Fren chman Stephan d Pet er Hansel landed th e quickest 500 time . Roeseler was the second fast est in the Four-Stroke class, finishi ng less rha n two seco nd s behi nd Gua lti ero Brisso ni from Ital y. Kevi n Bro wn , rid ing a YZ490 on th e Bent Wheels Mot orcycle Cl ub, had th e fastest acceleration lim es during both da ys one a nd two . Ir was eviden t after day one rhar rear tire ch anges were a goi ng to be a must a t rhe end of each da y. T he ecology Met zeler ti res th e Am eri can rea ms were using weren ' t hol d in g u p in the roc ky terra in . Many riders ca me into the fina l chec k with a ll th e center kno bbies co m p letely rom o ff. For Roescler, da y two was a major downer. H is ch a nces to tak e a cla ss win , which would hav e been a first for a n Am eri can , took a turn for th e worse when he pi cked up a flat li re a nd lost th ree minutes o n th e trail. " [ ca me into a chec k a n d noticed I had a nail in m y tire, but it wa s still h oldin g a ir," said Roeseler, " I d idn 't have tim e to cha nge th e tube so I filled it up wi th sea l 'n ' a ir. Ir las ted for a whi le and th en the tire went flat. [ had to ch a nge it durin g o ne o f the tigh test checks and lost th e th ree m inu tes. Before th at , ever ything wa s going grea t. Giugliemo And rei ni bea t me in the specia l test by o n ly a couple o f seco n ds . Gett ing th e flat rea lly bums me. If it wa s ca used bva roc k, o h we ll, but pi ck in g up a n;~iI is j us t ro tte n lu ck. " Kad lec al so picked up a na il and lo st lim e. " I cha ng ed tu bes not kn ow in g th ere wa s still a nail in th e tire, so it went Oat agai n a co u p le o f minutes lat er. Since [ used up m y o n ly tube, ~ had to ri de to th e next chec k, bu t th e lire ca rne off th e rim a nd wrapped up arou nd th e wh eel. [lost II m in u tes." The Swedis h team wa sn 't havin g a very good day ei ther. Flat tires caused the m to lose tim e on the trail, eno ugh to g ive th e Ital ia n tea m th e lead a t the end o f the day . Sweden d ro p pe d to thi rd wi th seco nd going to th e East Ger ma ns. Martin , feeli ng sligh tly better than th e da y befor e, was sti ll cru ising al ong, mainta ini ng a smooth pace a nd good spe cia l lest li mes. " No flat tires yet, " said Mart in , " T oda y wa s a littl e easier , but it's still dusty and rock y as ever. T h ere are some p la ces o u t there th at were-absolu te trial s sectio ns, very tigh t a nd roc ky." " Everyth ing is goi ng great," sa id Balla rd , " no wo rries , no fla ts so far, a nd [ ha ven ' t lost a ny rou te poi nts. [ did cras h in th e cross -co untry lest yesterda y, th ough . It was rea lly dusty a nd [ ran into a tree. T odav I slid o ut o n th e pavem en t wh en" h it so m e loose grave l, but it was no big deal. " T he rest o f th e T roph y team was keepin g good time on th e tra il and lost no po ints, but special lest sco res were still di smal for th e American s. William Perkins (Tras k Mountain M.e., 125cc Husk y) didn 't lose any ro u te po ints despi te cras h ing a co upl e o f tim es. "Today I fell into a sixfoot di tch," said Perk in s, "and I ~ ~ ~ ~ , ,~ ... V ..0 o ..... u o A m ember of the wi nning Swed is h Trophy T eam, 1 2 5 cc ri d er Peter Hansson alm ost won the motocross sp ecial t est bu t suffere d a flat tire. Riding a Husky automatic, Dave Bertram was top American in t he 500cc - class. Here he changes a rear tire after day one. cras hed on a h ill in th e terrain test." Naylo r los t 60 points ea rly in th e day whe n h is H onda fail ed to sta rt within th e a llotted 60-second tim e p er iod. " I didn ' t even kn ow I wa s la te," said Na ylor , " [ thought it started in time, bu t I g uess it di dn ' I." Despi te a co up le of ru n-ins with riders stuck on the side of a h ill a nd sti ll Ieel in g a little sic k, Naylor zeroed th e rest o f th e dav. A(le~ losin g 60 poi nts the first day when his H uskv wo u ld n' t sta rt in time, H oess agai n lost 60 points o n the seco nd da y wh en he go t lost. " In thi s one real tig ht section," said H oess, " I made a wrong tu rn , and they didn 't have a n y wrong-wa y markers o n th is wid e road. By th e time I got to the next chec k, I was 10 seco nds past m y gra ce." He a lso ha d slo w acceleralio n tim es because o f transm ission problems . " It 's reall y ha rd 10 sh ift for some reason," sa id H oess. "I had a real hard time.sh ifti ng in th e accelera tion test a nd co u ldn' t get it o u t o f th ird gea r." . Roeseler , Mart in a n d J eff Irw in were three o f th e few rid ers th at d idn 't ha ve a ny p roblem s o n da y th ree. "Everyth ing wen t real good for me today, " sai d Ro eseler, " I dodged a ll th e n ail s a nd had th e seco nd fastest time in th e specia l test sectio ns ." Ma rti n kept up hi s co nsis tent a nd smoo th tra il pace whi le not losing an y route points. " 1 a lmost los t so me Portugal d idn ' t finish da y one. time in o ne check po int because th e chec k wa s a bo u t seve n mil es o ff," Mart in sa id . Bert ram zeroed da y rhr ee despi ie replacin g hi s entire transmission in a chec k d uring th e seco nd loop. " It wa s a preventative maintenance move," sa id Bertram. " I had a ll th e part s a lready layed O U I a nd read y 10 go wh en [ ca rne in. It took me a bo u t nin e minutes." Da y th ree wasn 't a good day for Ball a rd, wh o was plagued wi th three nat ti res (two in o ne sectio n ) a nd m o tor prob le m s through a cross- 13

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