Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

' ~ ~I 5 ~ ~ >a: a: 5 >co en 0 .... 0 lr') 00 :I: e, ~ ~ Smith wins thriller over Crandall By Larry Langley ~ (;'(") L UCERNE VALLEY, CA, ~ l-t ocr. 27 Team Husky rider Dan Smith won an exciting duel with ATK rider Chris Crandall by just20 feet at the 100's M.C. AMA D-37 Desert race. Smith had a huge lead at the end of the V ..c 8 v ;> 0 -z first loop but he had been feelin g sick all week; on th e second loop, Smith had to stop three times, allow ing Crandall to (A bove) Ch ris Crandall chases winner Dan Smith thro ugh t he rock field shortly before the fin ish. (Below) 250cc Expert w inner Mark Zoller. 34 100'5 M.C. D·37 Johnson Valley Cham~ionsh i~ Hare and Hound: close th e gap with just th ree miles to go. The two rid ers' dust trail s were clearl y visible from th e fin ish line as they ca me. across the vall ey towards the finis h a nd th e ga thered specta tors were a nt icipa ting a close finish . The IOD 's had routed th e finish th ro ugh a virgi n roc k field ri ght into th e finish ch u te and wh en Sm ith and Crandall came into pl ain view , th ey were just feet apa rt, Smith try ing to hold the Barstow- to -Veg a s winner o ff, a nd Cranda ll tryin g to ge t by th e number o ne plate holder. Wh en both riders hit th e ro cks, neither let o ff th e gas a n d everyo ne held th eir breath , figuring o ne, or both, would ea t it in th e roc ks. But Smith jumped o ff th e hill into th e fin ish with C randall just a n eyebli n k behind to th e chee rs o f the cro wd. Sm ith was weak a nd had to be helped o ff hi s 500 Husky as he had gi ven h is a ll in holding o ff Crandall. " I just h ad eno ugh to stay in front," sa id a very ti red Smit h a fterwards. " I had a good lead but 1 had to stop a co u p le o f tim es to th ro w up a nd he ca ug h t me a few miles o ut. It was' a hell o f a fin ish !" Smi th is sponsored b y H u s k y/B e l - Ray / D u nl o p / H iPo int l Au toli te/Scott USA/ Go ld Belt . How di d the win ner like the co u rse? " T he seco n d loo p was reall y neat, sorta lik e th e C heck Chase a co u p le o f weeks ago. Th e first loop was p rett y Ilat o u t." With th ew in , Smith locked u p th e Open class number o ne pl at e fo r the seco nd yea r in a ro w. Crandall had hi s usual bad sta rt with a three-kick effo rt to ge t th e big ATK fo ur-stro ke fired up. " It wasn 't th e b ike's fault , it ha s been sta rti n g o ka y. I just got too ten sed up a nd blew it," sa id Crandall. " After that 1 j us t sta rted pi cking riders off and kept pushing it. I co u ldn ' t even see Dan 's dust until well into th e seco nd loop . Then' saw it a nd rea lly sta rted pushi ng. , . th ink I su rp rised hi m w hen ' came up on him ana it wa s j ust a fla t-o u t race to th e fin ish . Give h im credit, he got th ere first." T he sta rt a lso crea ted problems for C ha rlie Morris jr. wh en he co ll ided with a co u p le of fell ow So. Cal. M.C . cl u b mem bers , a nd bent hi s Husky u p beyo nd repa ir. He wanted to ride a nyway so he threw hi s number plate o n a spa re bi ke (wh ich happen ed to be a 500 ) and took o ff a fter th e depa rted pack . thr ee minutes down . At th e en d o f loop o ne, Morris had moved a ll th e way up to 10th o vera ll ' A; the fin ish he wa s in the top five hu t d isq ua lified h im self fo r sw itch ing bikes. A grea t bike for naught. Da n Ash cra ft fina lly fin ished afte r a run o f bad lu ck a nd ca me in third overa ll o n hi s facto ry H usky. " Hey, it fel t good a nd just before th e Baj a 1000," sa id Ashcraft. "We (referr ing to co-rider Smith), are go ing to win i t. " Veteran Mik e Fitzgera ld put his RM250 Suzuki into the top 10 a t the end o f th e first loop an d finished fifth ove ra ll to p rove th e o ld guys can sti ll blow them o ff. Th e 100's ran a semi-pro event; Smith picked up the Open class purse whil e Pro-Cycle owner Mark Zoller rode hi s KT M to th e 250cc cla ss win a n d purse. Zoller edg ed o u t Eric j en sen for top sho p owner as jensen finished right behind Zoller. j ensen is the owner o f Eric 's Motorcycles in Pasadena an d is a former 'SDT rider.. Brett Howell (Ka w ) won th e 175cc cla ss aga in but Scott Anderson (Yam ) was happy to finish seco nd. He had four DNF's in a row . First overall Amateur was Lon Brand on a CR500 H onda . What was n ot abl e was that it . was Brand 's first ride as a n Amateur. H e was first o vera ll Novice a t th e Ch eck C has e two weeks p rior and had then been tra ns ferred to h is new class. Mom a nd Dad ar e hi s sponsors (Brand Plaster in g ) a nd were very . p roud . Bill Saltzman ca me th rough as first Sen ior but was reportedl y disq ua lified for ch an g ing bikes. That left th e win to number 0184, with former endu ro rid er Sterli ng Varner (H us) in seco nd. T om W illi s led Cra nd a ll a t th e end of th e first loo p o n a four-strok e Hu sky, hut cra shed on the second loop to end hi s bid for fou r-stro ke su p remacy . He fini sh ed, bu t was way down . Desert M.C. member Wal t Baehr pow ered h is Yamaha to the 250cc Senior Expert class win, beat ing o u t th e usu al winn er Al Guzman (Suz) and La uren T uo hi no. Larry Gorden rac ked up yet a not he r li5cc Seni or Expert class win beating David Kersting. The 100's put together an impressive package o f g ive-a way goodies for th e riders, and were rewarded with a good turnout, in excess of 420 rid ers. The sponsors were too numerous to mention, but specia l thanks sho u ld go to Floyd at Montclair Yamaha for donat in g a Yamaha three-wheeler for th e 100's to raffle off . - • Unofficial results OPEN EX: 1. Dan Smith (Hus); 2. Chr is Crandall (ATK); 3. Dan Ashcraft (Hus). OPEN AM : 1. Lon Brand (Han); 2. Jamie Haas (Han). OPEN NOV: 1. #159; 2. #4 11; 3. #42 7. 250 EX: 1. Mark Zoller ; 2. #66x. 250 AM : 1. Tom Bradshaw ; 2. Rober Hund loft ; 3. .M ike Jones. 250 NOV: 1. #324.; 2. #3 19.; 3. #31 Bx. 175 EX: 1. Brett How ell (Kaw ); 2. Scott And erson (Yam ): 3. Dan Dalton. 175 AM : 1, Ed LaAosche Jr.; 2. M ichael Ma rtin. 175 NOV : t . #46c: 2 . Glen Armst rong; 3 . Robert Piche. VET OPEN EX: 1. Wa yne Carlton (M -S); 2. Jim Robinson; 3 . Tim Johnson. VET 250 EX: 1. M ike Fitzge ra ld (Suz); 2. Tom Holmes; 3 . Steve Pragle. OPEN SR EX: 1. #01 B4; 2. Sterli ng Varn er. 25 0 SR EX; 1. Wa lt Baehr (Vam); 2. A I Guzman (Suz): 3 . Lauren Tuohino. 175 SR EX: 1. Larry Gorden: 2. David Kersting.

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