Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

r---:-:-:-::-:-::~-:-:--:--:-:-----=--:---:-:----------------, z w a:: w > W III Z ~ ~ o ~ >- III ~ o J: CL Husky's Dan Smith is seemingly unstoppable. as he captured yet another desert race win. this time the Inveders M.e. Saucer Run. D-37 Invaders at.C. Saucer Run Smith unstoppable! By Anne and Tom Van Beveren LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, MAR. 23 Dan Smith again stormed in at the head of the field to take the overall win at the Invaders M.C. 17th Annual Saucer Run held at Lucerne Valley. In usual Smith style, the Team Husky ace charged into the lead on the bomb run and never looked back, building up a full four-minute lead over 12 Husky teammate Dan Ashcraft by the end of the race. The dusty bomb run started on the berm of Soggy Dry Lake and favored the bigger bikes with open, slightly uphill terrain; Smith and his 500XC Husky opened up a l5-second lead over Ken Parry's 250 Yamaha, with Honda-mounted Vet Open Expert Bruce Ogilvie running in third. Open Experts Ron Shuler, Randy Morales and Mike "Downhill" Alexander were next through at the bomb, with Charlie Morris J r., fresh from a win in the 250cc class in last weekend's round of competition in the Championship Hare and Hound Series, in hot pursuit. Vet Open Expert Bill Becker was running in seventh overall at the bomb, with the first Senior rider, Bob Ashcraft (Hus) close behind. Noticeably absent from the frontrunners at the bomb were Husky's Open class aces Ashcraft and Chris Crandall, and So. Cal M.C.'s 250cc ace Dale Knapp. Ail three riders got bad starts and were slowed by the dust. The first loop, which was 45 miles long and took the leaders about an hour to complete, was described as challenging by most of the riders. Loop One began with a 10-mile sec- tion of whoops and bike-swallowing rollers, and then entered the Camp Rock Road area, to begin a high-speed section that paralleled Camp Rock Road and included a run up Camp Rock's usual bomb run. At about the 25-mile mark, the Invaders ran the course across a tough, rocky section. In a sudden change from high speed riding to tight enduro-like terrain, riders were forced to pick their own line across the fourmile section that had no established trails. Next, it was out of the rocks and into a deep sandwash littered with large boulders that made for tight turns and waterfall drop-offs, before another high speed run across Johnson Valley and into home check. Smith was out in front by one-anda-quarter minutes going into the pits at the end of Loop One, and had disappeared over the horizon leaving only a trail of dust to mark the course by the time Bruce Ogilvie arrived in second overall, with Dan Ashcraft, who had made up a lot of ground after his slow start, hard on his heels. There was a tough baule going on for fourth overall at the halfway point, with Ken Parry and Ron Shuler running side-by-side and wide-open for the last two miles into the pits. Randy Morales and Mike Alexander were next through in the Open class, with Charlie Morris Jr., running more sideways than straight with a flat rear tire, Duane SUll\roel;s)1l the C class, and Bob Ashcraft, also high in the running. First in the Amateur race, and 24th overall going into the pits, was Open class rider Mike Johnson, with 250cc Amateur rider Jon Garner ni pping at his heels. At the end of the 40-mile second loop, which Smith completed in about an hour, unbeatable Dan had increased his lead to four minutes after Ashcraft, who stole econd overall from Ogilvie about 15 miles from the finish. "The course was a Iiule bit fast but it was fun," said Smith at the finish. "It was more of a fun course than anything, and it was marked well." Smith said he especially enjoyed riding the second loop. "The second loop wasn't quite so fast and they took us out through the sand dunes - on all virgin trails. They had nice little washes that had never been ridden before. It's great that they took us through a lot of new terrain - it makes the race more interesting." Smith also said that he had no problems with the rocky parts of the course, having had plenty of practice in rocky terrain in last weekend's Championship Hare and Hound competition at Searchlight, Nevada. "I had no problems with the rocks we raced in - they were fun. We had worse rocks last weekend out by Vegas. These ones just made the course in teresting," said Smith. Smith was especially pleased with his performance on the bomb run, which he said had earned him a dollar. "Ashcraft owes me a dollar for the bomb run," he said. "We practiced our own bomb runs yesterday. Ashcraft thought he had a fast line, and I did too - so we beta dollar on it. And I won'" A visibly tired Ashcraft said he had his work cut out for him after a bad start that left him 30th at the bomb. "I don't know what happened at the start. I just got out of the hole badly and everyone was ahead," he said. "Iatedustall the way. Thedust was eve.rywhere right up till I passed Ogilvie about 10 miles back." Ashcraft, who was suffering from sore hands and tired arms, said he was having trouble with his bike's shock. "On these fast courses I'm just bouncing all over the place -my shock's not working too well for some reason," he said. "I couldn't go across that wide-open stuff very smooth at all." Ogilvie, who finished almost two minutes behind Ashcraft to take third overall and first in the over-30 class, said he just got tired after lack of recent riding. "I haven't ridden in so long my arms got tired. I'd go into a corner and just not make it," he said. "I fell off twice in the first loop and once in the second loop - all real slow speed falls." Ogilvie said he got tired about 15 miles into the second loop and dropped off the pace. "Ashcraft caught me about four or five miles after I slowed down. I just got tired," he said. The race for fourth overall and first in the 250cc class resulted in a nearphoto-finish, with Ken Parry (Yam) edging Dale Knapp (Hus) into fifth overall by less than a foot. The finish was so close that the finish chute workers had to ask Wes Anderson Jr., who was holding the checkered flag, for a ruling on the outcome. "I didn't even know he was there right till the end," said Parry. "Boy, that was close. I thought the course was great - it's the first race I've won in a long time, so any course is great'" Parry thanked his sponsors, AXO, PJ-l and Granada Yamaha, "and the Rovers for a great pit." Knapp, who said he did a lot of catching up in the rocky section of Loop One, thanked Mitch Payton of Pro Circuit for his engine work, and Van Nuys Husky. "I snuck up on Parry but he wouldn't let off the throttle," Knapp said. "We had a great race going there at the end." Both Knapp and Parry apologized to the next rider home, Open class Ron Shuler, for cutting him 0[£ in a bad spot on the run into the checkered flag. "We were in a bit of a hurry and cut it a bit close passing him," said Knapp. Shuler (Yam), surprised to be back in sixth overall, said he was running in fourth overall for most of the second loop. "I caughta lapped rider on the way into the finish and he held me up. Then those two came through - I didn't even know they were there!" said Shuler. Shuler, who is sponsored by Alhambra Yamaha, Gear and Race Tech, said he had no complaints about the course. "The Invaders always put on one of the best races of the year - it was great," he said. Next across the line, in seventh overall and fourth in the Open class, was Mike "Downhill" Alexander, followed by John Braasch on a Kawasaki 250. Braasch, who holds the number two plate in the l25cc Expert class, said this was his first race on a 250cc in 13 years. "These things are big -and the bike ends up getting a little heavy after all those miles," he said. First Senior Open Expert home, in ninth overall, was Bob Ashcraft (Hus), who said his favorite section was in the rocks on the first loop. "I loved the rocks," he said- "I passed two or three people in there too. It was a 'hang on' course - my thumb was so tired I couldn't pull in the clutch going into the pits." Next over the line, taking lOth overall and third in the 250cc Expert competition, was a rather-battered Charlie Morris Jr. (Hus), who said he'd had a high speed run-in with C class ace Duane Summers (Cagiva). Summers recovered to take his usual first in the C class at 15th overall. "It happened near the end when we were crossing the valley," Summers explained. "It was wide open and I was tucked down racing and all of a sudden our trails must've come together and we just collided. I never even saw him at all. My bike goes about 80 wide open and it was slightly downhill, and he must've been doing about the same - we both went down. It was such a gnarly crash." Summers, who escaped unhurt, said he was "bummed out" about the crash. "I must've had fourth overall up till then," he said. Morris Jr., who put the speed oCthe crash at about 60 mph, said all he really hurt was his little toe. "The course was junk," he said. "The same old stuff -lots of whoops and not one virgin trail anywhere." Next across the line, in 11 th overall and fifth in the Open class, was Mike McDonald's Kawasaki, which was followed in by Sean Bradley (Hon) in the 250cc class, and Vet Open Expert rider Bill Becker. Husky's Chris Crandall came in to take sixth in the Open class in 14th overall, with the first Vet 250cc bike a brand new KTM piloted by So. Cal M.C.'s Tom Holmes, crossing the finish line in 16th overall. The first Amateur home was 250cc class rider Jon Garner, finishing a high 18th overall in his first ride in the Amateur class. "I just moved up from Novice today," he said. "I had a great time - I thought the course was great, too." Next Amateur to take the checkered flag, taking first in the Open class, was Mike Johnson (Yam), in 22nd overall. (Continued to page 25)

• Cover