Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Dave Bertram led going into the final MX special test but was nipped by teammate Roeseler. Bertram wound up second overall; first 500cc. Larry Roeseler rode his 1987 production 51 Dec water-cooled four-stroke Husky to the overall win at the Evergreen Two-Day Qualn.r. AMA Reliability TrialsjlSDE Qualifier Series: Round 4 Roeseler conquers Washington Evergreen Two-Day By Kit Palmer CAPITOL FOREST, WA, JUNE 28-29 "I really wanted to put it all together and win this one," said Team Husqvarna's Larry Roeseler after winning Seafair City's Evergreen Two-Day Qualifier in the thick woods of Washington. "I've been riding qualifiers for the past nine years, and good trails and organization here made this one prob- 8 ably the best one I've ever ridden." After taking two seconds and a third in the past three qualifiers, Roeseler did put everything together and beat teammate Dave Benram by 10 seconds for the overall. But Roeseler's win didn't come easily. Going into the final motocross special test, Roeseler was 15 points (seconds) behind Bertram, so Roeseler had to beat Bertram's MX time by at least 16 seconds to take the overall - which he did with nine seconds to spare. As well a~ taking the overall, RoeseIer captured the Four-StroKe class win on his water-cooled 1987 production Husky. Husky-mounted John Haaker finished second in class, despite leading Roeseler by two points after day one. David Rhodes made it a 1-2-3 Husky class sweep, while Honda riders Drew Smith and Bruce Ogilvie finished fourth and fifth. Bertram and his Team Husky 430cc Automatic claimed the 500cc class win, 50 points ahead of teammate Friu Kadlec, who held the overall after the first day. Jim Neilson, David Crain and Jeff Irwin rounded out the LOp five. Husqvarna rider Fred Hoess was the LOp 250cc rider Saturday, but Honda's Chuck Miller nailed the class win (fourth overall) after winning his MX special test. Hoess, who crashed in his MX special test, dropped to third, while last week's Trask Mountain, Oregon, winner Kurt Hough squeaked by for second. Fourth and fifth went to Husky's Randy Hawkins and Jim Stanfield. Cagiva/Husky's Charles Halcomb 'collected his second 125cc class win of the series after failing to finish the Trask Mountain Qualifier. In every special test Sunday, Halcomb and his Cagiva claimed the fastest times: Honda rider Pete Postel finished 76 points back in second, while last week's winner William R. Perkins placed third on his Husky. Coors Extra Gold-sponsored Jeff Miller took his Kawasaki KXI25 to a fourth, while KTM-moumed Phil Linderman placed fifth. . Day one Endurance was the key at the Evergreen Two-Day. Two tight and woodsy 80-mile-plus loops were run Saturday, making it the longest day in terms of mileage so far in the series. Warm temperatures kept much of the mostly-rocky trail dry and dusty. Day one was relatively DNF-free, with none of the top riders dropping out or losing any trail points, except for Can-Am's Geoff Ballard. Ballard, who's won two qualifiers this year, broke down four miles into the day with an ignition failure, ending CanAm's two-day series win streak at three. (Ballard's teammate, Johnny Martin, winner of the Michigan TwoDay, did not compete at Washington). Both days featured a special (combination grass, MX and rough terrain) test, an acceleration test and a rough terrain test. (The acceleration test scores were thrown out on day one due to faulty timing lights). On the trail, Haaker, whose 1986 four-stroke Husky broke a rod last week at Trask, developed carburetor problems. "The carb blew off twice," said Haaker. "It didn't cost me much time on the trail, but it was an inconvenience. They're a pain to put back on." Perkins had a couple of scares Saiurday while in contention for the 125cc win. "My bike fouled a plug once, and I had to change that," said Perkins. "Then I crashed hard through a stream crossing and bent my shift lever." P.erkins lost no trail points, however. Irwin's chance at the 500cc class win pretty much ended in the special test when his Husky threw its chain. "I hit a rock and bent the sprocket-I lost about 35 seconds," said Irwin. In the first trail terrain test, RoeseIer clocked off the fastest time, just one second fasLer than Kadlec's. But in the special test, Roeseler lost points. "I came off one of the big jumps on the MX section, and my handlebars came loose and dropped down," said Roeseler. "I tried pulling them back up, but I stalled the motor." This cost Roeseler valuable points; he ended up with a score of 387 (seconds), compared to the fastest time, Kadlec's 364. Tied for the second fastest were Bertram and Haaker at 366. The second time around on the special test at the end of Saturday, Roeseler knew he couldn't afford to make any mistakes but had to click off a fast time - which he did. In fact, it was the fastest time of the day at 357; three seconds faster than Bertram, and seven seconds faster than Haaker and Hoess. At the end of the first day, it was Kadlec holding on to the overall lead at 1084 points, three ahead of Bertram. Haaker was third at 1100, while Roeseler was fourth with a 1102. Leading the 250cc class at sixth overall was Hoess, seven seconds ahead of Chuck Miller, 1109-1116. At 12th overall was first l25cc - Halco1m. He enjoyed a 10-second margin over Postel (15th overall). Other day-one overall notables were Smith at ninth; Randy Hawkins at 13th; Jeff Fredene at 14th and former National Enduro Champion Mike Melton at 18th. Day two All the leaders managed to not lose any late-start points at the beginning of day two. One-hundred miles of trails faced the riders Sunday, some of which were tighter and more difficult than Saturday's - mostly through the first two checks. It was here (before the first check) when Kadlec blew his chance for the overall. "We \Vent for a trail ride. Mike (Melton) and I were riding on the same minute when we got lost and started to ride on yesterday's trail," said Kadlec. "We were about 20 minutes behind when I realized we were off course..I just went for it, and the trail was tight and hard to make up time on. I

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