Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Washington and Michigan winner Charles Halcomb needed a strong finish in Tennessee to secure a spot on the ISOE Trophy Team. which he did. Yamaha YZ250-mounted Tim Shephard took top honors in the 250cc class and finished seven points behind Ballard to claim second overall.. Tim Surdyke and his Yamaha IT200 fall victim to the slick rocks in a stream crossing. Surdyke recovered and claimed a silver medal for his efforts. restarted n:Jy bike and rode hard to get back on time. I reached the next check on my grace. I was happy." Shilliner, meanwhile, wasn't as lucky. "I completely missed the next check and that automatically disqualified me," said Shilliner. In the one-man Four-Stroke class, Husqvarna's Mark Hyde lost no trail points but crashed and stalled it in the second special test, pretty much putting him oULOf overall contention. Day two For most of the riders, day two started off rather smoothly with everyone's bike starting on time. Honda 'CR250 rider Todd Harris, however, had to fix a rear flat tire during the to-minute work period before the start. Harris ran out of fresh rear tires after the first day, so he wanted to reverse the tire on the rim before impounding his bike (Saturday after'noon). But after removing the tire, Harris'mistakenly mounted the rear tire in the same direction as before. With time running out, Harris tried removing the tire again but pinched the tube in his hurry. He had to wait until morning to fix the flat, which he did with three minutes to spare. Out on the trail, most of the riders were reaching each check with approximately five minutes to spare. In one section, l;Ialcomb and Summers beat a check that wasn't even set up yet, after a stream crossing. Not knowing there was supposed to be a check there, the two Cagiva riders blasted to the next check - before the special test section - 25 minutes ahead of time. "It was a nice break," said Halcomb. Halcomb edged Summers by one second in the special test during their first time around on Sunday, 287-288. But it was Ballard, once again, who claimed the fastest time in the morning with a 278, beating his closest rival's (Shephard) score by four seconds. Lojak clocked '\ quick time of 281 (second fastest overall). Just after the special test sections, the riders were run up.a deep stream. A few riders came close to drowning out, and Lojak hit a deep spot and did drown his motor. He managed to push his bike to dry ground and get it fired right away. Harris also found this deep spot in the river, but wasn't as lucky as Lojak. He drowned his Honda then dropped his bike twice, submerging it and himself (including his helmet) completely under water. "I U-boated-it and took a bath," said Harris. "My helmet and boots were full of water." He then pushed his bike out of the water and tried starting it, but the Honda wouldn't fire. :'1 had to change the spark plug twice and drain the carburetor." Ten to 12 minutes later, his CR finally sr,arted, and then he had to make up lost time. "I had the thing tapped out on all the roads," said Harris. "I made it back to the pits, filled my bike with gas and went through the next check on my grace." After all that, Harris didn't lose a single point. Atthis time, Brown dropped out of the race with a broken bike. "lL was one of those stupid, lillie nothing Ed lojak drowns out his 250cc Husky in a river and pushes itto dry ground. lojak finished second in class; his first race since knee surgery. falls," said Brown. "I dropped the bike and broke the water pump. Water was blowing out everywhere." Four riders tied for the fastestacceleration times Sunday. Stephen Chapkovich, Bean, Crain and Hyde all claimed a 38 score; Ballard had a 43. "I messed up," said Ballard. "I thought I was in top gear, but I wasn't. I rode the whole way in fourth gear instead of fifth." The final time around on the grass track belonged to Lojak, who smoked everybody, including Ballard. Lojak clocked a 275 time, beating Ballard's second 278 score of the day. Shephard was three seconds slower than Ballard, so the Australian prelly much clinched the overall from there since there was no final MX special test. Despite having problems with trail riders riding the opposite direction on the course, and having to physically kick one of the riders out of his way, Ballard continued on and lost no route points to the finish, wrapping up his third qualifier overall. • Results . OVERALL: 1. Geoff Ballard (C-A); 2. Tim Shephard (Vam): 3. Ed Lojak (Hus); 4. Bob Bean(Hus); 5. Tony Hendon (Hus); 6. Duane Summers (Cag)'; 7. David Crain (Hus); 8. Mark Hyde (Hus); 9. Charles Halcomb (Cag); 10. Greg Surdyke (Vam). 125: 1. Duane Summers (Cag); 2. Charles Holcomb (Cag); 3. Larry Arrington ICag); 4. Miek McCarren. 250: 1. Tim Shephard (Vam); 2. Ed Lojak (Hus); 3. Tony Hendon (Hus); 4. Greg Surdyke (Vam); 5. Reed Bright (Hus); 6. Dwight Rudder (Cag); 7. Todd Harris (Han); 8. Stephen Vanasse; 9. Jeremy Garber; 10. Tim Surdyke (Vam). 500: 1. Geoff Ballard (C-A); 2. Bob Bean (Hus); 3. David Crain (Hus); 4. George Waller (Hus); 5. Danny Gaile; 6. Tim Wilson. 4-STROKE: 1. Mark Hyde (Hus). 21

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