Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cagiva-mounted Bryan Folks took the 125cc class win. while fellow Cagiva rider Duane Summers suffered mechanical problems. ited/Spectro/HalLman). "Casey Folks always puts on a good race and this was one of the best. They used a lot of the same course as last year, but they ran us backwards and it looks a lot 16 different that way. "I didn't really have any problems during the race. Just building the bike the day before! It arrived at Las Vegas airport Friday morning (the day before the championship) still in the crate and we only got one tank of gas run through it before the race. It did the job though." Sweetland described his start as "pretty decent. I think I was probably 15th or so off the line, and after that I just tried to ride consistently. My favorite pan was loop three - probably because that's where 1 took the lead. Basically it was rocky and real tight - the whole course was like that. "We had snow in the first loop and covering nearly all of loop three. I'm really glad it was cold, because even with the snow I was getting hot working so hard to stay on the bike." Second overall went to another rider from Phoenix - 22-year-old Jeff Darland, on a 500 Honda (Sunnyslope Honda/Dirt Unlimited/Sun Valley Auto Body). "I loved it. It was a real nice course and real challenging," Darland said. "I crashed twice, but it was no big deal. I just hit rocks and fell. I had a good race going with Sweetland going into loop three. We raced down the asphalt for four or five miles and that was fun, but he got away." . Darland said it was entirely coincidental that riders from Arizona took first and second overall. "There are a few races in our area that are rocky, but nothing like Nevada," he said. "The desen at this race is totally different from what we have in Arizona, so we don't have any advantage. And riding in the snow was different. I've never ridden in snow before." Third overall went to Steele, the 24-year-old sponsored by Whiskey Pete's, Greg Primm, EP Performs and Bud Yates Construction. "That second loop was the roughest thing I've ever ridden," said the ATK pilot. "I stalled right at the top of Casey's Downhill and ended up rolling all the way to the bottom. ~ut I can't complain because I did a lotof catching up in that loop." "My front fender was taken off by a rock thrown up. by Dan Ashcraft's bike, so I had mud in my face the' whole second half of the race. Going across the dry lake bed the mud was allover the placeI" Fourth overall went to Don Griewe (Hus/Uptite Husky/International Motor Sports/Cycle World/Answer/ Silkolene), with Brad McLeod (Scotts of Montrose/AXOlWestway Electric) close behind. Colorado's 31-year-old 'Terry Lin Kyle took sixth overall, and would have overalled the Vet class by 15 positions had he entered as an Over-30 rider. The battle for top honors in the 250cc class was won by Tom Kelly, who crossed the finish line in ninth overall. Kelly's arch rival for the 250 crown Lojak, who led going. into loop four, disappeared somewhere in the final section and was not among the top 50 finishers. The :a·year·oid Keiiy, who was one of the few unsponsored riders at the event, describes himseH as a "semi-retired" racer. "I don't do a whole lot of racing now - in fact the last time I raced was this event last year," he said. "I race this because I know it'll be tough. I love the courses here." Kelly said he had a relatively trouble-free race. "I missed my pit at the first gas stop and lost five places going back to find it, and I fell once, but everything went well apart from that. The only thing I didn't like about the whole event was that they had too many fast fire roads in the

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