Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Honda-mounted S'teve Walker easily won the Fourth Annual Bonzai Run. held January 18 near Ancient Dry Lake. Walker runs away with Bonzai Run By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren ANCIENT DRY LAKE, CA, JAN. 18 Steve Walker powered his Open class Honda to victory at AMA/D-38's Fourth Annual Banzai Run, finishing with a comfortable two-minute lead over the nearest competitor after 100 miles of fast and fur. . lOUS racmg. Walker battled it out with several riders during the first o 25-mile lap, then broke away going into loop twO and never looked back, leading the final three laps _ a total of 75 miles - all the way to the checkered flag. . . . The Bonza! Run, whIch ~as organLZed by the Fudpucker Racmg Team a':ld sponsored by South J:lay Yamaha, pllte? 200 entrants a~tnst some of D:38 ~ roughest terram. The lac~ of hIlls m the southern desert regIOn was made up fo.r by axle-deep silt bl:ds , power-r~bbtngs~nd washes and tncky mud-hili sectIOns that kept racers on their toes and provided some exciting moments [or the spectators. The banner dropped for the start just before 10 a.m., and the racers poured on the power in the sprint across Ancient Dry Lake's sun-baked surface. Mark Vanscourt got the holeshot off the start and' was out in front in the early running. As the riders maintained high-speeds almost all the way to check one, which sat on top of a hil1 eight miles into the race, Vanscourt's 250 gradually lost ground to the Open class machines. When the leaders reached check one for the first time. four bikes were locked in a battle [or the top spot. Steve Walker's 500 Honda had made upal'?tofgrounda~dwasduelingit out With Vanscourt s 250 Honda; a 250 Yamaha piloted by Robbie Nolan and Yamaha-mounted Scot Harden were also in on the action. In a bid t? break into the lead, the hard-chargtng Vanscourt made a move on H~rden T1~ht on top of the ~heck one hili, but tnstea~ of powertng past to leave Harden tn t~e dust. Vanscourt ended up flat on hiS back, in the middle of the course_ "Harden was right in front of me as I went over the hill and I tried to get past. but it didn't work," Vanscourt said. "I must've bumped Scot as I went by and it knocked me off the bike." Vanscourt was soon up and running again and set off in search of the leaders '- Walker and olanwho had cleared check one in record time and were running full speed ahead toward Superstition Mountains. After clearing the Superstitiorls, the riders followed orange arrows along tricky sand washes. over sand dunes, through seven grueling miles of mud hil1s and up and over Town's Tower - a silt hill steep enough to require a "wimp route" alternative trail around the obstacle. Walker and Nolan swapped back and forth at the front o[ the pack in the first half of the loop, but the extra power of Walker's 500cc motorcycle gave him the edge in the wide-open sections and Walker was pulling ahead as the loop drew to a close. As the first rider appeared in a cloud of dust, roared through home check and LOok off down pit row, it was Walker out in the lead by 43 seconds. The second bike through home check was piloted by D-37's Paul Palmer on a Montclair Yamahasponsored YZ250. But Palmer's second overall wasn't all it seemed to be. Race officials later found that the rider from La Habra, California had missed a total of nine check during the race, and penalized him one lap, turning an apparent fourth overall into la~;L overall. Robbie olan was putting up a good fightLO hold onto third overall behind Palmer, ju t ahead of Scot Harden. Vanscourt had recovered from his fall but was still behind Harden in fifth overall, with D-38's number one Open class rider, Tom Moen, on a 350 KTM, hard on his heels. First into the pits in the Vet class was Husky rider Bob McCarter, in ninth overall, with Honda-mounted 250 Novice hotshot Dusty Burwell hot on his tai I. The early lead in the 125 class went LO Honda-mounted Bruce Taylor. Taylor was running a high 16th overall at the end of loop one, just two positions ahead of [ellow 125 pilot Wes Enz. Despite a half-minute lead going into the second lap of the 25-mile course, Walker LOok nothing for granted. He was hard on the gas and giving it everything the big red Honda had as he charged out to tackle the loop again, this time facing a course that had been chewed up by the passage of 200 riders and the added obstacle of slower riders still trying LO complete their first loop. Walker's loop two ride saw another faultless performance, with the Honda ace repeating his loop one time of just over 30 minutes and stretching his lead to more than two minutes. Vanscourt used loop two LO battle his way up into second overall, and went into the pits just over a minute ahead of Robbie Nolan. Harden did not appear at the end o[ loop two. The new Yamaha pilot reportedly injured his foot about half way through the lap, and was forced to drop ou t of the race. McCarter was still at the head o[ the Vet class (in fifth overall) at the end of loop two, and a close battle in the 125 Class had turned the lead over to Wes Em, who went into the pits just a few bike lengths ahead of arch C-class rival Bruce Taylor. Loop three saw Walker stretch his lead to a full three minutes over Vanscourt, with the persistent Nolan still hanging onto third place. Going into the last lap, Moen had wOI'ked up into fourth, with McCarter still out in front of the Vet class in fifth. Walker kept up the fast pace right LO the finish line, turning in another 30-minute lap on loop four, LO take the checkered Uagwith a comfortable lead. "The course was fairly fast but rough at the same time," Walker said. "Robbie Nolan passed me at the first check point and he diced with me most of the first loop, but after the start of loop two I didn't really see anyone else to race with." Walker's race was far from troublefree, and the 24-year-old Honda pilot from Lakeside, California said he had a very sore backside to prove it. "Something got caught in the rear end and pounded me on the backside," said Walker, who is sponsored by Danny's Machine Works. "I think it was a piece of wire or something getting caught up in the rear wheel. It happened two separate times and every time the wheel came round it would slap me. I'm all bruised and bleedin~ from that. I "The'chain fell off twice and I gota rear flat going into the last loop and had to ride the whole 25 miles on that, so Ii was a pretty tough race for me." Vanscourt, who is ponsored by Tustin Honda/Grand Spon Tires/ AnswerlTsubaki Chain, brought his 250 Honda in to claim second overall, and top honors in the 250cccla'ss. Third overall (second 250) went to Robbie Nolan on his North County Yamaha-sponsored YZ250. "Real fast and fairly rough," was the way Nolan described the course. "I crashed two times and bent my front end all up. I had LO SLOp and traighten it back up. It twisted my arms up good too. Apart from that, things went fine." Fourth overall went LO Tom Moen, D-38's 1986 Rider of the Year. The first Vet rider to cros the finish line was McCarter in fifth overall. McCarter rode two laps on a flat front tire and was lucky to have the badly torn tire still on the rim when he reached the finish line. "There were a lot of hairy sand holes and I went down pretty hard going up one of the big sand hills," said McCarter, who thanked Procks Prime Pits and Kearny Mesa Yamaha. "I was £lying up the hill pretty well and all of a sudden I was eating dirt. I had a good lead in my class at that stage, so I was still in front when I got going again." Second in the Vet cia s went to Mike Ruhstorfer on a 500 Honda, who finished seventh overall. "It was what I consider to be a real desert race because it had a little bit of everything," said Ruhstorfer. "I might have beaten McCarter, but I didn't practice my start enough. I got a great start off the line, but I cut over way too soon and lost a lot of time." Brett Cushing, who was riding a 250 Yamaha, finished 10th overall to take third in the Vet division. "It was definitely a high speed course, and was perfect [or the Open class bikes," Cushing told Cycle News. "It was really choppy, and I got off right a t the end of the race." The EnzlTaylor duel for top honors in the 125 class ended when Enz crossed thefinish line in 11th overall. "It was fun and rough and I didn't have any problems," the Yamaha pilot said. "Bruce (Taylor) and I passed each other the whole race. It was great." Taylor finished just behind Enz to take 14th overall. "It was a great course, but I got off hard right off the start and hurt my shouJder and my neck," said Taylor. "I led for a while but there was just no way I could keep it up. I was just hurting too bad." - Results OVERAll: 1. Steve Walker; 2. Mark Vanscourt; 3. Roben Nolin; 4. Tom Moen; 5. Rober.t McCAne<; 6. Joey une; 7. Dusty Burwell; B. Mike RuhSlorfer; 9. Craig lavelli; 10. Bren Cushing. OPEN EX: 1. 51..... W.lker (Hon); 2. Tom Moen (KTM~ 3. Ch.rlie W.lker (Hon). OPEN AM: 1. Cr.ig I.velli (Hon); 2. Milch Thompson (CZ); 3. 51..... M.thews (Y.m). OPEN NOV: 1. Bruce Lerud (Hon); 2. Brell Wells (KTM); 3. Doug H.lvin (Hon). 250 EX: 1. M.'" V.nseoun (Hon); 2. Roben Nolin (V.m); 3. Joey une (Hon). 250 AM: 1. Dusty "D.H." Burwell (Hon); 2. M.'" "B.nne.." Bohenn.n (y.m); 3. Chris Cestillo(Hon). Z50 NOV: 1. John McC.in (Hon); 2. Sleven G.le. _ (Y.m); 3. Rodney H.yes (V.m). 125 EX: 1. Wes Enz (V.m); 2. "BliSleri"ll" Bruce T.ylor (Hon); 3. Tony Darr (V.m). 125 AM: 1. Tim (DNB) Holll

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