Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126947
/ Ted Hunnicutt (shown) and Derrick Paiement rode a Kawasaki KX500 to second overa" and second Open Expert. The Bob Russell and Gary Wells duo ro~e a Honda CR500 to a fourth place finish in the big bore class. Hunnicutt and Paiement trade off and take on gas. The team had a few problems: Hunnicut crashed once and they ran out of gas. behind - taking third overall in the time-adjusted standings - was Morales and his XR600. Morales had pm in the ride of a lifetime out in the Arizona desert and had made up an astonishing 10 minutes on the leaders despite running outofgasand hitting a booby trapon the course. "Someone had dug a hole out there and piled all the dirt up behind it," said Morales. "I hit that thing in fifth gear and it put my feet way up over my head. And then I ran out of gas about two miles from the pits. I had to lie on the ground ul1der someone's truck and help them run some gas out of the tank to make it to the finish. I bet I lost about 10 minutes getti ng tha t gas. " Racing through the pits in fourth overall was Scott Morris, who was running neck-in-neck for the time adjusted lead with the Lane/Vanscourt Honda just a few seconds back in fifth overall. Third in the 250cc class and only seconds behind was a Honda piloted by two local racers, .Jeff and Chris Chambers from Big River, California. . "I was having a lot of trouble with the transmission," said Morris after handing the Husky over to Folks for the final loop. "Every time I downshifted it would slip right out. I was missing gears all over the place and trying to push hard at the same time. That was a lot of work." Folks led the 2S0ccclass for the first 20 miles of loop three, then the transmission problems got worse. "Vanscourt would pass me, then I passed him back. Wt: went on like that for miles," Folks said. "Then the tranny broke completely and I was stuck in fourth gear for about the last 60 miles.)n a section that was tight enough for fourth gear I could stay in from, but it staned getting fast and I just waved him past because I knew I couldn't race with him any more. That was pretty frustrating." Braasch was more than IS minutes ahead of the nearest 125cc competition at the end of loop two aud went into the pits just ahead of a Team Husky el1lry consisting of Garth Sweetland and Paul Krause on a 430 Husky. After running out of gas twice in loop one, the Sweetland/Krause en try had been well back going into the fi rst of the Arizona loops. A rapid run by Whiskey Pete's Hare and Hound champ Sweetland regained fl lot of the lost ground in loop two and moved the [Cam il1lo I J th overall, but the Husky's tranmission locked up in the pits and the rapidly rising leam never made it out into loop three. The final 96-mile loop provided some tense momen ts for race leader Larry Ro<;:seJer, but the seasoned SCORE rider held it together and took the checkered flag with a timeadjusted winning margin of almost four minutes over the Hunnicutt/ Paiemel1l Kawasaki. "1 thillk we had somethin~ wrong with the carb," Roeseler said at the finish line. "It staned acting up this morning and just gOt worse and worse. It died three or four times in the last loop, and at one stage I was Slopped [or two or three minutes. It just wouldn't goand some spectators had to help push to get it started. I had to ride hke crazy after that. We should've been a lot further ahead than this." The Kawasaki piloted into second place by the Hunnicutt/Paiement team was looking a little battered by the time it reached the finish line. "I was coming off a fast road into a sand wash and misjudged things a bit," said Hunnicutt. "I hit a rock and just went over and over. I can't believe I'm not bleeding everywhere. I think that's when we lost 'the rear fender. " Hunnicutt said the team's only other problem was running out of gas in the California loop. "We had a few fuel problems and had to bum gas to finish," hesaid. "We ended up using fi ve-and-a-half gallons of gas to do that first loop." Team Honda p-ilot Dan Ashcraft kept up a blistering pace in the final loop and shaved another five minutes off Husky's winning margin, but the Honda riders had to be content with third overall. "We were catchin~ up really fast," said Ashnaft (American Honda). "If it wasn't for me shredding the tire and Randy running out of gas we probably could've won it. This bike is so fast it's scary. You can go way, way too fast on it and it just never quit hauling the whole way." Vanscourt brought the Lane/Vanscourt Honda home in fourth overall to ta ke the honors in the 2S0 class. "Th'is is the first time we've raced Parker as a team and everything went really well," said Vanscourt, who thanked American Honda, Grand Sport Tires, Tustin Honda, Tsubaki, Answer and the Hi II toppers M.C. for the pits. "We l1ad no problems to speak of and we just had a great time." Second in the 250cc class (sixth overall) went to Chris Chambers and his rather battered brother,Jeff. "They had a new St'ction not far from the end that I wasn't too familiar with and I hit it going too fast," said Jeff. ,. It high-sided me and I went down really hard. Luckily it was fairly-soft stuff." :'In the first pan we had a great race going in our class," said Chris. "First. second and third were 'within 30 seconds of each other - we were right there. It was pretty exciting." , The Morris/Folks Husky duo nursed their damaged transmission int9 third in the 250cc class. "I'm lucky to be here at all," said third-loop pilot Folks "That's a long wav to ride on a bad transmission. I'nl really happy to finish third." Braasch, the first solo rider to cross the finish line (ninth overall), came in hard on Folks' heels to take the wi n in the 12Scc class. "I bailed twice," said Braasch, who thanked Granada Yamaha. O'Neal, K&B and his all-girl pit crew. "I got past everyone in my class in the first loop then I got a flat tire and went O\'er the bars and the bike landed on me. Everyone got past me so I had La pass them all over aga in. The second and third loops were flawless." • Unofficial Results OVERALL: 1. Dan Smith/Larry Roeseler (Husl; 2. Ted Hunnicutt/Derrick Paimen. (Kawl; 3. 08n Ashcraft/Randy Morales [Hon); 4. Mark Vanscoun/ Joey Lane (Hon); 5. Bob Russel/Gary Wells (Hon); . 6. Chris Chambers/Jeff Chambers (Hon); 7. Rick Lee/Phil Means (Honl; 8. Scon Morris/Daryl Folks (Hus); 9. John 8raasch (Yaml; 10. John Alexander/ Greg Nash (Kawl. OPEN: 1. Dan Smith/Larry Roeseler[Hus); 2. Ted Hunnicutt/Derrick Paiment (Kaw); 3. Oan Ashcraft/Randy Morales (Hon). 250: 1. Mark Vanscoun/Joey Lane (Hon); 2. Chris Chambers/Jeff Chambers (Hon); 3. Scott Morris/Daryl Folks (Hus). 125: 1. John Braasch (Yam); 2. Frank Chase/ David Alford (Kaw); 3. Jeff Miller/Bran Howell (Kaw), OVER 30: 1. Pete Sheehan/Lee Pearson [KTM); 2. David Rees/Wayne Cornelius (ATKI; 3. David callaway/Mike Bast (Kaw). OVER 38: 1. John Etchan/Lynn McGraw (Han); 2. Gary Nolen Dennis Grissom (Hus).