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/126960
Brothers Kevin and Sean Steele rode a CRSOO to third overall. They finished second in the Open class. 14 The Yamaha-mounted team of John Braasch and Eric Hallgath took top honors in the 12Scc division. They garnered sixth overall. Baker/Harden tearn just ten seconds behind i. (ourth overall. The Baker/ Harden Yamaha was followed out by Barry Frehner and Danny Hamel, the Steele brothers, and the Scott Morris/ Kevin Welch team. Braasch and Hallgath were still out in (ront o( the 125cc division in tenth overall. With a lead of more than II minutes mid-way through his half of the final loop, Smith was looking almost invincible when his 5l0TX suddenly threw a rod and stopped dead in its tracks. "I pushed the bike for about two miles but then I just ~ve up and sat . there," said a disappointed Smith. "I was ahead by II and a half minutes when I broke. I sat out there just wanting to cry." Smith's misfortune put the Krause/Alexander Honda back into the number one spot with a fiveminute advantage_ Alexander took over at the final rider change with just 38 miles to go. . "That last loop was great," Alexander said. '1 haven't ridden that well in a long time. The course was all chewed up and really powdery after all the three- and four-wheelers had been over it, and I was having all sorts of problems. My hands went numb, my arms got all pumped up and my legs cramped up real bad. But when it involves money you don't give a damn about any of those. All I was worried about was staying on the bike and getting to the finish line. I was going pretty slow in a lotof spots, just concentrating on nOl going down." Alexander's "slow-but-sure" technique turned out to be a winner. He brought the big Honda home to take the checkered flag, with a total elapsed time 6f just over seven and a half hours. "We were really working hard the whole way," -said Krause, after recovering from the nail-biting tension of waiting out his partner's final loop. "With all the fast guys man duo sat on the finish line and compared theu- crash records. "Rick went down twice and you have to add in three crashes for me," said Quinn. "But we don't really count those as problems. We sort o( expect to fall off a lot." First in the 125 class went to the YZI25 piloted by AMAIDistrict 37 hotshots Braasch and Hallgath, who finished sixth overall despite a number of problems. "Our chain broke about 10 yards from the pits going out on the first loop and we lost some time fixing that and the pipe's kind of smashed up," said Braasch, who is backed by Granada Yarnaha/O'Neal/Kal!?TdI Silkolene/Bell/Scou/Tsubakl. "I broke my wrist four weeks ago, too, and it was getting pretty sore toward the end. In the last loop I was taking it easy, trying to keep the pace going without doing anything stupid." Second in the 125cc class went to the Folks/Almberg tearn, who finished ninth overall despite changing a throttle, a silencer and a broken chain during the race. Third in the 125cc division went to Kevin Case and Wayne Martin, who brought their Yamaha home in 14th overall. The (irst solo rider to complete the course was Kelly, who crossed the finish line a disappointing lIth overall after being up in the top five for most of the race. "I had problems with my chain about the last 30 miles," Kelly said. "It just wouldn't stay on. ". . The honors in the Over-30 division went to Sheehan and Pearson, _who grabbed the class lead half-way through loop one and never looked back. . A close race for second in the Over30 class saw M-Star mounted Wayne Carlton and Wes Anderson, Jr. power in to take 20th overall, edging out the KTM o( Ed Sivon and Keith Pearson by less than 30 seconds. The Over-38 class saw Husky out here, you couldn't let up for a minute. We've been really lucky with the bike too. It ran like a charm." Krause and Alexander thanked Escondido Honda, Metzler, Scott, Shoei, Spectro, Neal Enterprise, F&L Racing Fuel, XR's Only, Terrycable, Hallma'n and Champion Spark Plugs. The second bike to cross the finish line was an RM250 piloted by Hamel and Frehner, but the team's second place was shoTt lived. Race officials disqualified the duo for cutting the course and turned second-place honors over to Morris and Welch, who brought their 250cc Husky home almost eight minutes behind Krause and Alexander. "I crashed pretty hard in the first loop, broke the front fender of( and bent the bars, but apart from that we had a good race," said Morris, sponsored by EP Performs/Cagiva North America/Grand Sport Tires/ Dural ube/Sportsman Cycle/Sam Bass. "My crash put us back quite a bit but we did a lot of catching up later in the race. I have to thank my partner Kevin. He hasn't raced in a couple of years and came out of retirement to ride with me." Third overall went to the Open class Honda ridden by the Steeles, who thanked Bud Yates Construction and Chuck of Las Vegas Honda. "We had an excellent race," said older brother Kevin. "Apart from me almost knocking my head of( going into one of the low tunnels that went under the road and seeing stars (or a while, we didn't have any problems at all. And I'm really tickled with the way Sean rode. He's been getting over some injuries and hasn't ridden in nine months, so he really deserves a lot of credit." The Steele brothers were follow'ed in by 250cc Honda pilots Palenske and Postel, with Billy Quinn and Rick Sherman bringing their Open class Honda in to take fifth overall. The unsponsored Quinn/Sher- pilots Burleson and Sweetland cruise in to an easy victory in 16th overall, a full 16 places ahead of their nearest rivals. "Bill got a bad start but after the first lap we were in the lead all the way," said Burleson, who is an eighttime National Enduro Champion and manager of Cagiva's race teams. "I was coming out here to see Dan (Smith) and Don (Griewe) race," Burleson said, "but once the race starts there's not much I can do, so I thought it'd be fun to ride it. It helps me evaluate the bikes." The Burleson/Sweetland team was followed in by George Earnhardt and Craig Mojeske in 32nd overall, with Jerry Brown and David Cairns taking third in the Over-38 class in 51st overall. The Sportsman division was overalled by the Nevada 250cc KTM team of Jim Alexander arid Martin Ansorge in 17th overall. The win in the Open Sportsman class went to Paul Dobereiner and Jeff Fahy of California, in 25th overall, and the I 25cc Sportsman victory was claimed by Nevada's Paul and Charlie Kline. Results - 0/A: 1. Paul Krause/Mike Ale..nde< (Hun); 2. Scon MorTis/Kevin Welch (Hus); 3. Kevin s_e/ Sean s_1e (Hon); 4. Gram Palenske/Peter Postel; 5. Billy Quinn/Rick Sherman (Hon); 6. John Braasch/Eric Hallgath (Yam). OPEN PRO: 1. Paul Krause/Mike Alexander (Hon); 2. Kevin Steele/Sean steela (Hun); 3. Billy Quinn/Rick Shennan (Hon). 250 PRO: 1. Soon Morris/Kevin Welch (Hus); 2. Grant Palenske/Peter Postel (Hon); 3. Mike Baker /scot Harden (Yam). 125 PRO: 1. John Braasch/Eric Hallgath (Yam); 2. Bryen Folks/Jon Almberg (Cag); 3. Kevin Case/ Wayne Martin (Yam). OVER-3D; 1. Pete Sheehan/Lee Pearson (KTM); 2. Wayne CarltonlWes Ancferson (M-star); 3: Ed Sivon/Keith Pearson (KTM). OVER 3B: 1. Dick Burleson/Bill Sweetland (Hus); 2. George Earnhardt/Craig Mojeske; 3. Jerry Brown/David Cairns (Hus). OPEN sPTMN: 1. Paul Dobereiner/Jeff Fahy .(Hon); 2. David Stephens/Joseph Stephens (Hus); 3. Bobby Williams/Dale McCarter (Hus). 250 SPTMN: 1. Jim Alexander/Martin Ansorge (KTM); 2. Mitchell Noorda/Terry stuthman (Yam); 3. Jeffery Krantz/Mark Sutton (Hon). 125 SPTMN: I.Paul Kline/Charlie Kline; 2. Joe AguileralTony Aguilera (Yam); 3. Robb Wood/ Derek Titus (Suz). IRONMAN: 1. Glenn Warren (Hus); 2. Richard Parrish (Hon); 3. Frank Rossana. Jr. (Hun).