Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Nearly 600 riders await the start for the 13th Annual Hilltoppers Rosarito Beach Gran Prix in Baja California. Mexico. Two-time (19 8 4 -1 9 8 5) Rosa rito Beach Gran Prix wi nner. Husq varna mounted Wayne Martin finished th ird overall. Morales top · Rosarito Beach GranPrix By Suzie Mann · ROSARITO BEACH, B.C. MEXICO, MAY 3 T eam Honda's Randy Morales topped a 577 rider fiel d to ta ke the overall and Exp ert Open class win in the Hilltoppers 13th An n u al 100 Gran Prix. Randy Norman 16 thumped to second overall on another Honda XR600 , while I Husqvarna-mounted 1984 and 1985 Rosarito Beach 100 win- ner , Wayn e Marti n settle d for third overa ll / O pe n, fini shing about 10 m inutes behind Morales aft er 138 m iles of racing. " I go t off to a good start a nd decided to follow m y (Ame rica n H onda ) teamm ate Bruce O gilvi e because he's such a smart rider," said Morales. " I always learn from h im . But he kept kickin g u p rocks a nd one hit m y bicep causi ng a lot of pa in . I fin a ll y took the lead after abo u t two la ps. Bru ce's bik e broke down and I just kept the lead holdin g off Randy Norman 's cha llenge." T he 23 m ile long, var ied -terrain course incl uded th ree mi les th rough th e to wn streets o n eac h of th e six la ps. T he racers bounced off wa lls, created berms in th e corners. loc ked up wheels o n th e cob blestone stree t and bou nced o ff bushes a nd each ot her every lap to the cheers of spectators and amazeme nt o f most of the local s. Mor al es hit speeds o f up to 100 mph o n some of the stra ig htaways . in the hi lls beh ind the Baja California, resort tow n. "This race was a lot 01 -fun - there were plenty of lapped riders to ma ke it exci ting a nd the locals here are grea t. T he tow nspeople really li ke to cheer you on. " added the Bu rban k , Cali fornia , resident. The cou rse paralleled Rosarito 's ma in street on an access road for two bloc ks so so me o f th e spec ta to rs didn't even need to lea ve th eir cars to wa tch. Mark Van scourt, riding a H onda CR250R, pi cked o ff th e $200 first p lace money for his 250cc Expert class win and held fourth o vera ll a fter the dust settled. " I was cau tious in the du st the fir st lap a nd a half," said Vans court. Vanscourt, 26, of An ahei m , was destined to win th e Expert 250cc cla ss. In four previous years, he fir st won the Beginners class, then won th e Novice class , then came back the next year to win th e Intermediate class, a nd fini shed. second as a n Expert last year. H e also placed first in th e fall Gran Prix on the beach two years ago. Austin H aydi s slip ped hi s T eam Alo ha Husqvarna through the hay bal e ch ica ne a t th e finish for second 25 0cc Ex pert a hea d o f Oran g e Co u nty Cycle, Yam ah a -m ounted Greg Fountain. H aydis a nd Fountain were 12th a nd 14th overall. Current SRA series l25cc Expert class point lead er Vann J ones gassed hi s Ron Moruzzi's Yam aha /Suzuki o f 29 Palms Yam aha to hold onto the class lead a fter a race long di ce with Yam ah a o f Co vina 's Keith Sen n. J ones a nd Sen ri's ba ttl e carried· them to n int h and 10th overa ll. " I go t th e hol esh o t, a nd I got pressu red by H al gath on th e first lap. Then Kei th (Sen n ) caught me o n the thi rd la p a nd we we nt wheel-to whee l until he passed me on thefifth la p . Bu t I got hi m back halfway through th e fin al lap ," said J ones, Ch ecker's Clu b rider, Julian G uerra , rou nded out th e top three in the 125cc Expert class o n a Ka wasaki. Ro sa rito Beach, 25 mi les south of San Diego, p lays host to two H ilItopper events eac h year - th e 100mile-p lu s G P in the spri ng and a sho rte r bea ch course race in th e fall. The races mak e a sig ni fica n t impa ct o n th e to wn's eco no my so th e local o fficia ls, pol ice a nd fire departments help with traffi c con tro l and all th e n ecessar y p erm its, so th eir 400 member club ca n sta ge the event. Riders do feel welcome. T eam Feet drives down each year from the San Francisco Bay area for the chance to "ra ce thro ugh th e s tree t. " The Spring GP is one of the few races left in North America which puts a ll of th e riders on the course at the same tim e, via a 10 rider per row start, Each row is start ed 30 seconds a pa rt in the tradition of the long gone Catali na an d Elsinore P G events. All 43 class

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