Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Fritz Kadlec lead s Fred Hoess (7 ) in the early going . Kadlec fin ished t hird in the Open A ranks, Hoess took f irst in the 250cc A class. Husqvarna's Mark Hyde wheelied across the line to take the overall v ictory at the Big Bear National Hare Scramble . AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series: Round 6 Hyde captures Big Bear By Larry Bell BR UC ETO N MIL LS, WV, MAY Ii Husq varn a 's Mark H yde returned to the p lace where h e claimed the 1986 AMA National Hare Scrambles title, Big Bear Lake Campground and turned in a flawl ess . . . ' ride, while taking advantage of Ron Na ylor's misfortune 'to claim th e overall win. H yde who landed th e only ' O ~n C.Iass m achim e 10 t h e to~ Ii ive, too~ hIS Husk y 430 Automatic f.or a five-lap journey on th e 10-!!ule co urse to edge fellow Hl;lsk y nd~rs Fred Hoes~ an d. Ed Lojak. Ser ies : leader Kevin Bro wn a nd T Im S~epha rd rou n d<;.d o ut the. to p five overa ll o n .2:> Occ m a chmes. A~I co mpleted five la ps. ~n th e rockstre wn co.urse. H yde finish ed one a nd a hal f minutes a head of H oess and barely two minu tes a head o f Loja k. H yde ea rned hi s victory by outlastin g factory Can-Am pil ot Naylor in a race tha t freq ue ntly had the two not more th an 10 seco nds apart an d swap p ing th e lead, depending on wh o fell whe re or who pitted fir st for fuel. Eldon Keen and hi s Cagi va co n tinued th eir total domination o f th e 125cc A class by ro m p ing to a 16minute winning margin ov er 'H on da-mo u nted Dave Fallas. Can-Am's J eff Sm ith co ntin ue d hi s winning wa ys by nailing down th e Su per Senior A class over H arry Gree1ee by just one minute. The noon start on . th e ex-horse racing track had th e racers lining up to run th e co urse backwards from last year 's fin al e, in an effort to change the course la yo u t and keep the excessive dust to a minimum , accord- in g to co urse designer Dave Saville. Saville fill ed in for an a iling Dave Coombs to perform th e co urse pr epara tio n a nd kudos ca me from th e racers abo u t th e challe nging quality o f th e track. T he O pen class was sent o u t first wi th th e 250cc A riders a nd th e rema in ing classes being sent out at one minute in terva ls. A to ta l of 221 racers fill ed the woods. Hu sq varn a / A ut oli te / S p ect r o / Metzeler/Smith-backed H yde a lm ost didn 't mak e it off th e sta rti ng lin e with th e class wh en h is kick sta rter wo uld n't move. .. . T h e kic k s.ta ner w ~ul d no t ~~dge. T~en. I just ga.ve II a halfkick a nd II fired, Desp~te th at I go t a dece~,t sta rt, abo u t fifth into the wood s, H yde sal~. . . H yde tu rned hl ~ fifth ,Place slo t IOt<;> . th e wo~ds 10 10 fI~st p lace ~o m mg ou t with Can-Am s Naylo r just II ,secon ds off th e p ace, despite Naylor s deep aversio n t~ th e rocky terram: Na rlor a lso sa id he w~s followmg hi s pre-race stra tegy. I wanted to follow H yde, a nd wat ch wh at he does. H e ndes ro cks very ~e11. The." I wanted to !?ut enoug~ um e on h im so h e cou ldn t pass me. Foll owing H yd e and N aylor through th e barrels on lap one was Mike Keen, th e even tual overa ll fin isher, closel y pursued 'by Fritz Kadlec and Hoess, not more than two minutes apart. Keen would slow later in the race due to the new experience of th e roc ky terrain a n d T eam Husky's Kadlec wo u ld feel th e effects o f a sore shou lde r. " It o n ly bothers me wh en I jerk th e front end after hitting a ro ck," Kadl ec jok ed before th e race. Naylor ass u me d first pl ace p osition wi tha three seco nd lead on H yde o n th e seco nd lap and stre tche d it out to 16 seco n ds by th e third lap. But all tha t would go by th e waysid e o n the fourth trip whe n Nay lor 's left foot peg broke, th at a lso broke the frame whi ch effective ly en d ed his race. T his ma kes the second tim e a foo t peg has broken on Na ylor this year. Nay lor was u sin g hi s eas te rn machi n e in this race, sayi ng that he h as two bikes, one a t hom e for the western events an d one for eas tern events .· " T h e bik e I have a t home is faster. They keep this o ne back h ere and it was prepped by J eff Smi th, but th ere is n o way h e co u ld have kn own it wa s going to br eak," Naylor said. With Na ylor out, th e ever co ns istent H yde took over th e lead with H oess a nd Lojak trying to run him down. H oess had been in th e top five th roughout th e race while Lo jak had 10 move up from eig h th . With Nay lor gone a n d H yde in front, H oess and Loj ak nail ed the second a nd third po sitions on th e third lap. Lojak was gaining ground and time to wa rd th e en d of th e ra ce, fini shing just 31 seco n ds behind H oess a t the flag. "T he co urse wa s n ice. It was fast, bu t perfect. It wa s a little ti ght ge tt ing aro u n d so me riders , but everythi ng fell together," sai d H oess. " I had a ba d position a t th e start, way a t th e end. Then I go t slowed by so me O pen class rid ers. The rock y terrain didn 't bother m e ," said H oess, " I' m used to it . I tri ed to ride m y ow n race, but I kn ew Loj ak was be hi nd me a nd I had to m ake up grou n d," H oess added. " 1 had a few probl em s. I hit one rock an d cl ipped th e bars o n a tree a nd fell on lap two. On th e fourth .la p I p icked up th e pace when I saw Naylo r h ad broken his p eg. H e wav ed m e by and wasn't doing a ny th ing to it. I just sort o f cru ised a nd didn ' t want to do an ythi ng stu p id on th e last lap, " H yde said. Hyde added that in a few day s he wou ld u ndergo surgery to remove .bone ch ips from his ankle area and sh o uld be up and around in a cou p le wee ks. . Wh en the dust settled Ed Lojak said matter-of-factly. " T he first three laps I just cruised, I had planned on running six laps. It took me awhile to get the hang of things. Brown and I (series leader Kevin ) j ust rode together. I pitted on lap three a nd m y crew told m e th ere were three laps left, but th ere were o n ly two. " Brown h ad difficulty working hi s way through so me of th e lapped riders . " It wa s aw fu l h ard to ge t by them. " T wo lappe rs kn ocked m e down, but I had a bad a tti tude abo u t th is race ." Eldon Keen is quietl y establish ing a tough reputation in efficie ncy by tot all y controll ing th e I25cc A ra n ks o n h is S mi't h / A rai -sup poned Cagiva . " I h ad never ridden in the ro cks before a n d I'm no t as fast as I shou ld be. I had no flat s, no ma jor p roblem s," said Keen. " Hyde told me before th e race to th ink of th e rocks as bi g sand." Ben Hamrick took h is Kawasaki KDX 200 to an eigh t-m inu te win in th e 200cc A class in start to finish manner. The Romney Cycle-ba cked rider said, " It 's not a h ard ra ce, just tiri n g." J ohn L ee won by th e largest margin of th e day in th e Super Senior B class by taking hi s Yamaha IT200 to th e win by 23 minutes. "This is a good, competitive track. It puts you through the test," he said. Scott Summers and Randy Step henson thumped each o the r in the Four-Stroke A class with Summers co m in g out on top by almost nine minutes over Stephenson. • Results OPEN A:. 1. Mark Hyde IHus); 2. M ike Keen (Hus); 3. Fritz Kadlec (Hus); 4 . Stanley Lojak (Yam); 5. M ichael Locker (KTM ). 250 A: 1. Fred Hoess (Hus); 2. Edward Lojak (Hus); 3 . Kevin Brown (Han); 4. Tim Shepard (yaml; 5. Tony Hendon (C·A). 200 A: 1. Ben Hamrick (Kaw ); 2. Chris Voung (Han); 3. AJ Spicer (C·AI; 4. Scan Wolfersberger (Kaw ); 5. J im Maltba (Yam). 125 A : 1. Eldon Keen (Cagl; 2. David Fallas (Han); 3. M ike McCarren (Vam); 4. St eve Johnson (Han); 5. John Denn is Jr . (Suz). 4-STRK A: 1. Scan Summers (Han); 2. Randy Stephenson ( H u s~ 3. John Gallagher (Hus); 4. Carey Stump (C-AI; 5. Charles Dailey (Han). SR A : 1. Henry Stank iewicz Jr. (Hus); 2. Joseph Hu ll (KTM); 3 . M ike Parks (KTM); 4 . Edw in Brailsford (KTM); 5. Jan Henson (YamI· S/SR A: t. Jeff Smith (C-A); 2. Harry Greenlee (Han); 3. charles Gailbraith (Husl; 4. Ronald Rose (Vam); 5. Dave Coombs (Han). JR : 1. Thomas Marchese (KTMI; 2. Marty Strouse; 3. Dave Dinger (Hus); 4 . Don Cannon (Yam); 5. Stee latezalo (Hus). 4-STRK B: 1. M ike Dinger (Hus); 2. Rick Parson (Yam); 3. Mark Niggemyer (Han); 4 . Troy Warring· to n (Han); 5. Ray Huth (Han). SR B: 1. Charles Lester (Kaw); 2. Jo hn Kubli (KTM); 3. Jesse Carter (Yem); 4. James Nickolopoulos (Vam); 5. Joseph Parsley (Yam). S/S R B: 1. Johnny Lee (Vam); 2. Randall Hall (Vam); 3. Lee"Kesselring (Varni; 4. John Buks (Kew); 5. Ronald Kennedv (Han). 25 0 B: 1. Merti n Daubert (Han); 2. St eve Cunni ngha m (Yain); 3. J ames Liggen (C·A); 4 . Jim M iller (Han); 5, Jaisson Deroche (KTM). zoo s: 1. Buddy W est (Kaw ); 2. Tom Furtge(Kaw); 3. JT Stritzinger (Kew); 4. Larry Laclair (Kaw); 5. Joe Rosso (KTM). OPEN B: 1. Paul Michels (C-A); 2. Kevin Condon (KTM ); 3. J eff Barnhart (Hus); 4. Gregory Bunn (CA); 5. Sam uel Dyke (KTM). M STR: 1. Bill Hartsell (Vam); 2. Bob Stegemenn (C·A). 0 / A:. t. Mark Hyde (Husl; 2. Fred Hoess (Hus); 3. Ed Lojak (Hus); 4. Kevin Brow n (Han); 5. Tim Shephard (Yam); 6. Tony Hendon (C·A); 7. Scon Plessinge r (C·A); B. M ike Keen (Husl; 9. Fr itz Kadlec (Hus); 10. Timothy Newell (Han).

• Cover