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/126965
(Left to right) Duck Dowell . Larry Roeseler. J im Ho lley an d Pet e Postel f illed in the t op fo ur. Vet Novice Bob Gutierrez. leads 200cc Novice Don Sh ip man . aro und one of the 25-m ile lo ops du ring racing at Virgin ia City. . . Virginia City GP win to Roeseler By Bill Spencer VIRGINIA CITY, NV , MAY 9-10 Team G reen Kawasaki's la test acquisition Larry Roeseler scream ed around the 25 mile Nevada desert for six grueling laps an d topped the nearly 400 rider field for his second overall wi n of the classic AMA/ Di stri ct-36 Championhi C C S lp ross o'!ntryevent. More than Ju st a race. the Western States Racing Association teams wi th lot s of volunteers, in cl ud in g the Nevada Old Timers, A:\IA Distr ict-56 and to wn local s to co n vey an a tmosp h ere th at th e m ot orcycl ist is welcome to thi s old silver m ining community, a nd with th e very west- ern loo kin g Sh eriff. Bob Delcarlo , who. rod e on Saturday in th e O .T. Nov ice class a nd directed th e parade lap throu gh Main Stree t o n Sat urday ni ght, a ll wa s mainta in ed with th e p ro p er fun but co n tr o lled a tmosp here. Nearly 400 riders sta rted Sa tu rday's festiv ities wi th Sa n J o se's Chris Peter son lead in g for th e first lap on hi s H onda CR250, hi, first tim e in th e desert. Don Sh ipm an held off even tua l win ner Shaw n Da vidson for a la p before d ropp ing back. Davidson led from the end of th e first la p whe n he sn uck by Vet Novi ce Ryan Holla nd an d then p ick ed up the pace wo r king do wn to a 52 minute lap time. Peterson kep t close posi tio n but th e time/sta rt in terval was more than enough for Ryan ( a beat Peterson at the checkered. Wh en in terv iewed. he rela ted for th e Su nda y ra cers. " T he long down hi ll is the tougher. " Su nday m orn ing brok e part ly clo udy as a fternoo n a n d even ing sho wers hel pe d to keep th e du st dow n. tar ring a t 10 a.rn.: 10 abreas t with 15 seconds separa ting each row. too k ab ou t eig h t a nd a half minut es to clean the town 's sta rt in g line ou t of ra cers. Walt Feylin g a nd " Art icho ke" J oe Di Vecch io took th e lead with Mark Berq u ist m aking a sa n dwich. as th e jee p posses began' to ca ll in nu mber s from th eir var io us positions. J erry Fo u ts was the first rider back in to ca m p for th e Red Neck Roosters, but it was in th e wrong di rection , as he needed and got so me q u ick repa irs before rejoining th e pursui t. Almost halfway into th e fir st lap a t Lo ng Vall ey check. reports had Arti J oe over Berq ui st an d Feyling . whi le fourth wa s O pen Novi ce Mike Cu llen. foll ow ed by Dow ell. wh o moved u p from th e third row. Dow ell co m p leted th e first lap leading with a 48 minute lap time. DeVecchi o was 30 seco nds back of Dowell a n d th en followed Feyling a noth er 30 seco n ds. Stitser closed in for a p ass on Berquist. while Phil Dou gl a s. J erry D. Brown (O p en Expert ) a nd J erry Brown (O ld Timer Exper t), dropped . ou t. Mark Nason wen t by. leading th e Open Experts, a pos it io n he would hold all da y on hi s KX500, with l2 5cc ace Peter Po stel moving u p to eigh th overall, T h e pace ha stened 'o n th e second lap with Dow ell sto p p ing for liquid repl enishments in a 47-minute lap tim e with Stitser seco nd by nearl y fo u r m in u tes o ver J err y D. a n d Na so n , who was tryi ng to hol d back Darrick L ucchesi. Postel a nd h is I25cc H onda had a lso p itted bu t was hanging in th ere with the bi g bo ys. as Ron ni e Naylor moved onto the lead er boa rd in sixth. Art ie J oe and Feyling were still ba tt ling. a ltho ug h in di fferent classes. with desert ace Bru ce McDou gal following in eigh th overa ll in front o f Russ Cra ckne ll and G orgo Edgyed. Also moving up wer e Alle n Sine , Roeseler, Kevin H en ry and last year's winner Eri c McKenna. Na ylor closed th e gap a nd passed Dow ell as nea rly 10,000 specta tors looked on . Postel was hangin g draft as best as possib le for two a nd a half m inut e, o ver Stitser, Nason with Roeseler on ly four m inutes off th e pa ce. McDougal was right behind LR with J erry Brown n ow having Ya m aha rider j im H oll ey in tow . H oll ey sa id. " I rea lly liked th e race a n d we a ll felt I n eed ed a g ood tra in in g sessio n befo re I rejo in th e 500cc Na tio na ls (a fter kn ee su rge ry). I ha ve ridd en here before a nd love the peo p le a nd the event ." Dow ell reappea red a fter lap four with more than th ree m inu tes up on Roeseler a nd Postel. "Na ylo r went by me righ t o u t o f town a nd I d id n ' t see him unt il he ta n g led with another ride r a nd wen t down ." sa id Dowell. Mar in Co u nty M IC rider J oe T homas had crashed ea rl ier in the sam e spot th a t Na ylor got off, a nd ~ he returned to ca m p droppil( o u t o f the race, Nason rem a in ed th e O pe n Expert leader , wh ile McDou· gal took over fifth from Stitser, as H oll ev co n tin ued to climb th e leader board: Young Gorgo Edgyed was ma kin g a good name for him self as J oe a nd Felin g hung in for nimh and 10Ih. · . Roeseler too k over th e lead on lap five an d went thro ugh ca m p with so me 27 mi n u tes still to go . Dowell wa s less th a n a m in u te be h i nd showing the dom in at io n by the 250s for th e firs t lime here. Postel had th ird wit h H o lley n ow o n ly five m in u tes off th e leader 's pace, but a long sto p to cha n ge a co m p lete th ro ttl e a ssem b ly kept h im from any cha nce of an overa ll win. Nason and McDougal were keeping p osition s, as were Stitser and Edg yed , whi le Kevin Henry ap peared to have th e Vet Exp ert cl a ss ' in h and. Andy Sega le m ov ed p as t Arti J oe a nd Feyling. Official resu lts usuall y tak e three wee ks but lillie doubt rem ained that Roeseler had wo n his third VeGP. fin ishing six laps an d some three minu tes in front of Dow ell . who would drop to fourth in th e overall becau se o f the time co rrec tio n , finishing behind Holley an d Po stel. Na son held hi s Open Expert lead; McD ou g a l took fourth 250 a n d Edgyed finish ed seventh overa ll in front of Andy Segale and J. D. Brown. Kevin Brown rode hard fOf what may well be th e 10th overa ll position and first Vel Expert. Roeseler thanked Kawasaki and Malcolm Smith Products for th eir h elp. while Postel was very happy th anking hi s crew for keeping him going. smce he had to sto p every lap. Holl ey had quite a line of well wishers join him on the podium and thanked th e Sonoma County Sports Cycl e Association for his pit help and hoped he cou ld return. dep ending on his motocross duties o f th e fu ture. Dowell accepted fourth overa ll and th anked Kal -G ard , Ara i, Honda of Modesto , RK Chains and Malcolm Smith Product s, • Unofficial Results OVERALL: 1. Larry Roeseler (Kaw ); 2 . J im Holley (Yam); 3. Pete Pos,el (Han); 4. Duke Dowell (Hont 5. Bruce McDouga l (Han); 6. Mark Nason (Kawl ; 7. Joe Edgyed (KTMt, 8. Andy Segale IKaw); 9. Ron Lapointe (Yam); 10. J erry O. Brow n IHan).