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/126973
Roeseler changes a tire before the sta rt of day two. For t he second t ime John Nielsen f in ished second overall on his bigbore Husky. Nielsen topped the 500cc class. Charles Halcomb rode a Suzuki RM250 and held the overa ll after day one, bu t a fa ll during a day-two special test dropped him to th ird O /A. pre tty depress ing weekend." Mu ch o f th e seco nd da y featured wide two-track dirt roa ds a nd some tigh t woods sections, a nd a fai rly loose speed sched ule kept mos t riders on time a t the checks. It became very ap parent the da y's special" test scores would de term ine th e o u tco me o f th e event. The first o f four special tests on day two was a ti ght. woodsy a nd rock y trail and motorin g to th e fa stest tim e was H alcomb , who topped Ro eseler by seven seco nds. This meant that with three spec ia l tests rem aining, Halcomb enjoyed a co mforta ble 17-second lead on Roeseler, whil e Neils en foll ow ed closely. " All I needed to do at that point was to cru ise," sa id Halcomb. But in th e next special test , which was th e sam e test as th e first tha t day, H al comb mad e a mi stak e th at cos t him th e overall. " I came u p to th is o ne log crossin g," said Ha lcomb, "and I kill ed th e motor right before the log. I could n't get the fro n t end up over th e log and I h it it a nd d id a big nip. Then I got u p prett y fast, los t maybe five, six seco nds. I wanted to try a nd get going aga in, then I just overs ho t a corne r a nd went down in th e weeds. Tha t' s a ll it took to lose it al l." By the time Ha lcom b remounted, Roeseler, who started th e specia l test abou t 30 seco nds a fter H a lco m b, ha d caught up to the Suzuki rider. " He (H a lco m b) went 0[£ the trail and I passed him," said Roeseler, " so he lost abou t 30-40 seco nds . Charles was riding real well. He wa nted to wi n bad, so he was going ha rd. But in these type of races you ca n' t mak e m ista kes." H a lcomb lost 38 seco nds to Roeseier a nd 31 seco nds to Niel sen in . th e speci al test , whi ch dropped Halcomb to third overa ll. With o n ly two special tests left, Halcomb had to somehow make up 21 points on Roeseler, whi le Nielsen needed to make up 13 seconds if Halcomb or Nielsen were to beat Roeseler for the overall. In the next special test , Halcomb picked up one second whi le Nielson lost six seconds to Roeseler. On th e fin al test, Roeseler got on the gas and beat both H alcomb and Nielson by 10 and seven seconds, respectively, thus clinching the overall victory, with Nielson claiming second and Halcomb third. After clinchin g th e Open FourStroke clas s win , Haaker said, " I got aced out last week by less than a seco nd (a t the T ra sk Two-D a y), but I felt I needed to get back. " Riding on minute o ne, Haaker con tin ued, " Brea k in g trai l throug h th e fir st special test yesterday, ha vin g no trail , just weeds a nd ribbon, was so hairy I th ough t I was goi ng to die." ] eH Mill er, who fin ish ed third 125cc, a lmos t didn ' t ma ke it to th e fin ish . " T he start of the second special ' test, we ra n th rough a wa ter cros sing , but I went into it a little ho t," said Miller. " I drown ed o u t m y air filter, a nd th en the water sucked into the carbu retor. So a ll the way th rough th e specia l test it was barely running, so I tri ed to keep m y momentum up but I hit th at log everyone hit - th e bik e was in front o f me, behind me a nd a ll over. I had a lousy score. " T he n I cleaned m y a ir filt er , but that didn 't work ," sa id Miller, who tri ed to ge t hi s Honda running properl y. "T he n I took m y carbu retor 0 [£ a nd tri ed to clean it the best I co u ld with th e time I had, but that didn't wo rk , eithe r. I jus t had to put up with it running badly," Drew Sm ith, winner of th e Lightweight Four-Strok e class, sa id , " I would've lik e to have had a cha nce to win th e overa ll, bu t the cou rse defin itel y favor ed th e bigger:higherhor sepo wered bikes." In th e fina l special test, Sm ith had o ne o f the fastest ti mes o n h is H onda XR250. " It went excelle nt," sa id Sm ith . " I tried to rea lly keep it pegged , hol din g it wide open every wh ere. I was springi ng from o ne rock to a nothe r, some times not in perfect control but. . .' "Every th in g went g rea t until today's seco nd specia l test ," said 125cc cla ss winner H yde. "The guy in front o f me fell on th e one log th at everyo ne was fall ing on, and he was laid out, so I cras he d right there trying to mi ss him. I banged my leg a nd bent m y bars a littl e bit. Dave (Bert ra m) a nd Randy (H awkins) and I moved a ro u nd a nd had a bi g trail ride all weekend," H yde jok ed , ''I' m just di sapointed at Dan (Sm ith) for not sett ing th e fastest tim e on the roa d ectio n." " If I co uld just keep fro m making m istak es, I'd do prett y good," said Dan Sm it h, the AMA National Hare a nd H ound Nationa l Ch ampion. " I had so me good tests yesterday, bu t I crashed in th e fin al one whe n I grabbed too m uc h bra ke in the fir st turn, a nd the bi ke wo u ld n't sta rt . I lost 37 seconds a nd spe nt a ll da y pl a yin g ca tch up today," On th e me nd fro m two kn ee in juries, Ha wkin s, who p laced fifth in the O pen class , said, " I'm j ust trying to ge t my legs back in sh ape, b ut I had fun. I just was n ' t fast enough," " My prob lem was I just was n' t go ing fast enough in the special tests, e ither ," said Bert ra m , who was ridi ng a H usky Automatic. " T hey were a li ttle too high speed and open for m y liking, but I did the best I co uld." Bertram fini sh ed second in th e Open cla ss. • Results 125 INTENT: 1. Ma rk Hyde (Cag); 2. Shaw n Scar lett (Han); 3. Jeff Miller (Han); 4. Donn ie Simon e (Kaw l; 5. Ford Tan nock {Suz]: 6. Ed Marchin i (Hon); 7. Taz Harvey (Han); 8. Kit Palmer (Suzl; 9. Terry Benn ett (KTM I; 1D. Kevin Case (Vaml. 25 0 INTENT: 1. Larry Roeseler (Kaw l; 2. Charles Halcomb (Suz); 3. Todd Harris (Honl; 4 . Reed Bright (Husl ; 5. David Burke (HanI; 6. Gary Lindsay; 7. William Burgener; 8. Scott Drafs; 9. Grant Palenske (Han); 1D. Don Haaland. 500 INTENT; 1. John Nielsen (Husl ; 2 . Dave Bert ram tHus); 3 . Rick Dan iel (Yam); 4 . Ran dy Hawkins (Hus); 5. Mike Medici<; 6. Bob Bean (KTM); 7. Ken Tames. LWT 4/ S: 1. Drew Sm ith (Han); 2. Dw ight Rudder (Han). HWT 4/ S: 1. John Haaker (Hus~ 2. Dan Smith (Hus); 3. Jeff Irwin (Hus).