Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

KTM pilots Tom Moen and Steve Walker won the 1987 Budweiser Superstition 250 at Ancient Dry Lake. Honda-mounted Phil Means and James Tucker f inished second. Team Honda's Randy Morales and Randy Norman led most of the race but finished 10th when the Honda's lower end blew on the final loop. Walker/Moen maul Superstition ·250 By Anne & Tom Van·Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren EL CENTRO, CA, AUG S AMA/District 38 hotshots Steve Walker and Tom Moen teamed up to grab a lucky victory at the 1987 Budweiser Superstition 250, held at Ancient Dry Lake. After holding second overall 36 to T eam Honda 's Rand y I Morales and his teammate for th e day , Randy Norman, for the first ISO miles of th e grueling 240mi le event, Walker and Moen were trailing by two minutes as the final 60-mile loop start ed and had almost gi ven up hope of cat ching the elusive Honda XR600R that had led since th e 30·mile marker. But th eir break came just minutes into the final loop when the big white thumper bit th e dust with a blown lower end, and -left the KTM tea m ou t in front with a n a lmost untouchabl e IS-minute lead. " We'd like to say ' too bad' to Morales and Norman," Wa lker sai d, " T hey rode a heck o f a race and with th e lead th ey had going into the last loop, I do n' t kn ow if we coul d' ve caugh t th em. H aving them o ut mad e the last loop really easy for us." This was th e first year that motorcycles and ATVs were incl uded in th e starti ng line-up of th e Fudpucker Racing Association event, which is' part of a three-race seri es and formerly was reserved for off-road cars a n d trucks, All of District 3S 's southern California top guns turned out to do battle for the purse. The motorcycle and ATV riders were up before daybreak preparing for their 6:00 a.m . start. The sun' was just starting to creep over the horizon wh en the starting flag dropped for th e Pro class. The racers gunned their machines off the dry lake bed . and o u t toward the first check at Evan Hewes Highway. The still morning air turned the starting area into a huge dust bowl. "T h e dust was unbelievable," Moen said. " It was the worst I've seen in ages and with no wind it just hung there forever." Despite problems with blinding dust, Moen soon broke into the lead and was showing the rest of the pack the style that earned him District 3S's Open class number one plate for 19S7. Morales was hard on Moen 's heels off th e start, while a tightlybunched group of ri ders, braving near-zero visibility, fought to capture third overall. After the racers cleared check one at the IO-mile mark and started to spread out, th e dust became less of a problem. It was replaced, however, by the even bigger problems of high temperatures and op p ressive humidity. Bikinis a ppeared on spectators as early as 6:15 a.rn. , and by the time the ra ce finished , just a fter 100 'clock, the temperature was well over 100 degrees. Moen sta yed o u t in front of the .pack as the trail headed into Coyote Wash and foll owed the fast-paced Superstition Freeway back to the alternate pit on the west side of Ancient Dry Lake. . " We made a mistake at the beginning when we hit the alternate pit," said Moen. "Steve and I both rode a whole loop each instead of swapping in the middle like everyone else did and that cost us a lot of time." The tiring Moen was overtaken soon after the halfway point of the fir st loop by Norman, who grabbed th e 600R from Morales at the alternate pit, Norman had the big white thumper in full cry as he tackled the . pole line road that led to th e 3S-mile mark and turned in a blistering run ba ck a long th e edge of the Superstition Mountains. He was starting to pull awa y from Moen as he tackled the area's infamo us mud hills, and had stretched his leading margin out to almost half a minu te as he raced through home ch eck and down pit row to wh ere Morales was waiting to take over. Racing out o f loop one in third overa ll was the Open class Honda team of James Tucker and Phil Means; who were six minutes back from the number one spot. Robert Prayther and Craig Brett, the first Amateur class riders in the hunt, powered

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