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/126993
Ch r is Gusse capt u res all th e action on camera. and there was plenty of that. Ron Ribolzi f inished fourth Expe rt on a 125cc Honda . Fredette tops Illinois Cross Country 'C'ship By Merle Acord :\IORRISO ' . IL, NO V. 8 Jeff Fredette, riding a Kawasaki KDX200, finished 12 minutes ahead of Ti m Newell to win the Illinois Cross Country Championship. Missouri's Hare Scramble Champion, Newell, piloting a Honda CR250, had baling w ire tang le in his rear wheel, giving him problems. Team Kawasaki ri der and ISDE Trophy Team silver medalist J eff Fredette, on a KDX200, bested Missouri's Hare Scramble 250cc Ch ampion Tim Newell, riding a Honda CR250, by 12 minutes and 36 seconds at th e Bike Barn/Spectra Oi l-sponsored " . Illinois Cross Country ChampiOl~ sh ip. 26 . l . BIll G usse , race p romoter and Bike Barn ow ne~', lai d o u t a 45 mil e l? o p of plowed fields, ope n pas tu res, tigh t w oo~s , s li~pery cree k bottoms, cha llenging' lulls a nd a pea t-bog. All classes excep t th e.Trai l Riders rode th e 100.% o ff-roa d loop tWICe. a nd f~)r those rid ers th a t had n ever ridden III a pea t-bo g it was a n expe rience a n d despite pre-race warni ngs th at th e st ull on ly I.oo ked l!ln Ocen t , th e spo ngy terra m took ItS to ll o f th e u nwary. . Over 300 rider s were on th e lin e ' for th e dead-engi ne, four-wave start ' a n d Tea m Ka wa sa k i 's .Ji mm y Veu gl e-r led th e Expert wave III a loo p arou nd the ban ner at th e en d o f a 300 yard o pe n field with a no the r Ia cro ry- spo nsored rider, Su zu ki 's J un io r j o h uson ar h is side. Veug ler, backed o ff whe n J ackson, on th e return part of the loo p , veered o n th e course ca us ing spec ta to rs to sca lier a nd crea ted a few momen ts of co n fus io n. T he next three waves: As, Bs a n d Trail R id ers s tart ed without in cid ent s. The patter n of th e ra ce was esta blished by th e l2-m ile ma rk o f th e first lo o p when Ti m Ne wc l l a nd Fredette were the first IWO bi kes to ma r th rou gh a six foot di am eter dra in age tube lead in g to a h alf mil e of tra il in a n o pen pasture before th e a rrows poi n ted into a lo ng wood s section . J oe Zierm an , Di stri ct 23 Har e Scra m b les C ha m pion, was a ti g h t th ird. (Zierm a n D N F a fte r suffering mech a ni ca l woes in the second loo p.) Moi ocro ssers Veug ler and Jackso n were a co u p le o f mi n ures back tryi ng to adjust their h ighspeed rid ing style to al low th em to read trai l arrows. Fredette wh en asked h is opinibn o f th e event a nd abo u t so me of th e h ighl ights o f h i~, ,r ace s~ i d wi th tongue m chee k I m a littl e concem ed a bo u t C usse, I think he's gell ing soft. H e didn 't have a ny kill er sect io ns this year, and he even had people rerouting o n th e seco nd lap. T ha t's unheard o f for Gusse. I'm not sayi ng the race wasn 't ro ug h bu t this year I fini shed a nd can still wa lk." "S er iously," co nt in ued Fredet te, " it wa s a good race and I enjoyed it. I wasn 't even too co ncern ed when I found ou t at th e end of the first lo n g wo ods sec tio n after go ing th rough three checks as th e first rid er tha t I was the fou rt h rider to come o ut of th e wo ods. I followed th e trail a nd no o ne passed me so tha t meant whoever those ot her riders were thev had mi ssed part o f th e co urse a nd Gusse sa id h e would n 't all ow that. " T he prob lem was a set of tu rn a rro ws had been moved. A ro ut e m arsha l corrected the problem before a ny more rid ers m issed the turn a nd ra the r than disqua lify the rid er s Gusse had them ride th a t sectio n tw ice du rin g the seco nd loop. One of th e victims , six th p lace Expert rider Chuck Ca n non said, " Wha t a bummer. That was abo u t a n eig h tmile sectio n a nd having to ride th at twice back-to-hack was brutal. " " G usse sa id the re was no th in g like it, and he's rig h t," sa id seco nd Expert a nd seco nd overa ll Newell. " Frede tte a nd I tr ied to cli m b th a t steep hill ri ght a fter th e gas stop a t th e same time a nd we were a lm ost a t th e top wh en I go t ca ug h t under th e ch in wit h th a t ba lin g twine Gusse used to mark so me o f th e co ur se a nd it p u lled me righ t over backw ar ds, a nd I slid abo u t halfwa y do wn the hill. . After th at I co u ldn' t seem to ge t it tog ether aga in." Trai l-wise Rick In gol d fini shed th ird Expert ridi ng a 430cc H usqarna sai d, " Every yea r I enter th e