Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Duke Dowell (above) battled w ith Curtis Dice throughout the f inal loop. Dowell finished t hi rd overall . wh ile Dice had to settle for fourth . before and said it was reall y botheri ng him and he was just going to 'p u tt in. After that, I knew I had it .made so I backed off and just tried to make sure the bike kept running." Taylor kep t the l25cc class lead unti l a rear flat forced him to back "off th e throttle late in loop two , allo wing Price to power by. Taylor was half a minute behind Price as h e slid sidewa ys through home check. Miller was hanging onto third, just two minutes behind Taylor, despite continuing mechanica l problems, but finall y hung it up when a rod flew out the side of hi s engine when he pulled in for his seco nd pit. Smith was cool, calm and waving goodbye to his pit crew as he powered o ut through the silty startmg area for the fina l time. The big Husky had a healthy roar as Smith wound o n the throttle a t th e end of pit row and it was clear th at loop three was going to be smooth sailing for th e two-time National champ. Naylor was hard on the gas as he headed into the final loop with a 30seco nd deficit to make up. Back in third, Thompson wasn 't wasting any time either, but th e Colorado hotshot's race ended just a few miles into loop three when he broke a chain and lost time try ing to make trailside repairs. Try as he migh t, there was no thing Naylor could do about the long-gone Smith. The Husky pilot stepped up the pace in the final loop to knock almost two minutes off his previous lap times and cruised in to take the final win of the ' National series by an almost-comfortable three-minute margin. " T hat was such a good co urse," said Smith. "The only problem I had today was with the cold. There was snow up in the higher parts of the course." Smith said a specia l thank you to h is wife and to his mom and dad for pitting him a ll year, and also thanked his sponsors Cagiva North America/ Alpmestar/Golden Spectro/Metzler/ Arai/Gold BeltlF&L/ ScottJH RP/ Z Racing/ Acerbis. " It really feels great to win the series twice," Sm i th said. " T he second time is even better than the first. I'm a pretty happy guy. " Despite lacking a front brake, Naylor kept his rapid pace going righ t up to the checkered flag to take second overall just three minutes behind Smith. " T h is is the first of the Na tiona l hare & hound s I'v e man ag ed to finish this year ," said Naylor, who thanked Scott, Dunlop and ATK. " I broke down every time before this, so it's nice to finally finish on e. I would've had a great ride with so me brakes." . An all-out duel for third overall raged back and forth between CR500 pilots Dowell and Dice throughout the final loop and was finally decided when-Do well flashed through home check, crouched over the bars in a no -holds-barred sprint. He finished seven m inu tes·beh ind Sm ith and just two bikes lengths in fro nt of Dice. " Wha t a race," said Dowell. "He was right behind me as 'we left th e pits going out o n the last loop and we diced it out all the way aft er that. We switched positions about four times. ' He 'd fall down and I'd pass him, then I'd fall a nd he'd get me. We were really close the whole way." Do well , wh o is sponsored b y Kalgard, Mal colm Smith , Ara i, Honda Modesto and R K Chain, described the competition as " reall y good. The first two guys just left me in the du st." " It was fast bu t fun," said Dice. " I got a fla t rear tire about 20 mi les into the second loop and in the last loop I plugged my air filter and didn't have any power at all. The bike wasn't running worth a damn, but it didn't cost me too much time." Lance McPhee continued his domination of the 250cc division throughout loop three and powered his YZ250 in to capture the class win in fifth overall, less than a minute ahead of fellow YZ250 pilot Dea n Joyner. " It was too fast for a 250, but we did as good as we co uld," said McPhee. Joyner claimed to have had the slowest start in th e race. "It was terrible," said Joyner. ''I" had seven o r eig h t kicks befor e I go t going and th en I hit a big hol e in loop one and broke one of my foot pegs. But I had a good run. " The I25cc class win was claimed Dice (above) lost the show position to Dowell by two bike lengths at the checkers. The duo crossed the finish line in an all -out sprint. Lance McPhee powered his Yamaha YZ250 to fifth overall. collecting first place in the 250cc Expert division . . by Price, who fin ished third overall in the series poin ts standings. " It was the best course this year, " said Price. "T h is place is outrageous. I loved the course and I'd go another · loo p if they'd let us." The most important win of the race was captured by Carlton, who brought h is Eric's Motorcyclessponsored M-Star home to also claim the National Championship in the Vet Division. " I 'm so happy to ~et the overall. I've been working on It all year," said Carlton. "This was th e on ly class that wasn't won going into this race and if Dan Dawson hadn 't had problems today, he could've won it. It feel s so good to win the championship. " The new National champ finished just a few seconds ahead of Reno's Joel Ellis, who claimed second Vet aboard a Honda CR500. Harold Brockelsby was the third Vet (first Vet 250) to cross the finish line. Bill Maxim turned in a consistent performance to win the Senior division on a Honda CR500. • Results a /A: 1. Dan Sm ith IHus): 2. Ron Naylor (Al K): 3. Duke Dow eIlIHon); 4 . Cun is Dice (Hon): 5. Lance McPhee (Yam); 6. Dean Joyner (Yam); 7. Gan h Swee tl and IHu s); B. Jay Heying (Hon); 9. Larry Wright (Hon): 10. Darr en Obendorf (Hon); 11. Edd . Pr ice (Hon). OPEN EX: 1. Dan Sm ith IHus ~ 2. Ron Naylor (ATK ~ 3. Duke DoweIlIHon). 250 EX: 1. Lance McPheeIVam); 2. Dean Joyner (yam) . 125 EX: 1. Edd Price (Hon). VET OPEN EX: 1. Wayne Carlton IM-S): 2. Joe l EllisIHon). VET 250 EX: 1. Harold Brockelsby (Yam). SR EX: 1. Bill Max im (Hon). 13

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