Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Yamaha-mounted John 'Braasc h f inished ninth overall and claimed second place in the 125cc Expert class behind winner Ed Amet. Despite the first 30 riders having to stop and wait f ive minutes for a train to cross the course. Dan Smith edged ahead for the win . Smith nips fi~ld, train in Jackrabbits H&H By Anne & Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren RED MOUNTAIN, CA, JAN. 10 Team Husqvarna's Dan Smith overcame one of the toughest obstacles of his off-road career to win the fir st.desert.race of AMA/ District" 37's 1988 season. In addition to 40 miles of high-speed desert terrain £01' Iowed by .36 rru'1es 0 £ro IIer coaster riding throug h the Fry 24 Mountains, racers at the Jackrabbits M.C.'s Hare & Hound in the Teagle Wash area had to go up against something they had never struck in a race before - a seven-engine Union Pa cific freight train. " I guess we were about half way 'round the first loop when it happened," Smith said. " We got to where the course crossed th e (ra ilroad) tra cks right at the same time as a train and there was nothing we . could do excep t sit there until it had gone past. We had to wait for a good five minutes and there were about 30 people waiting by th e time we got going again." . When the slow -moving train fin ally cleared the course, the ra ce was on again. The racers left th e railsid e check in the order they had arrived, but th e unexpected delay put on ly a few seconds between each of the top 30 riders and turned an . already close race into a neck-in-neck free-for-all. It was a ll Smith could do to stay ahead of the hard-charging mob for the rest of loop one and, even with a trouble-free second loop, the Husky ace went into the finisher's chute at the end of th e race just half a minute a hea d o f Kaw asaki pilot Grant Palenski, with onl y 15 seconds back to third-place finisher Eddie Arnet. A fiel d of more tha n 500 riders tu rned o ut for the first race of th e new year and were greeted by conditions as near perfect as they will ever see. Snow the week before the race had left a dus t-free course with perfect . traction, and the previous week's icy temperatures had given way to mild, sunny weather. The banner dropped just after 10 a. rn, and the endless row of first-wave riders powered o££ the starting line on the west side of Trona Road, heading south toward Red Mountain . into loop one's 40 miles of hard-onth e-gas racing. Smith led the wa y as th e Irontrunners .charged past th e smoke bomb but soon fell prey to Kawasaki's hard-eharging Paul Krause. " We were all really close o££ the start, " Smith said. " Pau l passed me a couple o f miles out a n d I had to get him back, and then I got lost for about 15 seconds and Ted Hunnicutt got in front of m e. I only just got past him again and th en it was time for the train! " I don't think stopping for the train made a whole lot of difference reall y," said Smi th . " If we'd been all spread ' out it wou ld 've given the slower guys some time to ca tch up but everybody was pretty close when we hit it, so it was no big deal." But for Kawasaki pilot Hunnicutt, th e train spelled dis aster. . " Da n and I had a good di ce going earl y in loop one, but I just couldn't get going again after we stopped for the train ," Hunnicutt said. " I lost my rhythm completely.after we had to stop and it was a ll over for me." Smith was fighting hard to retain his lead when the racing resumed, with Hunnicutt, Krause and District 37's new number one p late holder in the Open Class, YZ250-mounted Dan Ashcraft, hard on his heels. Darren Cartwright and Brett Howell were pushing hard not far behind, and with just 10 miles to go to the halfway point, the race was anybody's. Smith headed into pit row j ust 20 seconds ahead of Hunnicutt, with Arnet screaming through in third. Ashcraft's Yamaha had the 250cc lead a minute back from Smith in fourth overall, with fellow YZ250 pilots Mike Baker and Darren Cartwright keeping him on his toes every inch of the way . Kawasaki rider Grant Palenske was going strong in seventh overall, just ahead of Derrick Paiement. Yamaha-mounted Kenny Parry had the Vet class lead in 12th overall, and Brian Nevestich and Bob R ieger were battling it out for the Amateur class lead in 22nd overall. After 40 miles of wide-open ter rain, the racers were ready for the change of pace that loop two provided. The 36-mile second section took the racers out in a sweeping circle towards Mike's Place, went east almost as far as the military base and th en took the racers around to the sou th , where the trail headed into Fry . Mountains. Almost everyone agreed that the second loop was a lot of fun. "Loop two had a lot of tight stuff up through the hills and they stayed on virgin ground a little more, so I really enjoyed that," Smith said. " T h e whole course was good but it was pretty whooped out the whole way. But that bit up in th e hills made up for everything else." Arnet, agreed with Smith. " Loop two had some really tight sections, which I th in k is a good idea for desert racing," said Arnet, who was locked in an all-out ba ttle for se cond overall wi t h Pa leriske . throughout the second loop. A fast turn-around in the Husky pits had increased Smith's leading margin to more than 30 seconds as he headed out into loop two and the ra ce leader was doing every th in g he could to maintain the half-minute . advantage. Second overall had been claimed by Arnet after Hunnicutt slipped o££ the pace and an off-the-bike excursion by fourth-placed Ashcraft cost him some valuable time. A little further back in the pack, Mike Baker was also losing time. The YZ250 pilot was having trouble keeping his breakfast down and had to make a few unscheduled stops toward the end of the loop. And while the frontrunners were losing time leaping on and o££ th eir bikes, a threat was looming . from behind. Pa len ske, who was back in seventh at the end of the first loop, had launched an all-out bi d for the lead a nd was coming on strong. Palenske picked o££ rider after rider in his rush through the pack and was soon snapping at the heels of second p laced Arnet. "Ed a nd I en ded up having a good dice for most of th e second loop," Palenske said. "The firs t loop was a bit fast, but the course got tighter toward the end so I could make up some time. I think the train helped me too. I was seventh or eighth when we hit that and the leaders had been a bit ahead of me, so stopping helped me close up a bit." As the racers turned for the drop down the side of the mountain range and the final sprint in to the checkered flag, Smith's 30-second lead was still intact. "I was in the lead all the way after the train and I really didn 't see anybody much after that, but I knew they were back th ere so I wasn't wasting any time," Smith said. . And it was just as well. After 76 miles of fast-paced racing, Smith claimed victory only 30 seconds ahead of Pa lenske, with an even slimmer margin back to third-placed Arnet, " O vera ll it was a good course, " said Smith, who is backed by Cagiva North America/ Alpinesta r/Golden . Spec tro/Metzler/ Arai/Gold Belt/ F&L /Scott/ HRP . "The first loop was rea lly fast bu t the second one was a lot of fun. It could've done with a few more danger markings though." "There was no heat, no dust and a lot of riders - what more could you ask for? " said Palenske, who thanked Kawasaki Motor Corp. ,

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