Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

" I just wanted to win," said Baker of the blistering pace he was setting. " I was going to push it all the way , I didn't care." Roeseler 's slowdown was all strategy. "Mike (Ba ker ) was going real hard, but I figured he would ma ybe come back to me or I would pick up the pace and come up to him," he said. " In a race this long you don't need to go full-bore th e first few laps, you need to pa ce yourself a little bit." Staten had taken over fourth at th e end of lap two with Ward right behind him as they began what wo u ld be a race-long struggle. Davis was next while Breker had dropped to seventh ahead of Smith, Krause, Haase and Halgath. As Baker continued to motor way out front Campbell got by Roese1er then fell back to seventh on the third la p. Roeseler didn 't get mu ch relief , though , as both Ward and Staten moved in on him and made it a tight race for second. At th e end of th e lap Staten pitted for ~s , as did Breker , who was now in fifth. O n lap four things began to happen. Baker's lead was starting to shrink, as Ward made up about 15 seconds on th e lead er. Roeseler never got to use his strategy when he was pitched off his Kawasaki whil e battling with Ward for ' second and failed to complete th e lap, and Breker also went down in th e same ar ea and retired with tweaked handlebars. "They just watered a real grassy section that was hard-packed," said Roeseler. "1 knew it was slippery but 1 was racing back and forth for second with Ward. It was real muddy and itwas an advantage to be in front since Gordon was roosting me pretty bad. I went wide and cu t to the inside, went completely sideways, and then it flipped the other way and it caught and 1 highsided. I landed on my back and hip, and I'm sore!" The leader s all pitted at the beginn ing of lap five, which closed th ings up a bit. Baker's lead shrunk to five seconds after a crash, p lus Ward and Staten really began to go at it and had increased their pace. Ca mpbell was way back in fourth ahead of Zitterkopf and Davis. "Everyth ing was going good u n til 1 crashed ," sai d Baker. "I hit one of th e mud bogs and wen t over the bars, the bike la nded on me and some guy had to pick it off me. That kind of took the wind out of me, and that's when they caught me." Ward and Staten continued to battl e back and forth for the lead and overtook Baker on lap six, then continued to swap first right into the next lap. "We were just dicing it out," said Ward. " I'd pass him, then he 'd pass me down the straightaways; 1 think his bike was geared to do about 110 mph and my bike wasn't as fast. " That's when Ward emerged with a 46-second margin on Staten, who had apparently thrown a chain. About hal£way through the final circuit Ward had just over a minute on Baker, but at the finish line that margin was down to 41 seconds as Ward backed of£. Davis had picked up his pace towards the end and came across the finish line a distant thi rd ahead of Zitterkopf arid Sta ten. Ward knew he had the wi n. " I came up from the last row to first and nobody had me beat by ti me," he said. " (After passing Staten) 1 was already win ning by time beca use Rex was in the second row . 1 passed h im on lap seven, and right after the motocross section he lost his chain; from then on I was by mysel£. (On the last lap ) I wouldn 't even open the throttle up all the way , I didn 't want the bike to seize or anything to go wrong. I was hitting all the good lines and just staying ' real FEEL THE ROLLI G DE ~E 00 00 0") KINGDOME c: ...... • > ~ • • • TIcket Order Form Order Deadlln. Se8ttI. Kingdom. April 9, 1988 April 1,1988 1"Ic:Qt PRICES ADDRESS Your MY _11IIO OICLY Ch lad (under 54 59 114 5 9 MONEY • BACK GUARANTEE VIP ADULT 101 _ _ 54 sa $12 $8 = __ - __ x x _ TICKet. T IC K E T v.JSTER CE N T EFl Exp.. Oat,... . _ SlgnedAuthoriza.1on S 628-0888 Itj Pf.RSOfrtAJ THE IK»O AND TONER Il(toRD5MO(O AU TOEl'S SUUCT m Acn.cv CQIM NI[NC( D!ARC£ x- -- -- - - - - to MTEGs-me TIckets NEVER MAILCASH . PIeeae eneIoae a "'-addressed. stamped IegaJ me . ~ Your tickets tor the Seattle 0ff-R0ltd Event will be returned to you tn that enveklpe. It yOU tilly by cheCk. tickets will not be mailed untl check -... OrdeI'1lt:K deared checks not teeeNed by the Apri l 1, 1988 deadline dIlte will be held at Will C811.t the Stadium. For 8dd1tto""lonIwfonna CIOII (714111:I&:4100 Mo" ", TOTALT1CKETS; _ + HANDUN G CHARGES GRAND TOTAL _ Make cheCkS ~yable TlCKETS A, ~ = __ x 10) 516 C hild (under ,STATF PHONE (day) _ _ _-\(nighl) VIP ADULT 518 o _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Acd.,, CllY ZIP TOTAL "of T1c:l

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