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/127129
00 00 0") ....... The Da nny LaPorte/Randy Morales duo captured the overall w in at th e Great Mojave 250. fin ishing the 250-mile race just over five hours. Taking second overall was the Ted Hunnicutt/Brett Howell team riding a Kawasaki KX250. They captured the 250cc (Cl ass 22) w in . SCORE International Off-Road Series: .Round 1 LaPorte/Morale's top Great Mojave By Anne & Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren L UCERN E VAL LEY; CA, AP R. 2 Controversy clou ded ' the finish a t the 4th annual SCOREGreat Mojave 250 when race officials disqualified apparent winners Dan Sm ith an d Garth Sweetland and awarded 12 the victory to the run ne r-up team of Ran dy Morales a nd . Danny LaPort e. . . In a .p ost-race decision that took th e competitors by surprise, SCO RE d isq ua lified Smi th a n d Sweetla nd aft er the H usqvarna team ri ders comp leted th e 250-mile course a lmost three mi n u tes a head of the The Dan Smith /Garth Sweetland team appeared to have taken the overall but were disqualified for riding off course. n ear est co m peti tio n. The d isqual ifica tion handed the overa ll honors a nd th e 700 Class 22 win ner' s purse to Ka wasa ki facto ry riders Mo ra les a nd La Porte. . " Dan Smith was disqua lified for a co u rse -c u tt i n g in fra ctio n ," SCORE 's race direct or a nd ch ief steward, S teve Ka ssan yi sai d. "We pu t officia ls ou t there w here we suspec ted peop le wou ld be cu tt in g the co u rse a nd a co m p lain t (abo u t Smi th ) was filed. .Accordin g to th e co urse o fficial, (Sm ith) was off the co u rse a nd wa s spoken to o u t th ere. T he matter was heard by th e competition review board and h e wa s d isq ua lified." Sm it h, wh ose 1988 victory would have g iven h im four wins in a row in th e fo u r- year-o ld e ve nt , wa s su rp rised by SCORE's decision. " I th in k it's j ust a n honest mi stak e," the T ea m H usq varna rider said . " No one sto pped me or talked to me ou t there a nd I wasn' t -off the co u rse. -I thi n k they must've ~ot the numbers m ixed u p or so me thi ng. " S m i t h lod g ed a pro te st w it h SCO RE, a lo ng with a ch eck for $250, the day after the event in h opes o f clea ring hi s name. " It 's n ot th e m on ey, it's my reput a tion ," sai d Sm it h. "Everyo ne tha t kn ow s m e kn ow s I'm honest in jun. I do n' t cheat. I ca n' t afford to. My repu tat io n is wha t mak es me money. I'm going to do everythi ng J ca n to fight this." The o u tcome of Sm ith's protest was still u p in th e a ir three days after the race wh en Cycle N ews spoke to SC O RE Presid ent Sa l Fish . " Da n (Sm ith) ha s sub m itted so me in form ation to us and we.ar e trying to get a hold o f the co m m ittee tha t sa t in o n th e protest hearings to reco nven e to see if th ere's a ny new evidence th at was ove rlooked," said Fish . " If there is so me thi ng we're not aware of we wo u ld like to ge t it stra ig h tened o u t." Tea m G reen ' s Mora les a n d La Porte were cred ited with th e win after co mpleting the grueling 250 mile co urs e in five hours a nd 12 seco nds for an average speed of 45.37 m ph - j us t shy o f Smi t h a n d Swee tla nd's 45.78 m ph ave rage. " It was a pretty close race all th e wa y," sai d LaPo rte, after bringing the Kawa sa ki Mot or Corp.l]T Racing/ Alp incstar-backed KX500 in to the finish lin e. "A lot of tra cks are wid e open - jusr'a ro ad ra ce - bu t th is o ne had some tight st uff and a lo t of bu m ps." The " tig h t st uff a nd bumps" were th e res u lt of a new co u rse format designed to im p ro ve safety and ma ke things mor.e inter es ting fo r th e mot orcycle riders. In stead of ru nni ng 250 miles on the sa me co urs e as the ca rs a n d tru cks, as th ey had in p revious years , mo torcycles in the 1988 G reat Mojave 250 had a spe cia l loo p a ll to th emselves. . T he motorcycl e co urse followed the ca r route for the first 25 mi les , th en ra n off to the east in a sweeping 50 mi le loop through the Peagan Moun ta in s, toward Mikiska Road, east to Soggy Dry Lake and north para lle l to Bessemer Mi n e Road. After rac ing four tim es around their separate loo p, the mot orcycle co mpetitors th en joined t he ca rs for the fin a l I O-rnile run to th e finish line. T he sta rting flag dropped for the first mo torcy cle just a fter 6:00 a. m., a n d th e race rs powered off th e line a t 15 seco n d intervals to do battle with Lucerne Valley's diffi cult terrai n. " We were hitting 100 (m p h) th ro u gh th ere in a co u p le o f spots bu t o vera ll the co urse was n 't nearly as fast as these th in gs usu all y are," said Sweetland. " T here was p robably abo ut eig h t miles or so th at was fast but the rest was cross-grai n 'stu ff. It wa s rough and p retty tight, and a lot m ore fun th an goi ng wide ope n a ll day lik e you usu ally do a t a SCO R E race." Tea m Green's Mark Vanscourt a gree d. " T his is the best co urse SCO RE's ever h ad for bikes," sa id th e KX250 p ilot. " It was tigh t for a c ha n ge and th at mad e i t cha lle nging." T he race was too close to call as the ri ders co m p le ted th e 25-m ile o pe n ing sect io n and started into thei r first circu it of th e mot orcycle loop, but th e faster riders h ad sta rte d to make th eir presen ce felt by the time th e 60-mi le m ark flashed b y a nd the race rs head ed into th e p its a t Soggy Dry Lake for th e first time. Team G reen 's Paul Krause a nd Gran t Pa len ske were puttin g in a fas t-paced run a t th e head o f th e pack