Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kenny Parry and Greg Wi nters teamed up to capture the Class 30 (30plus years of age) win on a Yamaha YZ250. They fin ished fifth overall. 'and were almost neck-in-n eck o n adj uste d time wi th the Sm ith/Swee tland Husky as it roc keted through th e pi ts in second pl ace. The Kaw asaki team 's vic to ry bid did not last for lo ng. T he Krause/ Pa len ske KX500 reportedly sei zed jus t 10 m les o u t from th e pit a nd put th e frontrunners out of th e race. Krause's misfortune turned ou t to be a godsend for Vanscourt . " I was riding with Scott Mapes but he broke his an kle th e fir st time he got on the bike," Vanscourt sa id. " He wen t down somewhere on his first loop and the bike la nded on him and broke his ankle. That meant I had to ride th e last two laps b y myself. Paul (Kra use) was o ut o f th e race by then so we checked with th e race officia ls and he rode one of th e loops for me. It worked out well except th at he b ro ught th e bike back with no brakes at all." With Krause a nd Pal en ske out of the running, th e physical a nd ti me: adjus ted lead turned over to Sm ith and Sweetl and, with Kaw asak i' s T ed Hunnicutt/Brett H ow ell 250cc tea m pushing hard for seco nd in th e timeadjusted standi ngs . J ohn Bra asch and Darin Cartwrigh t turned in a sizzli ng first lap to p ut th eir YZ125 o u t in front o f the nearest Cl ass 20 co m peti tio n by al most fou r " min u tes, and , Kenny ' Parry a nd Greg Winters, o n th e Gran ad a Yam aha/ Sm ith Goggles/ PJ IIAXO/ Scott's Scooter Service/ Winters Foam Systems YZ250, were going strong at th e head of the Class 30 pack. The Sm ith /Sweetland charge con tinued in loop two, whil e further ba ck in the pac k Mo r al es a n d La Port e were sta rt ing to make th eir move. A record-br eaking second loop put th e Kawasak i tea m u p in to second overall , wi th Hunnicutt a nd H owell con tin uing to dominat e the 250cc division in th ird , ahead o f th e h a rd- charg i n g Mike ' Ba ker/ Ku r t Pfeiffer KX250 team. As the fast pace' con tinued, mile a fter mil e, the g rueling ter ra in starte d to tak e its toll on th e racers a nd their mach in es. "It was rougher th an anything ou t there a nd th e traffic mad e it rougher every ti me," said Smith. "The dust was aw fu l a nd I ran out of gas twice." O th er p roblem s were more costly. " We were running seco nd in class (Class 20) most of th e way but the bike died just befor e th e pits at Soggy o n the last la p," sai d Frank Ch ase, wh o was team ed wi th Ro n J ennings on a Max ima/O 'Nea l/Burbank T o ol -b a ck ed KX 125. " We pulled it to ge t it go ing ag ai n a nd . after that I j ust tri ed to keep' it running. It d ied co m ple tely just befor e the fin ish a nd I had to p sh it in abo u t a mile. It has no compression a t all now." Mi ke Bak er 's problem s also started ' o n a tri p th rough th e Soggy Dry La ke pits. "T he cou rse wasn 't marked very well on th e dry lak e and there were so me play riders go ing across it, " sai d Bak er. " I slowed down when I got nea r' them a nd most o f them stopped bu t o ne th ree-wh eeler went th ro ugh rig h t in front of me . I clippe d his back tire a nd went do wn. It too k me a minute or two to pick m yself u p a fter that o ne." As the racers headed for home down th e fina l 1O-m il e section th ey shared wit h th e cars, th in gs got even worse. "The wh ol e th in g was grea t exce p t for 'when I caugh t up to th e cars," said LaPorte, who was still running a strong seco nd to Smith /Sweetla nd as th e race entered the fin al stages. " I didn 't p rerun that last sectio n so I wasn ' t su re abo u t it a nd th e dust was so bad you could n' t see a thing." , T he dust a lso ca used prob lems for th e race-long lead ers of Class 20. " Abou t half a m ile back fro m th e fin ish I hit a po thole I di dn' t see in the dust a t about 50 or 60 m ph," said Braasch . " I went right over th e bars - crash and burn, th e whole thing. I can 't believe I'm still a live." Most of th e competitors also had problems coping with the car traffic. " I about got ru n over by a tru ck trying to come in ," said Scott Morris, who was teamed wi th Dary l Fol ks on a factory-sponsored Cagiva 250. "I was trying to pass and he tried to p us h me off the co urse." The Paul Krause and "Grant Palenske team were top contenders before their big-bore Kawasaki reportedly seized. When th e chec kered flag fin ally fell after five hours of hard-on-thegas com pe titio n, the Smith /Sweetland Husky entry was th e first bike home. Bu t by the time the du st fin ally clea red, later in the evening, it was th e seco nd-p laced team of Mor a les and LaPorte who wa lked away with th e honor s. " We h a d a good r ide," sa i d La P orte. "Nothi ng went wron g except th at we lost th e rear brak es abo u t halfway th roug h , but yo u don't rea lly u se th em th at much so it di dn 't mak e very much d ifferen ce. " It's my first tim e in th is race," sai d LaPo rte, "and o nly the third desert race I' ve ever done. The only thing I did n ' t lik e about it was th e dus t. Bu t everyone else has to dea l with tha t too, so I can ' t really complai n ." Second p la ce in C lass 22 was claimed b y Ken R ieger a nd h is 16year-old bro ther Bob R ieger. The Rieger team finis hed 25t h overa ll on a Kaw asaki KX500 almost two hours beh in d Mora les and La Porte. Steve Taber a nd Nyan Sp accarell i raced home ha lf a n hou r after the Riegers to claim third in class . Seco nd o vera ll in t he ' tim eadj usted sta ndi ngs and the wi n in Class 21 went to Kawasa ki pil o ts H unnicutt and H ow ell , who domina ted th e class fro m start to finish and brought their KX250 home with a tota l ela psed time of five hours and six minutes. " It - was a good course," sa id H o well , who th anked Kawasaki , Sinisalo, Trick, Renthal , Tsu baki , Scott Goggles and AXO. "Th is o ne was more like a real deser t rac e it was a bit more geared to motor'cycles a nd ATVs. It was ro ugh, th e course got chewed up a nd the silt was really bad , but we ha d a troublefree ride." The H unnicutt/Howell duo was fo llowed in by YZ250 pi lo ts Baker a nd Pfeiffer (third overa ll, second in Class 21), with Vanscourt an d Mapes claiming fourth overall with a little help -from Krause. " Ku rt fell off o n the start, th en we go t a flat. and th en I ra n in to the three-wheeler," said Baker. " I th ink we co uld've done a bi t better bu t I guess seco nd in class is o kay ." T he Morris/ Fo lk s Ca giva du o were th e next Class 21 en tra n ts to cros s th e line (sixth overa ll), narro wly edging o ut the rather battered L an e/Leud H onda in se ve nt h overa ll. Parry ' storme d across the fini sh line in si xth overa ll to claim a wireto -w ir e victory in Cl ass 30 wi th tea mmate Greg Winters. Seco nd in the Ov er-30 division we nt to the Six be ry /E ve la n d Yamaha in n in th, wit h J im Townsend/ Den nis Hight 's H onda cla iming th ird . Some last mi nute arrangeme nts ea rned J oh n Braasch a nd Da rin Ca rtwrigh t the honors in Class 20. "My origina l partner pulled ou t on T h ursday so we pu t a ll this tog ether o n T hursday nigh t - just o ne day befor e the race," said Braasch .who's sponsored by Cov ina Yam aha, Montclai r Yamaha, O'Neal , Smit h. T hey were foll ow ed in by Jeff Korh o nen and Mike Palm er 's KX l 25 in 10th overa ll. Sea n Bradley and Nick You ng clai med third on th eir YZ1 ~. • Results 0 / A: 1. Randy Morales/Danny La Porte IKaw); 2. Ted Hunnicutt / Brett Howell (Kaw ); 3, M ike Baker/Kun Pfeiffer (Yam); 4. M ark Vanscounl Scott M apes (Kaw); 5. Kenny Parry/ Greg W inters (Yam); 6. Scott Morr is/Daryl Folks (Cag); 7. Joe y Lane/ Bruce Lerud (Hon); 8. John Braasch/Dar in Cartw right (Yam); 9 . .Mik e Sixbery/ J im Eveland (Yam); 10 . Jeff Korhonen/Mike Palmer (Kaw) ; 1 1. Nick Young/Sean Bradley (Yam); 12. Hal Bank. head/ Steve Holli ster (Yam); 13. Frank Chase/R on Jen nings (Kaw); 14 . J im Town send/ Dennis Hight IHon); 15. David Calla way/ Mi ke Mc Donald ; 16, Mik e Ha rper/ Ron Gray (Hus). . CLASS 22 (251 eel: 1. Randy Morales/Danny La Port e IKaw); 2. Ken Rieger/Bob Rieger (Kaw); 3. Steve Taber/ Nyan Spaccarelli. CLASS 21 (126-25Ooc); 1. Ted Hun ni cutt /Brett How eIiIKaw); 2. Mik e Baker/ Kurt Pfeiff er (Yam); 3. Mark Vanscourt/ Scott M apes (Kaw ). CLASS 20 (125cc and under): 1~ John Braasch / ' Darin Canwright (Yam); 2. Jeff Korhonen/Mi ke Palmer (Kaw); 3. Nick Young/ Sean Bradley (Yam). CLASS 30 130+): 1. Kenny Parry / Gr eg Wi nte rs (Yam); 2, M ike Sixbery/ J im Eveland (Yam); 3. Ji m Tow nsend/ Dennis Hight (Hon). CLASS 38 (38 +): 1. Hal Bankhead/Steve Hollister (Yam); 2. M ike Harper/ Ron Gray (Hus); 3, Jon Duncan.

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