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/127137
"J ohn DeSoto recorded his sixth (out of eighttries) Mauna Kea 200 Enduro victory. He beat Steve Zoll by five po ints. 7 -12. David Hahn splashes his way through one of the many deep water holes on day two. Hah n f in ished sixth in the Open A class. DeSoto scores Mauna Kea 200 Enduro win By Kit Palm er Photos by Bernadette Phillips HILa, HI , MAY 28-29 !'I had a lot of good luck, but, you know, you create your own lu ck - good or bad," said J o hn DeSoto , former to p -ranked " Nationa l motocrosser and current city councilman " f H o n ol u l u , o H awa ii who cap tu re d h is . h ' II . h six t over~ vi ctory at t e AMA-sanctl oned Rock Island R ider 's Ma u na Kea 200 Eriduro. DeSot o, 40. from Waia nae, pilo ted hi s Sandie Brod ie/AnswerProducts- sponsor~d H o n da XR250. to the overa ll vic tory, soundly beatin g loca l H il o favorite Steve Zoll by five points, 7-12. Zoll, a two-tim e win ner of the Ma una Kea 200 (1986-'87), simply burned himself out of the Patrick Gouveia motors down a wooded lava trail halfway t hrough the first day. Gouveia piloted his Kawasaki to ninth overall. wi nners circle, ha ndi ng DeSo to his sixth win out of eigh t tr ies. T hi rd overa ll we nt to Kapa a ' s Da vid Amorin, followed by Hilo's Darryl Vierra and former surfi ng champion from Makawao Gerry Lopez. "The o lder I get, the easier it seems to be getting; I' m more confident in my timekeeping, and it was just easier this yea r," said DeSo to, " Phys ically and mentally I was ready , and this win feels better th a n my previous five. I'm hap py. " " All I can say is that I went out and did my best," said Zoll, " bu t to lose to some body like Jo hn (DeSoto) is okay wit h me. H e's a grea t g uy. has lots o f tal ent and he's tough. H e deserves to win ." Top B h on o rs wen t to Kim o Andrade wi th 19 points dropped, followed by Russell Andrade (23), Tom Le ighton (25), Ri ch ard Kinnama n (69) a nd Al Stig lmei r (92). In th e popular team compe ti tion (19 teams), it was the defendin g champs Rubber Du cky Racing Team taking the "A team victory, which consisted of Zoll, Vierra a nd David H ahn . The " Duck ies " fi nished a hea d of the Ma ui Boys with Lopez, Gal en Miyamoto a nd Paul Mill er. The Sa ndy Brodie's T eam of DeSot o, David Klein and Les Brin kley fin ished third. T his year's running of th e Mauna Kea 200, sponsored by local radio sta tio n KBIG FM-98 - wh ich broadcasted live stat! a nd fini sh coverage of the enduro - Tucker Rock y Dist., Bel-Ray, Miller Lite Beer a nd th e H ilo H awaiian Hotel, attracted more tha n 70 rid ers to the event, in cludin g three riders from th e mainlan d. T he event started in front of the Hilo H awai ian Hotel in do wntown H ilo, a nd key time was 7:01 Saturday morning. Day one gave ride rs no mercy. The cour se led the field of ride rs - in pouring ra in - im mediately int o som e of the mo st gr ue ll ing sectio ns of the wh ole event. includin g a nine mph speed sectio n lasting 2.1 miles o n tight. muddy trai ls through banana fields infested with sli ppery tree roots. T h is section led to even more tig hter tra ils, in cluding an eigh t mph sectio n lasting 5.2 mi les and another nine mph section last ing 6.9 mi les. No one, no t even DeSo to or Zoll, could maintain these seemi ngly easy "to maintain speed averages. They did.. however, drop one po in t each. including Open A class winner Vierra. recording the lowes t scores at check one. Check two was even tougher to zero. T he mud, roots. mud ho les and trials-like lava bed sections cost Zoll three minutes, with DeSo to, Vierra and H ahn dro pping the next best scores a t four poi nts each . Zoll's ride. however. got off to a d iscouraging start o n hi s Kawasaki KX250. "A t th e 2.9 odo chec k, I went to sta rt my bike a nd the kickstarter broke off. I th ought it was all over for me, " said Zoll . " I had to push it abo ut a quarter of a mile before I could bump start it. For the rest of the way, I held my brea th a nd kept my fin gers o n the clutch in the tight stuff. " Zoll managed to finish the da y withou t stalling the engine, an d on day two he carr ied a KDX200 kick starter in hi s fannypack. The first availa ble "gas Saturday was 32. 1 mi les out, but man y bikes cou ld n' t mak e it th at far because of the gas-ro bbing tight and muddy trails. A number of bikes ran out of gas and rid ers were left stranded on the trail having to hike two or three mi les to the gas sto p. resu lti ng in many of them houring out earl y in th e event, including favorites KTM mounted Dom enico Grupido from Kanehoe, Mich ael Pflueger, Walter Yamasaki a nd Winston Matsuura. At 72.3 mil es o u t, th e riders were rewarded wi th a n h ou r a nd 15minute lunch break before a bonechilling col d rid e up and arou nd the 13.000 foot hig h Mauna Kea volcano. " I froze my buns off u p there," said DeSo to. Before heading up the mountain, Zoll (despite burning a chec k) and DeSoto were tied wi th six points apiece, followed by Amorin (12), Lopez (14) a nd Vierra (14). Fifteen