Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ted !:4unnicutt (sho.wnl and Brett Howell pi loted their Kawasaki KX250 to third overall. takmg t he 250cc c lass w in as well. immune. to the San Felipe hex. As the Smith /Sweetla nd Husky team neared Tres Poses in the final stages of the San Felipe loo p, Sweetla nd rep ortedly hi t a rock at full speed a nd en doed badly. " T he bik e was a mess," said Ala n Green wood of KSI, who was spectating at Tres Posos. " The p ipe and bars were smashed, th e levers were bent do wn, and Gart h was bleed ing from a gash in his , backside. Kawasaki helped to put th e bike back to&"ether a nd pounded o ut th e pI pe so It would run. We tried to stop Sweetland 's bleeding and ' then he kept on riding. " Swee tland's vahant effort to deliver th e bike to Smith , who was waiting a t Santa Caratina, fizzled out j ust 30 mi les short of the mark. " He said he'd lost all the feeling i n his legs," Greenwood . reported. Smi.th eventuall y mad e It back to the bike and put in a mad dash to the finish tha t netted a respectable seventh place in th e Open class for the ill -fated tea m. Sweetla nd's mis hap left Yamaha and Kawasak i i n a two-way duel for the lead with on ly 21 rime-adj usted seconds between them co ming out of the S~n Felipe loop , and p u t the H l;lnOlcu tt/ H owell KX250 up into third overa ll. "We'd been outin front of th e 250s most of the way, but we had no idea of th e time interval " said H unnicu tt. "At Ojos Negros mi les from th e finish ) they told me we had a big lead. a nd we could just crurse 10, but I still pushed it really hard in case something happe ned to th e O pen class rid ers in front of me. I th ough t we might hav e a cltance of winn in g the overall if anything went wro ng with them ." Bu t Ash cra ft and Krause never missed a bea t, Ra cing three-and-ahalf minutes apart, exactly as they had been orr th e start, the two racers headed for home. A Kawa sak i pit crew 110 mi les ou t from th e finish calculated tha t Ashcraft h ad an eig h t-seco nd advantage when he passed them , but that's as far apart as the perfectl y-match ed ra cers ever got. The two flawless performances lasted all th e way back to Ense nada a nd the racers were still dead even o n tim e wh en the fin al s pri n t through the streets of th e city began. Ashcraft crossed the finish line j ust after two p .m. and all eyes tu rn ed to wa tch for Kra use who ha d threeand-a- half mi n utes in which to steal the overa ll wi n. But the ci ty streets proved disastrous for the 23-year -old southern Cal ifornian. Wh en th e Kawasaki came ' into sight a t th e far end of Aven ida L opez Mateos Krause was o n th e wrong side of the center di vider and he had to do The T?dd McKay and Tom Morton team took fourth overall and second place In t he 250cc c lass on a pink and orange-painted Honda CR250. cross over to the left side of th e a~d ended u p h anging o n 'to th e sea t divider to tak e th e chec kered fla g. " I With my feet and th at sort of thing go t co nfused a nd came down the but no th ing bad really hap pened ,: wro n~ side of th e road," Krause • sa id P feiHer ( Ha ll ma n / Bea~h exp la med. " Norm ally we drive on Yamaha / Roy 's Boys). " It's a reall y the rig h t side of th e road so th a t's fast course but we were u p front th e th e side I came down. I d~n' t know whole way, so we had no d ust which where they'll take m y ac tual finishmade it nice. " ing time . I gu ess it all depends on T hird overall was cla im ed by the what the cloc k say.s now." Hunnicu ttiHow ell KX250, wh ich Krause a nd Roeseler did not have crossed the finish line 25 min utes time to wait around to see what behind the Open class leaders to tak e SCO RE 's final ru ling wou ld be. " We the honors in Class 21. " I won th is have to be on a plane tonig h t to fly race overa ll last year with Roeseler to the ISD E Q ualifier in -Ida ho a nd it feels pretty good to be up a t we've already mi ssed a cou p le of the front again," said Hun nicutt da ys," Krau se ex p lained. " T ha t's (Kawa sakilTsu baki/ R en thal/ ScOlti wh y we had to get (to th e finish ) in TrickiNG K/ KO R/ AXO ). " It was such a hurry." pretty foggy and the roads were reall y " We had a good race, " said Krause, slip pery at th e start . but o ther than who thanked Ka wasaki Acerbis th a t, we had a really good rid e." Smith, IMS, Scott, NGK: Bel-Ray: " It seemed like there was a lot more Renthal , Trick, Answ er and Mal : co mpe titio n this yea r. It wa s a lo t . co lm Smith. " I' ve never ridden th is closer a n d we never rested a race before and it's only the seco nd moment ," Hunnicutt said. "I was ti me I've ever ridden in Mexico but co ntend ing wit h th e O pen clas s bikes it was pretty fun . We stayed up;ight a lo t, but th is is a reall y fas t 250 so all day , t~e bike wo rked perfectl y and I cou ld race wi th them. " Kawasaki d id a su per Job in th e pits. T he KX250 a veraged alm ost 56 " We kn ew we were close all da y mph o n its winning run a nd ca me but th e o nly time I ac tuall y sa w in more than 15 minutes a hea d of (Ashcraft and Pfeiffer) was wh en I fell ow 250cc pi lots T od McKay and w~s in the p.its ~a i ti ng for Larry to Ti m Morton in fourth overa ll . ' bring the bike 10 a nd once go ing " T ha t was fun ," said McKa y, wh o across Diablo Dry Lake, but I co uld brought th e pink a nd orange pai nt ed n ever ge t close enou gh to catch Honda, complete wih bicycle bell , th em. " h orn and battery-oper ated sire n, Like th ei r Yamaha ri val , th e. across the fini sh line. " T he bike Krause/ Roeseler Kawasaki finished worked great a nd we had a good ride. with an almost kn obbyless rear ti re. La st yea r we got third overa ll , but · ~e. switched tires and cha nged an I'm pretty ha ppy with this." McKay air b iter when La rry and I switched thanked the team 's sponsor , radio ov~r at Mike's (Sky Ranclto ) Roa d," sta non 9 1X of San Diego. , said Krause. " We were in th e pits for Fifth overa ll a nd third in the 250cc abo ut two-a nd -a-half minutes. That divi sion wen t to South Afri can might make all the dif ference." National off-road cham ps H il to n \Vhen th e results wer e a nno unced Bea tti e and Wi lli e Ireland, who rode it was obvio us that Ashcraft a nd th e last 10 m iles with only fourth Pfeiffer 's " do n' t stop to change th e a nd fifth gears in th eir KTM. " It 's ti re" ga mble had paid o rr. "T he re's my fir st time a nywhere out of South not much of th e tire left but we mad e Africa and it's great," said Irel and. it ," said Ashcraft, who was o bvio usly " T h is is much bigger th an any of happy WIth VICtory number three in o ur races a nd very easy too , but th e the Baja Internacional. " It was my com pe ti tio n 's good - it's th e best. first real race back (after severe kn ee We were racing against Ted Huninjuries), a nd I rode good co nsiderni cutt, Paul Krause - all th e guys m g I hav en 't raced in a whi le. we on ly read abo ut and see tapes of. Everythin g worked so well - we They'relike Holl ywood sta rs." didn 't hav e a problem the who le Ireland was follow ed in by fellow way ," th e I T / P ro Circui t/Yamaha/ , S~uth African Alfie Co x who. al ong D unl op /R e n tha IlF&L/Sp ectr o wl.th I?artner J erem y Davies, claimed ~po nsored ra<;er said. " We led ph ys·thlrd 10 the Open class . " It' s cos t us ically about eigh t mi les out from th e $30,000 to come here. but we finished start and held th e lead th e rest of th e so it's wort h it ," sai d Cox, who way after that. T he loca ls had built thanked Kawa saki of Ri verside for the little jumps you always get dow n lending them a KX500 to race . here - there were probab ly about The Class 20 honors went to 10 in my sectio n, bu t you can see Cagiva p ilots J ohn R udder a nd th em com ing so it's not too bad." Bryan F?lks in eigh th overa ll. " I T eammate Pfeiffer also reported a think we ve won th is race four times trouble-free ride. " I hit a few rocks now ," said Rudder (Cagiva/ Pi relli? F&L /Sportsman Cycl e/KaIGard/ Sm ith). "It seemed like the course was rougher thi s year but it was fun and we had no cras hes, no break s." Early class lead ers J ohn Braasch a nd Ron J ennin gs (Cov in a Ya mah a/ . Sm it h / Pro Ci rcui t/ O'Neal) recov ered from th eir mid race fla t to fin ish second in class, wit h the Alfredo Montiano/ Bruce T a ylor KX 125 team claimi ng th ird. . Pete Sheehan bro ught th e Fo lks/ Sheehan KTM ho me a t the head of th e Over 30 pa ck (10th overall ) wi th o ne of the worse hard-lu ck stor ies of th e d~y. ," I hit a horse co mi ng over by MIke s (Sky Ra ncho ). ran into a cow coming into Ca tarina a nd hit a car coming o ut of EI Rayo, We started dead last and my truck is still stu ck in th e sa nd dow n a t San Felipe," said Sheehan (KT M America / Dural u be/Z Racing/Hall man/ Sportsman Cycle/MTC). " It's been su ch a bad da y I can't believe we won it." . The LC600 KTM, whi ch a vera ged 50.5 1 mph o n its way to victory finished 12 minutes ahea d of second: pl aced David Callaway a nd Mik e McDonald (KX500), with Scott Anderso n and Mich ael Burke (YZ250) less than three m inu tes behind in thi rd. Class 38 winners Bob Pickett a nd Mike H aney rep or ted a flaw less rid e on their way to 13th overa ll. " No problem s a t all - it was fu n," the H a rry D. Fost er Yam ah a team said. Second in cla ss and just three mi nutes ba ck were Mike Harper a nd Ron Gray (H us), a nd Nei l Ma nninen (Yam) took third. • Results 0 / A : 1. Dan As hcraft/Kurt Pfeilfer (Yam); 2. Paul Krause /Larry Roeseler CKaw); 3. Ted Hunnic utt! Br en Howell (Kaw) ; 4 . Tod McKay/Tom M orton (Hon); 5. Hilton Beatt ielWilli e Ire land (KTM); 6. J~re my Davies /Alfie Cox (Kaw); 7. Earl A. Robert s/ R,ck Slater (Yam~ B. J ohn Rudder/Bryan Folks (Cag); 9. Ma rk Vanscou rt /Randy Norm an (Kaw); 10. Casey Folks/Pele Sheehan (KTM); 11 . Scott Ghmp/ Lee Pearson (Hus); 12. Jo hn Braasch/Ron J enni ngs (Yam); 13. Bob Pr ickett /M ike Han ey (Yam); .14. A lfr edo Mon t iano/Bruce Taylor (Kaw ); 15. Mi ke Harp er/Ron Gray (Hus); 16 . Dav id Call away /Mike McOon ald (Kaw); 17. Scott And erson/ M ichael Burke (Yam); 18. Matias Arjona / Humberto Tamayo (Hon); 19. Steve WebblTom Bradshaw (Hus); 20 . Ken Rieger /Bob Rieger (Kaw l. 12 5: 1. J ohn Rudder/ Brian Folks (cag); 2. Jo hn Braasch/Ron J ennings (Yam); 3. Al fr edo Mont iano/ Bruce Taylor ( Kaw~ 4 . Tim Clark/Boyd J antz i (Kaw ); 5. Robert Miller/G reg Itson (Hon). 250: 1. Ted Hunnicun /Bren How ell (Kaw); 2. Too McKa ylTim Morton (Hon); 3. Hilton Beatt ie/ Willie Ireland ' (KTM); 4. Earl Robert s/Rick Slater (Yam); 5. Mark Van scourt/Randy Norm an (Kaw ). 500: 1. Dan Ashcrah/Kurt PfeIff er (Yam); 2. Paul Krause /Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 3. Jer emy Davies/ Al f ie Cox (Kaw); 4. Scott Glimp/Lee Pearson (Hus))' • 5. Ken Rieger/Bob Rieger (Kaw) . OVER 30 : 1. Casey Folks / Pete She ehan (KTM )' 2. David Callaway/Mike Mc Donald (Kaw); 3. Scott Anderson/M ichael Burke (Yam); 4. Jim Town send/ Dennis Hight (Hon); 5. Oscar Legaspy/ Juan Sant a Cru z (Hon). OVER 3B; 1. Bob Pric kett /Mike Haney (Yam); 2. Mike Harpe r/ Ron Gray (Hus); 3. Neil Mannine n (Yam); 4; Char les Sal men/ Richard Christian (Hon); 5. Denn IS Gr isaom/Ronnie Phillips (Kaw ). •

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