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/127141
Rid ing a Suzuki RM250. Charles Halcomb moved int o second overall after the f inal MX test. He finished 40 seconds behind Roeseler. , Larry RoeselEir (110) captured the overall victory at the Trask Mountain Two-Day Qualifier. He'll ride on the U.S . ISDE Trophy team. AMA National Reliability Trials series: Final-round Roeseler tough at Trask Qualifier By Mike Thuleen McMINNVILLE, OR, JUN E 25-26 T ea m G r een / Sco tt Go g gl es/ M a lcol m Smith/ Acerbis/ R enthal/ Tsubaki/ Pro Circuit/ Bell/ C. T. r. Brace-sp o n so red L a rry R oeseler captured the 18th Annual Trask Mountain M.e. 's Trask Mountain International Six-Days f E n d uro Q ua.lifi I ier a ter two days of roosting through the lush pine forests of Oregon's coa stal mountains west of Portland. Kawasaki 250-mounted Roeseler took over th e lead aft er da y one's se co n d specia l tes t fr om Scott Summ ers , wh o aft er a sle w o f mechanical troubles was di squalifield for going backwards o n the course. After day one, 15 seconds behind Roes eler , were four rid ers battling for second overall, all within 10 seco nds of each other. Open rider J ohn Nielsen led the foursdfn e with 250 pilots J oe Zierman and Charles H alcomb, a n d 125 Ca giva-pil ot Terry Cunningham following. 14 - Roeseler 's blazing special test times kept him ou t in fro nt th rough out da y two, while Suzuki's Halcomb hammered th e motocro ss to leapfrog by both Zierman and Niel sen to second overa ll. Cunningh am to pped th e 125s in fifth overa ll, while Greenwood H onda/O 'N eal 's Gary H azel narrowly defeated Sco tt Draf s for th e Lightweight Four-Stroke win. Trask marks th e final two da ys a vai la b le to qu ali fy for the 27 positions available on the U.S. T eam for the ISDE in France this fall. The course was mad e up of lfl-to14 mile sections, arranged as o ne 44mile and one 13.6-m ile loop . T hese .were run twice giving a total of abou t 115 rriiles" T erra in co ns is ted o f woodsy trails with roots, logs, a nd mud, with short roads to hop from trail to trail. While tra ction was pretty good on the trails, the roads were dry a nd dusty. T imes were tig hte r than in Idaho , with most o f the riders ha vin g two -four m inu tes at the ro ute checks and few riders dropped rou te po in ts. One acceleration tes t, in wh ic h times were mu ltiplied by five, had two special tests. " I h ad a p re tty goo d da y, " remarked Roeseler , whil e relaxing after th e fir st day : sitting in first overa ll with 909.8 points, 14 seconds ahea d of N ielsen and th e next 250, Zierman. " I just rode through and cru ised, I tried not to wear o u t m y rear tire," he co nt in ued, " jus t trail ridi ng;" waiting for th e special tests - four tests would have been great, a bit longer, also. I'm happy with m y scores." T he a ccel er ation tes t affec te d scores by o n ly a point or two, as mosr of the acce lera tio n test scores were in the 22 second ra nge, with severa l in the 2 1 bracket and the winner of th e accelera tio n test, Paul Krause, slam mi ng hi s KX500 through th e test wi th 20.95 points . Roeseler's acce lera tio n test wasn 't th e fast est but o n ly Zierman , H alcomb, Neil sen , a nd Cunningham could keep close to Larry in th e terr ain tests. But ec hoi ng th e sent im ent of man y riders, Open Inten t rider J eff Irwin co mme nt ed, "T he spec ia l tests a re too simple, so th e final mot ocr oss will -ma ke the diff eren ce - th ey're too sho rt." Irwin co ntrolled fourth Open aft er th e first da y. Problems aro se wh en a number of rid ers mis sed a corn er in th e first !oop due to an ambiguous arrow and a n ent icing trail leading off from th ere. Following th e trail instead of th e ac tua l co urse, a road , event uall y led back onto th e course, with no missed ro u te or secre t checks, but took a few minutes longer. In th e words of Krause, " I went almost a ll th e wa y up the trail, th en I ran out of ribbon and turned around, followi ng it all th e way back to the course. T hen at th e acceleration test I had .to wait a minute and a half, so I dropped two points. I dropped seven more points at th e next chec k because I gave gas to Larry La cey." Krause cra shed in th e second special test in th e fir st woods' section and was running ninth O pen at the end of the day . Most of th e T eam Green besid es Krau se got lost here, also. " It was one of the best trail sectio ns o n th e course -s- and I was n' t even supposed to rid e it !" sa id Grant ยท Pal enske af terwards. " I also took the scenic tour ," sta te d 125 Intent Robb y Neeley, "the n I got on the gas and mad e it to th e next chec k with onl y seconds to sp ar e." Racing was ex tremely close in th e 250cc Int ent class wi th Greg Surdy ke, Pale,psk e, Jim St anfield, Harris, Dowell a nd Matt Sta vish within 15 seco nds of eac h o the r at th e end of da y o ne. Gary Surdyke Yamaha! Smith Goggles-backed Surdyke, who is ge tting married in th ree weeks, sp ent half th e day without a needle jet a nd an oil leak. T eam Green /Enumclaw SuzKa w- Yam /Optimol Oils/Smith / J eff Fredette H andsavers-supported Nielsen led th e Open class a t the end of day o ne, seated in seco nd overa ll behind Roeseler. R ick Daniel, wh o wa s di squalifi ed for mi ssing an observa tion chec k, then reinstat ed aft er it was proven th at he ac tually pas sed through , held second Open , 34 seconds ba ck from Nielsen. Following th em , th e other Open rid ers were having more th an th eir sha re of problem s. Scott La th rop broke hi s chain three miles from th e finish , but crossed the line without any ro ute points acq uired. Malcolm Smith/ Arai/Smith/ An swer /North T ah oe Motorsports-assist ed Lambert go t lost along with Krause, Lacey, and Charlie Kouba was th e only one of them to sta y on time. Riding with a brace to support a broken left fibula, Scott Goggles ' Charlie Koub a got lost, then crashed twice while trying to charge back on time. Still before th e check, Kouba clipped a stum p, putting a hole in his clutch cover, and denting it in so far the clutch bask et hit it. Charlie stopped on the trail and took the dent out, losing six minutes. The Koubas had oil- standing by at the checks, and Charlie replaced the cover at th e end of the da y. Cagiva N.A.lScott Goggles/HiPoint/Metzeler/Spectro/Tsubakil Bell/ Acerbis/Whi te Bros. z Mossbarger Racing/ Loc-Ti te-sponsored Cunningham had the 125cc Intent