Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

commented that Peruvian dust tasted particularly foul. While most 'riders had one or more flat tires and/or ran out of gas during the course of the rally, Smith magicallyremained unafflicted by th ese misfortunes. . " I run a lot of air in th e tir es abo ut 20 pounds - and avoid th e bi g rocks ," Smith exp lained. " I hate the pain of falling do wn. At my age, you can 't be fast, so you have to get sma rt and be co nsistent. I conserve gas wit h a smooth throttle." R iders tra ili ng Smi th would di sagree abo ut hi s lack of speed. H e ad mitted that alt hough he ar rived in Peru wit h a touris t men tal ity, the racer in h im soo n re-em erged. Forty-year-old Alessandro Griui from Vertova, Ital y, also maintained a consistent pace to ga m er second overa ll on his XR- based H on da 600. This seasoned rider is a legend in Ital y, th e Malcol m Sm ith of his homeland, havin g accumulated a lon g str ing of enduro, motocross and ISDE titl es. H e go t lost a few tim es "Excuse me marn, but can you tell me how to get to Uma?" 28 the ra lly, Peruvian Alberto Par odi on a well- traveled 600 Honda finis hed 33rd overa ll , riding co nsisten tly a nd no t accum u la ting a ny penalties. On day five, Par odi, th e vice presid ent of th e FP EM (the Peru vian AMA), com pleted the 24l-mile special test in 8:45.50, whi le Walter Surini, an Ital ian National Enduro Champion and Six Da ys rider, wo n th e day with a time of 5:52.43. On the straigh t, flat desert stre tches, wh ere o ther fourstrokes whizzed b y a t 100 mph, Parodi , perched o n the sea t in a ge nt lemanly si t-up pose, serenely cruised o n dow n the roa d. Clearl y, he had learned th e lesson of the to rtoise a nd the har e. At the end of the last da y's special test, Parodi kissed all the women in sight and . shook th e men 's hands. (and even kissed some of th e mal es), obvio usly proud of h avin g co mp le ted th e mar athon event. Over all wi n ner Walter Su rini foreshad owed the o u tcome of th e 1988 In cas Rally by winning the first stage o n a KTM 350. The 26-year·o ld engineer from Regno, h al y, exp la ined th at he had gone fastand wo n th e first da y because his odometer brok e so he foll owed o the r riders instead of wasting time looking down at th e ro u te chart . Ob viously, h e figured out ho w to read th e chart and go fast at the same tim e to secure the wi n in h is first ra lly outside of Ital y. Although Surini led for almost the entire ra lly, O rioli stood a very close second throughout th e first half. On his facto ry Honda XLM 600, O rioli won a total of four stages to Surini's two , bu t the difficulties he enco untered o n the fifth da y vanquished his hopes for ca tch ing Surini and relegated him to second overall. In th e stage titled " La Gran Aventura ," Oriol i crashed d ue to prob lems with his rear bra ke and dislocated his right th u mb . Then close to th e finish of the speci a l test his engine broke and he forefeited. •. Two of the top veteran en tra n ts demonstrated th e im p o rt an ce of maintaining a constant pa ce over that many da ys and miles. Before th e start of th e rally, Harde n had said , " Malco lm will be consiste nt." And Sm ith proved hi m right , .finis hing fourth overa ll o n a KTM 350 wi th out placing hi gh er than sixth and as low as 19th. Wh en Sm ith arrived in Lim a, he sai d he had come as a tourist, not a ra cer. and received a penalty for arriving late for the start of a special test, but his daily finishes did not drop below 16th (o n the eigh th day when he rode off course with Harden and Magnaldi in tow ) and rose as high as second. Unlike Paris-Dakar, at the Incas Rally neither participants nor spectators suffered any serious injuries. A few riders left with exci ti n g bench racing stories: one broke his arm, another som e ribs , a couple wa lked off with black eyes after hard ge t-offs, T he mos t sca n da lo us i ncide nt involved the hi gh est-fini sh in g Peruvia n ride r, Roberto Belm onte, wh o pl aced six th overall. Considered by o the rs a good but not great rider, Belmonte won stage three, prompting protests that he had cu t th e course. One rider who had started that day in front of Belmonte said Belmo nte had no t passed him o n th e course, so he could not have had a faster tim e. According to rally official s, Belm onte's sco re card showed he had gon e through all the check points. At the awards cere mo ny , Belmonte's reception by th e other Peruvian rid ers was decidedly coo l. Of the se ven Americans who started at Arequipa, four completed th e entire route to Lima. After Harden and Smith, Lawson placed ninth overall; Lawson injured his knee before th e start of the rally while . . setting up hi s KTM 350 and limped wh enever h e was off the bik e, yet still managed a fourth-place fini sh the eighth da y. A local motocross rider from Connecticut, Gary Doski , als o on a KTM 350 came in 30th, having placed hi gh as seven th in sta ges three and four. Doski forfeited on th e n inth da y afte r a spectacu la r get-off. About seven mi les into th e special test while riding in th e fog, Doski flew off one side of a steep U-sha ped drop-off and smas hed into th e o ther SIde: The force of the cras h bent th e KTM 's front wheel a lmos t to th e axle. He landed on ly a coup le of feet away from an other KTM 350 pilot ed by Italian rider Gualtiero Alberti , who had ju st fini sh ed p erforming a sim i lar m aneuver. According to Doski , " We la y on th e ground ga sping for ai r, holding our sides and asking th e o ther if he was okay." Albert i did not ride the last da y, but Doski with help from mechanic Wayne Martin put on a new whe el , replaced th e handlebar, seat and What would the Incas Rall y be without llamas? Scott Harden crests a Peruvian hill during the 1O-day rally. "T h is is the wa y to really see th e cou n try," Malcolm said , "not like with a tour." We know th at tourists don 't go that fast, bu t Smi th did manage at the end of each da y to tell tal es of th e gorgeous scenery he'd seen. After day five, which traversed part of the Amazo n j ungl e, Smith sai d th at in all hi s travels he had never seen such beauty and vowed to ret urn and exp lore that part of Peru at a more . leisurely pace. After th e rall y was over; Acerbis said th at Smith's bik e was in th e best condition of any. To which one of the rider's responded that Sm ith was actually a robot. Severa l younger riders com plained th at th ere didn 't seem to be a way to pass th e 47-yearold vet, so they were forced to rid e for miles in his d ust. And one rider

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