Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... V ,.Q o ..... u o Team Green 's Larry Roeseler scored the overall victory at the Peppermill / . Mesquite GP, on what was described by many as a very difficult course. Best in the Desert 1988 Grand Slam Championship Series: Round 3 Roeseler rules Peppermillj M.esquite.. GP By Mark Kariya/Dirt Rider MESQUITE, NV , SEPT. 24 " I p ride myself In being in good physical shape and having good endurance, but I've never been that tired at the. end of a race," a flabbergasted Kenny Parry admitted. The O ver 38 Pro class wi n ner contin u ed "T he last lap I h ad to ' If k .' . rna k e m yse eep going, It :was that h ard. The co urse Just deteriorat ed so bad, a nd the san d was so deep that the slower you went, the . harder it was, th e more wo rk it took. I lost 12 minutes o n the las t lap! Everythi ng was gone; I h ad n othing left." Most competito rs echoed G ranada Yamaha-backed Parry 's sen tim ents. Cagiva North Am eri ca 's Garth Sweetland declared , " It wa s ba sically a typical Ca sey (Fo lks, the race director) race. H e definitely puts on th e best rough a n d tough ra ces there ar e. I don't think it could've been much tougher than that. " Aboutthe only rider who appeared to be in decent sha pe a t th e finish was th e a lways -smoo th Larry Roeseler , Dusty and a bit fatigued , h e descr ib ed th e co urse: "It Just had everyth in g - sa nd, fast chop p y stuff, wat er a nd bo gs. Even th o ugh it's arou nd houses a nd fields a n d stu ff, it was technical a nd bumpy. It wa s good. It was ha rd, a hard 100-m il e race." The third event in Casey Fo lks ' 1988 Best in the Desert Grand Slam Championshi p Series, the Pep perm ilk/Mesquite Gran Pri x offered a 17-m lle loo p that started and Iin ished in Mesqu ite, a small desert town a lmost an hour and a half northeast of Las Vegas . In true grand prix sty le, it incl u ded a bi t of aspha lt rac ing th rough so me side streets (w h ich did n 't seem to u pset residents a bit; they ha d fro nt-row seating), a few m iles of skirting p astures a nd lo ts of good 01' Nevada desert . . After a parade th rough to wn fro m impound nex t to th e sponsoring P ep permill Resort, nearly 230 riders lin ed u p for th e start - four bikes every 15 seco n ds. The si lty, d us ty co nd itio ns expected m ade a frontrow start almost more ch eri sh ed th an so me th ing to drink a t the fini sh. Though not a t th e very front a t th e sta rt, Montclair Yamaha 's Greg Zitt erkopf soo n took th a t spot before th e end o ft he first lap (the race would be ove r after th e fir st rid er com pleted six laps). H e 'd spen t two h o u rs wal kin g part o f the co urse th e day before, a nd it obviously didn't hurt th e YZ250-mounted racer a bit. What did end up hurt in g him was tryin g to push three laps out of his tank. He fai led by a couple m iles, end ing his day. In his first big-time grand prix, Garth Sweetland piloted a Husqvarna four-stroke to second overall, thus capturing the Open class w in. Carlos Serrano inherited th e lead a t th at point, but a broken exha us t o n hi s Eastside YZ250 cost him time and two pl aces. Swee tla n d a lso had his time a t th e fore on hi s bi g-bore Husk y, bu t h e was unable to h ang with KX250mo u n ted Roes el er , who s tea d i ly moved up from start in g ab out a dozen ro ws back. " I rode hard u p until th e last lap," Roeseler sai d. " I just tri ed n ot to m ak e mistakes. You could cras h real easy . And th ey had tha t : ' Devil's Dro p .' That was bit chin'! I passed G rant (Pa lens ke), Dan Ashcraft and a b unch o f guys .there. They'd stopped a n d were bulldogging it off. Rig ht in th e mi ddl e of it, I' d j us t swing th e back end arou nd a nd I'd just rid e righ t off it. Guys were goin g, 'No way!" But his ability to ge t around traffi c q uickly a t bottlen ecks a nd through th e d us t soon earned him the lead. Once th ere, n o o ne was go ing to ca tch him an d he took th e chec kered flag in 3:34:50 minutes a lmost eigh t m in u tes a head o f Sweetland, who, surpris ingly, was raci n g hi s first bi g time gr an d prix. Another four m inu tes back was Serrano , with Kawasa ki's Paul Krause a minute behind o n h is KX500. Fifth overall a n d fir st 125cc Pro went to Sean Steele aboard hi s Chuck Trickl e's H onda of La s Vega s CR125. H&H-sponsored Barry Higg ins, th e O ver 38 P ro winner o n hi s KTM 600 four-stroke, joked at th e finish, "I was kinda ho ping I'd ge t to go th e full 100 (m iles) a nd ge t my ha nds blis tered good. In stead , I j ust got pooped." Of co urse, he wasn 't alone. - Kenny Parry was the Over 38 Pro class w inner on a Yamaha YZ250. (Kaw); 5. Sean Steele (Hon): 6. Dan Smith (Hus); 7 . Grant Palen ske (Kawl; 8 . Bryan W ade Folks (Cag): 9. Todd Campbell (KTM); 10 . Paul Ostbo (Kaw); 11. Kenny Perry (Yam ); 12 . Lee A . Pearson (Hus); 13 . Mike Tripes (Kaw); 14 . Kevin Stee le (Hon); 15. Mike Heers (Cag); 16 . Dary l Folks (Cag); 17. Mi chael Pow er s (Hon); 18. Pat Shi elds (Suz); 19 . Kevin case (Yam ); 20. J eff M art ine z (Hon). OPEN PRO: 1. Garth .Sweetland (Hus); 2. Paul Krause~Kaw); 3. Dan Sm ith (Hu s). 25 0 PRO: 1. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 2. Carlos Ser ra no (Yam); 3. Grant Palen ske (Kawl. 125 PRO: 1. Sean Stee le (Hon); 2. Bryan Wade Folks (Cag); 3. Todd Campbell (KTM). OVER 30 PRO: 1. Kenny Parry (Vam); 2. Lee A. Pear son (Hus) ; 3. M ich ael Power s (Hon). OVER 38 PRO: 1. Barry Higgins (KTM); 2. Ed Sivon (KTM); 3. Randy Lindsey (ATK). • LAOIES: 1. Anna Cody Merri tt (Kaw! ; 2. Candy Hetelev (Kawl . • OPEN SPTSMN: 1. Scon Glimp (Hus); 2. David Kerr (Yam ); 3. Pau l Ooebe rein er (Hon). 250 SPTSMN : 1. Gary Hall (Hon); 2. Tim Crowde r (Vam); 3. Angel D. Figueroa (Vam). Results 125 SPTSMN : 1. A aron Hun t in gt on In g ham (Cag); 3 . Char li e Kl ine (Hon) . 0 / A : 1. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 2 . Ganh Sweetland (Hus); 3 . Carlos Ser rano (Yam); 4 . Pau l Kra use OVER 30 SPTSMN : 1. Mark Mangold (Hon); 2. Tom Webb (Kaw); 3. John Hateley (Vam). (Hon~; 2. Ken 17

• Cover