Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Texan Dennis Hawthorne topped all four ma in events in two nights of racing at the Cow Palace Arenacross in Daly City, Califomia. Honda rider Wayne Decklever captured the Over-38 Expert class win at the 15th Annual Gila Bend Gra nd Prix in Arizona. Jeff Darland was t he overa ll w inner at t he Gila Bend GP . Darland smokes Gila BendGP By M ichael Ross G ILA BEND. AZ, FEB. 7 J eff Darl and ro m ped to th e overa ll win at th e 15th Annual Gila Bend G ra nd Prix Tussing Mem orial , during the second 28 ro u nd o f competi tion in the America n Desert Ra cin g Association 's )989 Desert Series. Rem in iscent of the 'o ld Elsi nore G P he ld in the streets of Elsinore, California, 275 race rs gathered o ff Ma in Street in Gi la Ben d to cha llen ge the 42-m ile course laid ou t in and a ro und th e tow n o f 1100 peop le. Su n nys lope H onda /Bell /PJ - II Young Cycle Supply/Sports Gas/ Ma xim Po wer -sponso red Da rl a n d set fastes t la p a t 52.88 m p h a nd comp leted th ree 42 mi le laps in 2:32:35 to ave rage 49.55 mph o n hi s C R500. Ma rk Mill er too k seco nd overa ll o n his self-sponsored 250 KTM en ro u te to first in th e 250cc class. Mill er a veraged 47.68 mph in 2:38.33. Cagi va of North Am eri ca 's G arth S wee tla nd land ed a so l id third o vera ll a nd seco n d in th e Open class. Riders were flagged o ff five a t a time in 30 second interv als down Ironwood Street for a quarter of a mile -at 10:00 a.m. then they turned left into th e desert for a half mile befor e th e co urse took another left o nto a gravel road. Drainage ditches, two wat er cro ssin gs a nd horsepowerrabbin g sa n d was hes cha lle nged racers in wh at partici pants described as a fun , .Iast co u rse but n ot very technical. La st month's Ca nyo n G P overa ll winner , Gary Dircks led Dar land , Swee tla n d, Scott Davis and Mark Mill er in th e drag ra ce to the first co rner. Darl a nd qui ckly p assed Dircks' RM250 on th e first roa d sec tio n a n d n ever looked ba ck. Dircks' Suzu ki seized short ly th ereafter kn ocking him o u t o f th e race. En gine seizures a nd th ro wn cha ins would si deline many rid ers o n th is co ld , overcas t day, kn ock in g severa l fro n t-ru n ners ou t of co n tent io n. By the end of th e first lap, Darland had nearl y three min u tes o n Sweetland wh o th rew a cha in a nd blew a head gasket o n hi s 5 10cc FourStroke Husky. Chris Strang loo ked stron g in second on h is YZ250. U n fort u na tely for Stra ng, hi s YZ broke a cha in th ree mi les into th e third loop. Sco tt Davis, wh o lost the 1988 Cha mpions h ip to Da rland by 15 po ints a fter a season lon g ba ttle, was ha vin g h is probl em s a lso. " My bike wo uldn 't run o n LOp ," sai d th e 19year-old Tucson resid ent. " It kept dyin g wh en I o pened it u p." Sco tt lat er got a fla t tir e and was force d to ride th e rem aining 84 m iles wi th a flat because he d id n ' t hav e a spare wheel. "The n m y pipe fell o ff," reported Davis. " We had to wire it back o n at the gas stop." By th e end of the seco nd lap th e ru n n ing orde r was set. Darland had over six m inutes on Mark Mill er wh o got o ff to a slo w start but found hi s str ide la te in the race. " I go t off to a slo w start, " said 26-,yea r-old Mill er , " I ha ven 't raced in a long time and it took a wh ile to ge t the rh ythm. It was awesome fun , though. Garth (Swee tla nd) a nd Dennis Par ks got me o u t here." Swee tla n d 's Husky so u nded a litt le o ff so n g but ii' brought h im home in third pl ace n oneth el ess. " We threw a chai n twice a nd th en it slo wed down a litt le when the head gas ket blew but we liked th e race a lo t." Davis limped over th e fin ish line three and a half minutes aft er Sweetland with his muffler burning a hole through th e number plat e and th e valve stem ripped o u t of his front inner tube. " No t much lu ck today," sa id Davis. Ken Kozlik took fourth overall h on ors on hs CR500 a t 45.76 mph with Daniel Marchand rounding out th e to p five. Results OPEN EX: 1. JeH Darland (Han) : 2 . Garth Sweetland (Hus); 3 . Scan Dav is (Hon); 4 . Ken Kozlik (Han); 5.Pat Prosser (KTM ). 250 EX: 1. Mark Miller (KTM): 2. Dan Marchand (Han); 3. Gw in Vaug hn (KTM ); 4 . Chris Strang (Yam): 5. Todd Davis (Yam). OPEN AM : 1. Bob Kirkwood (Han); 2. John Albro (Yam): 3. Joh n Haggard (Han). 250 AM : 1. Todd Smith (Han): 2. Tim Petti t (Ya m~ 3 .M an Kr neta (Hon ); 4 . Dirk La nge (Hon); 5. Stac ey M iller (Yam). 200 AM : 1. Bab Henderson (Han); 2. Cody Ramo (Han); 3. Destry Abbon (KTM). OPEN NOV : 1. Ty Seymour (Han) : 2. Don Lowe nberg (Han): 3. George Hartsock (Yam); 4. Dan Sutherland (Han); 5. Larry Cochran (KTM). 250 NOV: 1. Will casner (Yam): 2. Adam Burton (Ho n); 3. Ray Bsaumgardner (Hon); 4 . Marty Mikeay (Han): 5. Rocky Robling (Yam). 200 NOV: t . Randy Wells (Kaw); 2. Ale. McElyea (Kaw): 3. Brandon Beggs (KTM); 4. Doug Smith (Yam); 5. Will iam Rowe (Han). 4 -STRK: 1. Mike Dickey (Han). OPEN BEG: 1. Mik e Gail (Han): 2. Gordon McOaniel; 3. Hugh Hutchinson (ATK): 4. Pat All en (Han): 5. Bert Mo ntoya (KTM). 250 BEG: 1. Loren Calhoun (Yam): 2. John Morten sen (Yam): 3. John Dale (Han); 4 . Robert Stroud (Yam); 5. Gary Rackov (Han). 200 BEG: 1. Frank Ramos (Han): 2. Ron Wall (Hon); 3. Tim Wi dener (Yam); 4 . Ralph Rosar io (HanI: 5. John .Roll inger (Kaw). LAD IES: 1. Kathleen Gruetzmacher (Hon). 2B+ EX: 1. Bob Russell (Han): 2. Tim Lehee (KTM): 3. Clint Stephan (Han): 4. Tim Abril (Han); 5. How ard Dendy (Han). as+EX: 1. Wayne Decklever (Hon); 2 . Je rry Sm ith (Husl . 30+ A M ; 1. Steve W einstein (Hus); 2. Kenneth Stu mpff (Suz); 3. Alan Wheatcroft (Hus). 30+ NOV: 1. Dave Alexander (Han); 2. Neil Goodell (Han); 3. Bob Rivard (Han): 4. John Russell (Han); 5. Dan Pyles (Hus). 40+ NOV: t . E~on Angl ey (Han): 2. Gerard Freed ma n (Hus); 3 . Dave McElyea (Kaw); 4 . Rex Goodell (Han): 5. Ken Asch (Cag). 30+ BEG: 1. Olen E. Webb Jr. (KTM); 2. Mike Furr (ATK); 3. M ike Elliot (Husl: 4. Mik e Pearcy (cagt 5. Johnnie Lake (Yam). 45 +: 1. Ron Zell in i (KTM): 2. Hugh Dun lap (Han); 3. Bob Bee (KTM I; 4. Lee Balicki (KTM); 5. Gordon Ramos (Hon) . 50+: 1. Joh n Kozlik (Han): 2. Joe Prosser (KTM); 3. Louis Leone (KTM); 4. Dale Langh am (ATK ~ 5. Debart Garst (KTM ). DINO V; 1. Todd Thompson (Hus); 2. Mik e Wadding (Yam); 3. David Prigle (Mai ); 4 . Robert Well (Ma i); 5 . Charles A rmbaust (Yaml . DINO C: 1. Brian Arnold (Hus): 2. M ike McG oug h (Kaw) ; 3. Conr ad Sch i lli ng (Hus); 4 . Scan Kat han (Han); 5. Hank laPorte (Hus). BUDDY: r . James Ford/ Jason Cobb (Yam); 2. Jo hn Aldr idge/Dan Good (Han): 3. Brent Wa lker/ Wes Chapman (Han): 4. Chuck Creek/Bobby Creek (KTM); 5 . Tom Row land/M ik e Gru etzm acher (Hon) . IRON MINI : 1. Tony French (Han). Hawthorne hustles at Cow Palace AX By Bill Spencer DALY CITY, CA, JAN. 27-28 Three-time Texas Arenacross Champion Dennis Hawthorne co n q u ered the California Indoor Motocross Series. win- ning all four main events in two nights of racing as part of the San Francisco International Motorcycle Show inside th e Cow Palace. The Kaw a saki /Budw ei ser-sponsored event dr ew a cro wd o f more than 10,600 on Sa turda y night a nd 5695 o n Friday night as th e T eam Green/ Sammy White Kawasaki C ity/LCS/ Sh oe i/ An swer/Scott/Portco / Aluma lite/Si lkolene / Gearne/ R K Chain/ Ma ier Mf g /Dunl op /Oury- sponsored racer devasted a ll in both 125cc and 250cc ma in events. Frid ay n ight 's action saw Hawthorne set th e stage by sta rt ing closest' to th e rubber band start ga te in both main events and was soon gone. Ca giva-rnounted Bill y Wh itl ey did th e chasing a nd fini shed seco nd in both events with T exan Clay Hoenshe ll taking third in th e 125cc class on hi s PJ- IISmith / An swer Suzuki. Third in th e 250cc m ain went to Itali an federatio n Suzu k i rid er Michele Fanton, wh o worked very hard a t both racing and keeping th e fan s excited with trem endous ki ckou ts a nd thumbs up action over the doub les. Along th e way American 250cc GP co n tende r Rodney Smith cras hed o ut of co nte ntio n o n th e Chesterf ield-backed Suzuki. Hoensh ell led ou t th e first 125cc heat o n Sa tu rday over Wh itley with J on Nelson co m ing o n strong and moving to seco nd and th en leading until he fell but qui ckl y regained third behind H oen sh ell . Hawthorne won heat two over Danny Paladino a nd Clay Branch . H awthorne co nti nued his win n in g wa ys with a hol eshot of th e first 250cc heat ove r Terry T in ney and Ron Allen . Fanton kept u p a good pace in fou rt h over Nelson, who m ov ed to seco n d with Tinney rem aining third an d sen ding Fanton to th e semi. Whitley a nd H oensh ell di ced in th e seco nd heat until Sh aun Wooten busted the pa ir up a nd took seco nd. H awthorne led off th e 125cc main a nd soon departed for hi s third stra igh t win with Whitl ey trying LO pl a y sha dow, but no t succeed in g. H oenshell a n d J on Nelson were moving up well with Nelson pass in g, but la ter crash in g. Hawthorne left no doubts about ' h is intentions with yet a fourth hol eshot in th e 250cc main and wa s a goner for the bi g portion o f th e $10,000 purse. Wooten a nd Fanton got in a pi le on the short triples that put the distance required for Ha wthorne to make it look easy. -Whitley took his cu e a nd settled in for a nother

• Cover