Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. Danny laPorte made up for a slow start but came in a minute short of the w inner Robbie Nolin. Nolin soars through the airln the supercross section of the King of the Desert Hare Scrambles race . He earned $1000 for the w in . Nolin cr()wned King of the D.esert By Bob Bell Photos by Carlos Avina IMPERIAL, CA, FEB. 18 Kea rn y Me sa Yamaha's Robbie N o l in stu nned an impressive field of riders to earn the coveted title of " Kin g" a t the AMA Distri ct 38 Cycle Parts West/ Spectra Oill Br idgeston e-sponsored 9th An n ual King of th e Desert Hare Scrambles In doing so . 1 , he pocketed a coo l grand for 28 a little over three hours' work. T he King race is D-38's most prestigious event on its yearly calendar. Wit h 100% pay bac k in the Pro classes and a guaranteed $1000 to the first overa ll bike, th e race dr ew some of the biggest nam es in off-road rd.ci ng. Danny LaP orte, Ted Hunm cu t, J eff Da rl and a nd R an d y No rma n, to nam e a few, were there to ba ttle. T he 7:00 a.m . start had rid ers u p early sco uting for start lines. The weather was great except for o ne problem - no wind. No wind meant th e du st just hung, ma ki ng for poor visibi lity for all but th e fro n t· ru n ners. A good start would be mandatory to get a good fini sh . La Po rte may hav e been th e biggest victi m of thi s problem . H e had very little pre-run n ing in a nd may no t have been famil iar enough with th e terrain to blitz through th e dust. . When the gr een flag dro pped, th e big guns were ou t j ust as expec ted. Darland and Hunnicut took th e early lead on the way to chec k o ne. T hey hit the supercross infield at th e end of the six mil e start loop and led th e way onto th e first of th e five 30-m ile loops. Nolin was running in the to p five with La Po rte back in th e pack. At the end of th e first lap , Darl and was still in th e lead. Hunnicu t was hanging tight to h is rear fender waitin g for a mi stak e. Unfortunately, th e mi stak e turned out to be hi s. He hit th e lip on the finish line , pit jump and plummeted to the . ground. He was able to remount in tim e to save second p lace but now had to ride a little sor e. No lin, meanwhile, had worked u p to third and was leading the 250cc ranks. Bru ce Lerud (D·38 number one Open ' rider ) held fourth just ahead of LaPorte. Tom Moen was the Vet class lead er a t sevent h overall, just two positions ah ead of Mike Rhustorfer in second. Wes Enz headed th e 125cc ranks at 13th overa ll and had already developed a huge lead over Craig Smith. Mike Harper led th e Seniors at 23rd overa ll with Himev " Good Line" Means four positions back, leading th e Super Seniors. Lap two began to set the stage for wh at was to come. Nolin started pushing the pace. H e sliced by Hunnicut and put hi s sigh ts on Darland. Lerud dropped ou t with mechancial problems, as LaPorte clos ed in on Hunnicut, The lead four had pulled well clear of the rest of -the field and appeared to be in th eir ow n time zone. . Moen con tin ued to lead th e Vets. Rhustorfer was doing everyth ing he co uld to reel him in. Means had now mo ved to within striking distance of H arper for th e Senior lead. . T hrough th e pack, th ough , J ohn Bil key was cha rgi ng . H e had started two rows ' back with the Sportsmen but was no w up to thi rd and closi ng m. In th e 125cc class, Enz con tin ued to pu ll awa y. H is closes t cornpetition , Bob Bell had stopped to help a dow ned rider a nd p ulled o ut at th e end of the first lap . Sm ith sti ll held a secure second some 10 minutes back. Lap three was when Nolin made his move. H e shot by Darland and began to pull away. Hunnicut found him self victim numb er tw o , as LaPorte began to pour it on also, and went by for third. Now the question was, who was in shape? All the local s knew Nolin was fas t. H e had overa lled 15 of th e last 22 races. Bu t Laf'orte was ga in ing mornentu m. All eyes began to focu s on these two riders.· At th e sta rt of th e last lap, LaPorte was by Darl and a nd on ly one minute a nd 30 seconds behind Nolin. Both rid ers appeared to still be running very strong. As th ey circled th e last 30 miles, rep orts bega n comi ng in fro m th e checkpoints. Ch eck two had Nol in ahead by two minutes and then a t check four, it was down to o ne minute. Ch eck four was only four miles away and it looked 'as th ough LaPorte was runn in g out of tim ~ . As th e lead bike hit th e su percross co urse for the last tim e, a cheer went . up. No lin was about to do som et hi ng that had never been done by a local racer before, win the King . H e crossed th e finish line a nd jumped into the record books with some of the biggest names in the sport. " 1 just do this for fun but winning makes it that much better. The desert is more relaxing th an th e motocross I used to race," said Nol in. For the win, he got a six foot trophy and hi s bi ggest payda y to date. LaPorte took a well -earned second at just one minute back. But what was truly impressive was his last pass through th e su percross obstacles . He got so much 'air on th e finish line jump that specta tors fled. " I could've push ed it today but I ha ve a long year ahea d. I need to be healthy all year, not be sitting in a chair injured," said LaPorte. . Darland trailed in a few minutes back follow ed by Hunnicut taking th ird and fourth, respectivel y. Fifth overall and first Vet went to Moen. He was the top ranked D·38 Open rider in 1985 a nd '86 but then fell ou t of view for a year to recover from back problems. Rhustor fer followed in on Moen's coattails for a close second Vet a t sixth overall. Terry " T igerslu g" Strauwalk rode an inspired race. From a third row start he passed nearly half the Pros to earn third Vet, first Sportsman. In the 125cc clas s, it was Enz with th e overall victory. He ran unco ntested nearly the whole day with 'a 30 minute lead . " T he bike wasn't working real well yet, so I was glad I didn't have to push it. I kept slowing b u t continued to pull away," said Enz. Enz was the only 125cc rider to finish all five laps. Second went to Smith who too k his best ever finish in hi s front row start. Jack Northcutt rounded out th e top three, taking first Amateur. The Senior class was a battle right down to the wire. Harper held off th e attacks by Means onl y to find himself being hounded by Bilk ey. Eventually, Harper broke down on the last lap - and Bilkey went on to tak e the cla ss wi n. • Results TOP 10 0 / A : 1. Rob Nolin; 2. Danny laPorte ; 3. Jeff Darland; 4. Ted Hunnicut; 5. Tom M oen; 6. Mike Rhustorf er; 7. J oey Lane; 8. Greg Fento n; 9. Darren Sanfo rd; 10. Jeff Martinez. OPEN: 1. Danny LaPort e (Kaw ); 2. J eff Darland (Hon); 3. Ted Hunnicut (Kaw). 250: 1. Rob Nolin (YamI; 2. J oey Lane (Hon); 3 . Greg Fenton (Kaw). 125 : 1. Wes Enz IYam); 2. Craig Smith (Kaw); 3. Jack Northcutt (Hon). VET: 1. Tom M o~n (KTM); 2. Mik e RhuSlorfer (Hon); 3. Terry Strauwald (Yam). SR: 1. John Silkey (Yaml; 2. Hime y Means (Hn): 3. Mike Harper tHusl.

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