Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The Ted Hunnicutt (shown)/Paul Krauseteam, riding a Kawasaki KX250, finished second overall and captured the 250cc class victory as well, The team of Randy Morales (shown) and Chuck Miller rode a Honda XR600 to the overall win at the SCORE Great Mojave 250, Morales/Miller capture Great Mojave 250 win By Donnetta and Bob Murray LUCER NE VALLEY, CA, MAR. II A perfect ride on their Honda XR600 earned the team of Randy Morales and Chuck Miller the overall win at the SCORE International 5th Annual Great Mojave 250. It took a lmost four-and-a-half hours on the well-worn ' SCO R E c0l:lr:.se b e f9 re. th e, p~~r:. _. , was able to cross the fImsh 20 line for the checkered flag. The p re-da wn silence was broken by the charge of Danny La Porte's Kawasaki. He was the first to leave the start line a t ,6:00 a.m ., follo wed by 'rema in i n g co mpetitors at 15 second intervals in the order of Open bikes, 250cc bikes, Vet riders (over 30 years of age), 125cc bikes, Senior riders (over 40 years of age) and Super Senior riders (over 50 years of age). _ It wasn't long in the race tha t . the sun finally cleared the mounrains , bl inding some of the riders as the y mae in to the east across the valley: The only rider with a dus~free view was La Porte who physically led the competitors through the first loop. "It's a wide-open, choppy, fast and rough course," said La Porte followinghis first loo p. " I was out of the dust in the lead. I just rode around, came in and gave the bike to Larry - (Roeseler), I didn 't wantto make any mistakes thi s early in the race." Dust may not have been a factor for La Porte, bu t it was for the rest of the riders. Miller was able to catc h up to La Porte 10 miles ou t into the first loop, but was forced to stay behind j ust out of LaPorte's dust. "The road's getting worse, " said Miller after his first ride . ''I'm not looking forward to my next tum on the bike." The course was typically rough by SCO RE standards beca use of a week of pre-running by motorcycles and ATVs. They did have one blessing in that the cars and trucks were racing a completely separate course, La Porte turned over his KX500 to teammate Roeseler du ri ng a quick pit stoQ..at the end of the first loop, but Roeseler w as 'b arely out of his pit when Miller came roaring into home ch eck. He rapidly jumped off his bike allowing Morales to mo unt and be on his way immediately. Although the Honda riders were second into the pit area, the y were leading the race by 29 seconds, based on time. Kawasaki TeamGreen's T ed Hunni cutt had an uneventful, smooth lap on his KX250. His strategy was to ride at a ~ood pa ce and " try not to hit anything and fall down." H is ! strategy worked well as he was -able to hand over the bike to his partner, Pau l Krause , leading the 250cc riders and third overall. Spectators at home check were surprised to see two Vet riders come storming in third and fourth place at the end of the first loop. Beatin g Yamaha-pilot Mike Sixbery by halfa-bike length and 15 seconds on adjusted time was Charlie Barn ey mounted on a Kawasaki KX500. Sixbery had some problems in the dust when he hit an unseen rock and went crashing over the bars. That is when Barn ey first passed h im, bu t the two were to battle it out through the remainer of the first loop. "When we got to the dry lake, he was able.to pull ahead of me on that 500.... said Sixbery . "That's when I wished I had a 500." Mark Vanscourt faced a rider's nightmare when he hit a spectator who had darted across his path as he was coming into home check. Although the spectator was n ot seriously, hurt, he did cause some p roblems for Vanscourt's Kawasa ki which was in second place in the 250cc class at that time. Vanscourt's partner, J oey Lane had some problems adjusting to the hand levers durin g the first part of the second loop an d he was ha lfway around the course before things fel t right again. Rear brake problems during the first loop slowed Kawasaki-mounted Ron Shuler who was ho ping h is partner, Tom Willis, would be able to make up some time on their Open bike during the second pass over the course, since the problem was solved during pit time. Kawasaki pilot Roger Hurd led the pac k of 125cc bi kes into pit row . With no bi ke problems, it was just gas and go for his teammate Bob Rieger. Roeseler shot onto the course for his first round (second loop ) with Morales in tow. As they crossed the valley , Roeseler took a lin e to the left while Morales chose a trail on the right which proved to be the fastest and Morales physically took the lead for the first time in the race. Roeseler had a chance to ret urn the favor as Morales took a tumble down a ledge in a rocky section 30 miles out. " I couldn't get my bike lif ted back onto the trail or started," said Morales, whose team was sponsored by RenthallAmerican Honda/Scott U SA / Hon da line / A X O / IC R T / Michelin /K&:N / Si ni sa lo and Morales . Construction. "Finally, I got it started and had a chance to pass Larry (Roeseler) once again." Roeseler's bike was slowed at the time by a piece of dirt in the carburetor. It was no t the only mechanical di fficulty he was to face during the loo p. H is rear bra ke jammed and

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