Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

O'l 00 O'l ..-< Kawasaki 's Kurt Hough dominated the final round of the ISDE Qualifier Series in Oregon. National Reliability Trials Series: Final Round Hough tops 'em at Trask Qualifier By Mike Thuleen _ YAMHILL, OR, JUNE 23-24 'T eam G reen 's ' Kur t Hough established 'co n trol of the 19th An n u al Trask Moun tain ISDE Qualifier a t the first timed speciai test and maintain ed a blistering pace through th e lush Oregon woods on his 250cc Kawasaki over th e twod n t t I l t th II ~ y eve 0 co ec e overa WIn . 18 Mounted o n a 253cc RMX Su zuki Dave Bertram secured second overa ll a nd first Open Intent over Wash ingto n's J ohn Ni els en . T u rn ing in strong performan ces to ro u nd o u t the top five for th e event were Idaho 's Ji m my Lyngar and Oregon 's Barrett Brown . T ied after da y one, Lynga r dropped behind Brown o n th e grass track a nd terr a in tests. H ow ever , Ly ngar rebo u nded a t Sunda y's fin al motocross to rega in fourth overa ll as Brown got hung up in the dust. So u the rn California' s J oey Lan e sna tched away th e 12Scc Inten t class win wh en Taz H arv ey dropped two minu tes o n day two. Likewis e, the 500cc Four-Str ok e Intent cla ss victory wen t to J ohn May, as David Rhodes wen t through a chec k two minu tes la te, while Jimmy Lewi s thumped the 3S0cc Four-Stroke Intent rid ers. T he results o f th e prior Qualifiers in Oklah oma, Michigan a nd Idaho gave}ise to a~ inform al "s~ven-da y rule, for which turmng In seven days of results seemed to ens ure a rid er a pl ace on this year's la rge 49rider U.S , ISDE 'tea m tra velling to West Germany. Uno fficia l proj ections after th e Idah o Q uali fier even indicated that severa l riders with on ly six qual ifyin g days cou ld edge onto the team. Wh ereas wi th o nly 25 slo ts a vai lable for the team in 1988 meant th at Trask was a vicious battl e for th e few slots left ava ila ble for a large con tingen t of hungry rid ers, for 1989 p racticall y everyo ne wh o desired to ma ke the tea m had ach ieved a secure posi tio n o n th e team befor e the fin al qualif ier. KTM rider Bob Bean was representative o f those riders wh o were makin g up for bad days early on, while o the rs, lik e H arvey, ca me for th e ex tra qualifier expe rience. The event started j ust befor e seven a.m., with the l25cc Int ent rid ers exiting th e impound to co ncl ude prepping th eir bik es in the gene ro us IS minutes allowed by th e o fficials. Only a few mil es aft er the start la y the first test of th e morning, the 1.7- mile long grass track. Despite the coo lness of th e earl y morning th e day q uickly warmed up to 90 degrees and th e dew lasted for o nly th e va nguard o f th e rid ers. The cou rse consisted o f woodsy trail s with an occasional mudhole and fire roads that soon became very dusty. After a terrain test and a gas stop, a fina l loop gav e th e riders a chance to blast through th e grass track a second time, with a total da y's mi leage of around 120 miles. While T om Ehmke p icked up a quick SO points for im po u nding la te, just getting ready for th e race proved a cha llenge for ot her rid ers, as Maico development rider Barrett Brown related , " Yesterday I needed to try a diff erent ign ition , but I had to get another backing plate for the mag neto. It showed up a t midnight last ni ght on the bus, and I worked until three g etting m y bike together. Running on two hours of sleep is definitel y not th e wa y to do it." In sp ite o f this, th e Mai co Ameri ca rider held contro l of. third , in th e Open Inten ts a t the end o f da y one, 18 points behind Niel sen , putting in th e fifth fastest tim es in a t eac h specia l test. , Scott Drafs was piloting a 285cc Klemm Research Kaw asaki arou nd the co urse o n th e same minute as Nielsen , and o ffered th is view o f hi s first day, " My tests went pretty good, thoug h I fell in the seco nd gr ass track just righ t off th e sta rt. I pi cked th e bike back up and it was still running. T hen I d id a big handstand with th e bike in one o f those big di tches. I caugh t Nielsen's du st by th e end o f th e test, a nd rode with him. " At the end of the day Drafs o wned fourth in hi s class , nine points a head of KTM -m ounted Bean . Posting th e second fastest tim es in each specia l test, Bertram fin ished up th e first da y 22 points in front of Nielsen, to lead the Open class a nd m ainta in seco n d o vera ll behind Hough. "T he tests didn 't seem to be too technical," said Bertram. " T he y reall y need to have thi s ra ce in Feb ru ary when it's n ice and muddy. T he course is well marked, though ." In the work ar ea after the final check, Nielsen prepped his SOOcc Kawa saki for th e seco nd day. "I got a flat rear tire a ways out a nd I may ha ve melt ed the tube to th e tir e," said Nielsen. " T od ay I took care of , some o ther things like the filt er, a nd I'll cha nge the tire in the morning. " Leading the race and the 250cc Intents as th e da y ended, H ough reflected o n h is successfu l da y, " It went real good, I tried to keep both whee ls on th e grou nd a nd not mak e any mistak es. The terrain test was very fast - a bo u t half o f it a gravel road , a nd the last half a fast fire road. I didn 't feel rea lly fast. though. " Despite H ough 's impression of a lack of spee d , he finish ed a lmost 60 points ahead of Lyngar. Posting th e third fast est first terrain test time, onl y four points off Hough's, Lyngar said, " My day went really good until th e second grass track, then I sort of tipped over at the start." Lyngar rail ed the rest of the test, .p lacing him -tied for fourth overa ll with Bro wn , and seco nd in th e 250s, a scant four points in front of another Ida ho rider, Dan Richardson. While the firs t day may have been u neventful for mo st of the riders, some sti ll man aged to fin d a cha lle nge. For th e second day the cou rse was run backwards with the final motocross taking th e p lace of the second grass tra ck. While most of th e riders had three-to-four minutes spare time at each route chec k on the first day, for da y two th e tim es were tightened by severa l minutes at each check. Despite this, on ly a handful of riders actually dropped route points. As Harv ey co m fortably led th e 125cc class a fter the fir st da y over Lane a nd J eff Keegan, he enc o u ntered so me problem s o ut o n the co u rse. " I broke a spoke on the rear wheel and it kept locking th e wh eel up," said H arvey." I was out at the auxi li ary ga s, just sitting there thi nking, when Mark Johnson ran u p and told me I had a broken spo ke, So, I zip tied the spoke to a no ther and I ended up two m inutes late to the nex t check. And that one turned out to be the only tight section of the day ." These two minutes dropped h im to second position in the 12Scc class behind Lane, despite having the fastest 12Scc class test times throughout the weekend. In six th overall a t th e end of the first day and having the lead of the SOOcc Four-Stroke Intents, R hod es looked forward to co nt in uing with a good ride for da y two. Unfortu-' nately, things cha nged early on, as Rhodes related , "I fou led a spark plug going to th e first chec k. It was a stra nge wa y to start the day. In the last sect io n I was riding in reall y heav y du st a nd I fell over in first gear. I got ba ck go ing again a nd tr ied to shift, but m y shi ft lever had broken o ff." He dropped two route points wh ich cost him the win of hi s class to J ohn 'May. Lewi s had the 350cc Four-Stroke well in hand by the end .o f day one o ver Carl Mack ewi cz and set in eig h th overall behind Tom Ehmke. But as th e rid ers worked th ro ugh th e non -intent riders al so com pe ting in the event, he found troub le, " I got ramm ed by two guys a nd knocked into a big mudhol e. I was sitting on my bike trying to find a line through it. Other than that, it was a pretty un eventful day ," he rem arked. Fir st-year intent rid er Jeff Barlow offered another perspective, " I've been getting passed by everybod y all year long a nd I was getting so rt of

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