Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... Q,) ..0 o .... u o Garth Sweetland took the lead on the first lap and ran away to a sixm inute win at t he Mesquite Gran Prix. Best in the Desert Grand Slam Series: Round 3 Sweetland sw·ft at Mesquite GP , By Anne and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren MESQUITE, NV, SEPT. 23 Honda privateer Garth Sweetland ran away from the fiel d at the Mesquite G ran d Prix to score a co nvincing victory m ore than six minutes ahead of the n earest competition. The CR500 pilot from Pho. A ' . f e ru x, nzona, was out In ront at th e end of the first l6-mile lap and was still going strong 16 wh en the chec kered flag felffourlaps later. "I had a good ride, no problems, no falls, no no thing," sa id Sweetland, who pi cked up $358 for th e O pen Pro win. "They shou ld all be like th at. It was a good course, pretty demanding a nd challenging, and 1 just tried to be co nsistent." The weeke nd's big jackpot went to Suzuki R M2 50 p il o t Dann y Ha mel in second overall. The 17year-old from Bo ul der City, Nevada picked u p 413 for topping th e 250cc division, a nd winning the class o n a Suzu ki earned hi m an ad ditiona l $750 conti nge ncy p rize from Arnerica n Suzu ki. " I had no problem s," H am el said. "The bi ke ra n grea t a nd th e co urse was excelle n t, o ne of th e best co urses I've ever ridden." Six teen miles of tough terrain was waitin g as the racers lin ed up for th e start of the Grand Prix, which was th e th ird ro und of Casey Folks' fourro und Best in th e Desert Series. Fast wash es, paved streets a nd a short motocross cou rse com bined to keep the .racers o n th eir toes a nd wat er cross ings promised to add exciternent as th e five-lap race wore on. A ra ndo m drawing for starting po siti ons put Over-38 Pro George Antill ou t in front wh en th e green Ilag dropped for th e first line of rid ers, The o the r racers foll owed four a t a tim e at l 5-second interva ls and the front-runners were soo n hard on Antill's heels. " I don't ever wa nt to be first off th e line agai n," Antill said. " It's aw fu l. You're o ut th ere going as fast as you can a nd you kn ow all th ose fast guys are co ming up behin d you. 1spent more time look in g be hin d me tha n 1 did look ing at the co urse." But starti ng a row o r two bac k in Mesquite's fin e, powdery silt was no picnic eit her. " It was a dusty, d usty race and starting back where 1 did (in row II ) made a rea l differen ce," said Team Gree n's Pa ul Kra use. "You'd ca tch people but you co uldn't do anythi ng because of th e dust. It was hard to ma ke up an y ti me." U p in row three, Sweetland started to cha rge the minu te th e start ing flag dropped. H is big H onda roc keted past th e 125cc contenders on th e row two sta rt a nd he was soo n reeling in Anti ll. Row th ree's Kevin Steele, also pil o tin g a CR 500, stayed with him as long as he co uld. " We ca ught up to Antill rea l soo n a nd th at 's wher e Swee tla n d go t away," Steele said. " Ant ill mi ssed th e co urse a nd went up a bank a nd 1 followed him . Sweetla n d s tayed down lo w and go t by me to tak e th e lead ." Further back in th e pack, mi stakes were co mmon as th e racers battled in the dust. Danny Hamel made a late-race charge after untangling ba rbed wire from his rear wheel to take second overall and first in the 250cc Pro class. "T he first loop was pretty tricky because of all th e dust and because you didn 't know what was where," said KX500 pilot Krause. " Peop le were falling off the co urse a nd down in th e gu llies and th at was kind of a prob lem, but o nce we kn ew where everythi ng was, we were o kay." KTM pilot Sco t Harden ca me o ut swi ngi ng when the flag dropped for row five a nd was soo n pullin g ahea d of the Over 30 Pros on adjusted tim e. " I was cruising ri ght along in th e first loop but all of a sudden th e bike wouldn 't run ," said Harden . " I sa t th ere for three or four minutes and some guys went by me, th en it started up ag ain. 1 don't kn ow wh at was wrong bu t the bike was fin e all da y after th at. " Lill ie Sweetla nd, one of th e event's four fem al e co ntenders, ran into tro ubl e at th e wa ter. " I go t stuc k in the first wat er hol e for half a n hour," said the Kawasaki pi lot. " It was like quick sand, it s ucked th e wh eel s d own a n d . 1 co uld n't ge t the bike out. Some kid had to help me drag it o ut. I'd lik e to kiss that kid ." And while Lillie Sweetland battled to drag her bik e to dr y gro und, husband Garth Sweetl and was battling to stay in front of th e pack. He co nti n ued to pull a hea d a nd mad e short work of th e silty motocross course at the end of th e firs t loo p. Sweetland was th e on ly racer in sight as he sprinted down the pa ved straightaway a t the sta rt of pit row. He headed o u t into loop two before row two starters Warren Lewis a nd Mic hael Palmer hit the sta rt of the motocross course in an all -out d uel fo r second overall and th e lead in the l25cc Pro d ivision. . Danny H amel elbo wed hi s way up from a row nin e sta rt to ca p ture fourth overa ll by th e end of loop one, .wi th Kevin Steele pushing hard in fifth a n d 125cc co n tender s Sea n Steele a nd David Cianch eui neck-inneck for sixth. KTM 's Dan Smith was coming up fast fro m an 11th row sta rt and Dan Ashcra ft was making hi s presence felt despite being way back in row 16 wh en th e race got underwa y. " Sta rt ing in th e back did mak e a d ifferen ce, th ere's no question abo ut that," Sm ith sa id. "It was really du sty a nd th a t mad e it tough. 1 just had to try to work my way up slo w and sure, a nd th e whole time 1 knew the guys a t th e front had no dust and were going faster." But th e dust-free advantage didn 't last for long and Sweetland had to back off hi s ea rl y pace. " I pushed really hard du st free for abo u t one a nd a quarter laps, but th en 1 sta rted lapping people and 1 was in the du st too," he said. The slower traffi c was a constant problem fro m then on. "The bi ggest problems were a t the water cross ings," according to Over38 Sportsm an Dave Kersting. "T here were a lot of bottlen ecks th ere, all kinds of peop le lined up trying to work o u t wh at to do." The traffic sta rted to tak e a toll o n th e rest of the course too. Deep ruts formed halfway through loop three a nd the water secti ons widened a nd deepened into a nightmare. The hazards didn 't end with th e wat er. Kevin Steele sa w stars wh en he co ll ided with a low -hanging tree branch abo u t halfway aro und th e course, and Carlos Serrano's quick rise through the ranks hit th e skids whe n he co ll ided with an aba ndo ned bik e. • By th e end of the th ird lap Sweetland had stretched hi s lead to three minutes, a nd H amel had powered past th e ea rlier sta rte rs to claim seco nd overa ll. Smith was push in g hard in th ird overa ll, four minutes beh ind Sweetl and on adj usted time, a nd Harden raced into loop four with a fou r-mi n ute lead over Over30 Pro rival s Pearson a nd Team Green's Kenny Pa rry. The ba ttl e for th e l25cc lead was still too close to ca ll. " We were rea lly close for th e first th ree la ps; Mike Palmer, Sea n Steele a nd me," sa id Cagiva pilot Bryan Folks. " It was pretty exci ti ng being th a t close together. " . As th e mil es flew by, th e racing got tough er a nd tough er. " T he co urse really got che wed up with th e traffi c," said Sweetland, "and th e water crossing "go t really interesting. There were bikes lined up all over the pl ace a nd they'd che wed up rea lly deep ruts that yo u co uld lose your bik e in . 1 was lu cky 1 didn 't drown my bike out; lots of othe r people did. " Many of the top contenders were n't en joyi n g Sw eetland's good fortune. The 125cc battle fizzled out in loop four wh en Folks flattened a rear tire, Palmer dropped out with

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