Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

problems with a slipping clu tch in his Honda XR250. Th e T exan replaced the entire clutch a ssem bly, but in doing so was 15 minutes la te to th e next chec k a nd wa s penalized 900 points. This dropped th e team to last pl ace in th e day's results column. "T he cl u tch sta rted slip p ing prett y badl y durin g th e fir s t lo op , " exp la ined Harris. " I tho u gh t I might be ab le to fini sh th e da y, but I figured th e clutch wouldn't last th at long. So I repl a ced the wh ol e cl u tc h assem b ly, th e ba sket and a ll. " In th e first grass track specia l test, the rider to beat was Peterhansel, wh o cl icke d off th e fastest time in 343. 71 seco nds . with Sweden 's Kent Karlson next best a t 354. 14. When th e USA's Danny LaPorte en tered th e sta rti ng gri d for hi s first test , many Europea n specta tors chee red for th e form er MX World Champion , for it wa s La Po rte's first appearan ce in Eu rope since he won th e 250cc titl e in 1982. Although LaPorte cli cked off a fast er tim e than any o f th e U.S. riders, La Porte's time wa s well off of Peterhansel' s pa ce, .a s he was 17.35 seconds slo wer th an th e Fren chman. On th e seco nd loop, Peterha nsels time was three seco nds slo wer th an his first performance, but he still went faster th an a ny body else with a score of 346.66. LaPorte, on th e ot her ha nd, improved on his first score by one second, but couldn't bea t th e fastest U,5. time set by Ka wa sa k i KX250-mounted Kurt Hough, who wa s four seconds faster ' than LaPorte. In th e ter ra in test it was P eter h a n se l again with the fast est time. At th e end o f th e first da y, Peterhansel wa s th e fast est rider .in all three of th e special tests and was th e top individual rider for th e da y, whi ch helped lead his team to th e top p lacing at th e end of th e da y. A total o f four Fren ch riders topped th eir respective classes for th e da y: Alain Boi ssonade topped th e 80cc class, Peterh ansel dominated the 500s, Laurant Charbonnel headed th e 350cc Four-Stroke division and Laurent Pidoux topped the 500cc Four-Strokes. Leading the 125 a nd 250cc classe s were Ital y's Stefano Passer i and Sweden's Ken t Karl son , respe ctiv ely. . Fra nce compi led a total of 4 1.92 eva luation points for the day with Ita ly in seco nd with 54.94 points, Sweden was third with 87.60. Rela tively fast scores in th e tests left th e U.S: Trophy team in fifth pla ce. In th e Junior World division, West Germany, led by Dirk von Zitzewitz, held a co m fortab le lead over France, Finland a n d Ital y. . . Tuesda y saw th e riders o n th e same trail s, bu t th ey were run in th e reverse directi on, a n d it was one o f th e more exciting da ys o f th e event. It began wh en rumors st arted circulating through th e Pare Farme that French rider Alain Olivier h ad ill egall y switch ed motorcycl es a fter su fferi ng a lower-end seizure to his KTM 250 early in th e first loop. After h earin g th ese rumors, a co u rse marshal began observing th e Fren ch pits and di sco ver ed a KTM 250 parked th ere, with a broken pi ston rod protruding through th e en gi ne cases, that loo ked identical to th e one th at Olivier was riding at th e en d of the day . The marshal decided th e rumors were true and disq ua li fied O livi er for switching bikes. The team wa s assessed 15,000 penalty points th at day an d for eac h da y foll owing. Despite having th e two fa stest gras s track tim es o f th e d a y, Peterhansel su rr endered th e overa ll individual lead to La la y wh en he cra sh ed in th e terrain test an d lost ~ 00 ....... ..... V ..0 o ... u o American Larry Roeseler (5 ) battled Frenchman Alain Boissonade in the aocc f inal MX special test moto. American Jr. World rider Aaron Hough chases Italy's Angelo Signorelli. Hough was USA's top 125cc rider. a lmost 60 seconds. The fa stest Am erican riders in the two grass track tests were, again , LaPorte and Kawasaki KX l2 5-mounted Terr y Cunning ham. Fren chman Laurent Pidoux , rid ing a Husky four-stroke, n ailed down th e fastest terr a in test time. In th e U.S . pits. Sco tt Su m mers, who is cu rrently in co nten tio n for th e AMA National Championship H ar e Scrambles title, discovered tha t the rear wheel on his Honda XR600 wa s rapid ly falling apart with broken spokes. He rolled into th e Par e Farm e a t th e end o f th e da y with th e whee l wo bblin g so badl y th at th e tire was co ntacting both sides o f th e swi nga rm . Summers managed to ge t th e wh eel relaced an d fin ish ed th e event withou t losin g a ny poi nts . " It was my fault," sai d Summers. " It was a new wheel and I just forgot to tighten th e spokes." Indiana 's Gary Hazel came into th e pits a t th e end of th e da y with a broken ki ckstarter gea r, wh ich meant he co u ld n' t use th e kickstarter to fire up th e engine . H azel lost 60 points a t th e sta rt of each o f th e foll owing four days because he h ad to push sta rt his bike. However, H azel was u nable to bump start th e bi g fou r-stroke on his own , and h ad to wait for teammate Kevin Hines, wh o starte d a co u p le of minutes behind him, to giv e h im a push. The 1987 Na tio na l Enduro ch a m p Hines was rid ing a 600cc four-stroke KTM . With Fra nce's Oli vier being DQed , Ital y shot into th e lead a t th e en d o f th e day with Swede n m oving into second followed by West G erman y. T he U.S. learn was passed I.> y both th e East German a n d Czech oslovaki an teams, a nd dropped 10 six th. But sp irits were still hi gh in th e Am eri can pits with both Roeseler a nd club rid er a nd ISD E ro okie J immy Lewis m oving into seco nd pl ace in th e 80 a nd 350cc Fou r-St roke cla sses, respectivel y. Day three sa w co ld a nd fa irl y wet wea ther co nd itio ns with a new trail a nd grass tra ck specia l test. La lay lost th e overa ll lead Wednesday morning wh en hi s H onda C R500 failed to sta rt in hi s alo tted o ne- mi n u te tim e peri od , a nd he'd drop 10 eig h th in class by th e. end o f th e day. Once aga in , Peterhansel had th e fa stest ti mes in both g rass track specia l test s, b u t Swede n's Bill 13

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