Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Eric Hallgath topped the Turkey Chase H&H at Red Mountain . -easily won ahead of Upshaw and Tim Hodes, who slipped past Matt Chapa on the last la p. All four riders transferred to the main. . The 125cc main could have been called "T he Hawthorne Show" as he cru ised to an easy win, staying clear of a hecti c race for th e runner-up p o sition. The previous night' s winner, Schellenberger, sta lled in th e hairpin and forced Langford wid e wh ere hi s YZI25 su cked some trackside banners into th e drive cha in: Ups ha w claim ed second a hea d of Palmer at th e fin ish . Schelle n berge r was visibl y off hi s Friday ni gh t pace. "Th is is the first race I've been to since I brok e my hand five weeks ago," he exp lained. " After the races last ni ght a nd th e heats ton ight, I co uld hardly hold onto the bars." Sche lle n ber ger led a si ngle-file race to win th e first 250cc heat a hea d of Pa lmer a nd Hoensh ell.· • Tinney aced o u t H awthorne in the seco n d hea t. The T eam Green / Kaw a saki C it y/J o-J o's/An sw er / Max im a-sponsored rider was pressured by Hawthorne in th e race's latter stages, but held on for the win a nd a con fidence boost that led him to a victor y in th e Dash For Cas h. Tinney also ea rned the po le position for the main . T inne y ca p ita lized on hi s cho ice on th e ga te and lea p t into th e lead at th e s ta rt o f th e 250cc main. Sch ell enberg er held seco nd, but event ua lly would drop out off the race du e to his painful hand. Langford slipped into second on th e third lap -but lost his sea t and ran the last 17 laps standing up. " I felt good tonight, but had bad lu ck in both mains," Langford said after th e races. " I tried sitting down (after losing his sea t) but it felt lik e I was riding a chop per. You ever ' tr ip led' on a chopper?" Hawthorne worked his way into second where he took the lead from Tinney on th e . seventh lap. Hawthorne led th e rest of the race while Tinney su ccumbed to Upshaw on the last lap. H awth o rn e's wins gav e him the series points lead in both the 125 and 250cc classes . " I felt good tonight," stated H a wth orne after th e races. " I worked . ha rd a nd ho pefully deserved th e wins. I owe th e win to Jack Yost. H e made some adj ust ments on my bi ke that rea lly ma de it easier to ru n fast tonight. " Results FRIDAY 25 0 : 1. Roy Schellen berger; 2. Denn is Haw- 26 t hor ne; 3. J ason Langford; 4. Cliff Palme r; 5. Heat h Kirkla nd; 6 . Terry Tinney; 7. Clay Hoenshell ; B. Bri an M cGary; 9. Clay Branc h; 10. Travis Hodges; 11. Lane Nor ich; 12. Eric Pecu lick; 13. Tim Hodes; 14. Jason Upshaw. I • 125: 1. Roy Sche llenberger; 2. Denn is Haw - t horn e; 3. Tim Hodes; 4. Jason Langford; 5 . Eric Pucel ik; 6. Lane Norich; 7. Clay Hoen shell ; 8 . Cliff Pal mer; 9. Bill y Wh it ley; 10. Ter ry Tinney; 11 . Brian M cGary; 12. Heat h Kirkla nd; 13 . Travis Hodges; 14. Eddie Dickerson; 15. Man Har lan. SATU RDA Y 250 : 1. Dennis Hat horne; 2. Jason Upsha w; 3. Terry Tinn ey; 4. Cliff Pal mer; 5 . Clay Hoenshell; , 6 . Heat h Kirklan d; 7. Jason Langford; 8 . Clay Branch; 9 . Lane Norich; 10 . Tim Hodes; 11 . Travis Hodges ; 12 . David Mitchell; 13 ..Man Chapa ; 14 . Roy Schellenberger. 125: 1. Dennis Hawthorne; 2. Jason Upshaw; 3 . Cliff Palmer; 4. Terry Tinney; 5. Clay Hoenshell ; 6. Dane Hillery; 7 . Roy Schellenb erg er; 8 . Tim Hodes; 9 . Trav is Hodges; 10 . Matt Chapa; 11 . Jason Langford; 12 . Matt Har lan; 13 . David M itc h ell ; 14 . Stanley Chome r; 15 . Heath Kirkland. U.S. ARENA CROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS 250; 1. Dennis Hawthorn e (1 80 ); 2. (TIE) Cliff PalmerlTerry Tinney (110) ; 4 . Jason Langford (10 5); 5 . Roy Schell enberg er (101) ; 6 . Heath Kirkland (9 5); 7 . Clay hoens hell (90 ); 8 . Jason Upshaw (85 ); 9. Clay 8 ranch (65t 1D. Lane Nor ich (50) ; 1 1. Travis Hodg es (45) ; 12 . (TIE) Br ian McGarylTim Hodes (35); 14 . (TIE) Eric Peculic k/ David Mitchell (15); 16 . Man Chapa (10). 125: 1. Denn is Hawthorne (180); 2. Roy Sch el .!enberger (140); 3 . (TIE) Tim Hodes /Cliiff Palm er (1DO) 5. Clay Hoenshell (90); 6. (TIE) Terry Tinney/ ; Jason Upshaw (801; 8 . Jason langford (75); 9 . Eric Puceli k (50); 10 . (TIE) Lance Norich/ Dan e Hill ery (45); 12. Travi s Hodges (40); 13 . Billy W hitley (30); 14 . M an Chapa (25); 15 . Brian McGar y (20); 16. (TIE) Heath Kir land/ Man Harlan (16); 1B. David M itc hell (10); 19 . (TIE) Eddi e Dickerson /Stanley Chom er (5). Hallgath wins Turkey Chase H&H By D onetta & Bob Murray R ED MOUNTAIN, CA, NOV. 12 Yamaha-mou nted Eric H allgath proved once again that a 125cc bike caq run with the big dogs as he topped all the competition for th e win at the 45th . Annual Turke y Ch ase Hare & Hound hosted by the SoCaI M.C. Nearl y 400 riders lined up Sunday morn ing under a cloudless sky in T eagl e Wash , located near Red Mountain, for the IO a.m: start. Pi e- . plat es a bo unded o n th e star ti ng lin e with Barstow-to-Vega s ho p efuls turning up for th e a nn ua l T ha nksgiving weekend pil gr im age. Kawasaki pil ot Derri ck Paiement, . wh o has been lead ing th e pa ck off' the start in desert races' lat ely, sho t ou t first once ag ain , clai mi ng 'the lead a t the end of th e four-m ile bomb run. Close behind Paiement off th e start was ·Bria n H olmes, aboa rd a Honda 500CR, but he had slipped to third by the end of th e bomb run. Sn eak ing in between the . two big Open class bi kes was Hallgath o n his l25 cc. A mile past the bomb, Paiement and Hallgath still claimed th eir positions, followed by Tom Willis on a KT M 500cc, Holmes and Yamaha 125cc rider Jimmy Lewis. The group led th e racers through a zig-zag course up a nd down sa ndwash es on th eir way towards the mountains. " Derr ick and I were rid ing abou t the sa me speed a nd keeping the sa me distance between us," said H allgath. "T he n all of a sudden I just didn't see him an y more." Wh en Paiement had reach ed th e second check point, he was in advertantly sent the wrong way . by the check crew . "T he ribbon was split int o trails for ATVs and regular bik es," said Paiement. " They sent me on the ATV trail and it took awhile to figure out I was going in th e wro ng direc tion. By th e time I turned around a nd go t back to the check point, 30 ri ders were ah ead of me." Among the top contingency of 30 rid ers was Greg Searle aboard a 250cc H onda. Searle stated he had a lousy .s ta r t, but slo w ly passed ri ders th rough the th ick dust in the sand washes tryi ng to find the leaders. It wasn' t long u n til Searle, w ho recently earned the second overall 250cc spot in the Na tio nal Hare & H ound Series, accomp lished his goal. . C has ing Searle was Cagivamounted J ohn Rudder in the second 250cc posit io n midway through the first loop. In th e midst of th e chase, Rudd er h it a roc k wh ile travel in g through th e dust a nd too k a tu mble. "After th at I just didn' t feel good the rest of th e race," said R udder. Towards the front of the race, Hallgath a nd Wi llis were ba ttli ng for th e lead . Willis passed H al lga th and th en crashed and went over th e bars, providing i-H allga th with a clear, dust-free lead. The racers followed th e remainder of th e 35 mil es o f th e first loop a long th e mountains south of T eagle Wash towards pit row . H all gath waS first to gas a nd get o n hi s way into th e second loop with Searle just seco nds beh ind him. Lewi s, wh o had a hard time keeping hi s 125 ahea d of th e big bikes, came into pits in third, right behind th e two leaders. Vet rider Ron Bragdon, mou nte d on a Honda CR500 , had a good ri de in the first loop with no problems. He was fourth to ente r the pi ts, followed by Suzuki pilot Randy Mosel y. . In the last sect ion of th e first loop , Scott Stearns o n a 250cc Suzu ki passed H o lmes. Behind him was Ken j i Ga u th ier, also o n a R MX 250cc, who was trying to ma ke tim e following a slower lin e th ro ugh the bom b run. Gau thier caught up to Holmes a nd the pair diced back a nd forth wit h Gauthier finall y pu lling a head. "I went just a little bit too hard and go t a back flat in th e last co u p le of mil es," sa id Gauthier, who followe d Stearns into th e pits. Nint h onto gas ro w was R udder, who had recovered from his crash, with Holmes right behind him. The pair were followed by Ro bert Baehr, wh o cla imed he had an excellent bomb run in wh ich he didn 't pass a ny body a nd nobody pa ssed him. Pu shing to mak e up for positions lost wh en he was waved into the wrong direction, early leader Pai ement left th e pits in II th place. He was followed by Geor ge Pennington o n a 250cc Yamah a. " I a te it so hard going out on the second loop," said H allgath, who is sponsored by All .Valley Yamaha, Silkolene Oils a nd JT Racing. "It wa s j u s t a t th e finis h of th e downhi ll." Hallgath was to ha ve troubl e one more time as he hit a rock in a canyo n , throwing him over the ba rs, causing a front fla t tire and forcing him to ride near ly th e who le second loop on the flat. Farther back in th e pack, Bragdon was ca tch ing up to Lewis wh en he. got a flat. Stearns noted he passed a rid er in the dry waterfall area who was just kicking his bike; it ' cou ld hav e been Bragdon . A real battle was go ing on between Stearns , Gauthier, R u dd e r a nd Mo sel y a s th e foursome crossed Trona Road. Mose ly was leading the troop, but got passed by Stearns in th e littl e rocky section, by Gauth ier in the rocky ro llers and by Ru dder short ly af ter. A frus trated Paiemen t was still trying to push himself to the limi t and fou nd he pushed a little too hard whe n' he took a bad spi ll, cru nching his ha ndle bars and endi ng the race for him self. . At th e front of th e race, Searle was j ust catchi ng up to Hall gath when he smacked a rock , bending h is brak e pedal. H e had to stop, di smount and u se a d esert to o l (i.e. rock ) to stra ig hten th e pedal. It was hard to beli eve H all gath had a flat as he roa red into the fin ish. H e found it hard to believe he had won the race .. th inking Paiem ent was still ahead of him. . After being told by severa l th at he did, in deed win, he finally commented, " I thi n k I won !" Searle, who had traveled all th e way fro m Ren o for the race, mad e hi s trip wo rt hwhile by crossi ng th e fini sh li ne second for a first pl ace 250cc class finis h. He is bac ked by H all man/ Sm ith/Big Valley Honda/ Bell a nd Wortham Equipment. Wit h a whol e last section of wide open desert, Lewis and hi s I25cc had to fight off th e big bikes to maintain their position for a third place finish. The Thousand Oak s Yamaha/Malcolm Smith/KaIGard/Smith-sponsored rider said, " I saw Eric so far ah ead I kn ew I couldn' t catch up because we go th e same speed. I was just- trying to sta y a head of the big bikes that were starting to pull up on m e." Gauthier a nd Stearns raced all th e way across th e vall ey for th e last 20 miles. The Answer-backed Stearns nipped Gauthier right at the finis h to nab fourt h overa ll with Gauthier, o n hi s fla t, co m ing in fift h . Coasting into the finish ch ute, Bragd on was relieved to see the checkered flag because he had run out of gas. He finis hed six th overa ll a nd first in the Vet class. Soo n behi nd Bragdon was sevent h overall finisher Ru dd er: . Baeh r noted at the finis h that he go t lost four times o n the second loo p , although he had a grea t time on a fu n course a nd passed three or four rid ers in the tig ht rocks . "The tighter it is, the faster I go," said th e eighth place finish er. Mosely had a little problem ' follo wing th e trai l a nd found himself overshooting turns, but he charged on to claim th e ninth o vera ll slo t. R o u n di n g o u t th e top '10 wa s Pen ning ton. H o lm es, first Open class rid er to fini sh, agr eed with all the ot her top finishers th at th e co urse "was terrific a nd you cou ld n' t as k for more." The Pr itch ett Cycle a nd Multi-Air backed rider fini shed 13th overa ll despite a rear flat di scovered seven mil es before the fini sh : " T he re was a lot of challenging stuff , but it was smooth, too," said top Sen ior fini sh er Bill Maxim of Lake Tahoe, who is sponso red by Micha el' s Cycles and CTi Braces. " It was worth the 360 mi les ride do wn ·here. T he wea ther was good a nd th ey say I ca n chas e a turkey." (Top finis hers in each class were allowed to participat e in th e tur key chase.) First Senior 250cc finish er Rick Cla ypool a nd winner of the Super Senior clas s Den n is Davidge bo th ha d races going with. con tenders in their respective classes. Ka wasa ki pi lot Claypool was ba ttli ng it o ut with another Kawasak i rider, Dave Kersting, wh en Kersting deci ded to pu ll out of the ra ce after the first check: Husky-mounted Davidge was having his .o wn race duri ng the first loop with Dick Postma on a ATK. Postma fina lly dropped off the pace, providing Da vid ge w i th a lea d throughout the second loo p . The Amateur class left the sta rt line . 15 minu tes after the Experts. Eventual wi nner, Fran k Chamberlin on a H ond a 250cc, had a good sta rt, bu t got lost wi th a pack of riders th ree times. He and Gary Noble, mounted on a Ya maha 250cc, raced o ut of th e pits toge ther. Once in th e fast ope n terrai n , Noble took an ou tside wide li ne, wh il e Cha mberl in took the inside line and cla ime d he never saw Nobl e aga in. "It got dusty so I slo wed down and also go t lost a littl e bit, " said Noble. . Ch amberlin filed into the finish ch ute first overa ll Amateur. In a sent iment sha red by ma ny a desert ri der, he tha n ked his dad for all th e hel p d uring the race, say ing h e cou ld n' t ha ve done it without him. H onda pil ot Kevin Miles, who finished second overall Amateur and

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