Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127248
La Po rte went do wn ha rd as soo n as he left th e pavem ent. "LaPo rte cra shed in the wash first thi ng this morning a nd that cost us thr ee or four minutes," said . teammat e R oeseler. "H e got prett y banged up , so we d idn't get off to a very good start. " Back in th e 125cc class, Brett Howell and Roger Hurd co uldn' t get up enough speed to crash. "We were behind from the very begi nning," said Ho well. "T he bi ke worked grea t but it was just too slow. I th ink it wa s o ur fa u lt for jetting it wrong a nd boy, it was fru strating." Sm ith was enjoying a tro uble-free rid e as he led th e field th rough Midw a y a nd turned sou th for the 40mil e loop through G raham Well. "T he wind was blowing a million five on th e roads o u t o n the back of the course, but I was ha ving a good time. I was making p ret ty go od time, too," said Smi th. . But the KTM pilot started to run o ut of luck just short of chec kpoint four. . " I go t ab ou t 40 mi les into it a nd then I started to hav e problems ," said Smith. " I th ink we got a bad gear a nd once one of th em starts to go, you 're in trouble. T hings go whirling around in th ere like a blende r." Smith was mak in g good ti me despite mis sing a gear or two a nd still had a comfortable lead when he das hed through Midwa y for th e second time and headed out on the northern loop of th e course. Further back in th e pack, other racers had problems of th eir own. Suzu ki pilo t Kenji Gauthier went down hard in a rock y sand wa sh a nd was out before Midwa y, and KTM p ilot Mike Sixbery, who was running neck-in-neck for the Over-30 lead with Parry a nd Ostbo, went down near Midway and was forced to retire with a broken foo l. . And just when th e racers th ought the worst was behi nd them , they h it the final 10-mil e section of th e loop. " T ha t last secti on is just tort ure," said Vin ce Skandunas, who shared a Husky with Ross' Gregory. " It's dus ty a nd a ll wh oo ped out, ' a nd ihere're bi g, loose rocks everywhere." Smith was still o ut in front a t the end of th e first 130-miles. He head ed into pit row four a nd a half minu tes ah ead of the nearest compe titio n , but the KTM ent ry was in trou ble. "W e've reall y got a problem ," sa id Smith. " We don 't hav e third gear and fourth is getting a little sha ky. I don't think we're going to mak e it ." But the KT M team refus ed to give up and Hamel was o n th e bike in no time flat . Hamel sta lled five times trying to coax th e bike up to speed but still made it over th e horizon before th e second overa ll rider started down th e pit row. " H e's go ing to hav e to go from second (gea r) to fifth a nd th at's prett y tough," said Smith. " We' ll just have to hope it doesn 't get a ny worse or he's going to be sitting o u t th ere for a while." The next bike through was th e KX500 piloted by H un nicu tt, with La Porte one minute back in third and a KX500 pi loted by Derr ick Paiement a nd Joh n Silva hard o n his heels in fourth. The AT K en tries of Paul Krause a nd G arth Sweetla nd, and Chris Crandall a nd Greg Zitterkopf raced thro ugh in a blur, a nd Honda pilots Chris Strang and SCOll Davis led th e 250cc division (Class 21) through in seventh, one minute ahead of the Lane/Morris Kaw asaki. Parry and Ostbo were wa y o ut in front of th e Class 30 racers when th ey charged out of th e fir st loop in ninth and solo rider J ohn Braasch was more than eigh t minutes ahead of hi s nearest 125cc (Class 20) co mpe tition in 14th overall. o O"l O"l ...... ral . 20 0 BY A 90 49 th .Daytona h 11 ' 19 Marc sunday, ~~~us. (ort\enOe . PERSPQRT E 600C~~~L CHA~L;~~rint Races 100k TERNATI . c up sene IN . nshlP • Charnplo Supercross ad Races . s s eries ao 'onship s ene • A rn at~u r Histone cup ce Ch arn~l Qualifiers ke • Enduran erb1 • U.S. . 50'S s up . htWeight Arai Twin at',onal Ug • CC I tern • 250 ;riX Twins • Grand SuperSport • 750CC . 'Sports • U,S. Twin 6711 . BoX 28 01 ) 253pO. 801 2 atiO n call: speedway 32115 · ket Inform InternatJon a Beach , TIC Daytona . Dayton For ~90:1 F L Cycle News every we ek! T h e latest on two wheel s ! r.OOO1i'EAR EAGLE RACING TIRES DRAG-Widerfor Increased rracnen EAGLE DT II-Short and Long TrackCompounds 8" ~@~ CAN SAVE THE DESERT CDMPETITIDN .TIRE EAST ftST P.O. Box 301 P.O.Box 666 Reading. PA19603 Brooklyn. MI49230 I21S)37S-61!l1 (S17)592-6681 CANADA P.O. Box 279 st OavtClS. Ont3no LOS·1PO Authorized DislribulDl$ For 14161684-7418 Send For Cata log· Shipped Daily 15