Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The day after winning the Parker 400, Hunnicutt rode the first round l of the National Championship H&H Series in Lucerne and took second. ATK's Paul Krause (shown) and Garth Sweetland finished th ird ahead of the Derrick Paiement/John Silva and Joey Lane /Scott Morris t eam s. Team Green's Danny laPorte (shown) and Larry Roeseler finished 38 seconds on adjusted time behind Ashcraft and Hunnicutt. " I like riding by myself because there 's no excuse if you don't do well - there's nobody else to blam e," said Braasch . " It's not that long of a race, a ny way . It's o n ly 200-a nd-so me mi les and 1 rode th e first 350 miles at the Baj a 500." . Speeds increased as loop two . bega n an d so did the casua lties. " We got a flat back tire right at the start of th e loop. We had to ride 20 m iles and th en we lost five mi nutes changi ng it," said Silva. "T hat's the only problem we had but it's a big problem whe n the race is th is close." A flat tire turned the Class 40 race upside down. . " We had a ni ce, com fortable, sixminute lead near the end of the first loop but then Doc (J ohn Etchard ) came in on a flat tir e," said Honda pilo t Richard Jackson. "He rode 25 miles on th e flat and it took abo ut 10 minutes to fix it, so we had to pl ay catch-u p aft er th at. " Problems with ' th e fron t forks kn ocked Crandall and Zitterko pf off the pace midway through th e second loop, Robert Nolan kn ocked himself ou t on his way to Midway , an d solo racer Braasch started to run o ut 01 power. " T he bike just wo u ldn 't rev ,"> Braasch explained . " I th in k the power valve broke or the mu££ler core or something. 1 was goin g to stop and fix it but 1 th ou gh t I'd lose more tim e doi ng that so 1just kept going." As th e racers £lash ed th rough Midw ay an d headed no rt h for the last leg of th e race, word reached th e p its that H amel's KTM had given up th e ghost. The lead .was now in th e hands of Team Green but the racing was far from over. Hunnicutt was less than a mile behind Roeseler as the two KX500s turned for home and with just 40 m iles to go, neither rider was givin g an in ch . "It was a touch and go deal all th e way to the en d. Roeseler and 1 were so close; it could 've go ne either way," said Hunnicutt. " We had all the bo lts fall out of the mu££Ier and we were worried abo ut th at falling' off, but La rry had no rear brak es in the last 40 mil es, so 1 kn ew 1 could gain some on th at. 1 tried to get within real close ' sig ht of him and j ust key off him." Roeseler kn ew he was fighting an up-hill battle. " I kne w Hunnicutt was ri gh t behind me but 1 didn 't have any brakes in the la st little bit so 1 co uld on ly go so fast," said Ro eseler. " And Ted knew what he had to do. They started a minute beh ind us so all he had to do was follow me in." . Roes eler was still out in front wh en he cro ssed the finish line at 10.30 a.m., but Hunnicutt stole the overall and Open class wins wh en he slid home just 12 seconds later. . " T hat was great - we had a good ride all the way," said Hunnicutt who fini shed with an average speed of 60.28 miles per hour. " I tri ed to ride a really smart race and be as smooth as poss ible and my partner Dan Ashcraft did a hell of a jo b. T his was hi s first real ra ce o n th e bi ke.'; Relegated to second by just 23 tim e-adjusted seconds, Roeseler was glad that the race was over. " Danny go t banged up this morning, so he didn't ride as far as we'd pl anned, and 1 broke a rib three weeks ago a nd found out that I've got p leurisy last Monday, so this wasn 't a good race for us," said th e T eam Gree n rider. " I co uldn 't even rid e a race last Sunda y, so I' m happy just to fin ish this one ." Third overa ll wen t to AT K pilots Paul Krause and Garth Sweetl and with th e KX500 team of Paiem en t/ Silva two m inutes behind in fourth. "Noth ing rea lly exci ti n g happened to us," said Sweetl and. " We had a pretty good ride and we didn 't have any problems at all. " T he ra ce-lo ng battle for 250cc honors ended when Morris charged home in fifth overall, less than one minute faster than the Strang/Davis Honda. "We were pretty close all the wa y - it was a good race ," said Morris, I wh o repor ted a tro ubl e-free ride for~ him and partner Joey Lane. "I guess we should've go ne faster ," sa id Davis. " T h is was m y firs t. SCO RE race and it was a lot faster , th an I' m used to - but 1 guess it , wasn 't fast enough." Parr y brought the Pa rry/Ostbo moun t home in sevent h overall and claimed the Over-30 win 10 minutes ahea d of the nearest competi tio n . " I lost three positions in the last 40 miles," sai d Parry. " We were ah ead of all the 250s, but the fron t of the head pipe blew off and 1 go t passed try ing to wire it together. Before th at everyth ing was going great. " . Braasch nursed his ailing YZI25 to th e finish in II th overall and collected h is fourth Parker win in a row , II m inutes ahead of his neares t rivals. " I had no power at all for th e last 50 m iles but before that, the ra ce was fun, " sai d ' Braasch. " I pa ssed a lot of open bikes and I'v e got welt s all over me to prove it. The course is fast, but th at's good for me. I'm better in th e fast stuff and the bik e is fast too." The Class 40 battle went all th e way to the wire with Ron Gray and Mik e Harper edging th e Etchartl J ackson Honda out of the numberone spot by just over' a minute, and AI Guzman, the only entry in Class 50, com p leted hi s two loops with an average speed of almost 50 mph. • Results O/A: 1. Ted Hunnicun/Oan Ashcraft (Kaw); 2. Larry Roeseler /Oanny LaPorte (Kaw); 3. Paul Krause /Garth Sweetland (ATK); 4. Derrick Paiement / John Silva (Kaw); 5. Joey Lane/Scott Morris (Kaw); 6. Chris Strang /Scan Davis (Han): 7. KennY I Parry/Paul Ostbo (Kaw); B. Robert Nolin/Troy Pearce (Vam); 9. Chris Crandall /Greg Zinerkopf (ATK); 10 . David Callaway/Charlie Barner (Kaw); I 11. John Braasch (Varni; 12 . Darren Sanford lTod McKay (Suz); 13. Ron Gray /M ike Harper (Hus); 14 . Roger Hurd /Bren Howell (Kaw); 15. Jeff Martinez/ Tim Morton (Kaw) ; 16. John Etchart /Richard Jac kson (Han ); 17. Scan Engel /Richard Fitch (Vam); lB. Ross Gregory Nince Skandunas (Hus); 19. Kevin Colan/Don O'Kuly (KTM ); 20 . Tim Clar k (Kaw) . J CL 20 : 1. John Braasch (Vam); 2. Roger Hurd / Brett Howell (Kaw ): 3. Jeff MartinezlTim Morton IKaw) . ~ CL 21 : 1. Joey Lane /Scan Morris (Kaw); 2. Chr is Strang/Scan Davis (Han); 3. Robert Nolin lTroy Pearce (Yarn), i CL 22: 1. Ted Hunnicutt/Dan Ashcraft (Kaw); 2. Larry Roeseler/Oanny laPorte IKaw); 3. Paul Krause /Garth Sweetland (ATK). I CL30: 1. Kenny Parry/Paul Ostbo(Kaw); 2. David Callaway/Charlie Barney (Kaw); 3. Kevin Colan/ . Don O'Kuly (KTMI. r r CL 40: 1. Ron Gray/Mike Harper (Husl; 2. John Etchart/Richard Jackson (Han); 3. Dennis Grissom /Norm Belte r (Kawl . CL 50 : 1. AI Guzman (Kewl . ? I

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