Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ; CROSS COUNTRY Dlinois Cross Coun!!)' Cham~ionshi~ -----,-- _ Joe Zierman was running third before submerging his ATK in a water crossing _ and later getting lost. The Junior World Six Days rider finished fourth overall . Swede Jimmie Ericksson, who won the Lightweight Four-Stroke. class at this year's ISDE in Sweden, topped the Dlinois XC Championship aboard his Husaberg 501. Team Green's Jeff Fredette, a four-time winner of the Illinois Cross Country Championship, finished third overall behind Larry Sullivan and winner Ericksson. Ron Naylor, riding a 350cc ATK four-stroke, held a two-and-a-half-minute lead before barbed wire wrapped up around his back brake, forcing him to retire. Ericksson thumps'em in Illinois By Merle Acord 28 MORRISON, IL, ocr. 21 'r eam Husaberg's Jimmie Ericksson , riding a 50 I four-stroke, rode two 62 mile laps in five hours and 40 minutes to edge out Honda's Larry , Sullivan by one minute to ' win the Illinois Cross Country Championship in Morrison. Team Green's Je£( Fredette, four-time winner of this event, was third, four minutes 0[£ the pace. Dave Pucharich, current points leader in the Illinois Cross Country Hare Scramble Series, fired his Honda CR250 on the first kick and led the Expert class off the line. Pucharich was still a bike length out front after the one-mile loop through a peat bog and open field that doubled back and ran through the starting area. Sweden 's Ericksson, with ATK's Ron Naylor, on a 350cc four-stroke in his draft, moved , into second place and was closing fast. Husky rider Rick Ingold and Fredette completed the top five. Bill Gusse, race promoter and Bike Bam owner, said, "I trail ride this area for a whole year and I pick out the 'good spots.' That includes gully washes, both shallow and deep water crossings, tight woods and open woods, power robbing plowed fields and high speed cow pastures. And , of course the monster peat bogs , This is ' an A riders event and something the B riders talk about all winter. " "I like it. It 's a lot like Sweden, some of the trails are very difficult to get through," said Ericksson, who was a member of Sweden's ISDE Junior World Team and the 350cc FourStroke class winner at. the 1990 ISDE. " Near the end of the first loop I went through a deep water crossing, and , because I was in the lead, there wasn't a tra il to follow and I took the wrong turn. I lost almost 10 minutes getting back on the course. I don 't know for sure when I regained the lead , but it was early in the second loop. The second time through was much easier than the first. I just tried to ride fast and not break the bike." - Naylor, after 51 miles in the first loop, saw his two and a half minute lead dwindle away , as he tried to remove a ball of barbed wire packed in his rear brake. "I wasn't having much luck removing thewire when Fredette ' caught up. He stopped, offered to help, but I told him to go on , that this one was major and I'd have to drop out." Triathalon runner Larry Sullivan who counts motorcycling as his second hobby, needed the extra stamina for his second overall. Sullivan said, "Midway through the first loop, my throttle cable stuck and I dumped it thr ee times . The first one was big time. I tried to back 0[£ the throttle at the top of a hill in the woods , but the motor kept right on revving .and I crashed all over that downhill. I was lucky the only thing that broke was the rear fender. I didn't want to do that anymore. , " On the second loop, I thought if I could just stay out of trouble and ride smooth and finish I had a good chance of winning," said Sullivan. " I was about four minutes behind when I got to the peat bogs. I managed to pick up three minutes. If we would have had 10 more miles of bogs I would have won. Last year I was leading late in the run and broke. Maybe next year?" I "I didn't know I had taken the lead in the first loop at the last deep water crossing where Jimmie took the wrong turn," said Fredette. "And I didn't know my fuel line was sliced and was letting gas dribble out. I ran out of gas before the peat bog observation check about six miles from the end of

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