Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

KTM's Jimmy Lewis continues to rule the California desert in the l25cc class, as he too k another class win, this time over jeff Kawell and james Summers. • ATK rider john Rudder finished j ust a few seconds ahead of Vet Open class winner Paul Ostbo for fourth overall and second place in the 250cc class. q • Other than crashing once, Honda-mounted Robert Laughlin had a flawless ride, charging to third overall and second pl ace in the 500cc class. Richardson leadin g the 250cc Experts half a minute back in third and AT K 250 p ilot j ohn Rudder half a minute tiehi nd in fourth. ll'O stbo th undered th rough with a broken muffl er core in fifth with a two minu te lead over Vet cha llenger Kenny Parry, and Lewis was seven minutes dnea d of the nearest 125cc competition in ninth. ."I thought it was a really good cou rse," said Lewis. "There were some wide open section s, bu t it wasn ' t too bad. It wasn 't wide open all th e way." J Loop three headed south past Cougar Butte and ra n back and fort h th rough the Fry Mountains. er " We laid out th e first two loops so any body could do them. Beginners and Quads wer e sup posed to ha ve fun ou t there, but loop three is pretty tough," s!Iid Kersting. "There are a couple of neat downhills and an uphill coming Ilack through Fry Mountain. It 's pretty 6ad so there's an alternate on it." Super Seni or Art Moore had a few omments whe n he reached th e uphill. VI "I was swearing and cursing at Kersting going up that thing," Moore. ~It was a stair-step hill. That th in g was tough." es Despite the prom ises of to ugh terrain, Ha mel completed the fin al 35mi le loop in 48 minutes fla t. He sp rayed gravel all the way up the fina l hill an d took the checkered flag \\.ith a total elapsed time of two hours ana 45 minutes. W " T ha t was really fun and it feels great to win Bvto -V," said the KTM/ c swer / Ma x im a/ F&L/ Z Ra ci n g/ An lumil ite/Gaern e/ Acer bis / Mo torcyle T ire Cent er-backed racer. "This is nl y the second time I've raced it. Last 'ear I had problems and it was awful , but things worked th is time. I'm reall y happy. This is an important race to me." Laugh li n was pushing hard throughout the final loop and had second place in the bag whe n he came to the final hill. " I was ahead of Richardson until I got to that h ill and I went rig ht over the bars ," said Laughl in. The las t m inute tumbl e pu t Richardson into second, nine and a ha lf min utes beh in d H am el , a n d Laugh lin had to be content with th ird overa ll, 12 min utes behind th e winner. " I had a good race except for getting lost at the end of th e second loop," said Richardson, who took the 250cc hon ors on his Simi H onda/ Sin isalo/ Race Tech/ Acerbis/Mousse Racing/ Krau se Racing-backed Honda CR250. " La ugh lin was behind me when Ostbo and I tu rn ed around because we thought we'd lost the course and I had to try to catch him after that." The fast-paced terrain and a hole in the p ipe did not mak e the chase easy. "The course was fast - reall y fast," Richadson reported. " It would've been good on a 500, bu t I needed som e more top end and this hole in the pi pe has been giving me a reall y bad headach e for abo ut 25 mil es." Laughlin reported a clean race all the way to the fin al hill. " It was pretty good . I never got off or anything until right at th e end," said Laugh lin. A last mi nu te sprint in th e final valley put AT K's j ohn Rudder into fourth overall an d second 250, just seconds ahead of Ostbo, who scored a wire-to-wire victory in the Vet class. "T he dust was a real factor today because the course was so fast," said Ostbo. " It doesn't ma tter as much if it's tigh t and reall y rocky, bu t it made a difference today. " Ostbo attribu ted part of his success to aspirin. "I hurt my back pr erunning for the Baja 1000 and my chiropractor told me I shouldn't ride today , but I took a lot of aspirin and it go t me through," he exp lained. A fin al loop cha rge made u p some of the time Crandall had lost in the p its and ga ve the ATK p ilot six th in the overall lineup and th ird in the O pen class. jeff Case slid home on Crandall's heels to claim seventh overall and Parry topped the Vet 250cc contenders in eighth. " I' m really pleased tha t the District went ah ead with an event, " said Parry . "All thi ngs considered they did a great job laying out a course at the last minute. I'm reall y proud of th em for doing it. I think it sho ws a lot of class." Lewis look the 125cc class win in ni nth overall, five minutes ahead of Kaw ell (I I th overall) , and Cra ig Hunter rounded out the top IO on a Kawasaki KX250. Ross Barnes to pped th e Sen ior Experts (27th overall ) a n d Steve Thompson fin ished 33rd overa ll for the Sen ior 250cc win . "I'm pooped," said Thompson. "A lot of people who don 't ride very much ar e going to get a go od workout today. " Rob Poznoff led the Amateur con tend ers hom e in 21st overall. " My fro nt tire needs a little air but I had a good ride. I led th e who le th ing," said the Kawasaki KX500 racer from Bakersfield. The first Novice to cross the finish lin e was KTM pilot Gary Lachari te. COl Results 0 / A: I . Dann y Hamel (KTM); 2. Dan Richardson (Ho n) ; 3. Rober, Laughlin (Ho n ); 4. J ohn Rud der (AT K); 5. Pa ul Ostbo (Kaw); 6. Chris Crandall (AT K); 7. J eff Ca se (Ho n); 8. Km ny PaIT]' (Ka w ); 9. J immy Lewis (KTM); 10. Craig H unter (Kaw); 11. Jdf Kawel l (Kaw); 12. Qlarlie Spellman (Kaw); 13. Robert Baehr (Kaw); 14. Steve Cole (Kaw) ; 15. J am es Summer> (H us]: 16. Johnny Campbell (Hon); 17. Ed Pierce (Kaw); 18. Frank Chamberlain (H on ); 19. Dave Armstrong (Kaw); 20. Ken Smit h (Kaw). OPEN EX: I. Dann y Ha mel (KT M); 2. Robert Laughl in (H on ); 3. Chris Crandall·(AT K). 250 EX: I. Dan Richardson (Ho n); 2. John R udd er (AT K); 3. Jeff Ca se (Ho n ). 125 EX: I. Jimmy Lew is (KT M); 2. Jeff Kawell (Kaw); 3. Ja mes Summers (Hus). VET OPEN EX: I. Paul Ostbo (Ka w ). VET 250 EX: I. Kenny Parry (Kaw); 2. Charlie Spellman (Kaw); 3. Ken Smith (Kaw ). SR O PEN EX: I. Ross Barnes (Kaw); 2. Erni e Manioen. . SR 250 EX: I. Steve Thompson (Kaw ). SlSR EX: I. Art More (Kaw); 2. George Walkrr (H on). OPEN AM: I. Rob Poznoff (Kaw); 2. Kurt H in tz (Hon). 250 AM: I. Dan iel Cleveland (Kaw). OPEN NOV : I. G ary La char ite (KT M). 11

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