Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Best In The Desert Series: Final round HARE SCRAMBLES ~ The co urse was tight and technical all th e way and earn ed rave reviews from th e front-runners. T he technica l terra in was perfect for Lewis's 125. . " It's a huge disad vantage bein g on a 125 normall y, but th is course was grea t for me," said Lewis. " It was tight and technical eno ugh th at I co u ld keep my speed up and there rea lly 'wasn 't any wide o pe n stuff like a normal desert race - no bi g valleys, just a couple of long sand was hes and they weren't too bad ," Lewi s hung back in the ear ly going and launched his charge when the dust and traffi c thinned going into loop tw o . J immy Lewis (A20) leaves the start line en route to the overall victory at the Laughlin Hare Scrambles. Lewis finis hed two minutes ahead of runner-up Scott :\Iorris. Lewis bombs Laughlin Ry Anne and Tom Va n Beveren . Photos by Tom Va n Beveren LAUG HUN, NV, DEC. 8 T M'S Jimm y Lewis topped the com pe tition o n a l25cc KT M at the Best in the Desert' s Un ited Sta tes Hare Scrambles Ch am p ionship at La ug hli n . Lewis completed 108 mil es of tight, technical racing in three and a half ho ur s to stea l the overa ll victo ry tw o m inu tes ahead of h is nearest O pen and 250cc class riva ls. " I' ve a lwa ys wanted to win one overall o n a 125," said Lewis. " I' ve overalled enduros o n a 125 befor e, but never a big National-cal iber race like this. I'm really happy to hav e finall y done it. " The fina l round of th e Best in the Desert's five race Grand Slam Series was sponsored by the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, which drew nearly 150 rid ers to th e starting area near the Colorado Riv er gambling resort, T eam Green's SCOII Morris drew number one in th e starting order and had a dust-free run wh en th e Christmas tree start ing lights turned gr een for th e first time at 9 a.m. The rest of the pack followed two at a tim e every 30 seconds and battled thick du st on the initial run straight into the sun. Lewis was back on the seco nd row of the 125cc Pro class and had to wait five minutes before h is start rolled around. "They started the Open Pro bikes first and then the 250s, and by the tim e it got back to me yo u coul dn ' t see a thing with all the dust," said Lewis. "There wasn't much I could do so I . just rode slow and saved my energy. K It was a lo ng race and I knew there'd be plenty of time for racing later o n." T he cour se was laid out in a figure eig ht wi th a nine-mile first loo p and a 27-mi le second loop . The Pro race consisted of three loops of the 36-mile course, whi le the Sportsmen raced two loops for a to tal of 72 miles. . Fo r KTM pi lot Brando n Gerber, the race lasted less than five miles. T he 250cc Pro from Utah repo rtedly lost a water lin e and fried h is engine befo re th e first p it and ATK's Chris Crandall cras hed out of the running in th e second half of loop on e. The next casualt y was Danny Hamel's KTM , whi ch came o ut of the first loop in the back of a p ickup tru ck. " I don 't kn ow what 's wro ng with th e bike," sa id Hamel. " I t just doesn 't run anymore. I was probabl y running first 250 on ti me wh en it hap pen ed." Morri s mad e the most of th e du stfree number o ne spot and was ou t in front all th e way around the fir st loop, despite breaking h is left foot in a race two weeks earlier. Greg Searle comp leted the first loop 22 seconds beh ind Morris on adj us ted time to claim the number two spo t on a KTM 250, and th e th ird fastest time was turned in by Kawasaki KXI25 pilot Dennis Belingheri. John Rudder , Lewis and D!1nny And erson were just over a minute slower than Morris through the first lap of the figure eigh t, and Carlos Serrano was leading the Over 30 Pros three minutes behind the overall leader. Arizona's Garth Sw eetland was turning up the heat three minutes behind Mo rris, " I had some problems in the firs t loop gelling stuff together and gelling th e bike dialed in," said Sweetla nd. " I ju st go t the bike and I've hardl y ridden it," While Sweetland was making up time, 250cc Pro leader Searle was losing ground steadily. "I had a great ride going at the start. . I was pi cking riders off all the ti me but halfway through the race I blew a shock and that ended it for me right there ," sa id Searle. " It was a really tough ride withou t a shoc k bu t I kn ew I had to finish to tak e the series 250cc win, so I j ust kept plugging away." A sore back from a loo p o ne crash kep t Daryl Folks off the pa ce in the second loo p and bad blisters ' were loo sening Serrano's ho ld on the Over 30 series ti tie. " I got raw blisters the size of quarters on my hands a nd that hurt me in th e second loop. I thought I was goi ng to have to stop," said Serra no , who had to finish ahead of Lee Pea rso n to claim the Vet class series win, " 1 had to back off and I knew he'd be catc hing up, so I was watching fo r him all the way." Morris was still a t the head of th e pa ck a t the end of the second loop but the compe titio n was closing in beh ind him on adjusted time, Sweetland hit pit row in the n umber two spot, two minutes behind the leader o n adj usted ti me, and Mark Mo rris and Dan ny Anderson were less than a half a mi nute beh ind. Lewis was the fifth rider into pit row and his five min ut e sta rt ing margin pu t hi m neck-in -neck wi th Mo rri s for th e time-adj usted lead. " T hey told me I had th e lead o n ti me whe n I go t to the pi t and I just ham mered it," said Lewis . " I think a lot of people were sta rt ing to get tired but I rested for th e first loop so I cou ld keep it o n the gas," Folks was the next racer into pit TOW and wh en Rudder brought th e fir st · 250cc mount th rough a few seconds later, he claimed third in th e timeadjusted standings, a minute and a half beh ind Morris and Lewis. The fin al 36 miles was th e toughest of th e th ree loops as ti red rid ers neared th e end of the 108-m ile race and th e terrain started to deterio rate. As the racers'Ilash ed th rough the pits with 27 miles to go, Sweetland was pouring on the pace just 43 seconds beh ind Morri s o n adj us ted time. Four minutes back in fourth overall, Lewis was moving even faster and the race had a new lead er, as the 125cc hotshot' dashed through 38 seconds faster than Morris on adj usted time. Sweetla nd ma de hi s mo ve near th e halfway mark a nd elbo wed Morris out of the physical lead for th e first time. He kept pushing all the way to the finish trying to overtake Lewis in the time-adjusted standings, but his luck ra n out as the finish line came into sigh t, " He was sitting out there about half a mile from the finish , so I turned around and went back to ask what was wrong. Garth said he' d run o u t of gas," said Morris. Sweetla nd go t ga s from a Sportsman rider but the refuel came too late and Morris raced home to take the checkered flag, 34 secon ds ahead of Sweetla nd o n adj usted tim e. Bu t it was too ear ly to celebra te a victory and all eyes were on the clock as Lewis screa med across the final valley and slid in to th e finis h th ree mi nutes later. The KT M p il o t comp leted th e course in a total of three hours and 36 minutes, and when the starting times were adjusted, he took the overall win exactly two minutes ahea d of Morri s. " I had a reall y smooth ride - zero prob lems," sa id the K'I' Mz'Scons/ Po werbar/ F&L/ Ka l-Gard/ T suba ki l Bi effe/ R ok ol An swer /Mai er-b ack ed racer. " I j ust sta rted slow an d saved my energy beca use it was so dusty and I'm still not a ll tha t tired. Maybe I should've gone faster." Back in second, Morr is was happy the race was over. " It was gelli ng chopped up and it was really hurting my foot , but it was a neat course," said Morris. " I can't bel ieve Sweet land ra n out of gas so close to th e finis h . He had me for sure." Sweetla nd couldn' t believe his luck either. "It was close. I was abo ut a pint short and tha t's all it took," said Sweetland. " It was a good course but it was prett y tough . It wh ipped me," Rudder slid ho me th ree minu tes beh ind Swee tland to cla im fo u rt h overall and the win in the 250cc Pro division. Open Pro Mark Morris claimed fifth overall ahead of Greg Searle, Darren Sanford and David Porter, and Den nis Belingheri com pleted an impressive KXI 25 ride in ninth overall, j ust 10 minu tes beh ind the race wi nner. Daryl Folks kept h is charge go ing all the way to 10th overall and Ca rlos Serra no won an all-ou t sp rint to the fi n ish to wi n the O ver 30 series championship by just two seconds over Lee Pearso n. Richard Wilk overalled the Sports ma n 's two-l oop race in two and a half hours, with Pau l Pit ts tak ing second o vera ll Sportsman and first in the 250cc class just six minutes beh ind. Dr ~ Results 0 1 k l. J imm y Lewis (KTM); 2. Scot t Morri s (Ka w ); 3. Carlh Sweetla nd (Ka w) ; 4. John Rudder (AT K); 5. Mark Morris (H on): 6. Glqi;S

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