Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Scott Forward Kawasaki KX250 was having sim ilar problem s. " We go t a rear nat o n th e first loop and that cos t us a lot o f time," sai d Parry. "Sco tt had th e nat th e wh ol e 40 mil e (so u the rn) loop and th en we had to tak e time o u t to change it. It 's hard to make th at up again when th e speeds ar e that fast a nd th e co m peti tion 's th at good." The Cl ass 30 team of David Callawa y and Ch arl ie Barney d ropped o ut before th e end o f th e first loop a nd things were looking gr im for Honda hopefuls Chris Eben a nd Steve Eri ckson, who lost more th a n half a n hour in th eir first turn a ro u nd th e southerl y loop. Cl ass 40 saw a fier ce battle betw een th e XR600 piloted by Richard j ackso n a nd j ohn Etchart and th e Mik e Harper /Ron Gra y KX500, and solo rid er AI Guzman wa s bu ilding up a lead in Class 50 after th e o n ly o ther bike in th e class - a KX250 piloted by Skip Kaw ell a nd j erry Valdez, lost half a n hour in a cras h near Midway. Out in front o f th e pa ck, th e leaders set a blistering pace a ll th e wa y to th e end of the first loop. Sweetl and a nd Kra use co mp leted th e first 11 5-mile lap in two hours flat and cha rged into th e Shea Road pit with a physical lead o f j ust o ver a minute, al mos t 45 seco nds ahead o f Roeseler a nd H un n icu tt o n adjusted tim e. T he Pai em ent / S il va Kaw a sak i KX500 raced into the Shea Road p it in third , five minutes behind th e lead ers o n adj usted tim e, a nd Baker 's Yamaha YZ250 cl eared th e pit in fourth , six minutes a hea d of th e near est Class 21 co m pe titio n. Fifth o vera ll was in th e hands o f Cox and Clark, with th e 250cc team s of Campbell a nd Adams, Max Harris a nd son Mich ael Harr is, and Troy Pea rce and Greg Fenton racing th ro ug h in q uick success io n. The next 250cc bik e through was a Kawasaki piloted by An na Merritt and Lillie Sweetla nd, th e on ly femal e com petito rs in the mot orcycle divi sion. " I' ve never ridden a 250 before. I was like a littl e noodle hanging on behind that thing, bu t I had a great tim e," said Sweet land. "I have no idea wh y, b ut it was my life's dream to race Parker. It 's go ing to be hard to top this one. " R o ge r H u rd and j ohn ' Braas ch en joyed a trouble-free first loop and had a four a nd a half minute lead in th e 125cc div isi on . th e j ack son / Etchart Honda had a three m inute lead in Cl ass 40, a nd Guzman was wa y o ut in front o f Class 50. The co m petitio n go t even more fierce as th e seco nd loop began a nd Roeseler and Hunnicutt tried to close th e ga p o n Sweetla nd a nd Krause. " It's every man for himself o ut th ere. Riding for th e"same team mak es no diff eren ce in a race like th is," said Krau se. " We' re a ll going for it a nd we all want to win. We're a little more ca refu l wh en we pass eac h ot he r but that's it." While th e dusty battle for Cl ass 22 honors waged at th e head o f th e pack , Baker was enjoyi ng a co m fo rtable mar gin in Class 21. "Baker was wa y o ut a hea d. Everybody else was just fightin g it o u t for seco nd, " said Sco tt Morris, wh o was moving up fast o n the Kawasaki KX250 he shared with joey Lane. T he Hurd/Braasch Ka wasa ki co ntin ued to dominate Cl ass 20 th roughout the seco nd loo p bu t its im pressive lead was cut by a rear flat in the early stages of th e lap . " I got a n a t u p by Min eral Spri ngs and I had to ri de all th e wa y to Mid wa y," Bra a sc h exp lai ned . " When I go t to the pi t we had th e wrong sprocket o n o ur spare wh eel so we had to fix th e cha in. We Ro ger Hurd and partner John Bra asch crossed the finish line 12th overall but scored th e l25 cc class wi n, lost four or five minutes th ere bu t we still had a fou r minute lead." The chase co n ti n ued aro u nd th e so uthe rn loop, past th e Midway pit for th e last tim e a nd th en head ed for th e finish line at Shea Road. The two top Kawasaki teams were neck -in- neck all th e way. " We had a good battle going ," sa id Hunnicutt. " I was righ t beh ind Kra use just playing the dust game. I'd gain, I'd fall back, I'd gai n again ." H u nn icutt 's ai m was to keep Kra use in sight all the way. " We started 30 seco nd s behi nd the m so all we had to do was be closer than th a t a t the finish," said Hunnicu tt. " I was prepared to just follow him in because o f th e du st but I got a safe pass.and go t th e physical lead ab out 15 mil es o u t." . Hunnicutt reeled in Krause on a roa d, pulled o ff into a wash to mak e the pass, a nd th en sprinted all -ou t tow ards th e chec kered flag. Hunni cutt cro ssed th e finish line 47 seconds ahea d o f th e rival KX500 and, after three hours and 48 m inu tes o f raci ng a t speeds averaging 59.20 mph. the Roeseler/ H u n n icu tt team gra bbed th e overa ll win by o ne minut e a nd 17 seco nds o n ad justed time. "Every thi ng went smooth ly. We didn 't have any problem s a t all o nce we go t go ing," said Roeseler. " We had a hard tim e passing th em because o f th e hi gh speeds a nd th e dust, bu t overa ll we had a gr eat da y." " I th ought it was much faster th an it 's been before ," sa id Krause. "Go in g backwards too k the lip s ou t o f all th e jumps. You co uld reall y ra il on it." T h ird overa ll was cla imed by the Pai em ent/S ilva " KX500 13 m inu tes behind th e lead ,bike and Bak er co mpl eted his solo rid e just 19 seconds lat er to cla im fou rt h overall a nd victory in Class 21. Cox a nd Cla rk brought th eir KX500 hom e fifth overa ll in fo u r ho urs a nd II m inu tes a nd Morr is a nd La ne bea t J eff Mart inez a nd Robert No lin o u t of sixt h overall and seco nd in Class 21 !\like Baker op ted to tackle the Parker 400 alon e and was rewarded with the 250cc class win and fourth overall, The runner-up was the J oey Lane/Scott Morris duo, by just 17 seco nds . South Afri ca 's J erem y Davis fin ished a solo KTM rid e less th an a mi n ute behind Martinez a nd Nolin to claim fourth in Class 2 1. David Rees a nd jeff Kaplan reported a trouble-free ride o n thei r wa y to th e Class 30 win in eigh th overa ll. Second in Class 30' went to the Parry/ Forward team two and a half m inutes behi nd the class leaders, a nd ATK pilots Denn is Nu ckl es a nd Mark L icker fini sh ed almost an hou r later to take third. Hurd a nd Braasch co ntin ued th eir race-lon g domination o f the 125cc divi sion all th e way to th e checkered flag a nd too k the Cl ass 20 win in 12th overa ll with a n a verage speed o f 51.35 mph. Craig Smi th a nd j eff Dickerso n pil ot ed a Ka wasak i KX I25 to seco nd in class seven mi nutes la ter a nd edg ed Cla ss 40 winners j ackso n and Etchart o u t o f 14th o vera ll by exac tly six m inu tes. AI G u zman soloed to th e Cl ass 50 win in 18th o vera ll, finishing in just under five hours wi th a n aver age speed o f 45.99 mph. £N Resu lts .: 0 / A: l. Larry Roesel erzTed H u n n icun ( Ka w): 2. G arth Sweet land/ Pa u l Krau se ( Ka w): 3. Derr ick Pa iemen tyjo h n Sil va ( Ka w) : -I. Mike Raker (Yam); 5. Alfie CoxlTim Clark {Ka w]: 6. ScOII Mo rri v J oey Lane ( Ka w): 7. Jeff Mar rinea/Robe r t No lin (Ya m) ; 8. Dav id Rees/ Jeff Kaplan (Hon): 9. J ~rml Y Da vies (KT M); 10. Joh nny Campbell/Cra ig Adam s (Ho n): 11. Ken n y Parr y/ Scott Forward (Kaw): 12. Roger H u rd / J oh n Braasch t Kaw): U. T roy Pearce / G reg Fenl o n (Ya m): 14. Cra ig Smirh vjeff Dickerson (Ka w): 15. R ich a rd Jack son / Joh n Etr hart ( KT M); 16. J ohn Alexander/Tod d Alexander [Kaw]: 17. An na -Merr ill / L ill ie Swee tla nd. ( Ka w): 18. .AI Guzma n ( Ka w ): 19. Joh n Ha ggard/A! Fo rbes (Yam ); 20. Dennis Nucklesz Mar k Li cker (AT K). C L 20: l. RUKt'r H urd vj oh n Braa sch (Ka ..... ); 2. Craig Smi lh / Jdf Di ckerson ( Kaw ): S. J ohn Alex under/Todd Alexa nder ( Ka .....). CL 21: 1. Milt' Baler (Ya m); 2. Scott Morris/J (JCY La ne { Ka w]: S. Jrlf Mart in ez/Ro bert Nolin (Ya m). CL 22: 1. Larry Roeseles /Ted H u nn icull ( Ka w): 2. G ar th Sweerland/ Paul Kra use ( Ka w ): S. Dt-rrid.: Pa iement/ J o h n Si lva (Kaw ). II

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