eLOCAL EVN S
ET
e
Ron Na ylor (P 44) rod e a flawl ess ra ce from sta rt to finish to claim th e ove ra ll
and Open Pro class wins at th e Gold Strike Hare & Hound in jean, Nevada.
of his bik e a nd could o n ly get within
10 len gths o f the leader.
With o nly the winner being transferred to th e fina l, Dave Kna p p and
Tim Fa rr ell diced it up u ntil th e flag,
where the nod went to Kn a p p.
T he ice flew as the field charged o ff
th e line in the fina l. Wh en th e ice m ist
cleared, Craig Pi ckett was on top a nd
rid in g ha rd. As th e field sp read o u t,
o n ly Doug O 'Boyle co u ld stay withi n
striki ng d ista nce but P ickett took the
Nat iona l wi n , doing so on a bi ke
loaned to him by j ack Ma yer.
The 500cc B Stu dded Solo cla ss wa s
th e largest class of the da y, req u ir ing
th ree hea ts a nd th ree semis. J ohn
Langfelder took th e firs t heat with
Sco tt Sto da rt secon d a n d Do n ald
Daw e, J r. third.
Tom Dorset opened u p a slig h t
adva n tage o n Ryan Weatherb y a nd
went o n to win th e seco nd heat with
Mik e So ka lski p icking u p th ird. Matt
Schoonover flew to th e w in with
Geral d Levasseu k hot o n h is tai l in
th e third hea t.
emi o ne was won by Dave Briody
a fter Doug Doyle's bi ke q u it on th e
third lap. Co ry Cl are also expe rien ced
mech an ical difficulty in th e seco nd
sem i, lea vin g Robert Skidmore to ta ke
over the lea d a n d earn a pl ace in line.
Tom Pa lmer picked up th e la st available spot in lin e, wi nning the th ird
semi.
T he fina l turned into a ba ttl e o f will s
bet ween Schoonover a nd Dorset. On
la p two , Schoonover took th e lea d
away from Dorset a n d held him off for
th ree la ps. Then Dorset grabbed th e
lead back , holding th e thrott le wi de
open until he was sure th e race was
over a nd he had th e win.
T he day's events were wra pped up
with a trophy presentation in a welco mely warm cl u b house. T he first
th rough 10th place rid ers in eac h class
received large trophies. An a n nou nce ment was made during th e ceremon ies
that th e Nationals would again be held
a t Albright Shores, Michigan, in 1992.
T hi s brought a cheer fro m th e rid ers
wh o wer e a ll in agreem ent that it j ust
l:I~
keeps ge tt ing better every yea r.
Resu lts
24
SATURDAY
85 (7· 11): Bryan Bigel o w ( Ka w); 2. Br ia Edmo nd s
(Ka w); 3. K<"
(Ya m ); 5. J o,hua Woolh ( Kaw).
85 (12-15): 1. Leo Wi sem an (SUI); 2. Scot t Sa rge n t
(Ka w ]: S. P aul L yn ch (Hon); -l. Dan iel Kaiser (S Ul);
5. j ason & ntell{ Kaw ).
200 O P L'i: I. Jeer Fredette (Kawl: 2. Robert Wt'1!O,
[ Ho nj: 3. TOdd P iec h o wsk i ( Ka w j: 4. Ma rl Bra dl e y
( JU:w) ; 5. Ri chard Mooman ( Ka w).
360 R UBBER SDCA R: I. Bryon Boman/William
~Ia yn~rd (H e n ]: 2. John G r.mlo w/ Kurt Sche u r
( Ho n ); 3. Mark Sparfi ng /Doug Loxton (Hem); 4.
Kim Shorl/Charlo Dane ( H e n) : 5. Ron Betzold/
Bar th Betzold (H o n ).
!>OO R U BBER SDCAR: I. M ar~ Sparling /Doug
Lox Ion (Yam ): 2. T im Ha nn er/Ma tt Phillip... (Ya m) :
~ . N o rm a n Forstne r /Bre tt Pe te rson ( Ya m ): t .
WaUa CC' Armstrong /Wallace Armstro n g II (H o n); 5.
Barth Betzold / Ron Beeold (Yam ). _
OPEN R U BBER SOLO: I. Let) Antho n y ( H o n );
2. Geo rge Ra nn y (Yam);3. Ted Arnem (Yam) ; 1.
Ro ber t Capistra nt (D ue): 5. Ron a ld Dodd (Ya m).
2SO B STUD SOLO: l. J am o M urr a y (H e n ): 2.
Tim Flyn n ( Kaw): 3. Todd P iech o wsk i ( Hen) : -I.
Ala n Lei no nen (S Ul ); 5. Ma rk Gi Kow~ki (Ya m) .
O PES R UBB ER SDCAR: I. Stan ley Cope/ Jo"
C onzales (H · D); 2. T im Roel e na/M ike Ni tschk e
(T ri); 3. La rry Roele na/No rm a n For stn er (Tri); 4.
Mike Rando lph/ Mark Klug (H o n): 5. Leo Anthon y/
Denn is Mosh er (H· D).
S USDAY
SR -to &: O""ER: I. Da n Crawfo rd (R lX); 2. Da niel
Dit'I1t"T ( H on ): 3. La rry P ie kos (Ya m): 'I. Glt"tl
O'Boy le ( H OII); 5. Kei th O'Boyle ( H o n ).
OPES STUD SDeA R: I. Do n R UII ~l g C' / Do ll
Bu rg ss ( Ka w ]: 2. Da vid Scofield /Tom Tuck e r
e
(Ya m) : 3. Kim Lyo n s/Ca r! Cornel l {Kaw): 4. P.IUI
Wim'Ka r/ Dan iel Welch ( Ka w): 5, Kei rh Rool /Jam ~
M urra y (Ho n).
250 A SOLO ST UD : I. )eff Frede u e (Kaw ): 2.
C u rt is Stapert (Ka w ): 3. Enn F.ar ly {H e n ]: 4. JeH
ager (H o n ).
C ha p ko (H e n ): 5. Tom Breur
400 STUD SO LO: I. Pau l Wac kOO B STUD SOLO: I. T om Desert ( Ka w); 2. Ma ti
Schoono ver (U· D); ~. Gt'ral d Levasseur ( Ka w): 1.
Donald Dawe J r. ( Hon j: 5. John Langfeld er (Kaw ).
!>OO A STUD SOLO: I. Doug O 'Boyl< (H un ); 2.
Tom Brenrager ( H e ); ~ . Cra ig Pi ckell (H "D,; .1.
m
T im Lowe (H · D); 5. Rol a nd Curler (KT :\1).
O PEl\" STUD SOLO; I. CraiK P ickett ( H -D); 2.
DoUK O'Bovle ( U o n ); !. J o hn L owe ( H · O); -l. n a n
Cr aw ford (R tk): 5. Dav id Knapp ( H -D),
Best in the Desert Grand Slam Series
Naylor claims Gold
Strike H&H win
By Anne a n d T om Va n Beveren
Photo b y Tom Va n Beveren
JEAN, NV, JAN. 26
T K'S Ron Na ylor bl asted o ff th e
front row o f th e start ing grid a t
9:00 a. m . a nd dom in ated the 118·
m il e G old Str ik e Cas in o H are &
H ound all th e wa y to th e finish , sli ding
A
home more than seven minutes a head
o f hi s nearest ri val to take th e checkered
flag a nd th e $292 purse for th e O pe n
.
Pro win.
'" neve r let u p the whole way," said
Na ylor. "In a race lik e thi s wi th a timed
start, you never know if sorn ebod y's
com ing up behind you. so yo u ca n 't
a ffo rd to let u p for a minute."
A fiel d of 215 racers turn ed OU I for
the Go ld Str ike event, which is th e
first rou nd in the five-race Grand
lam Series run by Ca sey Folk s' BeSI
in t he Desert o rga n iza t io n. T he
co u rse was la id o ut in th ree loo p s
wit h th e s tan/fi n is h line i n th e
p arki ng lot o f th e G ol d Stri ke H o tel
and Ga mbl in g H al l.
" We wer e very fortu nat e to h ave a
ra ce in th is a rea because it 's so
e n vi ro n me n ta lly se nsiliv e ," sa id
Fo lks. " We ha d to mo ve the co urse
o u t o f her e la st yea r, bu t we got it
ba ck this tim e th ro u g h a lon g p rocess
wi th the BLM .
" It 's a faster race th an Laughlin (the
final eve n t in th e 1990 Grand Sla m
Series). T he re a re a lot of sandwas hes,
so me twist y di rt roads yo u ca n do 40
m ph o n - th e speeds a re def ini tely
fas ter. " sai d Folks. " T he whole idea
is to ge t people to th e fin ish line a nd
no t get people hurt, but I' m sure every
o ne of th e top pros wo u ld say they got
their money's wo rt h."
, Na ylor sh ared th e front row sta rt
with Uta h hotshot Brandon Gerber ,
who got the ho leshot whe n the starti ng
ligh t flas hed a nd forced th e ATK pilot
to ea t dust for the firs t few m iles.
" I rode p retty co nse rva tively o ff the
start, " sai d Na ylor. '" hurt m y hand
testing suspension last week - shoved
a stick abou t o n e and a ha lf in ch es
inside m y hand between two o f m y
fi ngers, a nd th at swe lled up dur in g th e
race a nd go t really so re. "
Na ylor took ove r th e physical lead
by th e en d of th e o peni ng loop but
had to work hard go in g into loop two
10 hold o ff a cha lle nge from KTM 250
p ilo t Danny Hamel , wh o ca me up fast
o ff th e second ro w sta rt 30 seco nds
beh ind the leader.
" I was physicall y seco nd a t th e first
gas bu t I was leadin g it o n lime," sai d
Hamel. '" wa s moving up a fter th e pit
but th en th e bike sto p ped sh ifting. I
was a bo u t 50 mil es into it a nd in th e
en d it wou ldn 't sh ift a t all. , j us t had
to quit a nd p u tt back in .",
H amel's mi sfortun e gave Na ylor
so me breathing ro om a nd put fif th ro w sta rte r j imm y Lewis into th e
,n u m ber tw o spot.
" T here wa s a lot o f silt in th e first
sec tion a nd it was rea lly dust y," th e
KTM250 p ilo t tol d Cycle Neui s. "Tha t
hel d me up for a wh ile bUI o nce we
got up into th e h ills it was st ill kin d
of mo ist a nd I pa ssed a few peop le
there."
Back in third, G reg ea le needed a
few mor e gears. '" was expecti ng it to
be a ty p ica l Ca sey Folks race - rea lly .
tig ht a n d techn ical , but it was n 't, " sa id
KTM 250 pilot Sea le. " It was reall y,
rea lly fas t a nd I was a littl e under geared. , was ge tt ing smoked o n th e
top en d."
OUI in fro nt, Naylor was runn in g
wid e open to h ol d o ff th e co mpetitio n.
" It wa s really fast - lot s o f ro ads a nd
lots of dry lakes, and he (Na ylor ) was
on th e gas," said Lew is, " When I got
up close to him , co u ld see wh ere h is
lin es were and he was going so fast
he wa s sliding off a ll over th e p lace."
"It was a lot fast er than what I'm
used to because' don 't race too m uch
desert stu ff, bu t the mar ki ngs wer e
grea t and th at helped me keep th e
spee d up," said Naylor. " I' ve never
seen a co urse marked as well as th at. "
Naylor stre tch ed hi s lead a ll th e way
a ro u nd th e second loop and pushed
even further a hea d in th e wide-open
terrain near th e en d o f loop three. The
AT K 604 of Naylor's fla shed in to the
finish a lmost 10 mi n u tes ahead of
Lewis, to take th e overa ll win by a
time-adjus ted se ve n a n d a ha lf
minutes.
" If we'd a ll sta rted a t th e same ti me
'just wo u ld've tri ed to win . , wo u ldn 't
have worried a bo u t bu ilding up a big
margin , bu t with a tim e-adjusted race
lik e this. yo u can ' t tell how things a re
going," said th e ATKIDunlop/Yok o/
I n te rl i nk /O p ti m al /A Ipi n e -S ta r/
Bieffe/Sm ith/ Sport T ra x-bac ked Na ylor. " It mak es yo u nervous knowin g
so m ebody mi ght be co m in g up behind
yo u. They ca n pass you on time and
yo u'd never kn ow it."
Lew is reported a smooth ride on his
way to second ov erall and the wi n in
the 250cc Pro class. '" got held up by
the d us t in the fir st part o f the co urse
but every th ing went really well after
that, " said KTM 's Lewis.
Greg Searle co m p leted a trouble-free
rid e to fin ish third overa ll and second
250cc Pro , with O pen Pro KTM rider
Daryl Folks and ATK-m ounted john
Rudder rou ndi ng o u t the top five. C'i
Resul ts
O /A: I. Ron :\Ia ylor (AT K) :.!:5
2:13 : 2. J immy 1...r'wi5(KTM)
5:00:28; ! . G lrg Se-ulr (KTM ) 5:03:16; 4. Oil",1 Fo lks (KTM)
.
3:05:06: 5. Job n Rudder (AT K) 3:05:50; 6. Bran don Oerber
(I\TM ) 3:06:14: 7. ~
