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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127367
o n the sixth lap , th e pa ir were together
aga in. This tim e, th ough, Zitt erko pf
was having a harder time concen trating o n hi s riding.
" I hit a dog dead cente r du ri ng the
fifth lap, killing it, It really upset me
and slo wed me down," sa id Zitterkopf.
Roeseler mai ntained his lead for th e
remainder of th e race. Bo th he and
Zitterkopf stop ped fo r a q u ick sp lash
of gas at th e end of th e eigh th lap to
insure a finish . Roeseler pa ssed the
checkered flag wi th some tim e to spa re
to claim his share of the 5600 purse.
Zitterkopf was second.
Hunnicu tt pa ced hi mseI£ th ro ugh
th e race , fig ur ing h e would " le t
everyone bezerk it " through the firs t
laps, whi le he worked it easy and kep t
it together u nt il th e last laps. He
fini sh ed th ird. Mea n wh i le, T eam
Green 's Paul Krau se got a bad start,
but slowly worked hi s way through the
dust and picked off rid ers. H e credits
working out hard lately and being in
good conditio n for his fourth pl ace
finish in a tough field of riders. KTM 's
Jimmy Lewis was just gett ing the hang
of the course and mov ing up wh en the
race ended. He would hav e liked the
race to have gone a couple more laps,
but settled for his fifth place finish.
Other purse winners in th e race were
Don Griew e , Ben avid ez, Du an e
Summers', J ohn Rudder and Sou th
African AI£ie Cox.
Sunda y's ri der s were treated to
another day of blue skies. First o n the
line were the Vin tage and O bso lete
bikes. Scott Anderson led most of the
race on 1979 Yam aha YZ250 (O bsolete). Gain ing o n h im each lap was
Roeseler, wh o had started in th e second
wave of rid ers aboard a 1974 Kaw asak i
KX250 (Vintage). Roeseler did not pass
And erso n unt il fo ur tu rn s fro m the
finis h in th e fifth lap , but tha t was
all it too k for ' his fifth ' win of th e
weeken d . An derson ea rned second,
Mike Hot chkiss o n a 1974 Honda
CR250 was th ird and Norm Francis,
mounted o n a 1973 H usq varn a 250 was
fourth .
" It was a lo t of fun, bu t I' m glad
I race in th e 90s," said Roeseler.
. Scott Reed was way ahead of a lar ge
field of Mini riders to earn the first
pl ace honors in the class.
The Min i race gave Roeseler his on ly
rest of th e day. H e was at it one mor e
time in the 250cc race , where he had
a real fight o n h is hands wit h Lewis.
Lewis gave Roeseler the thu mbs up
sig n at the start, but o nce the banner
. fell , it was eac h man on h is own . The
race was a two-m an cont est for the lead
wi th not a mo ment's break for either
of them.
" It was pretty intense. J immy was
going so fast. I had to pi t and he didn 't,
whi ch gave him a little bi t of an .
advantage. I j ust rode as hard as I
could," said Roeseler.
Each time th rough th e motocross
sectio n th e pair were never mo re than
a co up le of seco nd s apart. In th e last
lap, Roeseler p ressed even harder,
taking the lead and keeping it to th e
' .
end.
" He reall y ma de me wor k for it,"
said the Kawasaki T eam GreenlTho r/
Bridgesto n e/ T su ba kilBel -Ray/P ro
C ir cuit/Ren th a llT r ick/ Scott GoggIe s/ Shoe i/Ba r Snake/CTi Bracebacked Roeseler. " It was too much like
a
work."
.
Ha m el had a di smal start in the
250cc ra ce and was forced to thread
th rough the lappers to ca tch up later
in the race. He was by himseI£ most
of the ti me, fini shing th ird. Krau se,
likewise, did not have a good sta rt. He
treated hi s 250cc lik e an open bike and
shifted too soon . H e was abo ut 15th
at the tu rn , bu t pa ssed a few going to
The Desert Vipers M.C.-hosted two-day Adelanto Grand Prix attracted nearly 1500 entrants.
th e outside of th e sweeper. H e passed
Cox in the final lap to take fourth,
as did Da vid Ondas who earned fifth.
Hunnicutt grabbed th e hol eshot
in the Open race and was a ble to hold
Roesel er off for a little while going
o u t into the desert, but Roesel er and
Krause. who followed, were more
fam ili ar wi ih th e lines of the co urse
after ra ci ng the 250cc class and got
by h im. Kra u se chased R oesel er hard
a nd was closin g in o n him in th e
thi rd lap whe n h e lost hi s footpeg .
Krause was fo rced to sto p to make
a repa ir. lo sing h is p o si tio n to
H un n icu tt . H e th en lost ano ther five
places a t th e end of th e la p when
h e stop pe d at h is p it for a bolt.
Roeseler was leadi n g by a. wid e
. margin a t th e fini sh to co m p lete h is
feat of seven for seven .
' 'I' m def in it el y rea lly happ y and
su rp rised th at I did it," said Roeseler.
" I don 't think I'll enter ano ther seven
ne xt yea r, it 's pretty ha rd to repea t
o r to p thi s wee ke nd. The co u rse wa s
a little ro ugh, but th e club did a
rea ll y good jo b of p uttin g o n the
ra ce. T he re wer e a lot of rid ers. Wh at
_ is neat abo ut gra nds prix is ' that
peop le actua ll y get to see yo u rid e
and can ch eer yo u o n . I like to show
th em what I ca n do ."
Hu nn icutt, so re from th e previo us
day's races, cru ised along until he
loosened up by midrace. By that
tim e, he had lapped traffic to co n ten d
wi th Griewe, wh o wa s pushing hard
from beh ind. H unnicu tt h ung o n to
seco nd p lace, whi le Griewe, who had
been last off the line i n spi te of a n
ele c tric sta rte r, wa s th i rd . J o hn
R udder made up ti me fro m a . two kick start to take fourth an d Krau se
en ded u p fifth. J a m es Su m mers,
ridi ng in the 500cc cl ass fo r th e first
tim e, ro de an AT K to a fi rst place
finis h i n th e Am a teur di vision an d
ei g h th overall.
In Sat urday's Seni or ra ce, Bill
Sa ltzm an led th e ra ce fro m th e time
th e pack hi t th e d irt until aft er the
last p as s through the desert. At th a t
tim e , T .V. H ol m es ca ug h t h i m
co m ing into th e mo to cross section.
Sa l tzman ' was ab le to get him back
as the two jumped o ver th e wa ter hol e
to ' ea rn the win. H ol mes fini shed
seco nd , wh il e J im Smi th took th ird
and Al Hull fo u rt h . respect ivel y. £N
Results
PRO: 1. Larry R ~ S(' I ~r ( Ka w) ; 2. Gr('g Zitl ~ r
kopf ( Ka w); 3. T ed Hunn ic u tt ( Ka w): 4. Pa u l
Krau se (Ka w ): 5. J im my U WI5 (KT M); 6. Don
C ri ew (H u s); 7. J uan Ben a videz ( Ka w) ; 8. D uane:
Su m mers (Ya m ); 9. j ohn Ru dd er (AT K); 10. Allie
C ox ( K aw ].
OPEN EX ; I. Larry Roeseler (Ka w); 2. Ted
Hunnicut t (Kaw ); 3. Don Griew e (AT K); 4. John
R udder (AT K); 5. Pa u l Krau se (Kaw) .
Greg litterkopf (leading) and R<;>eseler battled back and fort h in th e Pro class.
Scott Reed (3) roosted to the Mini class victo ry over Jay Theyes and Caleb Lux.
O PEN AM: I. j a mes Sum mers (ATK).
250 EX: I. La rry RoeseIer (Ka w] : 2. j immy Lewi s
(KT M); 3. Dan ny Ham el (KT M): 4. Paul Krau se
( Ka w ); 5. David O odas (Kaw).
l:lS EX: I. Larry RO