Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ DIRT TRACK Barcelona Indoor Short Track ~ . Six riders on six different brands of motorcycles. Hus,aberg-mounted Steve Morehead (42) won'the race over Cagiva, Yamaha; G as G~s, Bultaco and Honda-mounted riders. Steve Morehead (42) rides the cushion on his way to a win in the first semi. Morehead showed Spanish road racer Ricard Jove (14) and Paris-Dakar star Jordi Acarons the fast way around the oval. Morehead (lef t) joins trials winner Jordi T arres (center)' and speedway winner Alan Rossiter in winner's circle. ~ "Maestro" Morehead conquers Spain By Den n is Noyes BARCELONA, SPAIN, FEB,.2 arcelona , th e mo torcycle racing ca p ita l of Europe, ha s fall en in love with AMA-style dirt track racing, It was love at first sig h t a t the Pal au San t J ordi Ol ym p ic Stad iu m wh ere a new attendance record o f just under 15, 000 wa s se t. ani y fo ur months ago ' over 14,000 fans pa cked th e beautiful sports pal ace to see the likes of Rick J ohnson , Mik e Kiedro wski , J o h nny O ' Mara a n d Ron Lechi en go at it in the Supercross o f Barcel on a . Bu t wh o wo u ld ha ve guessed tha t indoor sho rt track co uld outdraw su percross? ' It 's fair to say th a t a la rge pa rt of th e cro wd ca me to see th e 14th ru nn ing of th e Barcelo na Indoor Tria l featuring World Champion J or di T a rres, th e local hero, agains t th e lik es o f Finland's Tom m i Ah val a, Italians Dona to Miglio y, Diego Bosis a nd a field of' seven more top intern a tiona l tri als sta rs. Bu t th e loudest chee rs were for AMA Grand Na tional veteran Steve Moreh ead , 'who gave th e enth usiastic and ap p recia tive Sp anish fans thei r first loo k at big-league, broad -slid in g American style. T he combi ne d indoor trial a nd d irt track events started with heat one of dirt track qualifyi ng a t 6 p.m , The di rt B 18 bikes rod e a 220-yard oval of red clay 'ro u nd th e o u tside o f th e enclosed indoor trials area. After a n hour o f q ua lifying hea ts th e en tire tria l was ru n and th en th e rema ini ng dirt tra ck sem is, last cha nce a nd fin al , plus a se ri es o f sp ee d way dem on st rati on races . Tarres wo n th e tri al from Ahvala, a nd Welchman Alun Rossiter was top dog in sp eedway over fell ow Bri ts Gra ha m J ones and Steve Lawson. Bu t it was Moreh ead 's win over Spa nish Enduro Ch ampion J ordi Arcarlons (Ca g iva- H usq varna 510) a nd Grand Prix road racer Alberto Puig (Ya ma ha YZ250 ) tha t re a ll y turn ed o n Ba rcelo na. Morehead , wh o u su all y ri des a H a rley-Da vidson (Woods-Ro ta x) 600, was unabl e to get his bike to Spai n on tim e because o f del a ys in international sh ip ping ca used by the war in t he Per si an G u lf. Bu t So lo Mo to magazine , promoter s o f th e even t, ar ranged for Morehead to ride a stock Husaburg MC 501. Span ish rid ers who had been p repa rin g for more tha n a month for th e event were enco uraged by th e news th at Moreh ead wo uld be rid ing a bi ke he had never seen before. " J'd never hea rd of a Husaberg , before the p romot ers fro m Barcelona to ld m e I was rid in g one, ,,' Moreh ead sai d. " What's a Husab erg?, I th ought, b u t m y Cycl e N ews with th e Husab erg 350 test showed up just before I left for Sp ai n an d I kn ew it was a good o ff-road bike. That made th e fli gh t over a little more relax in g, bu t it was ha rd to ge t it set up, I saw th e bi ke for th e fir st tim e the ni ght befor e th e first practice. I tri ed to get it working with a 19-in ch front , bu t th e fork s were too long a ndthe bik e was all wrong in the d irt. We cu t a cou ple o f in ch es o ut o f th e White Power front fork s, but there just wasn ' t tim e to ge t th e sp ringing a nd damping right so I ha d to p u t o n a l7-inch fro nt to go with th e 17-in ch rea r and we used Mich elin roa d ni ce rai n tires. "The rea r rim was wa y to o wide . .. a bo u t six in ch es, a nd i t was real har d to use th e side of th e tire. First tim e I ro de it I co u ldn' t get it turned arou nd . . . th e stadium was too small for that th in g. I never go t it even halfwa y working u ntil after th e last sessio n of time tria ls ... but ther e were a lot o f real da ngero us loo king bikes o n the trac k a nd some serio us ly dangerous looki ng riders." O ne of th e most a m usi ng mo me nts in th e Husaberg pit occurred wh en Morehead cam e in and to ld th e Husa,berg mech an ic, via a translator, that he was having trouble getting out of turn fo ur. T he m echanic, just back from the Par is-Dakar, scratch ed his head a nd sai d meekly: " Bu t, pl ease, the oval track she has only two turns." Time T r ials Rather th an time individual laps (Morehead was turning middle and high 12s) th e organizers timed rid ers ove r four laps and from a standing sta rt . Moreh ead had th e quickest time after th e four-la p sessio ns. His 51.50 gave h im almos t a seco nd advantage o ver Alber to Puig (52.48). Next was former Sp an ish motocross cha m p ion J ordi El ias (52.61), who like Puig was on a Yam aha YZ250. Jaime Martinez de la Rosa, o n a loud Gilera 500 fourstro ke, was fourth. A tot al of 40 riders co m pe ted for 28 slo tsi n th e four qualifying heats . Puig, wh o will rid e what Yamaha Spain describes as " a factory Yamaha TZ" in th e 250cc World Cham p ionsh ip was under som e pr essure from other Spanish promot ers who a re running a " fu ll track "circle race in th e "monumental': bull ring a week after th e dirt track event . "They didn 't wa nt me to rid e here because I' m in th e sa me program with Eddie La wso n , J ohn Kocinski a nd Juan G ar riga in th e b ull ri ng, b ut th is is a rea l race and th e other th in g is a circus a nd I' ve a lways wa nt ed to ride ag ai nst area l America n dirt tra ck rider lik e Moreh ead o n a real America n-typ e sho rt tra ck , so last night I ma de up my mi nd to race the little two-stroke. We've

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