Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

hoping that th e heat would be a factor and would help us wh en everyo ne else started to get tir ed." . . Temperatures were star ti ng to rise as th e race rs hit Lower San Ma tias Pass a nd turned so u th towards th e Zoo Road pit for th e seco nd time, but Roeseler's bi ggest p roblem was not th e heat. " I hit a goat o ut there. There was a lot of cac tus a nd I j ust d id n ' t see it," Roeseler sai d. " I do n 't th ink I killed it but I hit it pretty good. Luckil y I didn 't go dow n. I j ust did a big swap a nd kept o n go ing." The 250cc leaders ca me under fire as th ey cleared th e pass a nd started th e southerl y to th e pits. T he Suzu ki tea m headed by Sanford had been closing up steadily a nd he swep t by Roger Hurd to stea l th e number o ne spo t just south of San Matias su m m it, The Over 30 lead ers were al so being cha llenged. " Sco tt Forward got two fla t tires on his loo p and Kawasaki KX500 rival Ca llaway passed h im ," said Parry. ·"S cott got him back but it was still pretty clos e going into th e las t section." The lead in the I 25cc division wasn 't safe either. Bra asch completed the San Matias loop expec ting to hand over to Ka well for the last 50 mi le sp rint to the finish , but when he arrived at th e final rider change, Kawell couldn't go on. " H e dislocated hi s shoulder when he fell in hi s first section so I had to keep going," said Braasch. "I was really tired and I hadn 't p rerun th at section at all. " The Over 40 class was sti ll up for grabs as th e final 50-m ile loop to th e south began. Ri ch ard J ackson and John Etchart were a hea d by abo u t three minutes after a race-long scramble to m ak e up time o n Rick Shirey and Wayn e Cornelius, but th e rival Kawasaki was still go ing stro ng. " I rode th e sta rt a nd bailed not five mi les out. They got aw a y from us because the dust was bad a nd we've been chasing th em ever since," said J ackson. " We had th e lead last time I saw the bike, but there's still· a lot of mi les left. " The fina l 50 mile loop was full o f trials fo r th e tired riders. Ra nd y Morales lost an axle nut and spent 15 m iles kicking th e rear a xl e back in p lace wit h his foot. John Si lva mowed down an impressive stretch of cactus avoiding a run-in with a barbed wire fence, a nd a protest lodged by a SCO RE course official put Roeseler 's a nd Hunnicutt's rid e on the line for more than an hour after th e rac e was over. " They said I cu t th e course in the last section arid they had to talk to the guy that was out th ere ," sa id Roeseler. " It was really stupid. That part of the course had washes and two-tracks all over th e place. Some o f th em are 'either-ors' and some of th em aren't. There are hundreds of those things in the las t 15 miles. "No matter what they sa y, I'in not a cheater," said Roeseler. "There's no reason to do it. I've got everything to lose and nothing to ga in ." As the front-runners began their final sprint to th e finish there was a no ther series of dangerous obstacles to overcome. A poorly designed start/ fin ish had the motorcycles racing in on the same course that the later starting race cars and trucks were still go ing out on. "We were coming in a nd the y were coming right tow ards us ," said Sweetland. " We were su pposed to stay to one side, but I had one that wa s running way o ver on my side, co me right at me. It wasn 't avery sma rt wa y to fini sh a race." The rulers of Baja - Ted Hunnicutt (left) and Larry Roeseler (righ t). Roeseler negotiated th e on-coming traffi c sa fely and dashed th e fin al hundred yards down th e pavem ent to ta ke th e chec kered flag just after 9.30 a.m. T he Roeseler/Hunnicutt d uo com pl eted the 2l9-mile co urse in three hours and 40 m inutes wi th a n a verage speed of 59.98 mph - almost four a nd a half m inu tes faster th an second-place fin ish er s: Sweetla nd a nd Krause. The celebrating began immed iat el y, alt houg h th e results weren 't mad e Iinal un til SCO RE President Sa l Fi sh di sm issed th e co urse-cu tting protest aga ins t Roeseler more th an a n hour la ter. " We had a good ride a ll th e way. It's getting pretty wa rm though, so I'm glad we're done th is early," said the KawasakilThor/Pro-Circuit/ Bri dgeston e/T rickl Scotti S hoei /T s u bak i I Ren th a II Barsn a ke / Be! - Ra y I Ce etspo nsored Ro ese ler. " T he bigges t problem I had was wi th traffic o n th e co urse. There were lots of [our wheel drive trucks go ing backw ards in th e last part to set up pits. It was really tight and wh ooped a nd it 's hard to see very far in front o f you, but other th an that, everyth ing was oka y." Sweetl and a nd Krause had so me exci ting moments o n their wa y to second overall. " I had a real hair raising expe rience j ust before Matias," said Krause " Me and the bike parted wa ys when I hit a big rock . I swear th e bik e hit a cactus and bounced right back under me." Third overall in the final standings went to the Suzu ki riders Sanford, Morton a nd Willert. " It's about time somebody beat a green bike," said Morton, who finished the final sectio n with a on e a nd a half minute lead over th e Morris/Hurd/Lane/ Ri chardson Kawasaki KX250 team in fourth overall. _ "Darren and Freddie won it ," said Morton. "I was losing a littl e time compared to them bu t we had a good rid e and j ust hau led all day ." Morris brought the four-man Kawasak i KX250 team across the fin ish line in fift h overa ll. . Parry a nd Forward were back in co mmand o f th e Ov er 30 class whe n . th e sp ri nt for th e checkered flag began , but th eir hopes were da shed when racelong clutch problems came to a head KTM's Dann y Hamel and Jimmy Lewis were hampered by cha in p roblem s. The Darren SanfordlTim MortonIFreddie Willert trio finished third 0 1A; first 25Occ. less than two miles from the finish. P arry lost the transmi ssion a n d watched class rivals John Si lva and Wayne Martin go by, while he wa s pushing the bike in to th e finish . The Callaway/Silva/Ford Kawa saki took the Class 30 win in fifth overall with an a vera ge speed of 53.36 mph, and ea rl y rac e leaders Hamel and Lewis finished four minutes behind in six th. Braash kept the Cl ass 20 battle go ing all th e way to th e checkered flag and broug ht the Ka wasaki KXl25 h e shared with Kawel l : home in 10th overall, three minutes a head of secondp lace finishers Craig Smi th and Jeff Dickerson, who ran out o f gas twice durin g the race. J ohn Etchart was unable to hold off a cha rge by Rick Shirey in th e last 50mile section a nd lost the O ver 40 titl e by j us t [our minutes. So lo rid er Al Guzman co m pleted th e co u rse in five hou rs 16 mi nu tes to ta ke . a wire-to-wire divi sion. • WIn In th e Over 50 01 Results 0 / A (Unofficia l): 1. Lar ry Roeseler/Ted Hunn icu ll ( Ka w): 2. Garth Sweetland / Pa ul Krau se (Ka w]: 3. Darren San ford/Ti m .Mo rto n/ Fredd ie Will ert (Sur): 4. Sco tt Morris/Roger Hurd/Joey Lane/Dan Richardson { Kaw ); 5. David Cal la way/ J oh n Silva! Dave Ford (Ka w) ; 6. Danny Hamel/Jimm y Lewis (KT M); 7. J ohnn y Ca mp bd l/ Ra ndy Mo ral es (Hon ); 8. Troy Pear ce/ Greg Fenton (Ya m) ; 9. Keit h O 'Nea l (Suz); 10. J ohn Braasch/ j efl Kawell (Kaw); II. Dave Don ato ni (H a n); 12. Craig Smi th / Je er Dickerson ( Ka w): 13. Ri ck Shi rey/Wa yne Cornel ius (Ka w ): 14. Richard Jackson/ J ohn Etch att (Ho n ); 15. Davi d Reea/ Wa vne Marri n (Ha n); 16. Mike Ha rper/Ron Gray (Kaw); 17. Ch ris Haines/jun O 'N

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