Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eOFF·ROAD e -. 21st Virginia City Grand Prix Larry Roesel er sets out on another lap of the course, which runs through the an cient mining town of Virginia City. Roeseler celebrated hi s fifth straight VCGP win with a pair of frien ds. Roeseler scores fifth • consecutive VCGP WID By Bill Spencer VIRGINIA, CITY, NV MAY 11·12 , ea m G ree n's L arry R oeseler pos ted hi s fifth consecu tive Vir gi nia City Grand Prix victory h is sevent h o f hi s ca reer .- . in a th rilling contest right down to the wire. ATK's Ron Nay lor closed to T 20 within eyesigh t of leader Roeseler on the last lap befor e bail ing off and handin g the Kawasak i rider the win . T he 38-mile loop was descri bed by man y ri ders as the toughest VCGP race in the event 's histo ry. T wo days of racin g attracted nearl y 700 riders to the ancient mining town of Virginia City , wi th most C class riders and Wom en 's B class raci ng o n Sa tu rday. The Su nday race was for A and B riders, and the 250cc C class. Sat u rday 's overa ll winn er wa s Honda rider Pat Garrah an, while Eric Vo n Urff sco red seco nd ahead of Wayne H a tich , Dave Ca llagy a nd Aaron Croney. The start of Sunday 's race saw Mike Baxter take the early lead , which he held th rough th e firs t chec kpoint , some 29 mi nu tes into the four-and-a h alf -ho ur race. Ken McKenzie followed Baxt er in second with Sean Loll ar third. Fourth an d fifth chase d Bax Bro wn and Duan e Hugh es. Lea ding th e B riders in sixth was Gus Berquist, wh o led Vet A leader Brian Manl ey, Dan Reger , Mar k Lagomarsin o and Dave Meek J r. The first lap took the leaders o ne hour an d 12 minut es to complete, as McKenzie too k o ver the front posit ion with Lo llar, Reger, Baxter, Hughes and Meek in pursuit. Vin ce Caramella was th e fir st 250cc B rid er to co mp lete the fi rst lap approximately four minutes behi nd the leaders. Then came Bro wn , Joe T ho mas , KTM 's Danny Hamel, Manley, Ph il Dou glas, Andy Segal e, Matt Cullins and L a go mars in o, respecti veIy. Rick Par ker led fell ow Yam ah amo unted an d 250cc B class rider Allan Cassaro along wit h J ess Prohaska and ' Cole Marsh all , wh o was lead ing the 125cc class. Mike Randal was next with Roesel er abo ut five more po sitio ns behi nd ., Starting o n the 30th row, Roeseler had ma de up eno ug h tim e to be wit hin 35 secon ds of the leader o n corrected tim e. Eric Mashbi r was in the top 30 and third in the 250cc A class wi th Na ylor movi ng up th rough the pack. Li ttle cha nge d as the field head ed into the second lap, as McKenzie still led the processio n with Loll ar seco nd over Regar an d Hughes first Vet over Meek and H amel: A radio report from the Cottonwood Cui vert s near the first check on the second lap had Douglas dropping out of the race with a busted rim, and McKenzie still leading, with Reger now second, as Lollar was beginning to have tire troubles. Hamel soon moved up to third, as Roeseler moved into the top 10 overall. H eading in to lap three, McKenzie enjoyed a four minute lead on Roeseler who had moved into second pl ace. But Roeseler had to bleed his brakes in the pi ts, whi ch cost him some time, as Naylor moved into third. It was a lso at this point th at Ham el retir ed fro m the race. " It (the bike) got real hot and started pinging," said Hamel. " We must've sucked a seal, or something. We pulled the igniti on side and th ere was oil." Roesele r pulled in to com plete lap three in on e hour and 12 minutes and was leading th e pack. Again, Roeseler made a rather lengthy pit stop in order to bleed the brakes and change tires. Naylor p i tte d 40 seconds later in second pl ace, and it appeared it would be a sprint race down to the fini sh bet ween Roese1er and Naylor. R oesel er held o n ly a 15-second adva ntage over Naylor on adj usted ti me as th e two factory riders char ged o u t o n th e last lap. But halfway th rough th e lap, Na ylor crashed his' ATK and ended up crossing th e finish lin e appro xi ma tely six minutes behind the winner, Roeseler. "I got close to him (Roeseler), " said Naylor, "but I bailed afte r I had him in sight. It was a good race and he is a great competitor. I'm just sorry for my family, friends and ATK. I tried my best. " . . " I really didn't kn ow wh ere he : (Nay lor) was," Roeseler said. " On that last lap, my crew told me that he was coming into the p its while I was cha nging my tire and bleeding the . brakes. We immediately go t everything toget her and went off, I kn ew it would be close and I just went as hard as I cou ld on that last lap." Segale crossed th e finish line in thi rd place, ap p ro ximat el y two m inu tes beh ind Naylor and scored the Vet A class win . Earl y leader McKenzie dropped out o f th e top 10, ad m i ttin g th at h e expended too much effort earl y in the race, trying to keep the " factor y gu ys" beh ind hi m, and faded. CN Results SAT URDAY 0 / A: I. Pa l Ga rra hen (Hon ); 2. Eri c Von Vr £[ (Ha n); 3. Wa yne Hatch: 4. David Cal lagy : 5. Aaron Cro ney; 6. Mike Cullen; 7. Nick Prater; 8. To by Youn g ; 9. H a!yy' Abb o tt: 10. Dave Meek. Sr. t25 C: I. Nell Goodman ; 2. Jerry Gage; 3. Mall Glock. OPEN C: I. Aaron Cro ney; 2. Mike Cu llen; 3. Nick P ra ter. sa c: 1. Da ve Meek, Sr.: 2. David Bran sr ud; 3. J oh n Kusterer. . WMN A: 1. Pam Mon tagu e. WMN C: 1. Susan Poor; 2. Darl en e Cole ba nk. VET C: I. Eric Von u-rr (Hon ); 2. Wya ne Hatch; 3. David Callagy . 200 C: I. Sco tt Wilt on ; 2. Chris Sykes; 3. Jell Kra etes. S/SR C: I. Mann y Simas; 2. Lena rd Denn ey; 3. J ohn Mason . VINT VET: I. Many Lukaszeawski: 2. Dave Dotso n; 3. Michael Tripp. .' VINT OT: I: Rick McMake; 2. Ron Dotson; 3. Fra n k Ro bin son. SUNDAY O /A: I. Larry Roeseler (Kaw ); 2. Ron Naylor (ATK); 3. And y Sega le (H on ). t25 A: I. Jon Almb erg; 2. Ed Price; 3. Sean Lollar. 250 A: I. La rry Roeseler (Kaw); 2. Eric Masbi r (Hon) ; 3. Mike Raxter (SUI). OPEN A: I. Ron Nay lor (AT K); 2. Eric Masbir (Hon) ; 3. Mike Baxter (SUI ). VET A: I. And y Segale (Hon); 2. J ell Haase; 3. Duane Hughes (Hon ). SR A: I. Bill Max im (Kaw ); 2. Ch uck Elderton ; 3. Bill Saltzma n. . S/ SR A: 1. George Walk er; 2. Ernie Sta ir; 3. Rich w ebster. 125 B: Rich Arn old ; 2. Bobb y Martin. 250 B: I. Jo hn Nelson ; 2. Vin ce Carame lla; 3. Jess Prohaska. OPEN B: I. Mike Ra nda l (ATK); 2. Craig Har tsell . (AT K); 3. Ryan O 'Ca liagha n (Kaw). SR B: I. Larry J orday; 2. Wad e T u ma ; 3. J im Reger. s/sa B: 1. Nic k G uzzi; 2. J im Morrison ; 3. Ron Sterbe n k. 250 C: l. Dave Turner; 2. Many Sm .ith: 3. Matt Wallace.

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