Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

9OFFROAD e Best in the Desert Grand Slam Series: Round 3 Greg Zitterkopf scored the overall win despite riding with a flat front tire. John Braasch emerges from the slaughterhouse on his way to the 125cc Pro win. Zitterkopfzooms to Ely GP win By Anne Van Reveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren ELY, NV, JUNE 1 espite riding most of the race with a front flat , Team Green 's Greg Zitterkopf made easy work of th e rain-slick course in the Nevada desert. Zitterkopf put hi s Kawasaki KX250 ou t in front of the pack a t the start of th e second loop and sta yed there to scor e the overall honors and the $260 250cc Pro purse by more than three minutes. " I had a great ride," Ziuerkopf said. " Everythin g was fun. The conditions were great and the tra ction was super." The event drew 166 racers to the historic copper mining town of Ely, 280 miles north of Las Vegas, and featured a 16-mile course, which began in front of the railroad station in east Ely. It wound through paved streets, changed to dirt near the west end of town, and then headed further out for the back-and-forth run through the foothills to the north. Steady rain the day before the event left the course slick and the promise of intermittent showers and temperatures in the mid-50s had the riders bundling up for the start of the race. Light rain was falling as Scott Morris led the charge off the starting line at 9:00 a.m. The rest of the Pros D 24 followed four bikes at a tim e everySf) seconds , slithering on the wet pavement in the first corner, a nd then powering down the first straigh t of the five-lap race. The Expert class followed hard on the heels of the Pros, but the Amateur a nd Vintage racers had to wait until noon for the' start of their separate five-lap race. Speeds were moderate on lap one, as the racers took a ca u tio us first look at the terrain and concentrated on staying upright in the sli ppery conditions. Some of th e com petitors wer e planning to keep the speeds down in the following laps as well . . " I was planning to keep a steady pace and get a finish, " Morris said. "I wanted to be careful because when we leave here, we're going straight to Baja (for the SCORE Baja 500). That's th e big one for us and I wanted to get there with no injuries." Zitterkopf drew a fourth-row start and was out to make up time from the moment the starting lights turned green, but he also ended up with a moderate first lap speed due to a pair of crashes. Morris was still at the head of the pack a t the end of the first circuit, but Ziuerkopf a nd Danny H am el, who was riding with a sto mach illness, were close beh ind a nd a mi stake go ing into th e end of th e loo p check was eno ugh to relegate Morris to third. Less tha n o ne minute behi nd the fro nt-running trio, Greg Searle was neck and neck wi th 250cc Pro class rival Ra ndy Gillmore for fourt h, while l 25cc Pro class lead er J ohn Braasch held six t h. Just five pl aces ba ck, Arizo na's Destry Abbott was making h is pr esen ce felt from row seven of the starting order .- the first row of the O pen Pr o class. T he com petition started to hea t up as Zitterko pf led the way into the second loop. A short burst by Morri s leap-fro gged h im p ast the ail ing Hamel to take o ver second, a nd Sear le foll owed su it a little later in the loop to chaim third, despite problem s with hi s eye glasses fogging. So me ra ptd turnovers wer e a lso going on further back in the pack. Duane Summers moved up two places to grab sixth, Abbott kept his charge going into seventh and Darin Cartwright recovered from a crash on the first loop to grab the lead in th e Over 30 Pro division. " We had to go over some barbed wire, rig h t before the cou rse went through the old slaughterh ouse," said Cartwr ight, 'T hey'd laid it down for us to run over but I spun my tir e on it a nd p icked it up. It ripped me right o rr the bike." Zitterk opf turned in a trouble-free seco nd la p and was almos t two minutes ahea d of Morris as he headed into the scoring chi cane. " O nce I sto pped falli ng down I was having a good time, " Zitterkopf said. " I hit the railroad tracks coming in at the end of th e first loop a nd go t a front flat and I ha d th at fo r the rest of the race, bu t it wasn 't too bad. It didn 't slow me down very much." Searl e was pushing ha rd just a few feet behind second-p lace Morris, with Hame l, Gillmore, Summers a n d Abbo tt raci ng through in close succession. Braasch 's bid for th e 125cc P ro honors was going sto ng in eighth overa ll as he was a head of class rival J on Almberg in ninth, and Cartwright was two places ahead of Honda pilot Brian Schmuckle for the Over 30 class lead in 12th. " I h ad the greatest r ide," sa id Braasch . "The rain got on my goggles a nd I co uldn ' t see much, and I broke the roll-orr string which didn't help, but it wa s fun . I didn 't see another 125 all da y. I was the first one orr th e start and that was ·it. " Morris' lu ck started to run out on lap three. Searl e dodged past to grab the number two spot wh en Morris pulled over to take off his riding jacket, and a run-in with a tree branch soo n af ter let Abbott through to claim third. " I was getting really hot in the first two loops a nd I had to stop and give my jacket to somebody, and then I hit a big branch that was sticking out a bo u t handlebar .h eig h r," Morris exp lained, " I crashed into the tree next to it and it took me a while to get my bik e out. Abbott ca ugh t me when I was trying to recover from that so I let him by." Out in front, Zitterkopf continued to shine. At the end of lap three, Zitterkopf had stretched his lead to almost three minutes over Searle, with Abbott another 15 seconds back in third. A a flawless performance on lap four put Abbott more than four minutes ahead of his nearest rival. Rain started to fall steadily as the racers headed into their final lap and the course got more and more treacherous. The final lap proved to be a workout for Zitt erk opf. With the wi n almost in th e bag a nd less than 10 mil es to go to th e chec kered flag, his luck ran out o n the final do wnhill. '" hi t a lapper and fell, " Zitterkopf ex plained. " It cost me some tim e and I knew everybody wou ld be catching up." Abbo tt was co m i n g up fa st in second, after catching Searl e late in the fourth loop, a nd Summer s was making a last-m inute bid for Searle's number th ree spot when he hit a rock just over a mile shy of ~ the fini sh. Summers recovered to finis h the event bu t was la ter taken to th e hosp ital with a suspec ted fracture of the leg and wri st. Zitterk opf survived the last-minute scra mble and was still in front when the checkered flag fell a t the end of two a nd a half hours of racing. The . Kawa saki R&D/Nolene/O'NeaIlKaIGard/Smith/FMF/ShoeilRenthal1" Tsubaki /IOO %IOhlin -backed racer completed the 80-mile race three and a half minutes ahead of Abbott to earn the overall honors and 250cc Pro class win. Abbott was surprised by his finish in second overall. "I got the holeshot off the start and started catching a lot of Pros," said Abbott, who overalled th e Open Expert class and finished ahead of the Open Pro co ntenders. "I felt like I was riding normal and I wa s totally su rpri sed when I found out I was running second overall on the third or fourth loop." Searle held on to fini sh thi rd overall .and second in the 250cc di vision, two minutes a head of fourth-place fini sher John Rudder on a 250cc ATK. Fifth overall a nd first in the O ver 30 Pro class went to Dar in Cartwright, whose nea rest Over 30 Pro rival was Brian Schmuckle in 13th overa ll. Scott Morris led the Open Pro class home in sixth overa ll ahead of 250cc P r os Mark Mo rr is a n d Du an e Su mmers, a nd Braasch topped the I 25cc. P.ros in ninth overall. Braasch to pped second-p laced 125cc Pro J on Almberg by seven mi n utes . The first Over 38 Pro to cross the finis h lin e was Bill Maxim, wh o com p leted the co u rse in two h ours and 48 minutes. CIi Unofficial Results 0 / A: I. Greg Zitterkopt (K.1w); 2. Destry Abbon (KTM ); , . Greg Sear le (KT M); 4. Joho Rudder (AT K); 5. Darin Cartwright (Yam); 6. Scc u Morri s (Ka w); 7. Mark Morris {Kaw): 8. Duan e Summers (Yam ); 9. J ohn Braa sch (K.1w); 10. Sco tt Glimp (KT M); II. Mike H eers (KT M); 12. Bill Maxim (K.1 w); 13. Brian Schmuckle (H on) ; 14. T om Barbero (Hon); 15. Bryan Bruning (Ya m); 16. l ohn Ewald (H a n); 17. J on Almberg (K.1w); 18. Glen n Taylor (KT M); 19. B.J. Almberg (Su, ); 20. Tony Bergman (KTM); 21. Daryl Folk s (KTM ); 22. Floyd Bradley (KTM); 2'. John Steele (KTM); 21. Tom Bradshaw (K.1w); 25. David Wilson (KT M). OPEN PRO: I. Scou Morri s; 2. Daryl Folks; , . Danny Ham el. 250 PRO: I. Greg Zitterkopl; 2. G reg Searle; , . . J ohn Rudder. t25 PRO: I. J ohn Braasch ; 2. Jon Almberg . Over 30 PRO: 1. Dar in Cart wrig ht; 2. . Brian Sch muck lc; 3. Tom Brad shaw. (her 38 PRO: I. Bill Maxim; 2. Kevin Colan. OPEN EX: I. Destry Abbott; 2. Glenn T aylor; , . Bren t Bush (KT M). 250 EX: 1. Mike Heers: 2. Bryan Bruning; 3. Tony Bergman. 125 EX: I. B.]. Almberg; 2. J ohn Steele; , . Patri ck Fu llm er (Suz). OVER 25 EX: I. See n G lim p; 2. J ohn Ewald; 3. David Wil son . Over 30 EX: I. Jim Roewer (Han); 2. Denn is Stevens (Yam ); , . Dirk Lan ge (H on ). Over 38 EX: I. T om Barbero ; 2. Rob Beggs (KT M); , . Har old Brockelsby (Yam). 1-sTK EX: I. Floyd Bradl ey (KT M); 2. Gary Candotta (KTM ); , . Paul Skeary (Hus). OPEN AM: I. Ru ssell Bickle (K.1w); 2. Todd Hoy (KTM); ,. J ohn Pierson (Hon). 250 AM: I. George McQuiston (Su,); 2. Stan Roberts (Han ): 3. lack Livreri (Ya m). t25 AM: I. Roberts (K.1w); 2. Bill Ricci (K.1w); , . Jarrod Wheeler (Hon). 0-25 AM: I. Jim Alexander (Yam ); 2. Steve Casper (Suz); , . Paul Gentry (K.1w). 0-30 AM: I. Kenneth Stumpff (Hon); 2. Steve Rowley (Yam ); , . Bill Swenson (K.1w). 0-38 AM: I. Greg Smith (Su,); 2. Larry Cunnally (ATK); , . Howard Larson (Mai): 1-STII: AM: I. Bob Jones (Hon); 2. K.1",1 Kramer (ATK); , . Rober. Karl (Hon). ViRlall" I. Dan Powers (Hus); 2. James Bucknell (KTM); s, Bill O'Hara (CZ). r,

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