Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

LOCAL EVENTS G ; HDRA PahrumpStation Nevada 500 '.- Krause/Sweetland conquer Nevada desert By Ed Krebs PAHRUMP, NV, AUG. to awasaki Team Green had a very good day at th e HDRA Pahrum p St ation Nevada 500. No t only did Paul Kra u se and Garth Swee tlan d sco re the overa ll win , but T eam Green ri ders nabbed all but one class victory. The Krause/ Swe etl and duo completed th e 516.36 m ile co urse in a time of nine hours, six m inu tes a nd 12 seconds to beat out fellow Team Green members Lar ry Roeseler and Ted Hunnicutt by 10 minutes. Whil e · the winning team finished the race wi th a fast speed of 56.72 mph; it wasn't fast enough for th e overall race victory - Toyota's Ivan " Iro n Man " Stewart blistered the course to finish more than 30 minutes quick er than the win n in g bike team. Joey Lane, Dan R ich ardson an d Scott Morris p iloted th eir Kaw asak i KX250 to the victory in Cl ass 21 (250cc), while a nother seat o f Kaw a skai rid ers, Craig Smith an d Rob ert Pra yth er , · topped the Class 20 (125cc) ranks. One of the most impressive ride s of th e da y was tu rn ed in by the Class 30 (riders over 30-years-old) tea m of Ri ck Salter , Earl Robert s and Dan Worl ey wh o took their Ka wasak i KX500 to a th ird overa ll fin ish in a tim e of 9:41.47. The mot orcycle classes started at 6:00 a.m. in John n ie, a ghost town 16 miles nort h of Pahrump , th en cont inued north to Tonopah before returning so u th and h eadi ng for th e finish in Pahrump. The co ur se was fast but had some very ro cky sectio ns and a few si lty areas . O f the 19 bikes that entered th e race , 12 fin ished. At th e second check point in Beatty, KTM 's Danny Hamel was ou t fron t, invo lved in a tight battle for h e overall lead with Sweetland, with Roeseler running a close third. The battle for th e lead went back and forth a couple of times on the upper loop through Tonopah, as th e leading teams of Hamel and co-rider Dave O n d a s, and Sweetland/Krause ·remained close after the turn back to Pahrump, with th e Krause/Swee tland team p ushing hard to remain wi thin striki ng distance of the leaders Ha mel and Ondas. Ro eseler and Hunnicutt were still a solid third. O n the final stretch run towards P ah rum p , the Kawasaki team of Sweetl and and Kra use was just over one min ute beh ind the KTM duo after pit C, a littl e over 75 miles from the fin ish . Shortly after that th e KTM b rok e near La throp Wells with Hamel aboard, just 67 mi les from the fin ish line. Wit h Hamel and Ondas out, Krause and Sweetland just had to main tain their pace to th e finish , as they had a small cus h io n over their Kawasaki teammates Roeseler and Hunn icu tt . It looked like Krause and Swee tla nd had it all wrapped up, but less than three mi les from the finish th e chai n ca me off th e KX500 with Krause aboard. Krause overca me this minor setback, and within five minutes he had the chain ba ck on and banzaied it into Pahrump for the fini sh . "This race was a lo t to ugher tha n the Baj a 500, it was the to ughe st race we' ve had in the desert th is year ," sai d Krause. Hunnicu tt, who j u mped on th e K England's Chris Louis (left) led Americans Bobby O tt (center) an d Ronni e CoTTey (right) in Englan d vs. USA speedway action. bike at pit C and pilo ted it to the finish , managed to close th e gap with Krause's chain problem , but in th e en d he and Roeseler were 10 minutes behind the leaders . This was Ro esel er's first ra ce since he in jured his hand a t the Pike s Peak Hill climb b ack in July. " T he co u rse wa s fast, rea l fast by 6:05 a .rn., I was going 105 mph," sai d Roe seler. Even th ough th ey tra iled in th e ear ly going , th e 'Class 30 team o f Sa lter, R oberts a n d Wo rl ey kept pl uggi ng away and eventua lly ca me h ome third ove ra ll and as wi nners of Class 30. This was after suffe ri ng three fla t tires in th e last 100 mil es o f th e event. Ot her class wi nners included former T ea m H onda fac tory wrench C h r is Ha in es wh o team ed w it h George Antill to ca p ture th e vic tory. in Clas s 40 (riders over 40-year-o ld) . An other Kawasak i-m ounted team to p ped the Sportsman Open class as KX500-mounted Jay a nd Dean H opkins took home th e victory. Veteran desert racer Casey Folks teamed up with Kevin Colan to provide th e lon e non-Kawasaki class win, p iloting their KTM 540 to victory in Class eN 38. Results 0 / A: 1. Gart h Sweet land/Pau l Krau se (Kaw ); 2. La rry Roeselerv'Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw); 3. Rick Salte r/ Earl Roberts/Dan Wor ley (Ka w) ; 4. Scott Morris/ J oe y La n e/Dan R ich ardson (Kaw); 5. Cra ig Smith/ Robert Pr ayther (Kaw); 6. Chris Hain es/George Anti l1 (Kaw). ~ CLA SS 20: 1. Cra ig Smith/Roben Prayth er (Kaw) ; 2. Dan n y Cooper/Ray Jewett {Su z). CLASS 2 1: 1. Scott Morris/ Joey Lane/Dan Ri ch ardson (Kaw); 2. J ohnn y Cam pb ell /Dave Don at ori (Hon ). . CLASS 22: 1. Gar th SweetJand/Pau l Krau se (Kaw); 2. Larry Roeseler./Ted Hun nicuu (Kaw). CLASS 30: I. Ric k Saher/Earl Roberta/ Dan Worley (Ka w); 2. David Ree s/Way n e Martin (H o n). CLASS 40: I. Chris Haines/George Anti ll (Kaw ); 2. Mike Ha rper/ John Bilkey { Kaw ). . CLASS 38; 1. Cas ey Folk s/Kevin Colan (KT M). O PEN SPTSMN: 1. Ja y Hopkins/Dean Hopkins {Kaw). England vs. USA Speedway Test Match England trounces USA at Odsal Speedway By J oh n H ipkiss BRADFORD, ENGLAND, AUG: 4 eam England topped the American team , 64-44, a t the England vs. USA Speedway Test Ma tch , held in Odsal Stadium. Wit hin seconds of th e start, two rid ers were trapped under the safety fence an d seriously in jured. T Garth Sweetland a nd Paul Krause stormed to the Nevada 500 overall win. Cal iforn ian Rick Miller and England Iniernationa l rider Andy Smith locked bikes as they drove into the first bend, and slammed headlonginto the boards. Both were taken to the hospital: Miller suffering from a concussion and a knee inj ury, and Smith being 'diagnosed as having a broken neck and spinal injuries. The horrific crash on the same section of track, whe re three time Wor ld Champion Erik Gundersen ended his career two years ago, cast a .cloud over th e meetin g. .Team USA, already without the Moran brothers , could not ho ld off an England side, bo lstered by three Bradford riders who are masters of their home circuit. Gary Have lock, Paul Thorp and . Sean Wi lson were the backbon e of England's success. Havelock topped th e score cha rt and also sliced a 10th of a second off the track record set by Hans Nielsen two years earlier. . Sam Ernolenko, who is shapi ng up as favori te for thi s yea r's Wo rld Ch ampionsh ip, led his side well, sharing top spo t with Ronnie Correy. USA Team man ager J oh n Sco tt could only field seven ride rs, an d the loss of Miller in the opening hea t meantthere was no room to maneuver. Charles Errno lenko, -Sarn's younger brother , was flu ng into the breach for his first Intern ational, but th e occasion proved too much for h im and he failed to pick up a point from his six outings. Even Sudden Sam did not have his usual sharp edge. He tail ed off third in his opening two races before clock ing his first win. When Erm olenko appeared to have his next hea t safely in his po cket , he allowed himself to be pas sed on the inside by England captain Kelvi n Tatum. Ermolenko then lost a tussle for supremacy wi th Havelock before coming good again in his las t heat. LikeErm olen ko , Correy won only two of h is races, but he ' was unlucky in his fourth hea t. Correy's ignitio n box exp loded when he was way ahead of the field on the final lap. England dominated, restricting th e USA team to just on e win, whe n Cradl ey Hea th partners Billy H amill a n d Greg H an co ck show ed Pa ul T horp and Chris Lou is the way home eN in the fifth race. Results fiN AL: I. Engla nd (64); 2. USA (44). ENGLA ND TEAM PO INTS: I. Gary Havelock (16); 2. Kelvin T atu m (14); 2. (TI E) Sean Wilson / Pau l T horp (10); 4. Jerem y Don caster (8); 5. Ch ris Loui s (6). USA TEAM POINT S: I. (T ie) Sam Ermo lenko/ Ro nn ie Corr ey (12); 3. Billy Hami ll (9); 4. Greg Hancock (7); 5. Bobby Ott (4); 6. Charles Ermo lenko (0). 25

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