Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bill Maxim was enjoying one last h urrah in the Over-40 class. Wi th two National tit les under his belt and four wins already ensuring this year 's tit le, Max im was still charging hard at th e head of the class, just 15 places behind the overall leader. . Yamaha pi lot Jeff Capt was ta ki ng a break after wrapping up the 125cc tit le a t the end of ro und five, leaving Kawasa ki racer Jon Alm berg in charge of the final rou nd of the series. " I led all the way, " said Almberg. " I go t a good start and got ou t of the d ust o n the first loop and that helped a lo t. I had no problems at all after that. " , T he real ba tt le in the l 25cc division was back in seco nd, where Kaw asa ki KX I25 pilo ts J oh n Braasch an d Da na Van Stee were racing neck -and- nec k for second pl ace in the series . "It went back and forth the wh o le race," said Van Stee. " We both reall y wa nted second a nd we kn ew th e points were clo se. He was in front up 10 the bomb but I had th e lead a t th e end of loop two." H amel m ad e th e most o f th e fastpaced sectio ns in loop two a nd had stretched hi s 'lead to a m inute an d a half by th e time he hi t p it ro w for th e second tim e. Krause charged through in second, Sweet la nd was less than half a minute back in th ird, a nd Hunnicutt and Roeseler were a m inute ahead o f Lewis, wh o was sti ll at th e head of th e 250cc pack in sixth overa ll. The Kawasak i charge hi t the skids just a few miles into th e tig h t, technical terrai n of th e 36-m ile th ird loop. " I mi ssed th e tu rn th at went back up into th e m ountain s a nd I was circl i n g a ro u n d lookin g fo r th e course," said Krause. " I loo ped back arou nd and found Roeseler who was having some bike problems. " H u n nicu tt stopped to help Roeseler, who had broke n his front brake caliper, and decided to call it quits once Roeseler was back on track. "I h urt my leg last weekend popped it o ut rea lly bad, and it just di dn't ho ld u p ," Hunnicutt explained. " It was feelin g p re tty good when I decided to race bu t it was getting tired by the third loop." Lewis swept by in th e middle of the co nfusion. . " They had a Kawasaki co nvention out there try ing to figure o u t what was going on . Larry, Ted and Paul were all stopped, " said Lewis. " Kra use saw m e comi ng and took o ff in fro nt of me. I wai ted until we go t into the trees, th en I kind o f snuck up on him a nd passed h im ." T he third lo op was eve n more tech nica l th an the first, th e trees were even tighter , and the club threw in a tri cky downhill for good measu re. " It was a gnarly old downhill ," said Hamel, w ho was m o re th an tw o mi n u tes a head of secon d place when he reached i t. " It was really steep . There was one rut a nd the y had just ro lled all th e rocks out o f the way. If you go t out of th e tra ck you were ins tantly in trouble." . As Sweetland ch ased H amel for th e las t 20 m iles, he was wishing they co u ld go one m ore. " I knew I would have to ha ve a lot o f good luck to win i t by th en ," said Swee tla nd. " Ha mel ba sically had to finish wor se th an 15th a nd I would have 10 wi n. I was in a posi tion th a t if he bro ke it might've happened, but he had a good ride a nd took it to th e fin ish." H a mel cha rged home j ust short of three hours after the race bega n a nd claimed the win a nd the overall championship by a comfortable margin of three and a half m in u tes. "I had to change an air filte r at my second gas because of the dust but o the r tha n that I had a fla wless ride," said Hamel, who is sponsored by KT M, Answer, Duralube, Metzeler, Acerbis, F&:L, R K, N·Style, Scott USA, ZRacin g, Scotts, Al umilite, Gaerne, So ngdog Packs. "The course was really neat, especially the third loop. T hat had a lo t of trees an d I don ' t .th in k I ever rode tha t well in tree s before. " I felt pressure beca use I reall y wa nted to do good today ," H amel said. "I trie d not to show it b ut I felt it. Bu t everyth ing turned out great. " Sweetland held seco nd all the wa y to th e chec kered flag. " I think th e clu b d id a really good job ," sai d Sweetl and, who thanked Dave Brosiu s for prep ping his bike. A third-p lace fin ish , five minutes beh ind Swee tla nd, ga ve Lewis th e 250cc class win a nd National 250cc honors. Krau se storm ed home a minute behind Lewis to claim fourt h overall a nd su mmed up th e feel in gs o f many o f this year's c ha m p io n sh ip co ntenders. " I' rn kind of d isappointed because it on ly ended up being six ra ces and we o nly cou nt our best four," said th e Ka wasaki-backed racer. " Bu t hopefu lly so me o f the land use things and DUNLOP A NEYS he weather was fine . But on Grand Prix c ircuits ' around the world this season, the competition was f inding the going stormy. Because Dunlop rider Wayn e Rainey was roll ing like thunder as he pushed his Yamaha to an unequalled six 500cc GP v icto ries, cl inching the world 500cc Championsh ip with one race left to go . On his way to the champ ionship , Ra iney also finished second four times and took three money problems for some of the clubs ca n be p u t away a nd we ca n race so me more nex t year." . Fox race d home fifth overall to take seco nd in the 250cc division and Mor ris conti nued a steady run all the way to six th , ahead of 250cc contenders Todd Peu gh and Greg Searle. Rh odes topped the Four-Stroke class in ninth overall, seven places a head o f number two in class Mar k Fra nklin , and J o n Alm berg came out on top o f th e 125s in 14th, wi th 17-year-o ld Van Stee ta ki ng seco nd in class and second in the Na tio nal 125cc results after Braasch broke down la te in the third loop . \ , "The engine disintegra ted ," said Bra asch . " I ha ven ' t had o ne good Na tio nal race thi s year." Rich a rd Staley overalled th e Class 30 competition a nd Bill Maxim domin ated Class 40 all th e way to th e win in 15th overa ll. Anna Merritt topped th e two- loo p Women's race bu t lost th e class cha mpionship title 10 KTM 's Christin e Ogren , who finished second in th e final round of com pe ti tio n. CN l-; V ..0 o ..... u o Results 0 / A: 1. Dan ny Ha mel (KT M); 2. Gar th Sweetla nd (Kaw);3. J imm y Lewis (KT M); 4. Pa ul Krause (Kaw); 5. Brent f ox (Yam): 6. Sco tt Mo rris (Kaw); 7. Todd Peugh (Kaw); 8. Greg Sea rle (KT M); 9. David Rh odes (H bg); 10. Eric Larson (Yam): ) 1. Aron Hu ntington (Kaw); 12. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 13. Dan Richard son (Kaw); 14. J on A1mberg (Kaw); 15. Bill Maxim (Ka w) : 16. Mark Fran klin; 17. Dana Van Stee (Kaw ); 18. SIeve O gren (KT M); 19. Brad Childs; 20.Edd Price. AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HARE I: HOUND SERIES FINAL POINT STANDINGS: I. Danny Hamel (120) 4 win s; 2. Garth Sweetland (97); 3. :'aul Krause (90); 4. Larry Roeseler (89) I win ; 5. Don Griewe (80); 6.·Jimmy Lewis (72); 7. (TIE) Pau l Ostbo/Chris Cra nda ll (65); 9. G reg Searle (48); 10. T ed H unnicuu (46) 1 win . IT N. third place finishes, all on Dunlop tires . To make matters worse for the com petition , Dunlop rider Kevin Schwantz was the season 's other big winner, capturing five first place finishes in the 15 race se ries . And just for good measure, John Kocinski too k the fina l round of the 500cc GP in Malaysia , on September 29th, a rem arkable 12 for 15 Dunlop w in record. Wh ich goes to show , th at . before you go out in a stonm, you had better make sure you're properly attired. Put you rself on Dun lop . The champion 's choice for w inning perfonmance. Dunlop doe. not recommendthe use d eny of fts products in eJlCeM of Iegel apeed limits. Be . safe rider. Always obeyapeed limits. 29

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