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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127531
eEVENTS
e
Kalmi ck too k adv an tage of an o pen course
in front of him and began to extend th e ga p
between himself and second.
G reen hadn 't ·read Kalmick's game pl an ,
however, and had p la ns of hi s own. Gr een
clo sed the ga p q uickly. Davi d Procida and Lee
Ch apin were movin g up throug h the pac k
after cra shing in tum one, and were curren tly
midpack.
Al Smi th came under attac k [ro m Pr oci da
.a nd th e two diced for the next 20 minut es,
Procida slip ped by at the end of th e long,
whooped-out stra ig hta way, and led Smith [or
a few laps before Smith repassed h im . Smith
co nti n ued to pick 0[[ riders a nd soon broke
into the top five, passing Dou g Rodri gu es in
the process. Cha pi n had worked hi s way up,
and tuc ked in behind Sm ith .
U p front, G reen was making tracks and had
extended his lead co nsidera bly . Kam ick
con ti n ued LO fade, and was just o u tside the
top rive wh en he and Procida tra ded pos itio ns.
In second, Smi th put a slick mo ve on Ken
Beach , w ho mom en ts later ra n out of gas . The
lon g race bega n to take its LOll on th e racers,
and the pace dropped off noticeably.
Up front, Gr een too k the checkered [01lo wed by Smith, Rand y Wessels, Richard
Stulke and Chap in. .
Results
Chuck Graves topped the Formula One class at Willow Springs Road Race.
Paris- Cape Town Rally
Peterhansel first to
CapeTown
CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, JAN. 15
rench man Stephane Peterha nsel
won the first trans-Africa Paris.
to-Cape Town Rally. The 26year-old Team Yamaha Motor France
Mobil I rider arrived at the finish
under Table Mountain on the Cape
Town beach 24 minutes and eigh t
seconds ahead of America n Danny
La Porte after 7704 miles and 26 days
of hard racing.
An esti mated 200,000 sp ectators
greeted Peter hansel and the other
com pe titors as th ey reached the tip of
Africa .
" For the last two days I was listening
for problems all the way and didn't
push it," said Peterhansel, who led the
Rally from December 31 to the finish.
Peterhansel, who won the 1991
Paris- Dakar Rally, said , "The event
was harder and longer than the ParisDakar and it's an achievement for
myself and my Yamaha team just to
get here. I woke up every morning
wondering if I would make it, but my
Yamaha was the best bike in the event
and that made things a lot easier. I
- had no tech n ical problems at all,
which meant I could concentrate on
my riding." Peterhansel rode an 850cc
version of the Yamaha YZE750T.
After setting the earl y pa ce of the
rally with a. win on the first African
stage, Peterhansel was overhauled by
fellow Yamaha man Alessandro De
Petri, but when the Italian retired after
afall on December 30, Peterhansel was
ready to take his chance .
" My plan from the start was to lead
after th e desert section which made up
the first part of the rall y," Peterhansel
said. "After the desert I kn ew we would
have narrow tracks and a lot of du st
through central and southern Africa
and I didn't want to have to make up
time on them ."
And the Frenchman's master plan
worked perfectly .
T ak ing a six-minute lead over 1982
250cc MX World Champion LaPorte
on the last day of 1991 , Peterhan sel was
never aga in headed.
LaPorte, who was aboard a T eam
Lucky Strike Cagiva, got as close as
five minutes behind, but with Peterhansel leading off each day he was
never able to fight past to claw back
the deficit. LaPorte had celebrated his
35th birthday just three weeks prior to
F
30
OT NOV : 1. Bill Misener (Yam); 2. Asker Larn kjaer (S uz);
! . Steve Pop joy (KcIw): 4. John Flan rlers (H on ); 5. Barry SImo n
(Ha n).
OT AM: I. Dona ld G ree n (Kaw): 2. AI Smith (Yam ); 5.
Randy WC5-'ids (H a n ); 4. Richard Stuel ke (ATK) : 5. Lee
Cha pm (Sue},
O'T EX: L Gary willson (Kaw); 2. Mike Brook s (Yam ):
5. Richa rd Bealer (Yam); 4. Geo rge Speari ng (Ha n ); 5. La rry
.the event 's start on Decemb er 22 in
Rou en , France,
.
" I took it easy for the first few days,
but th en I saw my chan ce to go ahead
on a narrow stage and took it," said
Peterhans el, "That was the tu rn ing
point of the rally. It meant I cou ld
cont rol the pace for the second ha l£.
" Dan ny was right behind me all the
way and I knew th at one mistake or
a mac hine problem wou ld lose the
race, so I had to keep concent rating
righ t to the fin ish."
In fact, it was LaPorte who hit
tro uble. Forced to rid e harder th an
Peterhansel in an attemp t to make up
tim e, the American fell twice during
the January 7 stage in the Co ngo
jungle.
Peterhansel took the stage win by
over 13 minutes and stretched h is lead
to 32 minutes, a vital advantage to take
into the fina l week of th e event.
Problems caused by floo ding in
sou thern Angola and by en vironmental concerns in Namibia forced th e
organizing Thierry Sabine Organization to tum many of the fin al competitive stages into untim ed liaison
sections, making LaPorte's task even
greater, but Peterhansel's dominance
had already been established.
.
Winner of four special stages, he was
able to ride carefully for the final few
days, allowing LaPorte to pull back
a minute or two each day, but always
keeping him in sight to ensure victory.
"It's great just to be here but to have
won as ' well is fant astic," said Peterhansel after climbing th e finishing
ramp in Cape Town. "I always knew
I could win, but in an event like this
any thing can happen and I didn 't let
myself accept that I had wo n unti l this
moment. "
All was not joy in th e Yama ha camp,
though, as earlier in the ral ly former
Paris-Dakar winner Giles La lay died .
in a crash. La lay was a member of th e
Team Yamaha Ch esterfield Seoul. Cl'
ROSAMOND. CA,JAN. 17·19
Chuck Graves cap tured the T oyota/Dunlo p/
Del Amo Motos/ Mi ller H igh -L ife Form ul a
O ne Champio nship win a t the first ro u nd of
th e Willow Springs Motorcycle Club's 1992
racing seaso n.
Graves has domi nated the F-I class for the
past two years, desp ite bein g absent fro m
competition [or the last th ree rounds. Lea d ing
the race from sta rt to fin ish on hi s Greg Lundypre pa red Suzu ki GSXRI IOO, G raves was
follow ed 0 [[ the starting gri d by hard-ch arging
Robert Miller and Bruce T ebo. Mill er, riding
a Suzuki GSXR II 00, kept th e heat on Grav es
[or th e first lap, but soo n dropped back and
sett led int o a com forta ble second pl ace. T ebo
main tai ned third pl ace throu ghou t the race o n
hi s Suzuki GS XR II 00, leaving th e only battle
in this event for fourth pl ace. .
J im Van Vegten ran in four th for the first
half of th e race, but soo n came under pressure
[rom Paul Harrell and Brian Bernard, both
of whom passed Van Vegten on lap seven.
As the race neared the chec kered flag, it was
Harrell who would hold on to take fo ur th ,
follo wed by Bernard and Van Vegten.
"Those gu ys ar e rea lly ripping now ," said
Grav es of his competition. "There are a lo t
of riders with good equipment ou t here this
year, and we're going to see some good. dicing
all year long."
T he Formula Two even twas dominated.by
Graves and number one plate hol der , Andy
Milton . The two riders battled throughout the
race, wi th Graves edging o ut Mi lto n at th e
ch eckered flag .
.
Andre Castanos finished third, despite some
heavy co mpe titio n.
In the 6500c Superbike ra ce, Milton won
his first race of the sea so n ab oard his
Nak ami chi -sponsored Yamaha FZR6oo ; It
took Milto n nearly half the race to maneuver
into th e lead , which was initially held by
Ra ym ond Hathcock with R ichie Thorp
runn in g second.
On lap th ree, Mi lton dra fted Thorp down
'the fr ont straigh t and passed him on the inside
of turn o ne. A half lap later Milton was dici ng
with Ha thcock , and by tu rn seven emerged
wi th the lead. Milton held on to the lead for
the rest of th e race, with H athc ock seco nd and
T horp third .
Resu lts
Results
FINAL: 1. Step ha ne Peterhan sel (Yam) 52 hrs. 29
min. 14 sec.; 2. Danny LaPone (Gag) 53:23.22; 3.
jordi Arcarons (Gag) 53:4U4; 4. Marc Morales (Sta)
53:42.18; 5. Thi erry Magnaldi (Yarn) 54:28.22; 6.
Gilles Picard (Yam) 54:55.48; 7. Edi Orio1i (Gag)
56:03.42; 8. Garlos Sotelo (Gil) 57:2U6; 9. L
Charbonnel (Sur) 57:31.1 7; 10 Davide Trolli (Sta)
.
61:09.59.
Green grabs Sunrise GP win
By David P rocida
ADELANTO, CA,JAN. 1
9
Don ald Gr een scored the Ove r T he Hi ll Ga ng
Amat eur class win a t the club's first Grand
Prix of the season, hel d at Sunrise Cycle Park.
. Fred Kal mick , rocketed his Ka wasaki KX500
down the start straight to gra b th e holeshot,
wh ile there was a pile~ up a t midpack.
P061[(~SJlR: 1. Tommy Pearl (Hon ); 2. Sam Groce (Suz):
s.Bob Mill ner (H on); 4. Ron Way (H on ); 5. Tim Cas h (H on).
Willo\y Springs laurels to Graves
By Eric Vincent
NOV 0-500: I. Bobby Ki ~lh; 2. /e05 Ha crt er ( Yam ) ;~ . G uy
Celesere (Ya m ); 4. Mau hew Doy ~ (Ya m); 5. Jad y Hendley
(Ya m ).
NOV 501-650: 1. G~ Cabara; 2. G uy Celesue (Yam): 3.
David Coo k (H on); i . Oded Bar (Ya m); 5. Robert Janu (Yam ).
NOV 65I · UP : 1. Rob Fl~teher ( Sw ); 2. Don ALmeida (Suz):
5. Michad Fickinger: 4. Od ed Bar (Yam ): 5. Steve Moreno
(Suz).
O PEN S/ BK: I. Robe rt Miller (Sw): 2. Bruce T ebo (Suz);
3. Lee Sh ierls (Suz); 1. R ichard Sta nbo li (Yam ); 5. Joe Arias
(SUl).
750 S/ BK: I. Kenn y Ko p«ky (Suz); 2. Geep Terranova
(SUl); 3. Brian Sasaki (Kaw); i . Brua Batson (Sw); 5. james
Ra~(}~f/hB~:u zl: J. Andrew Mih on (Yam ); 2. Raymond
H.a th cock (Yam); l Rit chi e Thorpe (Yam ); 4. Wa her Ho lder
(Yam ): 5. David Fra nci s,
500 S/B K: 1. M ich~d Monitoya (Ya m); 2. Daniel Equihua
(Yam); 3. Gary j ae hnc (Ya m ): 4. Dave Frank enb ach (Yam );
5. Jr rry Jirkovsky (K.aw).
_
J:-40: I. Keith Cod~ (Yam): 2. Ray A~ (Sw): 3. Joj i
T okumoto ( Ya m ): 4. . Don G ri ja lva (Yam ); 5. Da nn y
Fam $worth (Ya m).
F-2: 1. Michat:'l Gr.lV~s ; 2. ] . Andr~w Mihon (Yam ): ! . Andr~
Casranos (Ya m);