Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bryan Holmes and Mike Korenwinder finished fourth in their first SCORE race. Dan Wodey teamed up with Earl Roberts and and Rex Staten to top Class 30. The Dan AsheraftlDave DonatonilChuck Miller team led until their bike quit. 34 he landed. "It cut me up pretty good. A couple of other guys hit it right after me and went down while I was still trying to get up and get moving." Ludlow brought the bike into the pit and the team continued on, after epoxying a clutch cover that was cracked during the crash. Roeseler enjoyed a trouble-free ride all the way around the mini summit loop and Hamel had an even more secure lead when he boarded the bike for the final 70-mile leg of the course, which ran across Diablo Dry Lake and south to Arroyo Huatamote before turning east through a long wash and north to the finish line under the arches on Highway 5. "That was a little better ride," said Roeseler, when he dismounted at Borrego.. "The mini summit's pretty tough but I got over it okay. We did another rear wheel change at the pit just to put a fresh tire on - no flat this time." Behind the leader, things were not really as relaxed. An incorrect report on the pit radio had Morris thinking second place was in jeopardy. "I was a little tense because they said (the Braasch/Ondas/Capt KX250) was right behind us," said Morris, who did not know that the team had alre;idy pulled out of the race. "I was riding like crazy. I missed a couple of turns and went out through some sticks. I bent the clutch lever clear around to where I couldn't use it the last 15 miles or so." Back in fourth; and six minutes behind Oass 30 leaders Adams, Kaplan and Eveland, the Roberts team had given up hope of a class win. Staten had struggled through the fast-paced terrain in fourth gear and the bike was running worse - not better. "It was blubbering and missing real bad, and it couldn't pull fifth gear at all," said Staten. Opting for a slow but sure approach, the team decided to settle for second in class and pulled over to check the bike at the final rider change. When Roberts headed out to complete the course, he found his race-long rivals stranded off to one side of the course. . "When I saw first place broke out there, oh man, I must have started riding twice as fast," said Roberts. And just as well, because trouble-free final sections had moved Holmes and Korenwinder and Over 30 contenders Schmuckle and Tod McKay dangerously close behind him. But no one was close enough to threaten Hamel. He completed the Chris aaines and Bill Tanner won Gass 40 and were 13th overall on a KLX650. lower section of the course as rapidly as he had finished his other sections and stormed down the short pavement section to the finish just before 11:00 a.m.. The Kawasaki Team Green/BelRay /Dunlop/Trick/NGK/Tsubaki/ Renthal/Pro Circuit/PIAA-backed duo completed the course in four hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds. "The Honda team was actually in the lead on time at the 50-mile mark but once we fixed our flat, we just steadily pulled away from there to the finish," said Hamel, who reported a two-forthree overall win record at the San Felipe event. "Apart from my wrist, I didn't have any problems. Everything went very smoothly today." Morris survived a near endo when he hit a booby trap and a close call with a spectator vehicle on his final sprint to second overall and the Class 22 win. "Three Mexicans were driving a car backwards on the course about 15 miles out," said the Team Green/Kawasaki of Riverside/Duralube/ Answer/ Michelin/FMF / Tsubaki/Sprocket Specialis ts / Bell / LR Enterprises / Scott/Trick/Joe Lane Race Prep/Art Lanier Suspension-backed Morris, who finished with an average speed of 55.55 miles per hour. "I nearly T-boned them. They went off into the bushes and I went off into the bushes. I was lucky to miss them." The Roberts/Worley/Staten team was overjoyed with third place and the Class 30 win half an hour behind the overall winners. "Luck was with us today, that's for sure," said Corona Beer/Kawasaki of Riverside/Stereo Sol/Race Tech/ Xtreme/F&L/Motel Colonial/FMF / Dunlop/IMS/ Krause Racing/Song Dog Packs/Kenworth/Block Mex/Esc. Cycle/Torco/Ceet-backed Worley. "We just kept going all day. We had no mechanical problems really, except that the bike wasn't running well." Fourth on adjusted time after a fivehour dash were Honda XR600 racers Bryan Holmes and Mike Korenwinder, who finished an impressive second in Class 22 in their first SCORE event. "You might say this is the frosting on the cake," said Korenwinder, who thanked Pritchett Cycies. IMS and American Honda. "We ran clean, very clean. That baby just worked great. Over the summit, I just threw her down into low and kept ~otoring." The Baja newcomers topped the Oass 30 entry of Brian Schmuckle and Tod McCkay by just six seconds, and Masami Ishii brought the KX500 he shared with Ryuichiro Takahama home just 22 seconds behind Schmuckle to claim sixth overall. Darren Sanford brought the first of his two RMX250s across the line in seventh overall (second in Class ·21). His second bike was out with mechanical problems and would not make it to the finish. "It was eventful, that's was for sure," said Sanford, who thanked American Suzuki and Xtreme. "We had a really tough day. Both of the bikes ran really strong but three out of the four riders crashed and when you start doing that, you rip parts off the bike and injure bodies at the speed you're doing." Chris Haines kept the maiden voyage of Kawasaki's new KLX650 going all the way to 13th overall and scored the win 'in Class 40. Haines, who won the class at last year's San Felipe 250 despite crashing and breaking his collarbone just short of the finish, was happy to see the finish of his two-man team's sixhour ride. "I'm glad it's over," said Haines. "It's kind of a treacherous course here, especially on a four-stroke. It's kind of heavy and hitting those big rocks out there is kind of hairy." Hope faded for Class 20 leaders Robert Prayther and Joey Lane when their KX125 seized just after Matomi Wash. "I was on my way home and the bike started to run out of gas," said Prayther. "We had a slightly small gas tank and I'm pretty sure it sucked up some air bubbles in and seized." Prayther refused to give up and began pushing the bike towards the finish. Despite help from his teammate and pit crew, it took more than 45 minutes to reach the outskirts of San Felipe, but when the Prayther/Lane mount coasted across the finish almost seven hours after the race began, it was still two and a half hours ahead of its only Oass 20 competition. IJl' Results O/A: 1. Danny Hamel/Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 2. Scott Morris/Craig Smith (!

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