Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127593
Daryl Folks rode consistenly, winning the Open class and securing fou rth overall. u tes and 24 seco nds, with Olivier 45 seconds off the pa ce in second. Italian Dav ide Troll i was thi rd fast est on another Honda XR. "It went real good," said Ashcraft. "The heat was no problem. The course was kind of fast, but there was a tight canyon at the end and I tipped over. It was so hot that the bike woul d n' t start and I probably lost over a minute." "Tha t canyon was he ll," said 250cc c1ass comp etitor Bryan Folks. "I was seeing stars and hating it, and thinking about my dad the whole way." Folks was an impressive seventh overall after the first day. Even worse effected by the heat was the Kawasaki KLX650 of Cycle World magazine editor Jimmy Lewis, which sputtered to a halt some 30 miles into the test. "I was doing bitchin', passing a bunch of guys, and then the bike just stalled in a comer. I kicked it until I was ready to pass out, and pu shed it under a bridge where some railroad tracks were. Then a hobo came out and started burnming all my wat er off me. We finished my can teen, but then he wanted my Cam elbak, so I told him I had a hea rt condition and (the wa ter) had enzymes in it to slow my heart down." Lewis ca ug h t a tow to the fin ish, where he insralled a new motor. Though out of th e runn ing for a good finish, Lew is had hopes of w inning a stage later in the even t. Wi th three specia l te sts ahead of them, riders go t an early sta rt on day two, with the first rider leaving the line promptly at 6:01 a.m.. The course led to the small mining town of Ely, and as the elevation climbed, temperatures became mo re bearabl e. Even so, Lewis ' new engi ne conti nue d to overheat, and he was forced to back off the pace considerably in orde r to finish. Du ring a special tes t on a dirt road next to some railroad tracks, Kinigadner lived up to his nickname, "El Condor," earned during a past Incas Rally when he vaulted a canyon. "I saw two peopl e waiting up ahead, and r think maybe a tra in is coming, so I go faster to get there before it. But I go too fast, and fly off the edge of the road in a tum." Kinigadner sailed over a 15-foo t drop-off, jumped a barbed wire fence, catapulted off a pile of railroad ties and slid to a stop in a field, only to discover that there had been no train in the first place. Ashcraft was again fastest in all three of the day's tests, p ulling ahead to an advantage of nearly six and a half minutes on Trolli, who had advanced one spo t to second. Olivier experienced problems in the first special test and finished the day with the 11th fastest time, slippmg back to sixth overall. American desert specialist Scott Morris , mounted on a Kawasaki 10<250, climbed to third overall and first in the 250cc class. Dr. Jay De rnbro, a denti st from Ma ssachusetts, was still accl imating himself to the different terrain. "There's nothing like this in New England. I'm not used to going that fast. I1I be doing 70 and someone goes by at 90. It makes me feel like I left my balls at home!" On da y three, competitors headed .north to Elko, and were timed in two special tests, the first of wh ich included a section of the old Pony Express trail. Ashcraft saw his lead slip away when {Ie got lost in the first test, losing conside rable time and posting the 18th-fastest score. Thin gs looked good for Ashcraft whe n TrolIi lost time in the second special test, but a controversial decision by the o rga nizers to throw th e latte r test out left Ashcraft over nine min ut es in arrears of the Italian in the overall results. Mor ris sli pped to third, while Olivie r advanced his KLX650 two spots to fifth overall. "We had a stamp check (an untimed check to ensure that riders remain on course) in the test, and the peopl e who Fabio Fasola (left) and 2SOcc class winner Angelo Cavandoli hoisted event promoter Franco Acerb is to their shoulders during the closing ceremonies in LasVegas. A tel evisi on helicopter chased Scott Morris during a day-two special test. 19