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/127604
,,'
Yamaha team (Tex and Ronnie
Mitchell ) until one of the ir r id e r s
cras hed . We had to ch a nge four rea r
tires beca use of fla ts an d bald tires...!
was sup posed to pit for Flores at Puertoci tos, bu t I go t stu ck in the truck getting there. When I fi nall y a rr ived a t
Puer tocitos, Flo re s had already been
th ro ug h abou t 25 minutes earlier. H e
ha d to ride 45 or 50 more miles through
a sec tion he had never seen before, and
he had to ru n with the cars."
Aft e r running out of gas several
times o n th e fi n a I sect io n , th e
Morrts ./Ondas /Smtth KX500 slip p ped
back to si x th overall, and fo u r th in
Class 22 (Ope n). "We ha d a 30-second
lead on Hamel a t Oasis, bu t Lar ry got
us back," said Smith. "He had to mak e
a long s to p a t Borrego a nd we pu t a
two-minute physical lead on him. Ted
Hunnicutt caught us back and since
then, we've had nothing but problems.
We ran out of gas a t the wash afte r
Cohab uzo Ju nction , and we went
through one s ub frame, fou r air filters
and five tires ."
Earning the "tortoise and the hare"
award were Dirt Rider ma gazine editor
Mark Ka riya, former motocrosser John
DeSoto and Japanese magazine editor
Susu m u Morioka, who teamed up
abo a rd a Kawasaki KLX250SRJapa nese
dual sport bike. The team took advantage of breakdowns on the part of some
of their quicker competitors to nab a
respectab le third in Class 21 (250cc).
"I rode the firs t section, and as I was
heading down the pavement, 'the other
250s were all blowing by me," said
Kariya, w ho w as limited to a 70 mph
top speed (with a tail w ind). "By the
time we got to the d irt, the 125s were
passing me, and pretty soon the quads
started going by . I guess we jus t outlasted them."
Ch ris Haines a nd Bill Maxim put
their Kawasaki KLX650R in th e top
spot in Class 40 (40+) and Al Perrett
and Art More aced Class 50 (50+). The
Robert Prayther/Jimmy Lowe KX125
was the winner in Cl a ss 20 (125cc),
w ith the CR125 of Dave Chase, Jaso n
Ingersoll, Brent Farrell and Kevin Min ster about an hour off the pace in second.
"We had a good time," said Cl1ase, a
forme r mec hanic for Team Green and
KTM . "It was pretty uneventful, but
Kevin had a funn y thing happen when he
was crossing the Diablo lake bed the first
time. He was tapped out, and all of a sudd en Jimmy Lew is (an edi tor for Cycle
World) pulled up alongsi de him on h is
beat-up old XT600. He was ou t th ere
wa tchi ng the rac e, a nd he d ec ided to
block the wind and let Kevin dra ft."
~
Unofficial Results
Q /A : 1. Ty Da vis /Danny Hamel/ La rry Roesele r
(Ka w); 2. Da n As hc ra ft / Dave Dona to ni / Cha r les
Ha lcomb / Chuck Miller / Bob Rutten/Geoff Sanbo rn
(Hon); 3. Ted Hunnicutt / Paul Krau.-.e/Garth Sweet land
(!