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/127652
who had trou ble following the trail and got lost in loop two . "I was following the ribbon, then all of a sudden I found wrong-way markings," said Davis. " I could see Hamel 's dust, so I followed that and found the course." Zitterkopf had similar problems . "It was marked pretty badly by the time I got there because everybody had blown the corners and knocked the arrows down," said Zitterkopf. But the wo rst off-t he-course excursion was experienced by a group of abou t 15 riders who lost the ribbon on loop two and ended up riding the 14mile third loop instead. "We were really lost," said Staten. "We stopped out there and talked about it, then just went ahead and did the third loop, then went back and d id loop two after that. We lost a lot of time and I'm wai tin g for them to say I'm DQ' d again . My life is DQ'd." Race referee Ed Farrell, who talked to the riders, said they would get their finish provided they went through every check on both loops. Hamel finis he d loop tw o withou t incident and was still out in front when he hit pit row for the second time. Davis came into pit row less than three minutes beh ind his KX500 rival, bu t time ou t to chan ge a rear wheel put him five minutes back when he dashed into loop three. "The Mousse went aw ay in my rear tire abo ut halfw ay around the loo p," Davis explained . " It was just like a flat tire . It started going everywhere." Kr au se was two m inutes beh ind Davis with Richard son right on his tail as he clea red the p its, Capt was going strong in fifth despit e running out of gas 200 yards from the pit and having to lay his bike over to get it running, and Hunnicutt lost four minutes doubling back to the pits when he di scovered a front flat half a mile into his last loop . Zitterkopf still led the 250cc Experts, in eigh th overall, two places ahead of Lewis. Bill Fullme r's Kawasaki KLX650 led the Four-Stroke division in 11th, and Dave Donatoni led th e Over-30 racers through in 13th . For the Over-40 and -50 racers, the trail finished at the end of loop two. "The last loop is really tough all the wa y," said Desert M.C.'s Ed Farrell. "We had some Senior (class) riders go throu gh it, but it took them an hour and a half, so we're only making the older riders do two loops." Over-40 hono rs were taken by Gary Garland, while AI Guzman took an easy win in the Ove r-SO division. Some of th e older r iders opted to tackle the fmal loop after they had finished their two-loop race to see how bad the terrain really was. Others waited to see how long the top riders took to comple te the 14 miles and decided they'd mad e the righ t decision when they saw it took Ham el 40 minut es to complete the loop at an average speed of just 21 mph. " The third loop is hell. It's really exc iting over there," said Staten. " I wou ldn't take my dog there, andtrying _to ride through there - geez!" Loop three co nsisted of one rocky section af te r a nother, with towering uphills and a couple of d ownhills that had even Hamel wondering whether he -wou ld ma ke it. • "T hey had a downhill that yo u almos t needed to walk your bike down because it was so loose - rocks and all silty and s tuff, and so s tee p, " said Hamel. "The third loop was definitely the best one." Some of the other riders weren't quite as enthusiastic abou t the technical terrain. "You had to slide sideways down a four -foot ledge on the d o wn hi ll . I crashed and ruined my new pipe:' said Steve Ogren, who was lead ing the 12Scc Experts. "Th ree people in front of me fell over there, too." The tricky terrain caused a lot of lastminute turnovers in the top positions. Krause lost third overall to Richa rdson, who wa s battling a fron t flat, when he caught a rock with his fro nt wheel and tipped over on the downhill. "It was super rocky and no trail. The problem was you were so tir ed from pounding yourself silly, it was hard to ride through the rocks: ' said Krause. Hunnicutt caught and pas sed Todd Hoy and Zitterkopf, who had overtaken him when he doubled back to fix his flat tire, bu t ha d to stop charging and n u rse his KX500 home after he smashed his water pump on one of the downhills. " I rode pretty mellow trying to save the mot or:' said Hunnicutt. " I caught and passed Ondas and 1 got rig h t behind Capt, but I knew if 1 pushed the bike hard i t w ou ld n 't make it , so I couldn't pass him." Zitterkopf mad e up a couple of positio ns the n lost them again in a fall. Fatigue an d a fad in g rear brake kept Hoy off the pace, and Donatoni lost all so rts of time when he stopped for water to douse the bum resulting from gasoline spilled in his last pit and then going end-ov er-end after he missed a comer. "I bro ke my brake pedal and my shift lever off. 1 had to pu t it all back togethe r and I lost thr ee places fixing the bike: ' sai d Don atoni. "I was having a great time until 1 bombed it." Ham el wa s still ahead at the end of the grueling 14-mile loop and a cheer went up when he bounced d own the final rock waterfall to take the checkered flag. After two-and-a-half hou rs of racing, the Team Green hotshot finished a comfortable three-and-a-half mi n u tes ahead of Da vis, taking the first s tep towards what he hop es w ill be hi s fourth hare and hound champi onship. "No problems whatsoever:' said the Kawa saki Team Green/Thor / Alpi nestar / Bieffe / D unl op / Maxima /Procircu it/Scott /Sprocket Specialis ts /Bra king/E nd u ra /F&L/ RK Chain /IMS / Magnum / N -Style / Sco tts / Back Ca nteen /MXA-backed Ha mel. "The firs t loop was really fast. Loop two was good - they had quite a variety of stuff. And loop three was really challenging." Second- placed Davis, on his Kawasaki/ Varn er /FMF/N-Style /Maxima/LR Racing / Ans we r / Dunlop/ Marzo cch isponsored KX500, sa id a section of whoops ru in ed an otherwise perfect third loop . "I wish they could've picked a virgin trail comi ng back (to the finish):' said Davis. "The last three miles was a fast se ction of w hoop-de-does. I've been doing that all day." Richardson, who slid home nearly nin e minutes behind Hamel to clai m third, said the cou rse was one of the best he 'd ridden, despite a front flat for the final loop . Pau l Krause brought h is KX500 across the line in fourth overall, ahead of Capt' s Hond a XR600R; H unnicutt took sixth overall ahead of Kaw asaki teammate Dave Ondas, and Greg Zitterkop f wrapped u p the 250cc Expert win in eighth overall. Cycle World ed itor Jimm y Lewis, who took secon d 250cc Expert on an RMX250, was right on the KTM racers' tail in ninth overall, and Todd Hoy completed the top 10 on a KTM5SO. Bill Fullmer 's KLX650 thundered to victory in the Four-Stroke division (11th (Above) Billy Fullme r won the Four-Stroke class. (Right) Jeff Capt traded In his usua l 125cc mount for a 600cc Honda fourstroke. He finished fift h overa ll. overall). His closest competition was Utah's Brandon Gerber, who rode his Husqvarna up from 47th at the end of the first loo p to finish 17th overall. Despi te taking third 250cc Expert in his firs t Dis t r ict 37 dese rt r ace, Cra ig Smith was no t sure he'd ever sign up for another ra ce in th e district. "It's so gnarly I don 't know that I wan t t o d o t hat again ," said th e KX250 racer, who finis hed 12th overall. " And there are gu ys stand ing at the top of every gnarly hill and they are just laughing at you ." Dave Donatoni nursed his battered Honda CR500 home in 14th overall to take the Vet clas s honors, and more than 10 m inutes passed before Gary Dudley arrived to take second Vet and the 250cc Vet honors, in 16th overall. CI Soggy Dry Lake Lucerne Vall ey, Calif orn ia Results: January 23, 1994 (Round 1 of 7) oo: 1. Danny Hamel (Kaw) ; 2. Ty Davis (Kaw) ; 3. Dan Richardson (Han); 4. Paul Kra use (Kaw); 5. [eff Capt (Hon); 6. Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw ); 7. Dave O ndas (Kaw ); 8. Greg Zitterkopf (KTM) ; 9. Jimmy Lewis (Suz); 10. Todd Hoy (KTM); 11. Bill Fullmer (Kaw); 12. Craig Smith (Kaw ); 13. St ev e Hengeveld (Kaw) ; 14. Dave Donatoni (Ho n); 15. Donnie Morrison (Kaw); 16. Gary Dudley (Kaw ); 17. Brandon Gerber (Hus); 18. Rex Staten (Kaw); 19. Dirk Davidow (Kaw ); 20. Er ik Mattson (Han); 21. SIeve Ogren (Yam); 22. Gary Schei d ler (Yam); 23. Cr ai g Hunrer (Kaw ); 24. San Felipe Bob (yam); 25. Mike Korenwinder (KTM). OP EN EX: 1. Danny Hamel (Ka w); 2. Ty Da vis (Kaw); 3. Dan Richardson (Hon) . 250 EX: I. Greg Zitterkopf (KTM) ; 2. Jim my Lewis (So2); 3. Craig Smith (Kaw ). 125 EX: 1. Steve Og ren (Kaw) ; 2. Jaso n Ingersoll; 3. Ste ve An derson (Kaw). 30+ O P EN EX: 1. Dav e Donatoni (Ho n); 2. Rex Staten (Kaw); 3. Mike Korenwinder (KTM). • 30+ 25 0 EX: 1. Gary Du dl ey (Kaw ); 2. Ga ry Scheid ler (Yam). 4-STJ(, 1. Bill Fullmer (Kaw) . 40+ EX: 1. Gary Garland. SO+ EX: 1. Al Guzman. OPEN AM: 1. Dan Parrott (Kaw). 250 AM : 1. Brian Davis (Kaw ); Upcoming rounds: Round 2 - Lucerne Valley, CA. February 27 Round 3 - Jericho, UT, April 9