Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. ..:.," .: . '., Round 1: Parker 400 ' O FF~ROAD •'SCOR ~ternatiOnai ~. Chan1pionship ~:.' E to spice it up a little so it's not just the same old thing," Morton explained. "We're just trying something new something to be different." The pace slowed a little as the racers cleared the pavement and started into the d us ty upper loop of the figure eight. "It was so dusty this morning that you had to be careful. 1 did a handstand and almost got off at about the eightmile marker but 1 managed to save it," said "Rocket" Rex Staten, who teamed with Dan Worley in a bid for Class 30 (Riders over age 30) honors. Flat tires slowed some of the riders even mo re than the d ust. The factory Honda team of Johnny Cam pb ell and Jeff Capt, who were racing an XR600 for the first time, rode a flat for 20 miles before they could change their rear tire at Mineral Wash, and Paul Krause, who led off for KX500 teammate Ted Hunnicutt, rode his flat all the way to the Midway pit. Hamel enjoyed a trouble-free run all the way to Midway and was ahead on adjusted time when he handed the KX500 over to Davis for the southerly loop of the figure eight. "That part's really fast. Forty miles of (Left) Danny Hamel had to look back to see his competition. He and Ty Davis led from start to finish. (Below) Brian SChmuckle teamed with TIm M orton, Joh n Flores and Brent Blount. The group raced Intwo classes, finishing third and eighth overall. No surprises at Parker 400 Sy Anne Van Severe n Photos by Tom Van Severen PARKER, AZ, JAN. 22 awasaki's Danny Hamel kicked off the 1994 racing season with the same dominating style and unshakable good luck that made him the winningest off-road racer of 1993. The 21-year-old from Boulder City, Nevada, drew the number-one starting position for round one of SCORE International's four-race Desert Championship Series. The lead-off spot pu t him out in front of the dust, and his skill along with that of teammate Ty Davis did the rest. The Team Green duo kept their KX500 ahead of the pack for 281 troublefree miles to take the overall motorcycle win and the Open class victory in four hours and 36 minutes· more than 13 minutes and almost three miles per hour faster than their nearest competition. "We had a big advantage being first off the line because we had no dust, and we had a perfect ride all day to go with it," said Hamel , who has now racked up three consecutive wins at the Parker 400 - the oldest continuous off-road race in the U.s .. The course for the 21st running of the Par ker event was the same figure eight that the racers have faced for the last three years. It consisted of a 76-mile up per loop tha t ran 'as far north as Mineral Wash, and included the main pit at Shea Road and a special motorcycle and K. ATV section that was off-limits to the event's truck and buggy classes, and a 64-mile lower loop that circled south through Graham Well. The figureeight's cross-over and a second pit were located at Midway. The only change from previous years was that the upper loop of the course had already suffered some wear and tear from a separate 250-mile race for SCORE's new Trophy-Truck Class - a division created for big-money, factorybacked trucks to relieve financial pressure on privateer racers. The new class raced on Th ursday so big names like Ivan Stewart, Robby Gordon and Walker Evans could compete in a Mickey Thompson stadium race sched uled for the same Saturday as Parker, The Mickey Thompson event was subsequently postponed because Anaheim Stadium was damaged by the earthquake that hit Los Angeles earlier in the week. "It seemed a little dustier than usual because the course wa s chewed up more, but it wasn't too bad, and everybody had the same problem- except Hamel," said Larry Roeseler, who will ride a Kawasaki KLX650 with Garth Sweetland in this year's SCORE series. Dawn was just beginning to break as the motorcycle racers prepared for their 7.30 a.m. start. The air was chilly and a ribbon of fog hovered over the Colorado River as the 21 teams lined up ou tsid e Blu e Water Marina, but the cold wa s soo n forgo tten when the green flag d ro pped an d Hamel pow- ered down the paved section that led into the first of the two circuits of the 14o-mile course. The rest of the racers followed, one bike at a time, every 60 seconds. Roeseler turned heads before he left the line when his four -stroke started steaming like a percolator in the cold morning air, and long-time Honda factory rider Dan Ashcraft raised some eyebrows when he turned up as a privateer aboard a borrowed CRSOO. "I asked for money from Honda .this year - some kind of salary or something. 1 wanted some guarantee like the Kawasaki boys are getting, and they said they couldn't afford to do it at the level that I would like," said Ashcraft. "They thought it was best if 1 tried to find another ride. We're on good terms." The most confusing entry in the field carne from Tim Morton, John Flores, Brent Blount and Brian Schmuckle, who banded together to campaign a CRSOO in the Open class (Class 22), and a CR250 in the 250cc division (Class 21). "We pu t four guys on two bikes just it is just pinned. The other 20 is off and on, with 10 miles of whoops," said SchmuckIe, who rode his first circuit of the southerly loop on the Morton/Flores team's CR250 and then switched to the team's CRSOO for loop two. "I liked the 250 best. The 500 is scary; it goes fast quicker and doesn't slow down as fast when you need to." A promising early run by Jason Kawell and Steve Hengeveld hit the ski ds at the end of the southerly loop when the tank on their KX250 split and started spewing gas. The team lost nearly half an hour installing a new tank before they could continue. The race was over for good for Honda's Charles Halcomb and Chuck Miller when their factory-backed XR628 reportedly blew its transmission in the southerly loop. Dewey Belew ' s firs t attempt at a SCORE race turned into a triaI by fire when he reached Midway at the end of his first dash around the southerly loop and found that his partner, James Hen derson, wasn't rea dy to get back on the bike. "He crashe d right off the start and

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