Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wa s a bit banged up, so he wasn't looking to get back on," said Belew. "I kept riding. 1 hadn't been on the top pa rt of th e cours e and I'm gl ad I hadn 't, because 1 w ouldn 't have g one o n . Th er e's nothing but rocks o ut there rocks, big whoops and horrible stuff. " Davis had increased Hamel's lead in the lowe r half of loop one and the duo wa s comfortably ahead w hen he handed the bike back to Hamel at M idwa y. Hamel was hard on the gas all the way to the main pit at Shea Road and w ith ' half the ra ce behind them, Ha mel and Davis were nearly seven minutes ahead on adjusted time. Ashcraft's solo blitz had him second on time when he reached the Shea Road checkpoint, and half a minute ahead of Roeseler and Sweetland, who reported that the clutch was starting to slip on their KLX650 . The Morton/Flores / Blount/5chmuckIe team had their Open class entry half a minute back in fourth, ahead of Krause/Hunnicutt and the KX500 piloted by Craig Smith and Dave Ondas. The quartet's CR250 led th e 250cc field, in eighth overall, more than a minute ahead of 250cc rivals Mitchell and Willert on adjusted time . The Staten/Worley KX500 held the Over-30 lead, in 10th overall, at the halfway point, ahead of Belew/Henderson and Kawell/Hengeveld. The Class 50 (riders over age SO) team of Sam Bass, 65, and AI Perrett, 55, raced through in 13th overall - less than an hour behind the overall lea d ers. The Bass/Perrett KX500 was in front in Class SO, with sec- ' ond place held by solo rider Jesse Ellico. More than seven minutes back w ere Class 40 leaders Chris Haines and Bill Tanner, who had lost time with a front flat. Hamel continued his trouble-free ride as he began his second circu it of the northerly loop. Ashcraft was pushing hard behind h im , but with the Morton/Flores CR500 kicking up dust between him and Hamel, there was little he could do to close the gap. "I knew Hamel was up there just pulling away, but I couldn't get by (Morton/Flores) because the dust wa s so bad," said Ashcraft. "And then I started to get a bit tired. The dust wears you out because you're just fighting everything, plus the bike wasn't really set up for me because 1 didn't have enough time on it." While Ashcraft was fighting too-stiff forks and headshake that was wearing out his arms, Campbell and Willert were launching a charge that had their Honda moving up through the ranks. By the time they reached Midway for the last time, Campbell was neck 'n neck with Roeseler and he pulled away from the Kawasaki ace in a drag race out of the pit. The 250cc battle was also heating up as Mitchell and Willert tried to eat awa y at the slender lead held by the Morton/Flores CR250, while the Bass/Perrett Over-50 team slipped behind the hard-eharging Clas s 40 team of Haines ' and Tanner when Bass stopped to clean his glasses. "I had to stop about 25 miles from Midway - I couldn't see a thing," said Bass . "I was taking it a little easy by then. My rear tire had worn out and it was spinning" Without a major upset, there was no stopping Hamel and Davis. The duo had such a comfortable lead that they even took time out to do an extra tire change at the Midway pit before they tackled the final sprint to the finish . "The pit radios let us know how we were doing. We knew we had time, so we put in an extra splash of gas and did (Le ft ) Larry Roeseler, who will not contest the National Hare & Hound Series this year, Is campaigning a fourstroke In the SCORE races. He and Garth Sweetland were third overall. (Below) Dan Ashcraft soloed a privateer CRSOO to a runner-up finish. the wheel change ju st for insu rance, " said Hamel. The Kawasaki Team Green/BelRay /Pro Circuit/Dunlop/Renthal/ Trick/Tsubak i/NGK/LR Racing/ Scotts/ Acerbis/PIAA-backed KX500 remained unchallenged right to the end and streaked down the last high-speed wash to tak e the checkered flag just a few minutes after noon, with an average speed of 61.064 mph. Hamel described the dust-free number-one spot as a huge advan tage, especially in the early stages of the four-anda-half hour race. "Being out in front helped a lot. The dust was probably terrible further back and you' re going into the sun, so you wouldn't be able to see a thing," said Hamel. Ashcraft was still ha rd on the heels of the Morton /Fl o re s CR 50 0 w hen h e crossed the li ne to take second on adjusted time. "I had a trouble-free ride. It was just very, very dusty and I co uldn't catch up," said the Maxima/Xtrem e /Smith/ Alpinestar/ FMF /F&L/Dunlop-spon sored Dan Ashcra ft , w h o tha n ked Richard Noss for lending him the bike, and his parents and friends for pitting him. "I always like this course. It has high-speed wa shes and rocks and roads - a little bit of everything. And I think it' s faster than Baja." The Morton/ F l o r es / Blount / Schmuckle CRSOO edged the Roeseler/ Sweetland Kawasaki fou r-stroke ou t of third overall by just 36 seconds. " W e' re still in the developmen t stages with our bike - th is is onl y ou r second race on it , " sai d the Ka wasaki/Shoei/Oakley / Th or / Dunlop/ Tsubaki/Bel-Ray / Ace rb is/PIAA / 5cotts/NGK/Endura/ LR Racing-backed Roeseler. "All in all , it was a good ' day for us. The motor wo rked great and the handling was great. We'll keep doing our homework. Maybe some day we'll all be riding them." It wa s touch and go in the fi n al sprin t to the finish for Krause and Hunnicutt, as Campbell's daring last-minute dash sliced their lead thinner an d thinner and Hunnicutt struggled w ith fadingbrakes. " The la st 80 miles I had n o rear brakes. We wore them out be cause of the dust," said Hunnicutt. "Wh en you can't see and you're really pushing, you 're on the brakes, on the gas, on the brakes again - the y heat up and go away. Then you start ma king mistakes and blowing comers because you can't stop fast enough." But the Kawasaki te a m 's w o rries were over when Campbell's Honda ran out of gas just a mile from the checkered flag. The unscheduled stop in the wash took Campbell by surprise. "We used a lot more gas in the last loop than in the first one. I think the filter was probably clogged and the bike was running rich," said Cam pbell. "We should 've been able it make it easily." Cam p bell's time-out left the Krause/Hunn icu tt KX500 sixth overall, ahead of the KX500 piloted b y Cra ig Smith an d Dave Ond as, and the Campbell / Cap t Honda team had to be content with seventh o verall. Tim Mo rton b ro ught the Morton/ Flores/ Blount/ Schmuckle team's sec ond mount - an all-black CR250 - home in eighth overall to take the Class 21 win. "The cou rse here is the same old b.s., but it' s always fun to race, " said th e TN T Racing / FMF/ Cycle Parts West / RK Chain/Alba Ho nd a /Excel/Tric k/ Scotts / Alpines ta r-supported Morton. "Some peopl e ha ve to have the righ t deal to go and race, but even if 1 had to d o it all by mysel f and pay for it all myself, I'd still be racing." Mitchell shook his head when he discovere d that he and Willert had been p ushed back into second in the 250cc division by less than half a minute. "If I hadn' t bent th e skid pl at e, we wo uld've wo n it," said Mitchell, with a sigh. "Bu t we had a good race . Pre-running really helped me a lot. There were so many sec ti ons, li ke when yo u're going u p a blind h ill a t 80 or 90 mph, that yo u need to know where you 're going . It's a real advantage." Staten a nd Worley brought thei r Kawasa ki of Riv erside /S inisalo / IM S / FM F/Dun lo p /Enciura/MMF/ Krause-backed KX500 home in 10th overall to take the Class-30 win, ahead of KX250 racers Kawell and Hengeveld and KX500 pilots Belew and He nderson. Haines an d Tanner got lapped by the first race car in the field as they galloped down the final wash to claim the Over40 victory in 13th overall, and Over-50 winner Bass was lapped by three cars as he b rought th e KX500 he shared w ith Perrett down the wash in 14th overall, just six minutes behind the Over-40 victors. "When the cars started passing me, 1 picked up the pace," said Bass. "I didn't w a n t any m ore of those coming up behind me." cv Blue Water Marina Parker, Arizona Results: January 22, 1994 (Round 1 of 4) O/A: 1. Dann y Hamel/Ty Davis (Kaw ); 2. Dan Ashcraft (Ho n); 3. John Flores/Tim Morton/Brent Blount / Brian Schmuckle (Han); 4. Larry Roesel er / Garth Sweetland (Kaw); 5. Paul Krause/Ted Hunni cutt (Kaw); 6. Craig Sm ith/Dave On das (Kaw); 7. Johnnie Ca mpbe lllJefl Capt (H an); 8. Tim Morton!John Flores/ Brent Bloun t/B rian Schm uckle (Ha n); 9. Tex Mitchell /Fred Willert (Yam); 10. Re x Sta te n/ Dan Wor ley (Kaw ); 11. Jason Kawe l1/ Ste ve Hengeveld (Kaw); 12. Dew ey Belew IJ am es Hend e rson (Kaw ); 13. Chris Ha ines/ Bill Tanne r (Kaw) ; 14. Sa m Bass / Al Perrett (Kaw); 15. Jim Roewer/Tom Freim uth (Han) ; 16. leRoy · Sklp · Crew !Joel Parker (Ka w) ; 17. Albert Cruz/Esteba n Cruz (Yam); 18. Jesse Ellico (Kaw) ; 19. Bob Van Dyke/Rich Caselli (KTM); 20. Donald Collette (Han). CLASS n: 1. Danny Hamel/Ty Davi s (Kaw); 2. Dan Ashcraft (Hon); 3. john Flores/T Morton /Brent un Blount /Brian Schm uckle (Hon). CLASS 21: 1. Tim Mort on lJ ohn Flo res/ Brent Blount/Brian Schmuckle (Ha n); 2 Tex Mitchell / Fred Willert (Yam); 3. Jason KaweD/ Steve Hen geveld (Kaw). CLASS 3&. 1. Rex Staten /Dan Worley (Kaw); 2. Jim Roew /Tom Freimuth (Hon); 3. Jesse Elli e (Kawl. er c CLASS 40: 1. Chris Haines/ Bill Tanner (Kaw); Bob Van Dyke/Rich Dsell; (KTM) . CLASS 50: 1. Sam Bass/AI Perrett (Kaw); 2. leRoy · Skip · Crew!Joel Parker (Kaw) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - San Fe6pe , B.C.. Mexico, February 26 Round 3 - Ensenada, B.C., Mexico, June 4 ca e & 21

• Cover