Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The learn ing'----'---cu --'-e--,-----_ _rv F orm er 12Scc National Motocross Champion Guy Coop er, Grand Nation~lCross Country Champion Fre d Andrews, and desert racinghot-shoe .Greg Zitterkopf all imp roved their round-two finishes over those in round one in Arka nsas last month. The thr ee are ro okies to the Nation al Reliab ility End uro Series and are tryi ng to qualify for the Tulsa Six Days in September. KTM's Zitterkopf finished over 1000 points behind Heavyweight Four-Str oke class winner Scott Summers in Arkansas, but won the class by a similar margin in Texas. "I'm starting not to make beginner mistakes, n he said. "Las t month in Arkansas, I went into impound on the end of day one wi thout a rear tire on the rim, all because I (serviced) the air filter first. Now I leave that until last." In Arkansas, Coop er followed a group of riders off the course; by the time he realized his mistake, he was wa y behind schedule, and his score at the next check put him far down on the results sheet. Despite the problems with course markings in Texas, Cooper did a better job of staying on course and finished a respectable sixth overall. "Wring the first special test everybody in our group went to the. right," said Cooper, "When I noticed oncoming traffic, I immediately turned around and got back on the course. It probably cost me less than 20 seconds." Andrews 'imp ro ved his round-one result three spots to finish fourth overall, and said, "I was excited in Arkansas, being my first qualifier and all. Things were just a little too tight there for me, and I just didn't know what I was doing. Here the terrain is a little more what I'm used to. I knew coming into here that Hamel, Roeseler and Davis would have an advantage, so I'm really happy with my score." Hamel were makin g their debu t in the series after missing the opening round las t month. The Team Green trio posted th e fa st es t ov erall times in six of seven special test s, but the check 10 tim e sched ule kept them from sweeping the top th ree position s. "Th e idea behind tra il sections is to transp ort riders fro m test to test, not to take points from the riders," said Roeseler, a veteran of the ISDE. "All day lon g we were m a king it to th e ti me checks wi th a bou t five or s ix mi n utes to s pa re . Then along co mes check n um ber 10, when all of us come in about two or three minutes la te . If th e trail conditions had changed due to rain, then we all would have been at a disadvantage, but when we'd been led to believe that we could make it to each check with no problems, then the riders were deceived." The "unofficial protests" were consid e red b y the organizers, but they decided to let the check sta nd . AMA member activities director Hugh Fleming, who was present at the event, said, "After the fact, we kne w that time check number 10 was a tou gh sectio n, but because all the rid er s had to ride the same cou rse, it was left in." That section was eliminated from the course alt oge ther on day two, and the second ter rain test remained the same as on d a y one . None of th e top rid ers d rop ped trail points on da y two. Thou gh the controversial check virtually decided who the top four would be, special test scores would be needed to determine the order. The fast ti mes I'·'. 'r Y . Bleflll; ••. . i .. belonged almost exclusively to ' Da vis, but his check- l0 score made an overall wi n imp ossible. "I was really bummed when I heard th at th ey kep t check 10 in," said Davis, the top-finishing American durin g last yea r's Dutch ISDE. "I mean, things were really confusing out the re with the dust and all." -Davis had battled with stomach flu on day one, and dropped a whop ping 240 penalty points at check 10, but his four fastest special test scores (from a total of seven) put him sixth overall. On Sunday, he had three fast times out of four. "Because I knewI couldn't win the overall, my mission tod ay (Sunday) was to go out and win all the special tests. So when the results ar e posted they can ask, 'How come I didn't win?' and I can tell them it was because th ey didn't throw out the check." C\' Willliam's Ranch Crosbyton, Texas Results: April 16-17. 1994 (Round 2 of 8) O/A : 1. Danny Hamel (Kaw); 2. Rand y Hawkins (Suz); 3. Kelby Peppe r (KTM); 4, Fred Andrews (Yam); 5. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 6. Gu y Cooper (Suz); 7. Ty Davis (Ka w); 8. Rodney Smi th (Suz) ; 9. Chris Smi th (Hon); 10. Greg Zitter kopl (KTM) ; II , Jim Gray (KTM) ; 12. Fred Hoess (flus); 13. Davide Trolli (Kaw); 14, Kurt Hough (Ka w) ; I S, Jo sh Wh ita ker (KTM); 16, Todd Harris (Kaw) ; 17. David Rhodes (Kaw ); 18. Brian Storrie (Kaw) ; 19. Donn ie Book (Kaw); 20. Destry Ab bott (KTM) . AMA NATIONAL CHA M PIONSHIP RELIABILITY ENDUR O SERIES POINT STANDINGS (Best 6 of 8 round s coun t) : 1. Randy Hawkins (55 /1 w in) ; 2. Rod ney Smith (38); 3. Fred And rews (32) ; 4. (TIE) Danny Hamel (30/1)/ Fred Hoess (30); 6. (TIE) Kelby Pepper/Chris Smith (24); 8. Duane Conner (18);9. (TIE) Steve Hatch/Larry Roeseler (16). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 . Minden, Nevada, April 23·24 Round 4 - Tillamook, Oregon, May 14- 15 ... : " . . .. er. 'Steve Hatch doubis he will miss a rouod .ottne National Enduio SerieS,w hich he is ~rrently leading,·"Hey, it's the smallest bone' . . ." ." ". I could have broken.tsald Hatch. Round tour K~was.;ki Team 'G~(1,~ 'Dann~ Hame( gave , of the enduro se ries is i~ Perkinston, .Missome of the credit for his win to Team Suzu- s,oun, on ~ay L , . ' .'. . . ' .' o 1 ' t" ' 'ro! ·· I..ki's 's ieve Hatch; wh0 Sat.out the eveht wiih ···· .,; ' ... ff " . 'd. " :0: ' Id"· T . II ' ,rt· ·.:.. t d' . ' . . ' .•, . ' , . . . . . . . . tauan 0 -roa s ar aye . pa IClpa e a broken fi~~er., Id really lIkf;l :tot!1ank ,Ste~e . , 'in his first American reliabil!ty enduro in for borrow tnqme a rea r mousse , . eaid : Texas :and his efforts,were' rewarded wiih a ' ' Heavyweight Tv.:o;Stroke . .Harnet, ". came he~ethis week witt) a tube on :~ gold' ";edal ,in·the " : the rear, not J<~owlng that there.would .be S9·: class..Because of his citizenship, Trolli will .many thornsand cactus.: Steve 'is sucha .. not likely' be allowed .to qualify forthe\J .S. : 'sports.man that !l didn't maller iU v.:as ridi~g a " . team, but.he sale, " expect toienda hand · Kawasa~i or not He's just excellent.".. · , :' .. 'with' America's Six-Days' efforts wherever. • •• • • :. . . • • •. ' •. ' • . >, '. ' ,'. , •• • : . Kawasaki would like rne to help out.~ .Trolli .Though nis broken firiger.wiD .cause him io '. has awoik perm~ to' stay in the UnitedStates < ., . . ....: . · miss .the'April 23-Z4 Minden, Nevada~ qualift-.:.· .through i-!oliember. ' . . ' . " . .. . . . '. . I ~ ·. . ' . ," ~ Randy Hawkins sta res down the barrel of the next tum during a motocross test. Hawkins finished second overall on a Suzuki RM12S. (Below) Arriving severa l minutes late to a controversial day-one check held Ty Davis to seventh overall. Davis had the fastest time In four special tests out of seven. (Bottom)Grand National Champion Fred Andrews placed fourth overall In the second qualifierof his career. (Left)

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