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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127665
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IS STRIKES BACK
By Steve Berkner
MINDEN, NV, APR 23-24
hen it comes to off-road racing
in the desert, Kawasaki Team
.
Green's Ty Da vis, D an n y
Hamel and Larry Roeseler are usually a
sure bet for a win, place and show finish, so 'when the trio rolled into the pits
at the Carson Valley Qualifier in the
High Sierra Dese r t, they were once
again the odds-on favorites. And when
the results were posted after two days of
racing, it was official: Davis first, Hamel
second and Roeseler third. Only a rare
tie for third between Roeseler and Team
Su zuki's Rodney Smith tarnished the
pe rfect 1-2-3 sweep.
Davis,'after winning the first test and
scoring sec ond-best times d uring th e
next two, finished Day On e wi th an 11second lead over teammate Hamel, and
a 3D-second advantage over Smith. On
Day Two, Davis went out and won all
three special tests, giving him a oneminute victory over Hamel. Roeseler
and Smith followed with identical twoday scores, 76 seconds behind the winner. KTM's Gr eg Zitterkopf finished
fifth aboard his big four-stroke.
"I surprised myself with my special
W
One week after being robbed of an overall
win by a controversial chec k, Ty, Davis
returned with a vengeance , earnin g a
convincing victory In Nevada.
test scores," said the Kawasaki Team
Green/ Acerbis/Braking /CTi/Color
Crazy /FMF/ Dunlop / End u ra / Fox / LR
Racing /MMF /Maxima/MXA /Multi
Air/N-Style/Pro Taper/Shoei/Smith/
Tsubaki/Terrycable-sponsored Davis.
"(Guy) Cooper, Dann y (Hamel) and Rodney (Smith) looked really fast during their
final motocrosses. I went in to the final
with two broken rear spokes. It pulled the
rim over enough that the tire was rubbing
on the swingarrri a little. I rode the
motocross kind of easy so I wouldn't
spoil the whole thing and not be able to
finish. I was really surprised to find out
that I bea t them by over 20 seconds (in
that test)."
Davis, who skipped round one, has
dominated the special tests at the last
two desert Qualifiers. He posted four of
.seve n fas t times the week before in
Texas, bu t arriving late at a controversial route check cost him the overall, In
Minden, Davis zeroed the course, so his
special test scores clinched the win.
The Carson Valley Two-Day Qualifi-
er was held in the foothills of the Pine
Nut Mountains, the first desert range
east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in
western Nevada. The course sta rted in
Minden at the Ca rson Valley Inn, and
worked its way east of town. The event
was held on 50,000 acres of private and
public land, an d was hosted by the High
Sierra Motorcycle Club. While the race
has been a part of the series for the past
few years, it is usually held in October,
and doesn't actually qualify riders for
the ISDE team . This year, however, the
competition was moved to the springtime (so that it would be before the Six
Days), and served as a bona fide "Qualifier." The club obtained a BLM land -use
permit for the two-day event.
Day One of the Qualifier saw the first
four riders leave the pits at 8:00 a.m .,
heading out on a lID-mile run. Over 400
riders were entered, 152 of them ISDE
Letter-of-Intent riders (LOI) . The first
check and main gas stop we re 16 miles
away.
A fairly easy section of two-track and
tarred roads was used to take the riders
out o f to wn, at a speed average of
approximately 24 mph. Three separate
loops and two ter rain tests cha llenged
the riders before they returned to the
final grass-track special test near the
impound . An extra 10 minutes was
allotted to the schedule for bike maintenance at the main gas stop and the final
impound.
The first loop out of the main gas stop
was a short 19-mile section that offered
the riders their first terrain test. This test
worked its way up from a wide sandwash start to a single-track mountain
ridge that finished 3.5 miles later. After
the test, the riders were sent back to the
main gas stop for check number tw o,
which was thrown out due to a bottleneck that had formed at the start of the
test. It had become apparent that the
penalty points some riders had incurred
at the check were not due to rider error.
After refueling, the riders embarked
on a 4O-mile loop that offered the day's
second terrain test. This test was approximately five miles long and started in
another sandwash, ending with a twotrack trail. After two more checks, the riders returned to the main gas stop for a
grass-track special test and check six. This
test was held on a motocross track located
alongside the pit and impound areas.
None of the top riders dropped any
points on Day One, except Italian offroad hero Davide Trolli, who picked up
60 points for being a minute late to a
check after stopping to fix a fla t tire. ,
"After competing in enduro for over 12
years, this is the first time that I have
ever lost any route points because of a
flat," sa id the Kawasaki rider. Those
trail points cost Trolli, who would have
been tied for fifth-place overall. Trolli
set the second-fastest terrain test time in
Day Two 's first test, and finished sixth
overall for the two-day event.
Day Two had the same 8:00 a.m , start time, and followed the same approximate speed average. Once again, 10
minutes were added to the schedule at
the main gas stop and before impound.
After following the same 16-mile section
to check one, riders started out on a 6Dmile loop that was highlighted by two
terrain tests and three time checks. The
first test of the day was a four-mile
rocky and hilly section a top a ridge
knownas A-Hill." .
"This is the hardest section and special test of the two-day event," aid Bill
II
Dart, AMA District 36 representative
and one of the event's organizers. "This
is where we take our points during our
regular endures." :
About th ree miles out from check
four, the riders were treated to the second terrain test of the day, a two-milelong trail down a deep san dwash. At the
end of the section was check five and an
alternate gas stop. A 16-mile trail took
the riders back to the start, where the
riders impounded and waited for their
final mo tocross test. In this test, ID-rider
heats would run four laps each.
"These are pretty typical desert riding
conditions," said Hamel, National Hare
& Hound Champion and winner of the
previous round. "It 's really dusty out
there and the rocks make the terrain really slippery. The speeds are really fast."
Hamel started Day Two in second
place, 22 seconds ahead of Roeseler, but
was suffering from a stiff neck. "I did a
head plant while trying to pass a slower
rider yesterday (Saturday) on one of the
trail sections," explained Hamel. "I was
trying to pass him and he started to race
with me. I just backed off until the terrain opened up. When I tried to get
around him, I went over the handlebars
and torpedoed."
Roeseler started Day Two in fourth
place. "I had a bad test score during
(Saturday's) second special test, and
ended up behind Danny (Hamel) for the
day. I know I beat him by 17 seconds in
the final motocross. What it's going to
boil down to is how the terrain tests
went today."
Roeseler's stellar score in the final .
motocross was cancelled out by Hamel's
times during the two terrain tests. The
two teammates ended up with identical
scores of 1255 on the day. Smith, who
had a three-second lead over Roeseler
after Day One, took himself out of a
chance at a second-place finish whe n he
had trouble in a Day Two special test. "I
fell during the first test," he said. "After
I got back up and got the bike going, I
got stuck behind another rider. The trail
speeds were so fast, and the course was
so dusty that I just couldn't get by him."
Smith, who had been 19 seconds up
on Hamel after Day One, found himself
14 seconds in back after the test. He
gained a second back in the second terrain test, and closed the gap another 10
seconds in his final MX test. "I think I
could've gotten closer to Danny if my
fma l motocross (test) would have been
scheduled later in the day with the rest
of the 250s," said Smith. "They had
watered the track all morning, and
things were a little slick out there when
I got to run."
While small-bore riders had turned in
some very strong performances at the first
two rounds, the fast trail conditions put
them at a disadvantage in Nevada. For the
most part, the scores of riders in the Lightweight Two- and Four-Stroke divisions
were well off those of the Heavyweight
classes. Suzuki's Randy Hawkins won the
first round on an RMI25, and is currently
lea ding the points chase. He was first
Lightweight rider after Day One, and
said, 'These conditions are a little fast for
me. I ride as hard as I can on the bike, but
the deep sand slows me down a bit. My
biggest problem is just reading the terrain,
It's a good thing that the rest of the series
is back on what I'm usedto riding."
Hawkins finished 10th overall, and won
hisdass.
Team I