Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. in its usual place at the front of the pack. Richardson's Honda CRSOO was hard on his heels in second and Todd Hoy, on a KTM 550, Ed Sorenson's 250cc Yamaha entry and Dave Ondas, on a Kawasaki KX500 , were close behind. Davis was being dusted out in the middle of the pack. "I can 't believe ho w dusty the start was," said Da vis. " I was behind a lot of people and other people were passing me , but 1 was trying to keep it cool because I almost got off in that section last year." Even further back, the dust was so bad that Italian racer Davide Trolli considered dropping out. "I kicked three times and I was behind the Women and the 125s. I was maybe 50 riders behind and just from the dust, I said, 'I can't do this . I'm stopping," said Trolli, who had traded round three's KX250 for a KX5OO. The 29-mile opening section took the racers from the starting line at 5660 feet up to the top of the Wood Hills mountain range at 7,500 feet via tight, single tracks through the trees, and included a rocky 40D-foot downhill at the sevenmile mark and an 800-foot steep, virgin downhill at the IS-mile mark. Hamel led all the way, but Richardson hung determinedly in behind. Davis launched a blistering charge that catapulted him up through the ranks as soon as the dust was behind him, and Trolli abandoned thoughts of quitting as soon as he reached the trees. "Going through the woods was good for me - European style, like I'm used to, and no dust," said Trolli. "I said '1 will try to go.:" But not everyone was able to make the same decision. Jeff Lundgreen was forced to call it quits after he broke the subframe on his KTM, lost his silencer and ran out of gas in the shortest of the race 's three sections. Destry Abbott got a two-kick start and then compounded his problems by pumping up so much it was hard to battle through the pack, and Todd Hoy's impressive opening burst was cut short by a rear flat. When Hamel left the pit after gassing his bike at the end of the first 29 miles, he was just 47 seconds ahead of the tenacious Richardson. Davis had leapfrogged up to third, half a minute behind Richardson, and Brandon Gerber's four-stroke Husky was in fourth. Ondas, Colorado KTM racer Jim Gray, Trolli and Abbott rounded out the top eight, ahead of Honda pilot Mike Baxter , ATK racer Paul Pitts and Vet class leader Kerry Lynn, who was one place ahead of Over-30 rival Ed Sorenson. Hoy's flat had relegated him to 13th. The 38-mile second section had been extensively rerouted to avoid six-foot snow drifts on the original course, which had .topped out at 9200 feet. The new course meant the racers did not have to tackle the 3100-foot "She's a Screamer" downhill after which the race was named, but it still included footdeep snow near the 8300-foot mark, and a variety of terrain that ranged from tight trees to wide-open flats, and from dust to greasy mud and slippery ice. "It was a great course," said Gray. "It was amazing how much tight stuff they had in here. I was expecting a lot more fast riding, so I thought it was a lot of fun." "It was fun because they really mixed it up - it had rocks, trees, dust, mud - a little bit of everything," said Over-40 FIfth-place finisher Jim Gray (6) leads italian Davlde Tralll, who went On to finish th ird. racer Steve Pitts. "It was especially good up in the snow. It was so dreary up there, I expected the Donner Party to come out of the trees at any moment." Gerber, who crashed in fourth overall halfway through the second section and bent his triple clamps so badly he was forced to.retire, was less impressed. "That was the worst-marked course I've ever been on," sa id Gerber, who came away from the crash with a front wheel that wobbled so badly he thought it was about to fall off. "The comers weren't marked very well. Everybody was getting lost, turning around and blowing the comers." The racing was fast and furious as the front-runners headed into the second section. Davis caught Richardson soon after the pit and spent miles trying to pass the Honda to takeover second. "We were dicing in the snow," said Davis. "He roosted my goggles and it got pretty ugly, but I finally got around him. After that, he stayed right with me . I was impressed - he was riding really, really well." Soon after the pass, Davis found Hamel standing beside the trail, signaling frantically for his teammate to throw down his tool pack. "The bike acted like it was trying to load up this morning when I was riding the start, but it cleaned out aga in. Halfway around loop one it did it again, then, halfway through the second loop, it just died," said Hamel. '-'1always carry tools but there was a mix-up this morning and I left without them, so I couldn't do anything." Hamel used Davis's tools to change h is spark plug and th en hit th e trail again with a vengeance in fifth overall. He re-passed Gray, then Ondas and Trolli, and caught sight of Davis a nd Richardson four miles ahead of him at the end of a long valley. . "I rode as hard as I could across that valley and by the time we got to the other side, I was right on them," said Hamel. The three racers freight-trained their way into the second pit just 25 seconds apart. Davis had his 16-second lead intact as he hit the trail, but Richardson powered out of the pit with Hamel right on his rear wheel, and the three racers matched gear-change for gear-change as they roared into the wide-open start of the 32-mile closing section. Trolli hit the pits in fourth, three minutes behind the leaders. Oridas lost time in fifth when he missed the check and had to double back, while a rear flat left Gray with a tenuous hold on sixth. Abbott, Hoy and Baxter were the next racers' through, ahead of 6'7" Kurt H eintz, who had some interesting moments with low-hanging branches in the tree-lined sections of the course. Mark Lund green' s KTM dashed t h r ough in 11th fo ll o w ed by Jason Kawell's Kawasaki, and Lynn still held the O ver-30 lead one place ahead of Sorenson. Out in front, the race was getting more an d more exciting. Hamel passed Richardson for second and then started sna pping at Davis's heels. A short tussle p ut him back in the number one spot bu t he had barely reached clear air befo re it was time for another tussle, this time with a bunch of wild horses. And then, just 15 miles from the finish and only three wins away from his second series clean sweep in two years, Hamel's KX500bit the dust. "When the ignition finally went out I had a bo u t a 45-second lead," said Ham el. "There was nothing I could do . I guess you can 't win them all." Hamel's ignition problems put Davis back in the lead - a position he hasn't had too much experience in since he starte d racing the National hare and hound series. "I ha d to find ' the trail and tha twas kind of tough. I'm used to having a couple of tracks in front of me," said Davis, "but I knew it was my last chance. I've never gotten this close to the finish with the lead before and I just said, 'He can't catch me now: and really started rid ing." KX50D-mou n ted Dav is sp rin ted all the way across the final valley and was still pouring o n the pace w h e n the checkered flag fell after two and threequarter hours of racing. The Kawasaki/LR Racing /Answer /Fo x/Shoe i / .Smith/ M MF / FM F / M a x im a/ D u n lop/N Style t Mu ltiAi r /MXA /Tsubakibacked racer took the checkered flag tw o and a half m inutes ahead of Richardson, and finally traded his string o f three second-place finishes in this year's series for the overall honors. "We had a great race today - evetyone was definitely on the gas:' said Da vi s, whose shattered visor showed what a beating he had taken in the trees. "The course had a little bit of everything - roads, technical stuff, mud, snow, rocks, dust - it was great, and so was the competition." Davis's winning margin was the largest one he had enjoyed over Richardson all day. "He got ahead when Hamel caught up to us the second time. Those guys took off at a speed I just can 't keep up with," said Richardson. "They have a really big advantage over somebody who has to go to work on Monday morning - that gives them a n edge." Third overall went to Trolli, w ho brou g h t his KX500 home just over five minutes behind the winner. "I crashed three times - two in the tight, and one in the last five miles in the sand wash. It was a very b ig crash, but I feel okay. I am very lucky ," said Trolli. Ondas spent most pf the day racing by himself on his way to fourth ov era ll. He finished jus t ahead of Gray, who gave him a run for hi s mon ey ri ght a t the end when he caught and passed him in the final section. "Ondas kep t roosting me and I had to take my goggles off once I got by him because I couldn't see, then I got something in my eye on a long straightaway and I wrecked. He got by me again, then," said Gray. Abbott lied his round-three result with a sixth overall finish after battling back from-a two-kick start. KTM 550cc racer Todd Hoy overcame a rear flat to score seventh, ahead of fellow KTM racer Mark Lundgreen, who had borrowed a shock shaft from Hoy after he'd broken his practicing o n the bomb before the race got underway. Brad Christensen topped the 250cc Experts in ninth overall on a Yamaha WR250, two places ahead of quarterliter rival Ed Sorenson, w ho lost third overall early in the race w hen he suffered a rear flat and ha d to borrow a replacement wh eel Kerry Lynn took a wire-to-wire win in the Vet division in 13th overall, three places ahead of Jay Heying's CRSOO. Over-40 honors went to KX500 racer Bill Maxim in 19th overall after a race that was far from trouble-free. " I have a Mou ss e going away - it kept squishing on me and I had to nurse it in, and I stopped with a kid before the last gas - I think he had broken his hip:' sa id Maxim. "Other th an that, it was fun, especially up in the snow." Steve Pitts finished ha rd on Maxim 's heels to take second in the Over-40 d ivision, while Husqvarna r ace r St e ve Anderson topped the 125cc Experts despite tearing ligaments in his knee the weekend befo re. The most surprising class w inner of the day was first-time. Nationals racer Kevin Minster, who topped the FourStroke Expert class aboard a brand new Honda XR250 in 28th overall. The Barber Honda-backed racer ou tla s ted all the favorites in his class to top Brandon Gerber and Honda factory pilot Jeff Capt, who were sidelined with crashes, and Husky ra cer Sco tt Meyer, who limped in leaking oil from a hole in his cases. ~ Wells-to-Wendover Wells, Nevada Results: AprIl 30, 1994 (Round 4 of 7) Olte 1. Ty Davis (Kaw ); 2. Dan IUch.udson (Hon) ; 3. Dav ide TralU (Kaw); 4. Dave Onda. (Kaw); S. Jim Gray (1CTM); 6. Deslry Abbott (KTM ); 7. Tod d Hoy (KTM) ; 8. Marl: Lundgreen (KTM); 9. 8rad Christensen (Yam); 10. Kurt Heintz (Kaw) ; 11. Ed Sorenson (Yam); 12. Mike _ (Hon); 13. Kerry Lynn (Kaw); 14. Rocky Long (Yam) ; IS . Nat Wilder (Hon); 16. Jay Heying (Hon); 17. Sam Taylor (Yam); 18. Shawn Chavez (5uz); 19. Bill Maxim (Kaw); 20. Steve Pins (ATK). OPEN EX: 1. Ty Davis (Kaw); 2. Dan Richardson (Han); 3. Davide Trolli (Kaw) . 2SO EX: 1. Brad Christonsen (yam); 2. Ed Sorenson (Yam); 3. Rocky Long (Yam). 125 EX: I. Steven Ander.oon (Hus); 2. Mitch Walton; 3. Brook Fm\inson. 4ISTK EX: 1. Kevin Minster (Han). 3G+ EX: 1. Kerry Lynn (Kaw ); 2. Jay Hoying (Hon); 3. Tom Shiv.. (Hon) . 4ll+ EX: 1. Bill Maxim (Kaw ); 2. Steve Pins (ATK). OPEN AM: 1. Jim Alexander (Hon) .

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