Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and load the bike up in a truck at Valle de Trinidad. Their race was over. "1 wen t about eight to 10 miles out of the sixth pit an d oil was everywhere; once I knew we had a problem 1backed off," said Capl "There was no point in continuing." "It's fru strating," sa id Campbell. "We've been working on new stuff and the bike was wo rking really well . It was just a freak thing. We ha ven 't ha d a case break in years." "Yeah, it's a little disappointing, but th e bike performed excellen tly, " said Capt. "We just ran into a little problem that's racing . It jus t happened." While Campbell and Capt we re dealing wi th their problems, Hunnicutt had closed in and soon passed Miller for the lead in one section of th e rac e course tha t was run tw ice. "There was th is 35-mile section that we ran twice - at 55-90 miles, and aga in at 250-280 miles," said Ogil vie. The second time through, the lead bikes became mixed in w it h the slower class cars going through the common section (5590 miles) for the first time. Th e road here is narrow with tall bushes lini ng the road. Chuck got s tuck behind a truck and got dusted out - he just couldn't get by it. Somehow, Ted d y (H u n nicu tt ) got through and passed Chuck there." "When Halcomb handed the bike over to me just before then (before getting stuc k behind the truck) , we noticed that the chain slide on the swingarm and been thrown off - that took an extra minute and a half that we hadn't counted on," said Miller. "The total pit cost us three-and-a-half minutes. When 1 left the pits, Ted wa s just one-minute and 15-seconds behind me. Eight miles later we joined the cars, and a car pulled in right in fron t of me . 1 followed it for about eight miles. He was kicking up a lot of dust and 1 decided to play it smart and easy. 1 finally got around it, then ca u g h t up to another (car) . When 1 moved to the right to pass h im, he'd move to the right; when 1 went to the left, he wen t to the left. The n 1 went to the righ t again, then all of a sudden, Teddy blew by both of us on the left! 1 foun d out later, Ted caught up because he d idn 't have dust until he got into my dust. I finally got around th e car and managed to sta y in Ted's dust for a while. Then 1 stru ggled a little bit in the rocks." As the end of the race neared, it became apparent the top fou r positions would be determined in a sprint race to the finish , with the Krau se an d Hunnicutt KXSOO team leading the wa y; H unnicutt at the controls the last 100 miles. After being handed the Honda XR600 by Miller, Halcomb ble w out of the last pits in second place - both physically and on adjusted time - but had a monumental task ahead of him in order to take the win . Not only d id he have to reel-in and pass Krause, but he also had to pull away and beat the Kawasaki KX500 by over a minute. Realistically, the Honda team was now racing to keep second place. When Miller handed off to Halcomb, their bike's rear tire was wo rn out and needed replacing, but they m ade the decision not to change it. "It was just to o close ; we co uld n't waste any time . That wo uld've ende d our ch a n ces for s u re ," sai d Miller. "Charles took off, but struggled with the rea r tire. As it turned out, when he finis hed, the tire was literally bald. H e crashed once and went o ff the r oad once. He struggled th e whole last section keeping the bike on the course." Not far behind Halcomb, Kawasaki (Above) Moments after th is photo was tsken, Danny Hamel's KX500 came to a screeching halt due to a tep-end seizure. The bike was rebu ilt In under 10 minutes. Later In the race, Hamel took over for Larry Roeseler's InjUred partner Garth Sweetland to finis h second overa ll on a KLX650 four-stroke. (Right) Tex Mitchell, Fred Willert and Jeff Matlnez topped the 250Cc class In seventh overall. ride rs Roeseler and Trolli, who were involved in . their own battle, were gaini ng ground on the traction-less Halcomb . Hunnicu tt ro de b rilliantly and was the first rid er to take the checkered flag in a trailer par k in Santo Tomas, app roxima tely 20 miles south of En senada, and w as, no doubt - alon g with Hunnicutt - the overall winner on adjusted time . But the battle for second place was s till up for grabs, even though Halcomb's Honda was the second bi ke across the line. Now it was just a waiting game for the H onda team. Less than a minute later, Roeseler crossed the finish line on the KLX650, beatin g Miller and Halcomb's elapsed time by one minute and 53 seconds. Trolli rode up about 30 second s la ter , dropping Miller and Halcomb back one more position to fou rth. Trolli and laPort e' s ela psed time was 09:22:42; Miller and Ha lcomb 's 09:23:08. Less than 30 seconds se parated third from fourth. "It was a real exciting race; after nine hou rs of racing, the top four teams finished wi thin five minutes!" said Miller. "We might not've won, but we proved we ' re contenders again. Tho se guys (Team Kawasak i), as always, put in a great team effort." Roese le r and Sweetland's secondplace finish was aided by Na tional Hare & Hound Champion Danny H amel, who began the race as Ty Da vis' running mate. While pre-running the event, Sweetland crashed and injured his wris t and thumb. Despite the injuri es, Sweet- land started the race while Roeseler awaited the bike at EI Alamo, but when Sweetl and arrived he was in a lot of pain. "Garth hit a rock that he couldn't see in the dust in 'a sand wash," said team manager Johnson. At this poi nt, it was obvious Swee tland couldn't ride the rest of the race, but Roeseler took off none theless. Meanwhile, Ham el, who started for the Hamel/Davis team, suffered a major top-end seiz ure while still on the pavement just five miles into the race. With

• Cover