Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127698
River ga mbling town o f Laughli n, but 'Hamel and Davis, who took the honors at last year's event, were jockeying for 'p osit ion way before the starting ligh t flashed green. " I signed up late on purpose and pai d the $175 late entry fee so I could go last in the starting order," said Davis. "I t hin k th a t if you pre-enter and get a p lace in the drawing (for a position on the two-riders-every-3O-seconds starting 'grid ), yo u sho u ld start ahead of all the post en tries, so I wa ite d and paid the extra mon ey so I wo uld be las t off the line." . But like Davis, Ham el also knew the v a lue o f a la s t-in -cl a s s s tart, w h ich would let the tail-en d rider know exactly w her e he was runnin g in the timeadjusted stand ings th roughou t the race. ~ ·" H a me l w a ited for me to sign up, th en he cha nged his entry so he could start beh ind me," said Davis. . . . "I req ues ted a last-pl ace start on pu rpose so I could keep an eye on Da vis," Hamel exp lained. "Last year, he started behin d me and co u ld w atch w h ere I w as. Starting last w ould let me know exactly where I was all the way through, and that was important." Wh en th e race rs lin ed u p fo r th e start, Davis was second- to-las t in the 20rider Pro d iv ision th at headed up the fie ld of 170- p lus com petito rs . Hamel was 30 seconds behind hi m on the last line of the Pro start. The fro nt line of the grid was occupied b y Col orad o racer Donnie Book an d Utah's Jeff Lund green. "In most races yo u do any thing yo u can to get ou t in fron t of the dust, bu t Ha r ting first is n o a d va n tage h e re because you h ave to b reak th e v irgi n trail with a ll th e ca ctu s, " sa id Lund gree n . "Pl us , if you ' re the leader, yo u have to set the pace and I alwa ys do better when I' m ch as ing th an when I'm leading. I thi nk the best starti ng position in this race w ould be third or fourth." Despite his desire to be further back on the grid, Lundgreen gave the start everyth ing his KTM had to offer whe n the Christ mas tree sta rting ligh ts flash ed green for the fir s t tim e . He and Book were closely match ed as they made the first righ t turn and d isappeared into the ~6-mile loop tha t made up the first half of the figure-eight course. "The first half wa s tight and technical, but it was reall y fun and rolling. I liked that part of the course," said John Kawell, who en tere d hi s Kaw as ak i in the 250 Expert class. "The second half of the loop w as the rough one. It wa s really rocky." But the first half of the loop proved rough eno ugh for many of the competitors. Scott Cl imp wa s forced to retire at th e lO- mile ma rk w ith a b roken rear brake line , which cut the O ver-3D Pro class to jus t on e rid er, and Ken Ma rkling lost an ax le nu t in the first half of the course but managed to co ntinue long eno ugh to throw a chain and break his shi ft shaft in the second half of the figure eig ht. "I ha d more trouble today th an all yea r comb in ed ," said the KX500 racer, who reti red whe n he reached the end of his firs t lap of the course. Over-35 Expert Jim Sto tt' s trouble came in the first half mile. . "T he choke s tuck o n righ t o ff th e sta rt," Sto tt exp lained . "I we nt back to the truck, figured out what wa s w rong, then s ta rte d ov er . I th ink I lost ab out five minutes." H am el didn't lose a th in g when his light fla shed green . The KXSOO racer was hard on the gas right from the start, putting part two of his race stra tegy into action. - MUNICIPAL - --'..·-~ - - - -STAD IU M - ----. '~ . DAYTONA BEACH BUDWIISIR/WISICD DIRT 'IlIAC. SIRIIS Gil Me, MOTORCYCLE "'e£l' -11 DATfO ~ BVDWEIS CHAMPIONSHIP M."h F""." I' RACING ACTION BEGINS AT SPIN .liMA SANCTIONED 71