Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.O -R A ... . FF. O D: Best in the DeSert S State Series ilver Round 1: Oasis/Mesquite Gran Prix The only downs ide to Abbott's first loop was being passed by Davis. " I tr ied to s tay wi th him when he passed me but that d idn't last long. He was flying, " said Abbott. Wh en th e fron t-ru nn ers co m p leted thei r fir s t lo op o f the co u rse in jus t under half an hour, Ha mel wa s at th e head o f th e p a ck . H e led th e way through pit row, w hi ch was laid out aro und thr ee sides 0"£ a park , and powere d off into loop two. Zitterko pf's fou rstro ke was a minu te behi nd in the physical sta ndings, bu t whe n starting times were a dj us te d, h e h ad the e dge o n Ham el by 51 seconds. Krau se and Davis hit the star t of the pit-row pavem ent in an elbow-to-elbow s p rin t b u t Dav is w a s way ahead o n t ime. Wh en th e s to p w atche s were checked and the calcu lations made, the KX250 racer was running first overall on adjusted time, just ove r a minute ahead of Ham el. Ey ebro w s we nt u p a lmos t a s far w hen times were ca lcu la te d for Scot Harde n, who brou ght his KTM 300 into the pits in 14th . A no-holds-barred first loop ca tapul ted th e Over-30 Pro int o th ird ove ra ll in the ti me -a dj us te d resu lts, a rem ark ab le 45 seconds ahead of Hamel. "The bike worked really well - it was awesome thanks to Tom Moen, who did the suspension for me, and I was really motivated ," Hard en sa id . "The Vet Pro class had a big field and so me good rid ers . It really motivated me to do well ." Rain too k its toil in the second loop Sy Anne Van Severen Photos by Tom Van Severen MESQUITE, NV,JAN. 21 awasaki's Ty Da vis took Nevada by sto rm a t the Oa sis /Mesqu ite Gran Pri x, u sin g a w et course and th e ag ili ty of a motocross champion to trounce a field of top desert ra cers - in cludin g a rch - riv a l D ann y Ha me l in his own backyard. Davis, who opted to tackle the not or iou sl y ti ght Me squ it e co u rs e o n a Kawa saki KX250, sta rte d m ak in g h is move the 'secon d h e le ft th e s ta rt. He was three min ut es ah ea d o f the race's top co n te n ders at the end o f the fir st 14.8-m ile loo p and he kept the throttl e wid e open all the way to the chec kere d flag. At th e e n d o f tw o h ours a n d five minutes of raci ng, Davis' three-minute margin was still intact and the Southern Cali forni an was all sm iles as he took what he hopes will be the first in a long line of Ne vada checkered flags in 1995. " I really d idn' t have a plan g oing into the race. I w as just going to rid e as fast as I could," said Davis. "I've always enjoyed rid ing in the sand and there's a lot of that here. It makes the course like a gia nt motocross track." T he fi rs t round o f th e five -e ven t series orga nized by Casey Folks d rew 277 racers to Mesqu ite, a ga mbling town tw o h ours eas t o f La s Ve g a s o n the Ne vada / Uta h b ord er that w e lcomes racer s -w ith open arms and allo ws pa rt of the course to run along city stree ts. The weather was not nearly as warm as the town's welcom e as the racers prepared for the 10 a.m. start. The sky wa s gray and a light dri zzle was falling as the motor cycles lined up for the start on the pavement outsid e Mesquite's juni or high schoo l. Hamel's KX500 was on the front row of the four- bikes-at-a-time starting grid, handlebar-to -han d lebar with Uta h's Mark Lundgreen and Ka wasaki te;'mmate Pau l Krause (KXSOO), who spent the last couple of min utes before the start kneeling beside his bike frantically tightening a loose bolt or two. Another pre- race favorite, last year's Silver State Series overall champion Greg Zitterkopf, had entered his KTM in the brand-new Four-Stroke Pro class, which put him on row three of the grid, and Davis had the "keeping the favorites in sight from behind" advantage of being back on row seven. When the starting ligh t flashed green for th e first tim e, Ham el came off the fro n t row in las t p osi tion. Lu ndgreen led the way d own th e 20 fee t of slick pavement an d Krau se tuc ked in behind as th e fro n t-ro w s ta r te rs z igzagg e d thr ou gh the first dirt section then powered ou t into the tw isty, ever-cha nging terrain of the almo st 15-mi le course. The rest of the rows followed one at a time, leav ing the live-engine start at 30seco nd int erv als. Dav is was all business w he n he shot off the lin e. En duro ace Dick Burleso n wa s all thumbs. "I augured fi ght off the b at ," sa id Burleson with a grin. "I got on my bike, hit the th rottl e and on the very first little thing you dive off, it we nt ' whoop' an d I 14 (Left)Ty Davis got the 1995 season off to a good start by winning the Mesquite GP, the opening round of the Best in the Desert Silver State Ser ies. (Below) More than 275 riders competed in the Casey Folks-hosted event. it threw m e r ig h t d ow n . Once I got goi ng it was grea t. It was fun cruising th rou gh peo ple's yards:' The course wound back and forth on it s way throu gh to w n , a lterna t ing bet ween washes, the bed of the Virgi n River and bits and pieces of th e local coun try sid e on both the north and so uth sides of Interstate 15. "Th e co urse wa s a w e s om e, " s a id Hamel. "The eigh t miles on the so u th side of 1-15 we re really tigh t and sandy , goi n g in an d out of th e river bott om . Once we got no rth of the freeway it was pretty fast going - wid e open a lot of the way. Th er e was a goo d va rie ty of ter rain." Drizzle co n tin ue d th ro u gh out the early laps of the five-loop race and the dust-free co n d itio ns m e an t th at a ll Davis had to wor ry abo u t was edging a ro u n d th e ea r lie r s ta rte rs as h e lea p frogged h is w ay up th ro u gh the pack. For 250 Pro Destry Abbott, wh o s tarted tw o rows ah ead of Da vi s, edging aroun d the ea rlier s tarters p ro vid ed a b oo s t t h a t m ad e h im go fa ste r an d . faster. " 1 b a g ged t he h ol esh o t and wa s doi ng we ll ri ght o ff th e s ta r t," s a id Abbo tt. "I caught so me peopl e and, once I sta rte d p assing guys th at starte d in front of me, I bui lt a little confidence." and goggles we re ripped off left, right and cen ter, but for Zitterko pf the prob le m s w e re a lo t m ore se r io us than m ud dy, rain-streaked lenses . The hard charging KTM pilot 's fou r-stroke develo ped me ch a n ical pr ob le ms n e a r th e halfway point of the second loop and a d isa p poin ted Zitterkopf wa s forced to push his bik e off the course and call it quits for the rest of the day. Zitterkopf' s misfortune put a grat efu l Johnny Cam pb ell into the Fou r-Stro ke lead . "I t was bad lu ck for him bu t reall y go od luck for me . He w as on the gas and I d on 't think I wo uld've got him if h e d idn't break ," sa id Honda-b acked

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