Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Campbe ll, who w as ha vin g a far-fromperfect ride. " It was a very toug h course on a heavy bike. The two-strokes had a d efi ni te adva n tage in th e deep sa n d . And I cl ipped a fe nce o n the second loop , whi ch di dn ' t help. It looks like I've broken a knuckle." At the end of the second loo p, Davis was jus t 17 seconds beh ind Ham el in the ph ysical s ta n d ings a n d h ad a threemin ute-13-second lead on adjusted time. Hard en was thi rd in the time- adjusted stand ings, h alf a minute behi nd Hamel, and Cam pbell was fourth, jus t five secon ds s lowe r th an H a rd en . Abb ott ' s KTM was another five seconds back at the head of the 250 Pros, in fifth overall, a n d O ver-30 Pros Drey Dircks, Joh n Rud de r and Rex Sta ten rou nded out the top eigh t. . Slick pavem ent com bined with hi gh s p ee ds and k nobb y tir e s to g ive th e spectato rs one thrill after ano ther as the racers rounded th e tw o 90-degree corners on pit row. "On the second lap at the end of the firs t straigh t I grab be d a little bi t too much f ro n t brake a nd s lid ri gh t o n d own the stree t through the hay bales," sa id Krause, w hose descrip tio n o f the fall was not nearly as interes ting as the one given by Davis, w ho was ju st in front of him at the time of the cras h. "The little bit of pavemen t they had was pretty slick because it rained and I go t to see Krau se slide all the way down the p avem en t on his backside," Davis lau gh ed . "I turned back and he was on his b utt slid ing. He was going fast and he slid an awf u l long way - rig ht int o the hay bales. It was incred ible. I'd like to see that again." Donn ie Book suffered a similar fate. . "I went right through the bales at the end of the straig h taway. I just cou ld n't turn," sai d th e ra cer from Co lo rado. "The guy working the co rner held the ribbo n down so I wouldn't tak e it out." As loo p three got un d erw ay, things finally starte d to com e toge ther for KTM 250 racer Jim Gray, who was eig hth on adjusted time at the end of loop two . "My first loop was terrible. I sta rte d in th e thi rd row o f th e 250s a nd it seemed like the only place I caught anybod y was in th e tight whe n I coul dn't get aro und them, " sa id Gray. "The second loop we n t better and the third loop went great." Da vi s' third loop we nt better than . a ny b o dy 's. H e m oved up h ard o n Hamel's heels and finally made a move to ge t a rou n d th e arch riv al w ho has forced him to settle for second overall in • too many races to count. "I knew I was getting clos e. I kept smelling his fumes in the canyons so I knew he was aro und there somewhere," said Davis. "I finally got him in a tight section. It was a reall y nasty section and we were catching a slow er gu y so it was pre tty exciting. He roosted me a couple of times really good. We w ere pre tt y much wid e-open out of control." When the loop was over, Hamel was just over half a minute behind the new race lead er in the physi cal sta nd ings and he was four minutes back on adjusted time. Harden was still han ging onto thir d overall, wi th a half- minu te safety mar gin over fourth-placed Abbo tt, and Hard en' s Over-30 classmates Rudd er and Dircks were h old ing th eir own a min u te behind him. Ca mp bell had a comfortable lead in the four-stroke d ivision, KTM p ilot Ed . Sore nson w as lead ing the Expert class racers ju st ahead of Sean Steel e, w ho was tryirig a Husaberg 600 on for size for the very first time , and Troy Kalina was leadin g Ch arlie Kline in th e battle for 125cc Pro honors. (Right) Scot Harden (POl ) not only won the 30+ Pro class but finished third overall as well. (Bottom right) Danny Hamel was the runner -up. ad mitting that he plainly got beat by Davis. As the race wore on, the course wa s roug her and rougher, and a few sections turned to mud, which East Coaster Dick Burleson sa id mad e it "look sort of like a Nevada Blackw ater." For top co nten ders like Hamel, the mud was no problem . " It did h av e so me m u d dy sections but th ey weren' t nearly as bad as two . yea rs ago w he n lo t s of p e o pl e got bogged down ," said Hame1. "You could ge t stuc k tod ay if yo u d idn' t have some momentum, but if yo u carried some speed yo u cou ld ge t th rou gh, no trou ble." A la ck of conditioning mean t Rex , Sta ten w asn 't havin g any fun at all. "I've been working too much to rid e and it sho wed today," sai d the Vet class KX500 ra cer. "It was tight, so it was h a rd to h an g o n to a 500 - yo u were fig h ting it all th e tim e. O n a 250 yo u wo u ld 've had a bit of an advantage. I go t tired on the second loop." And trouble was sta rting to s pread u p and down the ranks. Book fell over in a wash, Kawasaki's Dave Ondas was s tru gg li ng with a dyi ng ignit io n that had started to give him trou ble in loop th ree , an d 16-year-old rising sta r Nick Pearson wa sn 't having any fun at all. "I don 't know wha t hap pened to me today. I wasn't in tu ne with my bike at all. I just wasn't riding goo d," said Pea rson. "It was fun at first but it just go t worse an d wo rse and worse as th e course got roug her. I'm not used to getting beat. It' s not fun . I better go home and practice, I guess." Bu t out in fron t, Davis was h av in g eno ug h fun for everybody. He took the whi te flag at the end of loo p four w ith almost four-and-a-ha lf minu tes to spare an d was sti ll an im p ressive three minutes and 15 secon d s ahead of H a mel when the checkered flag came ou t. A guaranteed p u rse. of $3500 for the race me a n t th e Kawasa ki Tea m Gree n / . Moose Ra ci n g / Sh oe i /Oa kley / Ace rb is / N-Sty le / FMF / Maxim a /Tsu ba ki/ . Braking-b acked racer ea rned $343 for his class w in plus a $1000 bo nus for first ove rall. Second-placed Ham el ea rne d a $218 purse for his Open Class win plu s a $250 bonus. "I had a great race with no problem s. I nev er fell d own and never mad e any mistakes," sa id Ham el. "The rain d idn't affect me a bit. I'm getting more used to rid ing in it because I did it quite a bit last year, so it' s no problem. I ro de as hard as I could and this is wh er e I came up. Dav is jus t rode bett er. Bott om line - I got beat. " Harden , who finished third overa ll, eigh t minutes behind th e race lead er, was jum ping up and down wit h glee at his p erforman ce. . "Third overall - wow! For a 39-yea rold man, it' s awesome. It's nothing short of phen om enal for an old geezer to finish like thi s," said Harden. "I rode like a sta llion all day. I was focused and d idn' t m ak e any mistak es, a nd I got a th ir d o ve ra ll racin g these kids. I' m rea lly stoked . This is a grea t spo rt is all I can say ." . Harden's closest Over -30 com petition wa s John Rudder, w h o brou ght h is Yamaha home in seve n th overall, and Rex Sta ten took third in class in 15th overall despit e ha vin g his seat fly off the bike eig ht miles from the end of the race. A consistent ride with n o fall s took KX250 racer Destry Abbo tt to victory in the 250 Pro division in fourth overa ll. "It wen t excellent from the s tart. I ro de really we ll and rea lly co nsisten t, and the bike ran grea t, ".sa id Abbott. "Tha t's my kind of riding." Johnny Ca m p be ll's tena cious rid e earne d him fifth in the overall s tand ings and victory in the Fou r-Strok e Pro class. Second in the di vision wen t to Campbell ' s yo u nger brot he r Jam ie, w ho swa p ped his usu al 250cc mount for one of Honda's XR600Rs to boost entries in the new four-stroke d ivision. A steady rid e by Krause nett ed sixt h overa ll ahea d of John Rudder, KTM 250 racer Bryan Folks, Jim Gray and Open Pros Dave Ondas and Mark Lundgreen. Nick Pe ars on, w ho co m p le ted h is ride in 13th ove rall, felt a lot of sy m pathy for the amateurs, whose race began as soon as th e Pros and Ex pe rts h ad cleared the course. "The course go t really, really rough by th e time I finis hed . Those ama teu rs ha ve go t it bad having to do five lap s of that," said the KTM 250 racer. The 125ccPro win w as claimed by Troy Kalina in 36th overall. Expe rt class h on ors w ent to Open cl as s r acer Ed Sorenson in 16th overa ll, Brad Chris tens en' s 250cc Yamaha wa s second overall in the Expert division and Sean Steele's ne w Hus aberg completed the cou rse in third . Over-40 Expert To m Web b topped his class and finished three pla ces ahead of the highest ran kin g Over -30 Expert. 1'N Mesquite GP Mesquite, Nevada Results: January 21, 1995 o /A:, 1. Ty Dav is (Ka w): 2. Danny H amel (Kaw ); 3. Sco t Harden (KTM ); 4. Dc stry Abbott (Ka w ); 5. Johnny. Ca mpbell (Han); 6. Paul Kr.l US(' (Ka w ): 7. John Rudder (Yam); 8. Bryan Fol ~ (KThf); 9. Donnie Book (Kaw ); 10.' Jim Gray ( K T M); 11. Da ve Onda s (Kaw); 12. Mark Lundgreen (KTM); 13. Nick Pearson (Jo,.,'TM); 14. James Summers (Yam ); 15. Rex State n (Ka w ); 16. Ed Sorenson (KTM); 17. Scott Morris {Kaw): 18. Brad Ch ristense n (Yam); 19. Dary l Folks (KTM); 20. Sean Stee le (Hbg) . OPEN PRO: 1. Danny Hamel (Kaw) ; 2. Paul Krau se (Ka w) ; 3. Dave Ondas [Kaw]. 250 P RO : 1. Ty Da v is (Ka w ): 2. De stry Abb ott (Kaw); 3. Bryan Folks (KTM). 125 PR O: 1. Troy Kalin a (Hon) ; 2. Cha rl ie Klin e (B on). . 4-ST K P RO: 1. Joh nny Campbe ll (Ho n); 2. Jamie Ca mpbell (Hon); 3. Brandon Ge rber (Hbg). 0-30 PRO; 1. Scot Harden (KTM ); 2. John Rudd e r (Ya m); 3. Rex State n (Kaw). OPEN EX: 1. Ed So ren son (KTM ); 2. Sea n Ste ele (lIbg ); 3. Kurt Hint z (Kaw) . 250 EX: 1. Brad C h ristense n ( Yam); 2. Br ook Finlmson (K.1W); 3. Th ayne Sta nwo rth (Kaw ). 4 ~STK EX: 1. Bob Jon es (Ho n ); 2. Geo rge Pen nington (Hbg) ; 3. Glen Warren (ATK). 0-25 EX: 1. Steve Hutchings (Kaw); 2. Tod d Johnson (Hon) ; 3. Glenn Taylor (KTM:). 0-30 EX: 1. Cory Ayers (Hon ); 2. William O'Hara (KTM); 3. Jeff Fegert (KTM). 0-35 EX: 1. Ron lawson (Ho n); And y Scgale (Kaw); Kevin Bogu e (KTM) . ()..40 EX: 1. Tom Webb (KTM); 2. Richard Burleson (KTM). • 15

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