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/127743
·DIRTTRACK Hanging o~t with Mike Hacker
"At least I
think that's what
it was," Hacker joked.
"We never went back to look."
I think I'm going to stay awake for a
while.
Like a band of gypsies, we rolled
through the darkness and into the
morning light. In five hours, our threerig caravan made one fuel stop, one
bathroom stop, and one emergency stop
as Davis suspected that his box van was
leaking fuel. One thing that these teams
do well is watch out for each other on
the road. Nobody gets left behind.
Oliver took over the reins once again
at around 7 a.m. and got us into Rapid
Gty around 3:30 p.m. During that time,
Hacker, part man and part possum,
slept the whole way. After checking into
our plush accommodations - a college
dorm that featured a community bathroom and shower across the haU from
our room for the amazingly low rate of
just $35 a night - we headed to Sturgis to
pick up some fork seals which Moroney
had shipped to a propane company
there. Any place that accepts UPS can
serve as an unwitting pickup point for a
Grand National team on the road. After
wading through the endless sea of
Hogs, we backtracked to Rapid Gty for
dinner and then cruised to the local
amusement park to race some go-carts.
All of the Grand National riders were in
the same place, and eventuaIIy, practi-
Grand National Series standings and
second in the 883 points, it would seem
that Hacker is right on target to do just
that.
.THURSDAY, AUGUST 10
It was basically housekeeping day as
we checked out of our room around
noon and then stopped off at the local
Laundry day Rapid City.
SD. Aug. 10
who are traveling together. Like Hacker,
Coolbeth Jr. is another one of the current
crop of young riders showing a lot of
promise, especially since teaming up
with Adkins. And he, too, is a slave to
the road.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11
FiXing the
sfeering box Rapid City.
SD. Aug. 10
lIictory! A/<1A SS3 Notional
- Denver. Co. Aug. 12
The road to Denver seemed endless,
with the highlight being an amaZing
electrical storm as we rolled through
Wyoming. It occurred to me that I
hadn't been sleeping all that much while
we were on the road, so I took a turn in
the top bunk. With the air conditioner
going full blast, I think I did more shivering than sleeping. But I must have
slept, because when I woke up, we were
no longer with the Coolbeths, who had
pulled off at a roadside stop, and Hacker warned me to stop drooling on his
pillow. There were about three more
fuel stops along the way - one of them
made with Johnny Goad's USC Racing
clan, which was in a hurry to get injured
rider Ricky Graham to Denver InternaHonal Airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight.
"Ironman" Oliver finally gave up
around 6:30 a.m., and we pulled off to
,catch some more Sleep about 60 miles
outside of Denver. Once we arrived in
town, we checked into our hotel. Hacker
and Oliver pretty much relaxed duringl
the day. That night, we would partak~l
of a rather expensive wild-game feast'
with Jay Springsteen's gang at the old~
restaurant in Denver.
W
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12
cally every one of them got thrown out
for rough driving. Go figure.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9
.....