Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

over a minute, and cutting his teammate's overall lead to just two minutes and 11 seconds after 1326 miles of hard-on-the-gas special tests. The pair was an hour ahead of Peterhansel in third and, with just 276 miles to go, Trolli decided to launch a do-or-die effort to snatch the overall from Campbell on the final day. "You lose by two minutes, you lose by eight minutes - is always lose, so I thought I go for it. It was my last chance and I have nothing to lose," Trolli explained. The teammates ran almost side by side in the opening section of day six, but they lost the trail around the SO-mile mark and TrolIi made a mistake th,at cost him six minutes. "I didn't see a big ditch coming back to the right road and I crashed bad. I broke the remote control on the route chart and I had to wind it by hand for 200 miles. That is hard to do when you go very fast," said Tralli. But that still didn't take the pressure off Campbell. "The last day was the toughest. I only had a two-minute lead on Trolli going in and, after 2000 miles, that ain't much. I didn't want to crash and break the bike," said Campbell. The last day proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back for Jim Loh, who had run a consistent sixth overall for three days at the head of the Open Two-Stroke class. Hot and tired, Loh gave up the fight at gas three after he replaced a water pump and then discovered that his bike had developed an electrical problem as well. The temperature was over 100 when the tired racers crossed the finish line in Mesquite and collapsed in the shade. They were iced and watered down by their pit crews and left the finish line quietly, with no energy left for celebration. When the times were' tallied for the last time, Campbell took the win by eight minutes and 48 seconds - his largest margin of the race, with an average speed of 48.167 miles per hour. "It's a really important win for me because I showed everybody I can do it, and it's important for Honda too because it showed how well the XRs can do," said Campbell "I like this kind of racing because you have to use your head. The nagivation is of utmost importance, and it's such a long event that you have to think about things like saving the equipment. And it was such a close race. The biggest lead I had all week was three minutes, and that made it very exciting." Trolli was all smiles, despite being relegated to second. "We both did incredible good and I am so proud to be in the team," said Trolli. "We were just wide-open from the first morning until the checkered flag. Every day just bald tires on the bike - the knobbies gone. We did good and we get an incredible good result." Peterhansel's steady performance brought him into the finish in third overall, an hour and a half behind Campbell on adjusted time, and Lewis took first in the 400cc Four-Stroke division and fourth overall less than half an hour behind him. '1t was a lot more technical than last year as far as the terrain went. It was a lot tougher o.n equipment and you had to use your head about 10 percent more than last year on the navigation, but I did real good. I'm happy," said Lewis. Sainct brought his XR400R home 15 minutes behind Lewis, putting Honda number four in the top-five finishers. "I have just two little crashes and parts. They say that money buys the win but we put up a big effort this year and it didn't buy me nothing but a lot of heartache. I think this is the toughest race there is." CN Nevada Rally Las Vegas, Nevada Resu~s:August20,1995 O/A:. 1. Johnny Campbell (Hon); 2. Davide Trolli (Hon); 3. Stephane Peterhansel (Yam); 4. Jimmy Lewis (Hon); 5. Richard Sainet (Hon); 6. ick Pearson (KTM); 7. Eric Bernard (KTM); 8. Bruce Ogilvie (Han); 9. Tony Megla (Han); 10. Bill Postel (Hon); 11. Marc Lewis (KTM); 12. Mark Lundgreen (KTM); 13. Casey McCoy (KTM); 14. Damon Powell (KTM); 15. Tim Morton (Kaw); 16. Mark Morris (Han); ]7. Jean Roberson Azevedo (Suz;); 18. Jun Mitsuhashi (Han); 19. Joe Bond (Han); 20. Jan Pritchard (Han); 21. Alex Gramigni (Han); 22. Daryl Folks (KTM); 23. Cory Ayers (KTM); 24. Bryan Folks (KTM); 25. Alain Dayde (suz). 4-STRK OVER 401: 1. Johnny Campbell (Hon); 2. (Above) Jim Loti ran a consistent sixth overall and led the Open Two-Stroke class until he was sidelined on the last day with mechanical problems. (Right) Lori Conway is now a two-time finisher of the Nevada rally; she was the sole wOman to participate this year. after that no problem," said the French rally champion. "It's a good rally because there is no congestion from other vehicles. In Paris-Dakar and Africa rallies, it is trucks and cars. ([he terrain is) more technical without the trucks and I like it." Nick Pearson grabbed sixth in the overall standings on a KTM LC4, and captured third in the 400cc Four-Stroke class. "After the first two days I worked out th.e bugs and had a lot of fun," said the 17-year-old racer. "I had no big crashes and that's always good. You've just got to be heads up and smart to do well in this race." France's Eric Bernard brought an Open Class KTM LC4 home in eventh overall and Ogilvie's experimental EXP2 topped the Open Two-Stroke division in eighth. Tony Megla won the Over 30 class in ninth, one place ahead of Over 40 winner Postel, who described his first rally as "kind of fun once you get used to it." '1t was great until I got lost - which happened daily. Where you finished just amounted to how long you were lost," said Postel. KTM racer Marc Lewis took 11th overall ahead of Mark Lundgreen, who finished the event without goggles after banging up his nose and elbow in a crash. "They think my nose might be broken," said Lundgreen, "but I'll tell you the biggest problem. They need to come out with new shorts that don't cause monkey butt." Each of the 41 finishers got some· thing different out of their week-long trek through middle-of-nowhere Nevada. There was personal satisfaction for Jan Pritchard, a 41-year-old grandfather from Mis issippi who paid $10,000 to rent a factory bike and support from Honda just to prove he could finish something he started. Lori Conway's highlight was seeing a top speed of 84 miles per hour and Norm Olley got the satisfaction of piloting the smallest bike in the field - a KDX200 - from start to finish and only changing one spark plug. The front-runners vowed to be back next year, but the tired racers further back in the pack needed a little more time to think. "I'm having a hard time thinking about next year right now," said Daryl Folks, whose rally opened with two perfect days and then went steadily downhill. '1've done three of these now and somehow managed to make it to the finish every lime, but I don""t know if there's any more rally left in me personally. I'd encourage people to do it because it's neat with the Europeans and it's unique as far as events go, but the magnitude is very extreme. It costs a minimum of $5000 to do it and that's if you already have the bike, and when you're done, all you have is a pile of .B· r ef·1 I- Y-'_'!.. -- The place to be at the Nevada Rally wa's in the KTM pit. Expecting the high temperatures that soared over 100, KTM had installed a misting system that ran the length of the pit. Using a system of tiny tubes and ·spray nozzles connected to the support arms of its distinctive purple awnings, KTM used an RVstyle water pum'p connected to a 55-gallon drum of water to spray a fine mist down on its pit (;rews and dozens of overheated visitors. Preliminary reP'?rts indicated that the team expected about a day's worth of cooling per ·55-gallon drum. . Davide Trolli Q-{on); 3. Stephane Peterhansel (Yam). 4-STRK 0-400: 1. Jimmy Lewis (Hon); 2. Richard Samet (Hon); 3. Nidc Pearson (KTM). 2-STRK OVER 251: 1. Bruce Ogilvie (Han); 2 Mark Lundgreen (KTM): 3. Jim l.oh (Kawl. 2-STRK 0-250: 1. Tim Morton (Kaw); 2. Bryan Folks (KTM); 3. Hideo Mon (KTM). 30+: 1. Tony Megla (Hon); 2 Damon Powell (KTM); 3. Mark Morris (Hon). 4ll+: 1. Bill Postel (Han); 2. Jan Pritchard (Hon); 3. Paul Clipper (KTM). 50+: I. Sam Bass (Kaw). WMN: 1. Lori Conway (Hon). TEAMS: 1. Team Honda; 2. Mammoth Mountain; 3. ..TeamKTM2. while, It could lake. .. get a paCkage there."us three. or f,?ur" days to . As he got ready fo, the prologue, Davide "call.me Dave" Trolll was bragging about a new secret· weapon that was '\luaranteed to give him an edge: "See, I've got a Scott Summers helmet ttiis year. I try everything to go fast." Only at the Nevada R.ally: ESPN2 reporter Jerry Bernardo provided his own .brand of excitement out on the course just before Ely. "I had this little trick Planned aJId here comes the first bike. Dal1ide Trolli comes 11ying around .the comer and I'm on the side of the trail .butt-naked cheering him on - crollched down sans panta/ones;" sa.id Bernardo. 'Talk about the· middle of nowhere; Federal "Davide hits the brake!>, slides sideways right ExpreSS redefined the word remote when . at me because It was a tight tum anyWay, and asked if it prOVided next day service to Win- the man 'shoots dirt - completely roosts me. nemucca - the rally's day'three destination.. He came about a foot from me, 'used me as a "That's a pretty remote location.." said a com- pin ball, then- at the end of the .day he thartks pany representative. "We don't go .there me. I thought he'd yell at me lor breaking his every day. We usually wait until we have concentration, but he says, 'If you weren't on enough packages to mak~ the trip worth- \hat comer, Iwould've mi.ssed ~.- Q) rJ) 47

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