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/127769
EVENTS' .
..Edited by Scott Rousseau '
Hi Desert 250 Dual Sport Ride
Riders spotted on
the Hi Desert
By Anne Van Beveren
Photo by Tom Van Beveren
RIDGECREST, CA, jAl'J. 13-14
id gecrest, California, is making
quite a name for itself with dual
sport riders.
Last year, the town greeted riders at
the Hi Desert 250 dual sport event with
rain and snow . This year, the town was
hit by a flurry of earthquakes that had
local residents shaking in their boots for
the two weeks leading up to the ride.
But it takes more than a little rockin g
and rolling to dampen the spirits of avi d
dual sport en thus ias ts, especially those
who have come to know the two-day
even t orga nized b y Californ ia Tra il
Rides as one of the best on the local calendar.
A record 185 riders turned out for the
seventh annu al running of the Hi Deser t
250, and they were not d isappointed.
Mild weather, combined with spectacular scenery and lots of single-tracktrails,
put an ear-to-ear smile under eve ry hel met an d, each time the riders stopped at
a reset, there wa s much talk abo ut getting together to do it again next year.
Day one' s rid e made a 140-rnile loop
southwest to Jawbon e Can yon and the
bright-pink / orange cliffs o f Red Rock
Canyon State Park. The ro ll chart was
the busiest most of th e dua l sporters
R
(Top) Paul Bo isselle (351) took second on
the first day and first 'o n the second In the
125cc Junior class during arenacross
aetlon In Salem, Oregon.
(Above) Author Anne Van Beveren (Iell)
negotiates a tricky downhill dur ing the High
Desert 250 Dual Sport ride, near Ridgecrest,
California. The event drew 185 riders .
had ever seen, with as many as three
turns in just a tenth of a mile in so me
sections, and fitting th e ext ra-long roll
of paper into the handleb ar-m ounted
roll chart ho lder was the first challenge
of the day.
The next cha llenge w as readi ng th e
instructio ns out on the course . Alm ost
as soon as it left the sho rt openi ng section of p a vement, the co u rse turned
onto narrow trails littered with baseballsize d rocks. There was seldo m any time
to check an d, in some of the tightest secti ons, new come rs to th e s po rt a ba nd oned th e ro ll chart a nd si mply fo llowed th e ora nge marker ribbon th at
even t orga nizer La rry Lan gle y h ad
placed to confirm the tu ms.
Experien ced riders enjoyed the morechall enging -th an-usual rou te , w hi ch
had its share of deep sand and a coup le
of hills that left less-cap able rid ers looking for mercy.
"What hill s?" asked Langley, wi th a
sm ile. " Th er e wa sn' t an ythin g tha t
tou gh . Besid es, if yo u d on 't cha llenge
people, the y never get any better." .
"I d id fine mo st of th e w ay u p th at
really stee p hill-the one whe re everyone was sitting there, wai ting to go up,"
said Tasha Whitmore, who w as putting
an ATK605 through its dual sport paces
for the first tim e. "I got p ast the tric ky
part - tha t rock led ge, but I fell off the
side of the hill right after that."
The hi ll wa sn ' t W h it more's onl y
problem .
" I lo st m y li cen se p la te ou t th e re
so mew h e r e," s h e said , s h a k in g h er
h ead . " Everyb od y told me ab ou t th e
problem with ATK license plates breaking so I made this whole assem bly for it.
I ha d eight no n-corrosive nickel-p lated
screws in it, an d I lost it anyway."
Satu rday's course took the riders past
Burro Schmidt's tunnel , a hand-dug,
2,087-foo t hole in the mountain that the
prospect or s p en t 34 years diggi ng in
hopes of providing a d ir ect route for
haulin g or e. By th e tim e th ey reached
th e tunnel, most of the dual sporte rs
were either praising the accuracy of the
roll ch art or sh akin g th eir h eads and
yelling, "Wh ere are we?" to every rider
that passed by.
With the tunnel behin d them, the rid ers headed down Last Ch ance Can yo n.
The course straigh tened out for the run
int o the lunch sto p at Jawbone Can yon
Store, and then headed northwest to the
only easy / hard split of the event.
"I we nt on the diffi cult section and I
su rv ived," said Mark Mizub a, who traveled from San Diego to join the cama rad erie. " It was really challen gin g, but it
was also very safe an d I like that. I think
th ey shou ld put more w hoops in. N o,
really, I'm just kidding . They had a ton
of them on the difficult section,"
An afte r-rid e b anqu et on Satu rday
night gave the riders p lenty of time to
d iscu ss both th e trail and thei r performance. Banque t attendees go t a la ugh
out of Bill Abernathy, who man aged to
leave h ome w it hout any of his riding
gear, and were humbled by the two 70year-o lds w ho com p leted th e cou rse.
And almost every ri der in th e house
went away with a prize of some so rt,
ranging fro m sunglasses and b r ightpink gri ps to a Travelcad e gel seat.
The ride rs were up bright and early
again for day two 's run, which mad e a
93-mile loop to the historic minin g town
of Randsburg . The righ t-o ff-the- p avement first hill had many of the no vice
rid er s w ishing the y had eate n a lit tle
less at the banquet, as they strai ne d to
push their bikes up the steep slope, and
Fiddler's Gulch, with its sandy base and
rocky waterfall drop-offs had a similar
effect right after lunch.
The technical terrain that th e rid ers
h ad enjo ye d on Saturday's continued
and so di d the back-and-forth turns that
kept all eyes glued to the roll chart.
Whe n th e two days of on- and offroad fun w ere over, Bob Wh ite, who
had d ri ven d own from Santa Cruz to
tackle Sou thern California' s desert for
the firs t time, declared th e ex perience
very wo rthwhile .
"I' m not a big fan of steep, loose hills.
The bikes weigh too mu ch and I' m too
old to pick them up, and I h ad never
rid de n in a sand wash before so it took a
while to work ou t that the faster I went
the better it was, but I had a grea t time,"
sai d White. "Wh en peop le go by you
the y give you a lot of room - they d on 't
beat you up, and I like the way that you
can set your own pa ce - ride fast when
yo u want to, then quit and slow d own
when yo u ge t to so me thi ng you don't
like."
"Thi s dua l sp ort ridin g is pre t ty
neat," Whit e concluded.
fN
By Alla n's Photos staff
,
SALEM, OR, IAN. 12
-13
Th ree nati onal pros vis ite d the Salem Fa irgro u nds to p rovid e ad d itiona l excitement during a weekend of ind oor motocross racing .
Ryan Hu ffm an . Jason Fren ette and Jason
McCormi ck competed with the regu lar Oregonian pros on both nights. Huffman and Frenette
took fir st a nd seco nd in the 250cc Pr o class.
while McCor mick was the top finis her in the
125cc Pro class.
At half time on Friday night the stars talked
about their careers an d upcoming races in which
th ey will be com peting, and pa rti cipated in a
questi on and answ er session. On Saturday night
Ted Devol of Devol Racing talked about his contribu tions to the motorcycle racing community,
after w hich he went out an d di d some racing
himself.
Results
Fri.... y
P /W BEG: 1. Kyle Hammon tree (Yam ); 2. Jared Wood
(Ya m ); 3. Cody Whtoelis (Yam ).
. 60 JR 1. Randy Pesek (Ko1IW); 2. J~hua Hill (Ka w) ; 3. JCeon.
:
ne th Ham mon tree (Ka w ).
605R; 1. Ca~ Huddles ton (Kaw ~
80 BEG: 1. Ty Lacey (Suz); 2. Davis D;d ier (y a m ); 3. Solbrina
Ru~1
(Yam); 4. GI"e'K Bergren (Suz). S. Austin Gettel (Suz ).
80 (9-11): 1. Ty le r Fick (Suz); 2. Brian Su llivan (KaW).
80 (12-13): 1. Gnogory Blilckw.n (Yam) .
80 (14· 16): 1. Steve Sulliva n (Kaw).
MIN I OPEN: 1. SIt"Vt' Sulliva n (Kaw), 2. Tyle r Fick (}(aw ); 3.
Bre nt line (5uz); 4. Cregcry Black well (Yam) ; S. Dav is Did ier
(Yam) .
125 BEG: 1. Shaw n RU!l~ 1I (Suz); 2. jared Logan (Hon); 3.
Bob Kivisto (Hon); 4. Stan Sto lp (Yam ); 5. Nick Slupe (Yam ).
125 JR 1. Michael Lenkhaa r (Hon ); 2. Paul Boisselle (Yam) ;
3. Jeff Hinzm an (Hon); 4. Ma tt Will iam ~ (Kaw) ; 5. lamar Loomis
CHon).
125 lNT : 1. Dusty Leneb urg (Kaw ); 2. Steve Cophe r (Hon ); 3.
Jera my Sahnow (Hon); 4. RohM't HoltRI'VW (Kaw ); 5. Da le Co rra .
125 PRO: 1. [ason McC ormick (Kaw); 2. Ry an Huffm an
(Ho n ); 3. Ryan Terif"Cki (Ho n ), 4. Ryan Leach (Ho n ); 5. Eric
Gravn(Hon).
250BEC: I. Eric Zumwalt (Hon ); 2. Dt-nni l' Schmitt (Yam); 3.
Bron Nonnamaker (Yam ); 4. Richard Tut\nlt Il(Yam): S. Looney
Wh itley (Kaw).
250 JR : 1. Edd it' B..ach (Hon) ; 2. MoIti Murphy (Hon); 3.
Jam it"Large (Hon); 4. Jus tin Rt'dman (KoIw ).
2SO[NT; 1. Richard Ruebn.am (Kaw); 2. Shane Sc&rborou~
(Hon ); 3. Stev e Copher (Hon); 4. Tim Holus (Suz); 5. Eric lWgel'5
(Kaw) .
2SO PRO: 1. Ryan Huffman (Hon); 2. Ja..-.on Frenrtte (KoI );
w
3. Ryan Terlecki (H on ); 4. RYoIn kach (Hon); 5. Tim Zacharis
(K.tw ).
OPEN PRO: 1. Roby lAo
ach (Hon).
UTH )R: 1. Eric loomis (Hon).
5TH JR I. Justin ROO man (KoIw); 2. Lamar loomi~ '(Hon); 3.
;
MiC'haeILankhaa r (Hon); -4_Jeroc"D\H> S1u.m (Hon); 5. Jeff Hinzman
(Hon).
8TH ll'