Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Krause a nd Kel by Pepper go t by me there. I cou ld n' t figure ou t how they did it." O fficials decided to close th e firs t bridge after Davis left a hole in the plyw ood decking when he h it it with h is rea r wh eel. "Only three or four people got to do tha t section be for e we closed it," said race orga nizer Casey Folks. "It cu t off maybe two minutes, bu t it di dn't affect a nybo dy v ery mu ch a n d we d id n 't adjust anyo ne 's time. That's jus t part of the race." At the en d of the first lO-mile circuit, Davis had a one- minute lead on adjusted time as he cleared the last wash and sprinte d th rough th e p its, w h ich were laid out on the pavem en t su rro unding a local schoo l. Zitt erkop f d ashed past the pits in second . "The cou rse was grea t. It w as rea lly tigh t and san dy, which is good for me because a lot of guys can ' t ride that stuff very well ," said Zi tterkopf, "a n d becau se it was technical, it wasn 't just th e gu y w ho ha d th e fastest bike tha t won. You had to work at it." Third overall at the end of lap one was in the hands of Destry Abbott, who had come back strong after being taken out in a mishap just tw o comers from his second-row start. Dircks was leading the Over 30 Pro class in fourth overall, Dan Ashcraft's Vosburg Racing -backed KTM was fifth in the time-adjusted standings, and Paul Krause was neck and neck with Dustin Headman for sixth . Headman's blistering opening run was cut short in loop tw o when the 19-year-old Honda racer discovered water in his gas and was forced to limp to the pits for help. The cou rse was already starting to change as the racers began their second circuit aro und the 1D-mile loop. "It got chewed up a bunch, an d it was so dusty you couldn't see what you were going to hit, " said Davis. Dav is was still in front as he dashed p a st th e pits for th e secon d tim e and h e ad ed int o lap numb er three . Z it t er kop f' s KX50 0 was tw o min utes b eh ind in se co n d, a m inute up o n Abb ott , and Dircks w as still in fourth. Headman' s re tu rn to th e pits h ad le ft h im w ay b a ck in th e s tan dings a n d handed fifth overall to Krause. Pepper's KX250 was in sixth and Todd Hoy was running a second or tw o behind him in s e v enth in h is fi rs t r ac e b ac k si n ce breaking his neck last year. "I feel very fo rtunate to be b a ck," said the KTM 550 racer. "I didn't expect to do too well here. I really jus t w an ted to come out and warm up - get bac k in th e groove and see what kind of sha pe I'm in. I had so me arm pump in the first two loops, b ut th in g s w o rk ed p retty well after that." Running abo ut a minute behind Hoy on adjus ted time at the end of loo p two was De nn is Be lin gh er i, who h ad his sights firm ly set on the 125cc Pro win. The 26-year -old Suzu ki rider got a good run for his money from fellow RM125 racer John Braasch in the first two laps, bu t the duel bit the dust when Braasch seized head ing ou t on loop three. The or der at the front of the pack stayed th e sa me as Davis, Zitterkopf, Abbott and Dircks foug ht their way past th e slower rid ers, pushin g h ard every inch of the way as they tried to make up tim e on each othe r. "Passing wasn' t as bad as I thou ght it woul d be," said Davis. "T he trail was tight, but people were rea lly, really nice movin g over. I was shocked a t how goo d th ey were. Eve n when I thought th er e w as n o way fo r them to m o ve over, the y woul d make a way." At the end of lap th ree, Davis was The proud new father of a baby daughter, Paul Krause (right) made his way through the thick du st to finish fourth overall and second in the Open Pro class. Drey Dircks (below) topped the 30+ Pro class, via filth overall. sti ll tw o m inu tes ahead of Zitterkopf. Abbott was another two minutes back in th ird, with Dircks an d Krause only 20 seconds apart for fourth , an d Pe pper and Hoy we re holdin g the ir own no t far beh in d . By the h alfw ay point in the race, the co u rse was starti ng to show signs of serious we ar and tear. In many pla ces, the trail had been redu ced to one huge ru t an d the racers were 'forced to follow it like slot cars on a sing le-file tr ack. But the course was even wor se later in th e day when th e Pr o / Exp ert race w as over and it was tim e for the Am ateur rid ers to do their laps . Phil Holcomb, who was ri ding in what he described as the "Well Over 48 Exp ert" class des cribed th e co urse as "totally rutted out everywhere." Some of the Pro s an d Exper ts were having their sha re of trouble, too. "I didn't have any p roblems, but every time I got to the h ills on the far side of (Interstate 15), every hill would have five or six guys lying on it, which made it interesting," said Zitterkopf. Jim Gray sa ved his disaster for lap four. "I was passing a la pped rider going into a corner. I cut ins ide and hit a boul der an d I endoed into a telephone box - one of those green boxes that stick u p out of th e ground , " said Gra y . "Actua lly it was quite soft, but it was just not a good day for me." Davis w as h av in g a great d ay . He head ed into h is pit a t th e end of loop fou r w ith a thr ee-m inu te lead over Zitter kop f and h ad stretched the lead to four minutes by the time he completed lo o p fi v e. Abbott was still r unni ng stro ng in thi rd, h alf a minute ahead of Di rcks as he headed into h is final lap, a n d Krau se was m ov in g up inch-byinch b eh ind Dircks on a dj usted time from fifth . "That' s probably the best I've rid de n in a while," sai d Abbot t. "The new KTM 250 is grea t and I a ctua lly lik ed the course. I thou ght it w as fun ." Riders who had h oped to do a lot of catch ing up in the later stages of the race found their chan ce slipp ing away as the dus t and traffic never let up. But it was also too late for anyone to cha lle nge Dav is an d th e KX250 ra cer stormed h ome to g ra b the checke re d flag four minutes ah ead of Zitter kopf, with a total elapsed time of one hour and 44 minutes . "It w as a fun race but it was jus t so dusty," sai d the Kawasaki Team Greenbacked racer. "I didn't ha ve any problems - just a couple of 'woahs' and tha t was it. Casey Folks did a re ally good job. If they'd had rain, it would've been awesome, bu t we can ' t have that all the time." In addition to the $100 he had won for topping the 250cc Pro division in the prologue, Davis earned $333 for win ning the .250cc Pro class race and a $1000 bonus out of the $3500 special purse donated by the Oasis Resort Hotel Casino, which put up $3000, and Best in the Desert, which kicked in an additional $500. Second-p laced Zitterkopf, who earned $372 for the Open Pro win plus a $250 bonus, said, "I never had any trouble - just some p ro blems wi th the lappers, but that was it." Abbo tt, who finished third overall and second in the 250 Pros, described h is race as, " Passing, passing, passing." Krause finished har d on Dircks' heels and snatched fi fth overall out from u nder Dircks by jus t eight seconds on adjusted time. Krause, who was coughing from the dust, was in a hurry to load up his KXSOO an d get ho me. The "It's a Girl" sticker on the fron t of h is bike said it all. Dircks took a wire-to-wire win in the O ver 30 Pro d ivision, finishi ng seven minutes ahead of his nearest Vet competition. Pepper, who took sixth overall an d third 250 Pro, explained his race strategy as "w ait until you get to some wet ground and then try to pass." . Hoy's comeback effort n etted him seventh overall. "I was a littl e bit nervous going into this - m ore nervous about trying to see what kind of shape I'm in than anyth ing else," said the KTM 550 pilot. "I didn't feel too bad as it tu rns out, but this is definitely not a race you want to make your comeback on . It's tough." Gray put his problems behind him to take eighth overall and Dan Ashcraft overcame an endo to cross the line in ninth. "A lapper crashed in front of me in the trees," said Ashcraft. "I di dn' t see him in the du st, and I hit him and we nt right over the bars. I didn't know which way to go when I got back up. I w as a bit disori en ted. " Joh n Rudder b rou ght h is Yam ah a ho me in 10th overall to take second in th e Over 30 Pro class, ahe ad of third Over 30 Pro Daryl Folks, Husky-mounted Don Knapp (fou rth 250cc Pro), and Op en Pros Ma rk Lu ndgr een an d Scott Morris. Dennis Belingh eri com pleted his race-lon g d omination of th e 125cc Pro class to take the class win in 16th overall and Russell Pearson top ped th e Expert racers in 19th. I~ Mesquite GP Mesquite, Nevada Results: January 20, 1996 OIA: 1. Ty Da vis (Kaw~ 2. Greg Zitterkopf (Kaw); 3. Destry Abbott (KTM); • . Paul Kra use (Ka w) ; 5. Drey Dircks ( H~ n); 6. Kelb y Peppe r (Ka w ); 7. Tod d Ho y (k'TM); 8. j tm Gray (KTM ); 9. Dan Ash craft (KTM ); 10. Iohn Rudder (Yam); 11. Daryl Fol ks (KTM); 12. Do n Kna p p (H us); 13. Ma rk l undgreen (Ka w ); t4. Scott Monis (Kaw); 15. Ste ve Hengeveld (Kaw); 16. Dennis Belingheri (Suz); 17. Bryan Folks (KTM ); 18. Oa kley Leh man (Yam); 19. Ru ssell Pearson (KTM); 20. Dan Richardson (Ho n). OPEN PR O : 1. Greg Zitterkopf (Kaw): 2. Pa ul Krau se (Kaw); 3. Tod d Hoy (J

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