Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·O F.-R A Rou 2:Glen Helen Rac~way F O D. nd . D-37 G PrixSeries rand were all within three bike lengths of each other, battling for second. Dave Ondas moved up into sixth behind Maxwell. The white flag came out with Ondas now holding down fifth an d Maxwell sixth. Pfeiffer pulled into the pits, letting Braasch take over seventh. The one-hour race came to a close with Zitterkopf taking the win. Following Zitterkopf across the finish line were Dircks, Adams, Rudder, Ondas and Maxwell, in that order. The Seniors and Wome n were next on tap and, as wo uld be the case with the other major classes, this wou ld be a twohour race. Mi ke Six berry pulled th e ho lesho t in the Senior Expert division, followed by John Karell, Bruce McDougal, Steve Barklow an d Richard Kastner. Karell put the move on Sixberry to take the lead as they left the mo tocross section . Upon their return, Sixberry ha d taken back the lead b ut now had Rex Staten chasing him down in second. Sixberry's lead was about 15 seconds (Left) Greg Zitterkopf captured two win s at the Malcolm Smit h Grand Prix at Glen Helen Raceway. (Below) Johnny Campe n also came away with a pair of vi ctori es, topping the FourStroke and 500cc Expert classes. By Robert Van Damme SAN BERNARDINO, CA,MAR. 23 reg Zitterk opf and Joh nny Campbell to ok two wi ns each at the fou rth annual Malcolm Smith Mo torsports Grand Prix at Glen Helen Raceway . Zitterkopf took the Unclassified and the Vet-class victories, while Cam p bell raced three classes w inning the Four-Stroke and 500cc classes. More than 800 riders competed in two days of raci ng over a nine-mile course, encompassing the entire raceway facility and using land provided by the San Bernardino Region al Parks and from The Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion. There was th e motocross section, the flood-control sa nd wash, d irt pa rki ng lot, a creek bed with flo w in g water, pavement areas lead ing to and from the regional park and some mou ntain trails thr own in for good measure. The event was hosted by the Prairie Dog M.e. wi th th e assis ta nce of Malcolm Smit h . Th e only thing this race track did not have w as a big mud h ol e ju m p, but they didn't want to copy any other gra nd prix even t. With two da ys of racing and a night race on Saturd ay, a full ca rd of action was gu aranteed for this weekend. The-fi rst race on Saturday was th e Un classi fied. Craig Adam pulled th e h ol esh ot fro m th e Exper t line with Honda's Johnny Campbell and Kaw asaki Team Green ' s Greg Zitt erkopf rig h t behind. Campbell went a little wide going into the U-turn before the bleacher se ctio n an d got pin ch ed off b y Zi t- terkopf. Campbell crashed and Zitterkopf moved in to second, while Bob Maxw ell too k over thir d, followed by Kurt Pfeiffer. "1 droppe d into second just as we mad e our way towards the bleachers," said Zitterkop f. "Then as we came upo n the triple bumps after the tower, Adams went over them one at a time and I d oubled the first two and passed him." After lap one, Zitterkopf was in front with John Rudder now in seco nd, followed by Adams, Ma xw ell, and Drey Dir ck s. Zitterk opf continued to lead, while behind him raged a battle invo lving Pfeiffer, Tommy Roberts an d John Braasch. On the next lap, Zi tt erkop f came into the scoring section as his nearest pu rsuers were just coming off" Animal Leap. " Dircks, Rudder and Ad ams on Staten as they headed out to do battle in the sand wash and mountain terrain. When they came back after the second lap, Sixberry was still out in front but his lead was cut in half. Staten was later followed by McD ougal, Danny Sanchez and Bill Maxim. The thi rd lap saw the lead change when Staten reappeared ou t in front, follo w ed b y a slow-moving Six berry . McDou gal soon caugh t up to and pass Six berry throu gh th e w hoops befo re Animal Leap. "1 passed Sixberry on the p avement in th e S-tu rn s right by th e Blockbuster Pavilion," said Staten. Sixberry had slowed due to a flat rear tire. H e would call it a day, and tha t moved Maxim up to third wi th Sanchez in fourth. The next few lap s would see the ride rs pit for fuel, and so me slight changes in the standing from lap to lap. -Ter ry Davis worked up to third place before he went in for his fuel stop . That let Maxim return to third . Sanchez dropped out the lead pack, giving Ken Ehlers the fifth position. When McDougal came into the pits for fuel, he relinquished second to Maxim . The only one not affected by the fuel stops was Staten, as he had a comfortable lead . "1 had no problem with my fuel stop," said Staten, who is coming back from a foot injury. "It is put back together with pins, but at one point the doctors thought they might ha ve to amputate because of an infection. That scared me a little, so it feels good to come back after 23 weeks off. Just trying to have fun again, being out with the family ." McDougal was able to get back to secon d, re le ga ting Maxim to th ir d . The checkered flag came out with Staten taking the win, followed by McDougal, Maxim, Davis, Scott Anderson an d Ehlers . After the kids ' event, the Vets hit the track. Zitterkopf was back in his familiar place out in front with Dircks in close pursuit, followed by Adams, State n, Ru d d e r, Abe Bau ma n and Maxwel l. Tod d Broussard was th e lea der in the Amateur division. Following him were John Langhammer, Rick O'Donnell an d Eric Graves. Zitterkop f still led as he came out of the Blockb uste r Pavilion parking lot. Dircks was still in second, but Staten had taken control of third. Adams would later drop out of contention with a flat tire, but he was able to get a new wheel on his bike. This moved Rudd er up to third, fo llowed by Baumann an d Maxwell. Zitterkopf had clear sailing the rest of the race as he was able to pull away from Dircks, who hung on for second . Rudder ended up ta king third ahead of Staten, who got tangled up with lapped traffic. Baumann took fourth. The final race on Sat urday was the hour -long night race. Twenty-five riders com peted on an abbreviated vers ion of the original course, and the lights were purposely left off. The only lighting provided, othe r than from the moon and the bike's h ead li g h ts, was a couple of portable ligh ts tha t wer", se t up for the scorers. The first rider thro ugh the scoring section was Mark Decker, followed by Craig Hunter, Steve Anderson and Doug Yarnell. Decker tried to break away from the pack and looked to have the race all but won. Hunter, though, had different ideas as he started to gain confi dence and picked up his pace. Hunter was the only rider to double the triple-jump section, while the exhaust pipe on Decker's bike broke. Meanwhile, Eric Graves and YamelI traded places a couple of times. "Graves went by me before we came back to the specta tor section, then he went down in the canyon and 1went by," said Yarnell. Hunter closed the gap on Decker to just five bike lengths, and Decker was certainly feeling the pressure. "The noise of the.leaking exhaust was kind of psychological, because it felt like the motor wasn't there, but 1 would click it into the next gear and the n it would be okay," said Decker. It took Hunter two more laps to get close to Decker befo re he d oubled past him for the lead. "1 felt like 1 was keeping a good steady pace, and 1 knew I was ' in second bu t did not know when I took over the lead until the end," said Hun ter. Decke r trie d to kee p p ace with Hunter, bu t sud denly yo u could only hear Decker' s loud four-stroke, not see it . That was beca use Decker lost h is headlight. "We were back in the back and I came fly ing d own the hilI after

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