Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.O F O F -R AD. . Best intheDesert G SlamC rand hampionship Series Round 3: Las Vegas-to-Reno chai n. It wa s jus t enough for Jim Gra y' s KTM to get out in front of us," said Mo rri s. "Fro m there on it was just ma in tain ." "We lost a lot of time in the first 50 or 60 m iles in th e du st but, a fter th at , everything wen t perfect. We rode fine," said LaPorte, wh ose nearest com pe tition was Fred Willert an d Tim Staab, who finished 12th overall, 36 minutes behind th e clas s winn ers o n a wa d de d u p XR6oo. "The pipe's broken, the steering stabilizer 's tom off - for a while the front br ake lev er was rev ersed ins ide th e hand gu ard and I h a d to u se it bac kw ards," said Willert. "Abou t 20 mil es back I hit a big rock I d idn't see at a road crossing. I should n' t have even been on the bike. Sta ab did n't make it to p it 12 ..... ~ 0.. -e 24 finish . "The rest of the wa y we were 15 to 30 secon ds a part an d I didn't lik e that. It was way too close. One litt le mista ke a nd Z itte rkop f was go ing to be there. From pit 10 to the finish I put the hammer down." Things were also heating up behind Zitterkopf. "I was w ait ing until we got to the terrain in the north because I knew it was a lot better for our bike. It's a bit high er speed and our bike, being a four-s troke, h o o ks up b ette r on th e h ard -p a ck roads," s ai d Ca m p be ll. " I was really familiar with the terrain so I decided I was going to make a ru n for it and I was able to m ake u p five m in u tes on Zitterkopf in 200 miles." By gas 12, less than 60 miles from the finish , the h igh speeds had pit crews gasping . "We cha nged rid ers at gas 12. I've go t m y g e ar o n a nd I'm wa lki ng towa rds the pit, and they start yelling to hu rr y up becau se (Harden's) already the re w aiting for m e," sa id Johnson , who los t about a minute struggling to get his helmet and gloves on . "We go t stuck in traffic going throu g h Hawtho rne. We w er e jam mi ng all the way but it w as cutting it close, really close." As the fron t-runn er s cleared the Weeks p it w ith 27 m iles to go, Davis h ad the race all bu t in th e bag. H e dashed throu gh a treacherous rocky section, cleare d the last-minute w ater crossings that race org an izer Casey Folks put in to su rp rise the tired racers, and powere d across th e fin ish line at 2:05 p.m. After 502 miles and eight hours and 44 m in u tes o f raci n g, the Davi s / Krause KX500 took the win by a sha de un der four min utes with an average speed of 57.5 mph and earne d $2500 for topping the Open Pro division. "It was a good race and it was really fun, " said Davis. "The course wa s interesting - it had some borin g stuff, bu t for what Casey (Folks) had to work with, it was okay . In that last section, there were some sca ry ro llers. I've never seen anything so huge. The grou nd jus t roll ed away from u nder yo u and I go t some good air before I slowe d down." Davis' teammate described his job as a piece of cake. . "I had the easy job. I had the fastest gu y in the desert and the fastest bik e in the desert. I just had to keep it togeth er between his sections," said Krau se. Zitterkopf b r ou ght th e KX500 h e shared with Dave Ondas acro ss the line three m inutes and 47 seconds behind Da vis on adjusted time and ju st n in e (Above) Steve Hengeveld combined efforts with Donnie Book to . win the 250cc class. (Right) The Honda team of John ny Campbell and Jeff Capt finished third overall, just nine s econ ds behind the secondplace team. seconds ah ead of the Campbell / Capt Honda. "It was a lot of fun. We were dici ng really good the whole way. We just had so me p rob lem s. It seemed like at ' th e beginn ing my bike didn't wo rk well on the roads - it wou ldn't pull fifth gea r so I was in fourth, and it go t really bad tow ards the end," said Kaw asak i Team Green-bac ked Zitterk op f. "I h ad mo re fun th an I thou ght I would, especially. tow ards the end." Campb ell was h ap p y with th ird overall , and especi ally happy to finish jus t nin e seconds sh y of second overall. "I'm happy with that. I'm happy that I made up five minutes on Zitterkopf caught him sleeping and nearl y got him. We jus t ran out of time," said Cam pbell. Jim Gr ay charged home eight minut es behind Campbell and Capt to score fou rt h Open Pro for tea mmate Rob ert Lau ghlin and KTM. "From nine to 10 I wa s ahead of them the who le way , bu t I missed a corner in the wi de-op en stu ff and, after that , I never saw them aga in." Fifth overall wen t to Scott Morris and John Flores on a Kawasaki Team Greenbacked KX5oo, who finished just 39 seconds ahead of Four-Stroke Pro wi nners Kinigadner and LaPorte. "W e lost so m e time with a slow wheel change at gas six. Our adjusters came und one and we ha d to readjust the and I had to ride all the way here from Tonopah." Seventh overall a nd th e 250cc Pro win w ent t o KX250 p il ots St e v e Hengeveld and Donnie Book, who finished two m inu tes ahead ' o f se co n dpl a ce d Oa k ley Le h ma n a n d John Braasch, who brought their YZ250 home eigh th overall despite sta rting a t th e very back of the 250cc class. "It was close racing the whole time. We we re abou t thr ee and a half m inutes ahead of th em m ost of the way," said Hengeveld, who wo n $2000 for the 250 Pro win. Th e Folks broth e rs b rou ght th ei r KTM 300 ho me in ninth overall despite a late-in-the-race collision . "I stirred up a little ex citemen t by running into John Braasch an d eating it really good at the last pit," sai d Da ryl - Folks. "I was aslee p in th e chase truck and the dri ver didn't wake me up until we got ther e. My brother pulls up as I'm putting my stu ff on - the y're revving the bike wai ting for me and I'm still trying to get my head stra ight. I went ou t right besid e Braasch and I didn't realize the cou rse turned right. He tried to tum and I went dow n. It was a good on e - kind of com ical." The O ver 30 Pro win wen t to racelong lead ers Scot Hard en and Jack Johnson in 10th overall . Second in class wen t to the Washin gton State du o of Rich Binckley and Pau l Ostb o. "Fro m a rider's point of view, that was a great race. I didn 't want to stop - I wanted to keep go ing," said KTM 300pilot Harden. "The biggest problem we had was keep ing up with each other at the pits. We kept arri ving simultaneousIy." 'The Expert field was topped by Rick Bozarth of Trou tdale, Oregon, who ironm anned h is way to 18th overa ll on a KTM 25O. " I jus t wanted to prove to myself that I could come down here and have a finish," 'said Bozarth , w ho has hel d Or ego n 's n u m ber-one cross-co untr y pl ate for eigh t yea rs. I'm th e happiest guy right now' - I've never been so happy. "I had a goo d clean rid e. I had a few scary calls but I never cras h ed . I really like thi s high-sp eed stuff. You just sit back and listen to the motor sing. " The first fou r-wheeled en try cros sed the fin ish in 79t h overall with a total elapsed time of 11 hours an d 46 minu tes, and they were far from the back of the pack. But all who finished the race and man y who didn't - we re still happy that th ey had met th eir ow n person al goals. Am ateur entran ts like Alan Cohn , John Ossenkop and Crai g Williams were conten t with 'cross in g t h e li n e 92n d overall (sixth in class) because they did it befor e dark. Forty-five -year-old Jerry Kyle of Arizona reached his goal of ironmanning -it to the finish when he arrived in 191 st o v erall , a n d Lori Conwa y, w h ose team race turned in to an iron w oman event after her partner crashed with 400 miles to go, go t the satisfaction of kn ow ing she never called it quits. "It was the first time I had ever ridden at night. It 's lonely riding in the dark, th at' s for sure, and it go t sca ry when the cars started coming up behind me. My ligh t was pretty good, but wh en I sta rted see ing m y own shadow from the light behi nd me, I knew it wa s time to pull over," sa id Conway, w ho compl e ted th e course 187th ove ra ll at 10 p .m . " It w a s a lon g d ay an d qui te a learning experience, but we finished and w e b e a t th e other girls' tea m. They br oke before gas one." ("X Las Vegas-to-Ren o Reno, Nevada Res ults : March 29, 1996 O /A : 1. Ty Davis /Pa ul Krause (Ka w): 2. Greg Zitterkopf/Dave Ondas (Kaw); 3. Johnny Campbell/jeff Ca pt (H on ); 4. Jim Gray j Robe rt Lau ghli n (KTM); 4. Scott Morris /J ohn Flores (Kaw ); 6. Heinz Kinig adner / Dan ny La Porte (KTM); 7. Stev e Hen ge vel d j Do nnie Book {Ka w): 8. Oakley Lehm an/john Braasch (Yam); 9. Bryan Folks /Daryl Folks (KTM); 10. Scot Harden /J ack Johns on (KTM) ; 11. De st ry Abb ott / N ick Pear son (KTM ); 12. Fred Will e rt / Tim Sta ab (Hon); 13. Crai g Hunter lJohnny Kawell (H on ); 14. Rich Binckley /Paul Ostbo (Hon); 15. Tommy Roberts /Mark Lundgreen (Kaw); 16. Da rrel Brow n /Ke vin Brown (Hon); 17. Casey McC oy /Bill Post el (H on); 18. Ric k Boza rth (KTM ); 19. Tex Mitchell /Ron Mitchell (Ho n); 20. Ieff Fegert /Ja son Robinso n /Marc McManus (k'TM). OP EN PRO: 1. Tv Da vis / Paul Krau se (Kaw ); 2. Greg Z i tterko pf j Dave Ond as (Kaw ); 3. John n y Campbell ileff Ca pt (H on ). 250 PRO: 1. Steve Hen geveld /Dennie Book (Kaw); 2. O a kley lehm an lJ ohn Braa sch (Yam ); 3. De stry Abbott/ Nick Pearson (K1M~ G-30 PRO, 1. Scot Harden /J ack Johnson (K1M); 2. Rich Bin ck ley / Pau l Os tbo (Hon) ; 3. Ton y Megla / Mann y Castillo (Hon). .J-STK PRO: 1. Heinz Kinig adner / Danny LaPorte (KTM) ; 2. Fred Will e rt /Tim Staab (Han) ; 3. Darrol Brown /Kevin Brown (Hon). . O PEN EX: L Jeff Feger t lJ aso n Robinson /Marc McManus (KTM ); 2. Orville N orthrop /Sean Stee le / Kevin Stee le ( Han ); 3 . Jo hnny Alexa n der /Tod d Alexander / Ste\' e Downey (Hon). 250 EX: 1. Rick Bozarth (KT M) ; 2. Ru ss ell Pearson /B ryan Bru ning / lee Pearson (l

• Cover