Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Far left) Guy Cooper pushes his bike across this narrow, 40-foot bridge. Cooper finished third overall on his punched-out Suzuki RM150. He also won the Lightwe ight Two-Stroke class, edging out Kevin Hines, (Left) KTM's Jason Dahners finished third overall, while Patrick Garrahan (below left) ra iled his Kawasaki th rough th is turn en route to a fourth-place finis h. to lean for the el evation. [ knew the time schedule was lig h t so I turned on the ch oke a nd took it easy, h oping 1 cou ld rej et at the fir st ch eck. I looked d own and I noticed that the coo la n t h ose h ad been knocked o ff th e radiator. 1 pushed the h ose back on and tighte ned it the b est [ could . 1 put i n m y entir e w ater b ottle an d ro de o n to the ch eck. [ wen t through on m y minute and fin ished the repair o n th e o th e r side. 1 nursed it to th e n ext check were 1 h ad enou gh time to retighten the hose and look fo r a ny other le aks . I didn' t find any, but b oy, I was lucky it didn' t seize." Day two didn't start any better for the 34-year-old MXer-turned-off-roader. " Yesterd ay, th e bike seemed to ho ld fluid all day, " said Cooper. " Bu t th is moming 1 was missing all of the coolant from the r a d iator. The head must be warped and the coo lant leaked o ut between the head and the cylinder last night w hen the m otor coo led. 1 topped off the radia tors and just hoped th at it woul d hold o nce it wanned up, Luckily it did." In the Fo ur-S troke d ivi s ion, D on Knapp on a KTM, w on the s mall-bore class w hile finishing 13th ov erall, and Ron Lawson w on the big-bore class. Ke v in D a v is took top honors i n th e Senior class on a CRE. e~ All A-Bored T he 1996National Reliability Enduro Series saw the beginning of a serious allempt to build a better Lightweight 2-Stroke motor for International Six Day Enduro compe tition. The FlM currently recognizes the Lightweight Two- Stoke class to inclu de engi ne displacements all the way through 175cc, Taking matters int o their own hand s, both CRE's Kevin Hines and Suzuki's Guy Cooper each debuted ' two different motors to meet the increased. displacement rules allowed by FJM rules, " It's actua lly some th ing the Eu ropeans en have be doing for years," explaine d Hines , )"It's only now that we ha ve taken a serious 'look at boring and stroking a 125 to better fit w it h in the ISDE Lightweight Two-Stro ke I class," While Hines rode three different displace: ments at each of the threeQualifiers this year, he said he was still unsure of which motor was "'best. "In Texas, I rode a stock 125, in Ohio, I tried a bored ISO and in Idaho I rode a stroked 135," said Hines, "Each of the motors is definitely an improvement over stock. The ISO has better low end and the 135 just rips in the high revs, It hasn't been a fair comparison test for any of the motors so far, but we wanted to get some race time on each of the engines before moving .into the next stages of development." Cooper rode the Qualifier series on an RMI25 which was bored to lSOcc, He tried two different motors that were prepared by Forward Motion and FMF; one ported for low end to -r mid range, and the other ported for midrange to top end . . "So far the high-end motor was the only one we really got to test fairly," said Cooper. "I rode it in Texas and Ohio. We broke it in Texas, where we jetted it on the fat side and had good results. Especially with the sandy trails there. In Ohio we jetted it leaner and the motor just ripped." . "In Idaho we used a low to mid motor but unfortunately it partially seized and warped the 'head (see Story) and lost coolant," explained Cooper. "The bike stilI finished strong even though it wasn' t lOO-percent. Any stock motor would have definitely died shortly after the first check. We proved that the reliability was up there when I was able to finish the two-day event." "The,RM 1SO.ls definitely the bike for me," said Cooper. "I honestly don't think I would have been any faster at any of these qualifiers on anything but a 'hybrid small-bore,' We're already building a third motor that's combining what we leamed during the Qualifier Series. We're shooting for a better low-end motor that also revs. But because the boring process removes too much of the porting area, we're actually going to raise the ports with epoxy," Cooper's Team Suzuki Off-road partner Randy Hawkins has also been working on an RM125hybrid . "We didn't have ours ready for Ohio but it is in the works for Finland," explained Hawkins about his project big-bore 125. "It will be a Pro-Circuit built motor bored out to lSOcc, with an emphasis on reliability, By increasing bore size we're actually increasing long-range durability due to wider tolerances allowed between the wider piston and the cylinder, The bike will have about the same amount of power as a factory 125 motocrosser, but the reliability will be increased, so the motor remains fresher longer." Fred Hoess, lO-time ISDE competitor, said of the recent "bored and stroked" craze: "It makes sense to me. The perfect bike for myself, and a lot of other riders my size, would be a • 175cc motor in a 125ccframe. In the past (the 125)has been the perfect chassis but the reliabilitY has been down, especially for the Six Days. Now is the time to take a better look at building the perfect displacement for the perfect frame:' Stay Tuned . Idaho 100 Idaho City, Idaho Results: June 1-2 (Round 3 of 3) O/A: 1. Rodn ey Smith (Suz ); 2. Ch ris Smith (Hon ); 3 . G uy Coo per (Su z ); 4 . Jason Dahners (KTM); 5 . Patrick Garrahan (Kaw); 6. Ke vin Hines , (eRE ); 7. Fred Hoes s (Suz); 8. Brian Garr ah an (Ka w); 9. Dan Har te (KTM); 10, Kevin Yarnell (Hon ); 11. Erik Koehler (Hon); 12, Tommy Ady (Kaw); 13. Don Knapp (Hus); 14, John Nie lsen (H on ); 15. Brian Bennett (Yam ); 16. David Rhodes (K aw ): 17. Ron Lawson (H o n ); lB . KeJly Crenshaw (Kaw ); 19. Todd Zilcosky; 20. Kevin Davis (CRE) , UW 2·STRK: 1. Guy Cooper (Suz) ; 2. Kevin Hines tr a ils a n d are for public u se, with th e la rgest sh a re being u sed fo r m ountain bik ing , horseback r iding, ATVs a n d motorcycling." Cooper's first-day ride a lmost ended before the first check. "1 was having problems with the m oto r p ing in g r ight after the s tart," lamented Cooper. "1 figured 1 had jetted ...fl '.' BrIe 't '.'". , (CRE); 3, Brian Bennett (Yam); 4. Todd Zilcosky ; 5, Jeff Kirchne r (TM). HIW 2-STRK: 1. Rod ney Sm ith (Suz); 2. Ch ri s Sm it h (H on ); 3 . Ja son Dahne rs (KTM) ; 4 . Patrick Garrahan (Kaw ); 5. Fred Hoess (SO%). . sen UW 4-STRK: I. Don Knap p (Hus); 2. John NieL (H on ); 3. Da vid Rh od es (Kaw): 4. Travis Bam ford (Hon ); S, Robert Johnson (Hon). H!W 4-STRK: 1. Ron Lawson (Hon ); 2. Je ra ld Brownell (H us ); 3. Tim Mounte; 4. Davi d -Ca m p be tl (Yam ), SR: 1, Kevin Davis (eRE); 2. Randy Mastin (KTM); 3. William Perkin s; 4. Rick Cross la nd (TM); 5. Ken Tomeo (KTM). , bike. Iftgu~ 'as ' I ~ng' as we w~re here, I might as' well ride. " Sun DNFed tbefirst day when, , ~ . ill • ' he 'destroyed the be ad on his rear tire after rid' - ~--:-:-7."--,--'-:--'7-ing it 26 mileswitha flat: ~I wasn't able to sto p Kevin Hin;'sw~nt over ~om'~ of the lis. ,and fix the 'tire until the second check,' Said ' Trophy Team's ISDE training.camp agen- , Sun: ' By then the beadwasshot. We'justreda; to be held at his house ,in' East Wareham. ' impounded for the second day,' Sun finished ' 'Massachusetts, 'J une ,24-26,' ' Our agenda is , 'fourth 'in the small-bore four-stroke class on :to lay cutsomeStx-Day-type grasstracks/MX, : deytwo. •Boy I'm out of shape ,"; commented ' k tests .• said Hines , ~ In Finland, they'll.be riding " Sun after the race. ·1 , new this'was supposed sandy, s l;ghtly rockY terrainand that's whatI . to be a touqhrace .: especially at ,altitude. I'm haveln mybackYan:l.'Wl,!'re going:to 'con"en - " amazed at how fast thesequys .can go in the' ' trate on mostly MX:style special tests. That' s " .tiqht stuff.' ,', ', ', -. ," " ", ' .'.. ',: " ', , ' ,~, ,where we need 'the help. We'll ribbon off a 'test: walk the m, ndethem: and 'wa lk the m , Along with na~i1ig : Rod ney Sniith as the again,.... " " , , .. overall' National ReliabilitY Enduro Champion . for ihe fourth time, individual clas s champiKTM's West~rn' Regional 'Manager and Hus- onships ~ere announced well. Smith took ' ,aberg Race ,Team Manager ChUck Sun rode. the Heavyweight Two-Stroke (20Occ to Open) the, Two-day .qualtf ler aboard aH usaberg ', honors , while G uy .Cooper tOok the :Light- ' FE400 with etectncstart. ' Up until last week I weight Two-Stroke

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