Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(1.eft) Still the man: Larry Roeseler whipped his hot-rodded KLX through the sections en route to the Four-Stroke-class win and fourth overall. He has five overall wins at Tecate. (Above) David Wood kept his feet up away from the brutal, toe-crushing Tecate rocks to post the Vet-class win and finish fifth overall. (Below) After 100 terrain-battling miles, the Mag 7-hosted lunch stop was a welcome sight. Open-class winner Nick Pearson (left) and Ty Davis (right) discuss the course at the front of the line. Trussardi followed the instructions precisely. "He's a good rider," Davis said. "He stayed with me most of the day. He's really fast in the rocks and the fourstroke, 1 think, was helping him there. But he'd get tired, and he would kind of fall back a little bit in some sections. But most of the day, he stayed right there:" Lacking both enduro equipment and American enduro rules knowledge, Trussardi definitely did not lack speed, and that's precisely wh;lt Trussardi used nearly all day in one of his first rides on a thumper. That strategy put him near the top of the leaderboard after the first two loops, and things looked good for a top-three finish. But as seasoned enduro racers know, you must have backup systems on which to rely when it comes to keeping time American-style. So, when Davis dropped by the wayside to work on his derailed chain on the last loop, Trussardi lost his timekeeping equipment (Davis) and faced a difficult decision - keep going or wait around? Trussardi kept going. He dropped a minute at the following check then apparently blew through a reset, because he burned the next check by six minutes. An instant 27 points and an instant plummet from first Four-Stroke to third .. But he still had an enjoyable time. "Sorry, bud," Davis joked later. "Next time you'll stop and help me, won't you?" .Lewis, in third overall with 33 points dropped, repeated his 125cc win of '94, despite claiming, ''I'm not serious about this at all. It was, like, perfect traction all day, and 1 got to ride a 125 - I like doing that. 1 usually win the 125cc class, the Pee-Wee class. Actually, the only reason I'm here i£ because we wanted to win the team thing, SO we put a pretty strong team together (Lewis, Vet runner-up Dave Donatoni, top 0-37 enduro racer Erik Mattson and Paul Ostbo). We had team training sessions - except for Ostbo; he lives up in Washington, so we told him to get on a plane and we'd take care of everything else." It was not to be, however, as the Northern California quartet of Vet winner and fifth overall David Wood, Four- Stroke runner-up and sixth overall Scott Meyer, and Marty Walden put in performances that, combined, were just a bit better, 225-238. Semi-retired five-time winner Larry Roeseler proved he's still a th rea tat Tecate with a fourth overall, first FourStroke, showing on his Stroker Speed Equipment KLX350R. Before saying anything about his ride, however, the Team Green racer simply had to praise the course: "1 had a blast:: Roeseler said. "1 actually surprised myself. The bike worked excellent. 1 rode a little fuzzy at first - a little rough around the edges but I sort of started getting into it more after the first lap. The trail was excellent with the rain. They did a real good job with the checks. It was just really bitchin', it' really was. Then, the last lap was a little tougher, and 1 was pumped. 1 just said I'm going to put my head down and really try, and the last lap I think I did better. I just had a great time." Though he trailed Trussardi until the last loop, Roeseler emerged with a classleading 35, 10 points ahead of class runner-up Meyer, who was the first bigbore thumper on his Husky 610. Other class winners included KTM's Nick Pearson in the Open division, making a rare appearance in a non-desert event; Jim Beauchamp in the Senior class; and Bob Bell in the Super Senior fN division. Tecate 250K Enduro Tecate, B.C., Mexico Results: April 5, 1997 O/A: 1. Kevin Hines (CRE); 2. Ty Davis (Kaw); 3. Jimmy Lewis (TM); 4. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 5. David Wood (Hon); 6. Scott Meyer (Hus); 7. Nick Pearson (KTM); 8. David Donatoni (Hon); 9. Duke Lambert (Hon); 10. Luca Trussardi (Hon); 11. Russell Pearson (KTM); 12. Grant Palenske (Yam); 13. Paul Ostbo (Hon); 14. Jeff Kaplan (Kaw); 15. Eric Von Urff (Hon); 16. Destry Abbott (KTM); 17. Marty Walden (Suz); 18. Bryan Bruning (Yam); 19. Erik Mattson (Hon); 20. William Diaz (Hon). 1&200: 1. Jimmy Lewis (TM); 2. Scotty McManus (Hon); 3. Mike JankowskJ (Kaw); 4, Ethan Forward (Kaw); 5. Brent Harden (Yam). 201-2Slk 1. Kevin H;nes (eRE); 2. Ty Dovis «

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