Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

this," Gray sai d . "It's the mental chal lenge that's tough . This ra ce is more men tally ti ring than physically tir ing. You've go t to keep yo ur con cen tration level up all day because you're traveling at such high speeds." The two-way tussle for the lead wa s still goi ng s tro ng as th e fro n t-ru n ners swept throu gh pi t 10 with just 130 miles to go, but thin gs changed almost as soon as Davis headed ou t for pit 11. "The pipe broke right a fter p it 10, and I had to ride a whole (64-mile) section like that," Davis said . " It was just vibration. It had been rattling since the start. I los t my bra kes on that sectio n, too. The pad s had bee n put in crooked, so I wore them ou t a lot qu ick er than normal. And when I go t to the pit , they we re n' t expec ting me to have a brok en p ipe, and it too k a while to change it. That could' ve gone be tter." Davis sp u ttered into pit 11 jus t 52 seconds beh ind Book, w hich p u t him eig ht seconds ah ea d on adj us ted time, but 5 1/ 2 minutes ticked by befo re the repairs we re d on e and the KX500 was read y to head out ag ain . "I knew something had happened to Davis," Book said , "We left a pit togeth er, and he was righ t there; then, after a while, 1 cou ld n't see his dust any mo re. I ju s t tried to keep it smoo th and not screw u p fro m th ere on. I wa s ridin g ha rd but 1 didn't wa nt to mess up and get off the course or hi t a rock ." : For the Pearsons, it was smooth sailing all the way at the front of the 250cc Pro class . "We started first in our class and, once we got away from the next-fastest team , we relaxed . We had three or four m inutes on them, so that was real n ice," said Nick Pearson, who, along wi th his bro the r Russ, was tr ying to make it three-for-three in the Silver State Series. "We somehow go t out in fro nt of our class ea rly in all of these events and just cru ised a fter tha t. We had to cha nge a tire today, w hich took about 45 seco nds, bu t we we re n't sweating it at all." There was plenty of sweating going on in the hotly con tested Over 30 class, which had been a three-way battle all the wa y betwee n the Fol ks /Ru d d er KTM, a Honda piloted by Reno-a rea racers Darrol Brown and Kevin Brow n, and a Yama ha piloted by Tom Will is an d Steve Cole. The battle took an interesting twis t when Folks, who had finally pulled ou t a lead , came across a downed rider just 70 miles from the finish. "Dennis Belingheri was lying on the side of the cou rse wit h the bike wa dded up beside hi m . 1 s topped fo r him for qu ite a w hile - he wa s ha ving a hard time breathing - th en I rode on to the nex t check and stopped to get him so me help," Folks explained . "It cost me abo ut five minu tes." And five minutes was eno ug h to let Steve Co le d ash by an d take over the class lead . "When 1 stopped for (Beling heri), he said somebody had already helped him, and I knew tha t must've been Folks," Cole said . "I knew he' d been five minu tes in front of me, an d 1 d idn't want to ta ke the lead fro m him like th at , so I slowed down and han ded the race back to him." Co le's se nse of fair play eve ntually bumped him ba ck to third in cl ass, when the Darrol /Kevi n Brown Ho nda dodged aro und him on the fina l ridge. . "It was real slick up there, with a cliff on one side," Cole said. "We'd run the s a m e tire the w hol e wa y, and it w as breaking loose all the time. I d idn't wa nt to go flying, so the seco nd guy got me there." Ou t in fro nt, th er e was no passing and no go ing flying . Book completed his sprint to the finish wi th roo m to spare and took the,checkered flag just after 4 in the afternoon. "This is great an d it makes it three in a row - we won Tonopah, Mesq ui te and now here," Book said . "We won by concentrating on finishing - just stay on the gas, go fast where you need to, and be careful in the rocks ." On das reported tha t the team had no prob lem s at all on its way to the wi nner ' 5 circle. "W e got a flat, but lu ck il y it was coming in to a pi t and we were planni ng on cha nging a tire there, anyway," said On das, who than ked mecha nic j oh n Braasch and Kawa saki Team Gree n. Davis arrived four minutes and two seconds beh ind Book on ad jus ted time and wasn't exactly ecstatic abo u t a second-place finish . "Other than tha t, we jus t had a good day, and the bike ran awesome," Davis sai d. "This series isn't going very ' well for us. We' ve had two breakd owns in a row, and no w a p ipe. It's been little stuff nicking me all year long - like at the Six Days, when I fou led plugs cons istently. I n ev er fouled p lugs on a Kawasaki bef ore. I'm wa iti ng for the en d of the year so I can sta rt over." . The Campbell Honda finished 8 1/2 minu tes behind Davis in third overall. "We got p ulled on horsepower all mo rning, and we got two flats and rode one of th em for 40 mi les, but we got going in the second half of the race and things turned out good ," sa id jamie Cam pbell, the younger half of the America n Honda /Fox/Arne tte Sunglasses / Arai-backed brother team tha t last raced together (a nd won the 250cc class) at SCORE International's San Felipe race in 1992. "I tho ugh t Casey (Fo lk s) di d a really good job with the course this year. He had a lot mo re da nger ma rkers than las t year. He has list ened to w hat the riders were say ing." Nick and Ru ss Pea rson crossed the finish with a total elapsed time of nine hours and 49 mi nutes to grab fourth overa ll and first in the 250cc Pr o d ivision, which earned them $800. "We di dn't really have enoug h speed to keep up wi th th e open bikes in the fast stuff, but luckily some of them had some problems, a nd we co uld s lip i n there in front of a couple of them," said Nick Pearson, who reported that a rear fla t was th e only problem the KTM backe d tea m had faced. "This race is d efinitely tou gh er than a regu lar Ha re and Hou nd becau se it 's so long . Wit h 540 miles, it's hard to keep a bike runnin g that long, keep no flats and keep th e suspension worki ng . We ' are definitely tired." Fifth overall on adjus ted time we nt to Rick Bo zarth a nd jim Gray, who had flirted wi th third overall most of the day and finish ed just over a minute behind the Pearson KTM. "We lost the silencer abou t 15 miles back, plus Rick had rid den a t least 40 miles on a rea r fla t a nd we lo s t time changing tha t at the last pit," Gray said . "Tha t's where the Pear sons got in front of us. The course was ve ry good and reall y we ll-marked. Th e only prob lem we had was keeping up in the pit vehicles," Whe n .Destry Abbo tt a rrived a t the fi nis h to claim s ixth overa ll , the Abbott/Sweetland KTM had lost more _ than just the silencer. The entire p ip e was hangin g loose, atta ched on ly by a birds nest of safe ty wi re th at Abbott had .installed abo ut 35 mil es from the finish line. "The mounts broke, and it fell off and bent, so it wo uldn't fit rig ht, and it was after the last pit, so there was no thing I cou ld do," said Abbott, whose boo t s tarted to melt from the heat during the last few miles. "I rod e really we ll in the seco nd h a lf , but I di d n' t ri de like I should've in the first half, and I'm d isappointed with myself. It's the firs t time I've ridden since I came back from the (ISDE) Six Days, and I'm used to much tighter rid ing . The ro ad s out here are scary ." Daryl Folks brought the Folks /Rudder KTM300 ho me in seventh overall to claim v ictory in the ho tly contested Over 30 division. The winning time of just und er 10 hou rs and 18 minu tes put the duo fou r minutes ahead of the Darrol Brown /Kevin Brown Honda, which took second in class and eighth ove rall an d was five minu tes a head of th ird placed Willis and Cole. "The re wa s more tight s tuff tha n last yea r, which mad e it better, and there wer e (course w o rkers) e ve r y w here, stopping traffic and runni ng checks," Folks said. "I like that, beca use it made us safer. A lot of us Over 30 guys think about th ing s like tha t now that we 're older." Casey Longman and Pau l Ostbo kep t their charge goi ng all the way to 10th overall an d took the Four-Stroke Over 450cc w in on thei r factory-backe d Honda by more than 20 minutes over Bryan Folks and Gary Dircks . "We had some pro bl em s w hen we were dicing wi th the Husaberg - the rear brake caliper broke, but we fixed it, got going aga in and pulled them the rest of the way, " the 17-yea r-old Lon gm an said. Casey McCoy and jeff Capt brought th eir Honda home at th e head of the Fou r-Stroke Under 450cc class in 16th overall. Eleventh overall went to KX250 racer s Keit h Cay ton a nd Rick Ald ri dge, who ran second to the Pearsons all day, and KX125-mounted Qui nt Bells a nd Abe Baumann took the 125cc Pro wi n in 12th. "T here w er e ju st two of u s in th e class - tha t' s a big class for the 125s," Betts joked . "Th ey we re only 20 seconds behi nd us at the second pit, so we decide d to ge t pretty serious. This thi ng hauls. It' s an awesome bike, and it ran well. We eve n ran th e sa me ti r es th e whole day." (Above left) The Davis/Krause team went head to head with BookiOndas and were in contention for the win until they damaged a pipe just 70 miles lrom the finish . It took mechanic s 5 1/2 minutes to change the pipe. The team finished second, f ou r minutes down. (Above) Brother Act: KTM riders Nick and Russ Pearso n made It three-l or-three as well , when they won the 250cc Pro class and finished fourth overall . The brothers appea r t o have a very bright future In off· road racing. Fou rt eenth overall a nd th e ov era ll victory in both the Ironm an an d Expert divisions wen t to desert ace Larry Roeseler, w ho comp leted his solo ride in 10 hou rs and 56 minu tes, with an aver age speed of 48.6 mph. " I' m do ne tea ming w ith the top guys. I jus t wa nted an oppo rtunity to ride an d have fun ," said Roeseler, who re porte d a trouble-free r ide o n hi s Kawasaki KLX650, rig ht dow n to no crashes an d rid ing the sa me tires all the wa y . "I ro nman is a w hole differe nt cha llenge. It takes a lot of concentra tion . You have to ride smart and smoo th and make sure you res t on the roads and the dry lakes. It was a long d ay but I feel really good." ,.,. Vegas-to-Reno Reno ,Nevada Results: Sept ember 19, 1997 (Round 3 014) oo: 1. Donni e Book/Dave Onda s (Kaw ); Z. Ty Davis /Pau l Krau se (Ka w); 3. Jam ie CampbcllIJo hnny Campbell (Han); 4. Nick Pearson/R uss Pea rson (KTM); 5. Rick Boza r th /Jim G ray (KI M); 6 . Des tr y Abbott/ Gart h Sweetlan d (KTM); 7. Daryl Folks /J ohn Rudder (KTM); 8. Darro l Brown / Kevin Brown (Ha n); 9. Tom Willis/Steve Coil!(Yam); 10. Casey Longman/Paul Os tbo (Hu n); 11. Keith Cayton / Rick Aldridge (Kilw); 12. Qui n t Betts / Abe Ba uma nn (Ka wl : 13. Br ya n , Folk.s/ Gary Dirck. (Hb0; 14. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 15. Tracy God freylJa mes Su m men/ Bri an Lutz (Yam); 16. Casey McCoy/J eff Capt (Ho n); 17. Todd Da vis /Mike Brya nt / Nick Fain (Ya m); 18. Do nnie Morri son /Rick Lundin (Hon); 19. jerry Bcrna rdo/ Kris Keet er / Chri s Smith (Ha n); 20. Mark Weld y /Rick Nystro m / Robert Aus tin ()(aw ) . O PEN PRO: 1. Donnie Book/ Dave Ondas (Ka w ): 2. I y Da vis /Paul Krau se (Ka w); 3. Jam ie Cam pbell/ Johnn y Campbell (Hon). 2SO PRO: 1. Nick Pearson/Russ Pearson (KTM ); 2. Ke ith Carto n / Ric k Ald r id ge (Ka w }, 3 . M a tt Burrougha/ Eron Bo (Kaw). yer 120 PRO: 1. Qu int Betts/ Abe Bau ma nn (Ka w); 2. Danny Cooper /Clint Braun (Yam). . 30+ PRO: 1. Daryl Fol ks/J ohn Rud der (KI M); 2. Darrol Brown /Kevin Brown (Hen]: 3. Tom Willi. / Stcvc s Cole (Yam). 40+ PRO: I . Clifford Matlock/Matt Barney (Ha n). 4-STRK O VE R 4S0cc PR O: 1. Casey Lon gman /Paul O stbo (Hon ); 2. Brian Folh / C a ry Dircks (Hbj:); 3. Paul Pitts/ Stew Pitts (ATK ). 4-STRK UNDER 45Ckc PRO: 1. Cast')' McCoy/Jl"ff Capt (Hon). r IRO NMAN EX: 1. Larry Roesele (Ka w ) . OPEN EX: 1. Jerry Ikrnardo /Kris Keef er / Chris Smith (Hen), 2. Scott Hcrwcg / Mark Lundgrccn (Kaw): 3. David Schutt e/Carlo Cam /Cary Quff (Hen). 250 EX: I. Tracy Codfre y / Iamce Summers /Brian Lutz (Ya m); 2. Tod d Dav is /Mike Brya nt /Nick Fain (Yam ); 3. Mark Weld y/ Rick Nystrom / Robert Austin (Ka w). 4-STRK O VER 4S0cc EX: 1. Mike Moyer !Jose Armest o/Migul!l Armes tc (H e n): 2. Willie Phee /Kurt An derson /Bill Boye r (H un); 3. Ron Laws on /Robb Mesec hee /Robert Scape (KTM). ]0+ EX: 1. Gl en Tay lor / Ma rc McManuro/ Cr ai g Baker (KTM) . 40+ EX: 1, Mark Franlcl. William O'Hara (Kaw). / 48+ EX: I. Gar y Colbert / Richa rd Jackson /Gary Vanderpool IKaw). Upcoming Round: Round4 - Laughlin, Nevada, December 5-7 r-, 0\ 0\ .... 00 ..... Q) ..0 .8 u o 43

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