Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127867
(Left) Abbott's teammate Lance Small scored the FourStroke-class win. Smail (shown here ) also finished runner-up to Ty Dav is in the 125cc Expert class, (Right) Former Supercross and National MX Champion Jeff Ward took second in the Over 35 Expert class. d ors' and manufacturers' expo, person al w at ercra ft race s , m o u nta in- bike ra ces , street lu g e , or Gal e Webb 's ex treme sports show - not to mention Sa tu r d ay nigh t's co ncer t by top '70s gro u p Three Dog igh t, fire w o rks, "Wheelie King" Dou g Dornokos, and a Harley jump). Ther e' s so me thi ng a bo u t a g ra n d prix that seems to attract a wi der variety of rid ers than do o the r ty pes of races, and Elsin ore seemed to attract even mo re. Not o nly we re th er e hu ndreds and hun dr ed s of n o-name novices as well as big-name racers like Ty Davis and Steve Lamson, but Elsinore d ra ws from both the past an d pr esent. Past heroes entered in the Legends race incl ud ed Dav e Alda na, Ga ry Baile y , John DeS oto, J.N. Ro b erts a n d many others . Current heroes who rod e but aren't co ns idered off-road specialists incl uded World Cham pions such as roa d racer Sco tt Ru ssell, as well a s s pee d w a y racers G reg Ha n cock a nd Bill y H amil l. T h a t ' s in a d d it io n to mountain-bike racers Joe Lawwill and Sh a un Palmer, p lu s he lm et-painting gu ru Tro y Lee, who "coerced " quite a fe w in to ridi ng. You do n ' t fi nd th at kind o f div ersity at o the r ra ce s . Of cou rse, Ha mi ll di d n' t eve n kn ow he'd be racing un til the last min ute. "Actu ally, Troy Lee signed me up: ' he said, lau g hing . " I d idn 't e ve n kn o w . I th ou g ht , W ha t the heck?' I'll come and give it a go. I mean, I'm a huge motorcycle fan a n yw ay . I ri d e a lot of motoc ross in the off-season jus t to keep fit. It's good to keep yourself versatile on a motorcycle." And how'd it go for the '96 World Speedway Cha m pion? Well , he did n't w in, but he fo u nd third in th e Dual Spo rt class mo re than accep table. Did herniss co ns ta n tly slid ing on the 5mile-lon g course? "There were a cou ple so rt of long, sweep ing tu rns th a t I go t s ideways . Believe it or not, that' s where [ crashed rig h t where I sh ould n ' t be abl e to: ' Ha mill report ed wi th a la ug h. "It was pretty cool." . C ra s h i ng d u r in g the r a ce is o ne thin g, but what about cra s hi ng before the race ? Hon olu lu ci ty co unci lman John DeSot o found o ut firsthand w ha t tha t's all abou t. . "I d id n' t thi nk I was .going to make it, beca use I left the Thursday before on (Left) The Flyln ' HawaIIan, John DeSot o, competed in four classes and won two of them: the Vintage and Over 50 Expert classes. r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... -.D N .... Q) .0 (Above) Steve Furman rode a 1979 Suzu ki RM400 to victory in the Bomber class. (Left) Brent Walilngsford topped the Legends race . E Q) > o Z 7