Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OFF-ROAD E LSINORE GRAND P IX R Lake Elsinore, California (Left) Scot Harden rode to victory in the Ove r 40 Expert clas s. (Right) Road racer scott Russcll took fourth In the Over 30 Intermediate division . (Below) Paul Krause and Donald Upton mix it up In the Hamel 100. b\ 0\ ...... .,;:; C'l ... Q) .D E Q) > o z 8 a red -ey e flight," DeSoto said. "Th ursday du ri ng th e day I went out a nd I rode down at the beach (near his home) a little bit to warm up, arid I busted my bull big-time. I thou ght I broke my hip and my collarbone; I had a bruise all on my left side - I didn' t th ink I was going to make it. I iced it and iced it, then we flew here, and I cou ld n't even wa lk. My brother, Ron - luckily he came wit h me, an d pushed the bike to the starting line . I co u ld n' t even s ta rt th e bi ke u p . Bu t once the flag we nt - 'Wha t pain? This is a race!" Indeed it was: DeSoto rod e the four . races he'd plan ned - Unclas sified , Vintage, Legends and Over 50 Expert - an d wo n two of them. "I started on the fifth row and ended up winning the Vintage class on a CZ. I passed Dav id Fish er on the Ossa - on the las t lap, last tu m , last every thing . I was stoked. I had mo re fun riding that thing tha n I think I ha d th e whole weekend." Fun certa inly did seem to be the key word for most participants, an d every one of them , it see med, had their own definition. Take, for instance, the chance to race aga inst so meo ne you normally wo uldn' t see next to you on the starting lin e. Tha t' s w ha t KTM' s Sco t Harden d iscover ed in the Over 35 Expert race. "I found out Saturday night that Mike Baker was in that class," Harden sa id . "I was tryin g to figure ou t w ho was in the Over 35 Exp ert class th a t I'd have to beat, an d w hen I hea rd Mike was in it, I go, 'O h God, I d on' t think I can hand le hi m.' Th en I was on the line and they were interviewing me, goi ng, Who's it going to be?' I was looking on the line, an d I said, 'Well, Mike here is goi ng to be fas t.' And I looked aro un d and I looked behi nd me, and I go, 'And him!' I didn't eve n know he was entere d. It was Wardy (jeff Wa rd , th e multi-time Mx-cha m p - tu r ne d -I n dy-c a r racer) , Ward sta rte d on th e ro w rig ht behind me , but a ll three uf u s g ut up tu th e front pretty qu ick. War d and I were ba r to bar, as th ey say, for three laps, four laps . Then he pull ed out a lead on me at the end , bu t it was a lot of fun . It was kind of neat just to be ab le to hang with him - rea lly cool." Things see med to be "pretty equal" in so me of the other Expert races, not so eq ual in o the rs . Th e 1255 fou nd Davis and KTM's Lance Sma il dicing for the lead , with Smail d oing remarkably well on a s tock '98 m a ch in e a ft er havin g spent most of the yea r racing big fou r-. s tro kes. "I s tar ted second, (then). go t into the lead ," Smail said . "Davis was pressu ring m e. Abo u t thr ee laps in, I end ed up getti ng a flat rear tire, but I d ecid ed to just race i t o u t anywa y . I en ded up (second) in that." T he 25 0s turn e d i n to a ba ttl e betw een Kawasakis, wi th Da vis ba ttling Ryan Hugh es in a Team Gree n vs. Team Kawasaki s kirm is h - mod ified KX vs , wo rks KX. "I pretty mu ch walked away in that ," Davis said . "I was pulling bigtime on Hughes, which, I think, surprised him. He had more gearing thao me; I wa s only 14/ 45 and he was 15/45, so he had to have 3 or 4 miles per hour faster on top speed ." Saturday's "feature" race was probably the Legends event, a race for anyone who 'd rid den Elsinore in the old days. Former dese rt her o Brent Wallingsford ease d away wit h the victory over Jim Do ma nn and Ha rden, w ho wa s Walllngsfords pa rtn er in thei r Husky desert days . Smail too k an early lead in th e O pen race but s li d o u t, w hich allowed Vosb u rg Ra cin g' s KTM pilot Destry Abbott through to win. However, Smail wou ld n' t be d en ied entirely, because the first race on Sunday was the Four-Stroke /Du a l Sport / Bom ber bout, and he too k it handily on a 620SX that he hadn't rid den in a year. Davi s sta rted his Su nday by winni ng the Over 25 Expert race, Abbott ta king secon d in a cl osely fo ug h t conte st. Harden beat Ji m Bea u champ fo r the Over 40 Expe rt win . The race e ve ryone wa ited fo r, tho ugh, was the finale: the $5000 Hamel 100, wi th Ruger Ham el (Danny Hame l's father) as the guest starter. Th e race qui ckly turn ed in to a con test b etwe en Mike H ea le y o n th e IMS/ John Burr Cycle big-b ore XR400R and Honda's Steve Lamson on his factory CR250R (eq uipped with a big ta nk but n o st eeri ng sta bil ize r) , w ith the four-stroke leading the ea rly going and Davis co m fo rtably watch ing the proceedings from third. The question beca me whether Healey an d the bike could ma int ain that pace, though so m e also wo ndered if Lamson coul d, since he had n't been rid ing m uch du e to the bi r th of his new baby ea rlier in the week and to injuries he'd sustained throu gh ou t the season. "1 had it:' Davis sa id later. "I was in third ; I kn ew Henley could n' t hold that pa ce for the whole time . Lamso n cou ld - . 1 knew he 'd had a kid recen tly, and I d idn' t know how much he' d been rid ing, but I un d erstoo d he hadn't been riding mu ch, so I kn ew I co uld p rob ably wea r h im d o wn. Th ey we re jus t right ahead of me; I could see 'em. I was like, 'This is th e perfect pl ace to be in right now.' '' Unfor tu nately fo r Davis, h is b ik e d e vel oped s hifti n g problems th at required an u nexp ect ed pit sto p; then, a fter rejoinin g th e ra ce a nd tr yin g to ma ke th e lap back up, he cra shed and brok e the throttle. Healey's sho t at gl o ry ended wh en he pi tted aft er a half-d ozen laps or so, with oil leakin g fr om a crack in the fram e near the steer ing head. Th ai left La m son a lon e with a si zable le a d, Ab bott a d ista nt seco n d, and KTM . moun ted Steve Drew eventual ly occupyi ng thir d . As the fac tory Honda m otocross er put in hi s la ps, th e only s ig n o f discomfo r t he d ispl ayed was when he shook his hand s at the end of each la p . "A t first, wh en Healey was ahead of me, I figured, 'Oh, man, I've got to run him d o wn,' " Lamson admitted. "I go t pretty dose to him and we passed a . coup le times, but then I felt my hands sta rti ng to get a little bit sore. I went, 'Man, I'm not even gonna try to keep this up. I' m jus t going to ru n the race, ba ck it off a lill ie: beca use we weren' t even a quarter of the way th rou gh a t tha t tim e. I tho ug ht, 'Ther e's way too long of the race to go on.' The track was so torn up, you had to hold on so tight, it just killed me . About before the first pit stop is wh en my hands sta rtin g blistering - it was early on , like eight laps so I just ro d e so man y differ ent po sitions to hold on . I was hold ing on this wa y, trying to put my thumb up - man, it was ha rd . I was on my fing ertips. A couple tim es I went to shut off and my ha nd s we re so far back, I almost threw it away." He didn't, th ou gh , a nd repeated as the Hamel 100 winner - rear tire worn down to the cords and hands raw in an unuffid altime of 2:15. Abbott d id n't ha ve the blister problem s, tho ug h the course did bite him a co uple times . "It was a lot tougher." A bbott said .' "T h e co u rse was a lot rougher by th e Hamel 100. You d efinit el y ha d to pick yo u r lin es tu make sure yo u di dn 't cras h . I w e nt down tw ice p retty good, but the b ike wen t pretty well . I think I bro ke my dutch cable on o ne of my falls, because righ t after th at it s tarted fee ling rea l we ird ; then th e re was a snap and nothing there. I fell on the 11th lap - I still had 11 left, so it kind of bummed me out but I s till fin is hed second, so I can 't complain. To finis h behi nd Steve, wh o's one of my he roes - I' m rea lly ecs tatic about that." >

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