Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"I was goi ng well in the first half of th e loop a nd (Davis ) and I h a d just caught up to Abbott and Campbell wh en 1 hit a big mudhole and did a n endo abou t the 17-m ile mark," Krause said. "It wasn' t bad excep t tha t the bike pinn ed my hea d down and I had to d ig my head out from und er the bike. It was a good th ing the groun d was soft after all the rain ." KX250 racers Oa kl ey Lehman a nd Brian Brown headed the 250cc Pro pac k in sixth overall at the end of the first 25 m iles , ahead of the Yamaha-mounted 250cc Pro duo of Jam es Summers and Sha ne Esposito. Mike Healey and KTM 380 pi lo t Casey Longman clea red pit row in eig hth overall, ahead of 250cc Pro racers Todd Davis and Mark Weld y. Some of the teams opted to keep the rid ers o n th e bike for 5 0 mil e s at a stretch, but mo st opted to sw itch off at eve ry pit . "We sw itched every 25 mil es and it seemed to work out well," Lehman said. " It w as a fun co urse. It wasn' t super tight but mos t of it was seco nd or third gear. The 250 was probably the bes t bike to be riding here. " Ca mpbell rod e the first 50 miles but wished he had han ded off to his partner after 25. "I tipped over and kind of fell down on my wri st. It got a little bruised," said Campbell, who iced the inju ry down while partner Tim Staab rode the second 5O-mile circuit of the figu re eight. "The course was great. There was a lot of virgin terrain, wet dirt, and a lot of wa ter in the washes. It wa s real fun and there was no dust." Davis had stretched his lead to more than a minut e and a ha lf on a dj usted time when he pu lled in for gas at the end of the firs t complete loo p of the figu re eight. "I didn't pit until the end of the first 50 mil es and that made a d iffer ence," Da vis sa id . " I wa s cu tt ing it kind of close. 1only had about an inch of gas left in my tank, so 1 stopped after every half loop aft er that because 1 kn ew I would be on the gas more in th e second an d third loop s, but the special IMS tank let me pit fou r times and everyone else pitted five times." The On das / Abbott KX500was still in seco nd when its riders swapped for the second time and Gr ay, w ho too k over from Pea rso n halfway thro ug h loop one, had a firm hold on third. "E ve rythi ng went reall y smoothly, but 1 was really tight and nervous a t firs t, and my arms pumped u p," Gray said . "I jus t go t on the bike cold . I knew w e were in th ird pl a ce overa ll a nd it w as k in d of n er ve - ra cking s ilti ng ar ound and wai ting ." Th e Ca m pbell /Staa b Hond a was in fou rt h at th e end of the firs t com plete ci rc uit of th e co u rse, just a hea d of Krau se a nd Ham el ' s KX500 , a n d the Lehman /Brow n KX250 held th e class lead in sixth overa ll, just a few hundred ya rds ahead of 250cc.Pro rivals Summers and Espos ito . " I ca me in rig ht be hin d th em . We battled the wh ole loop ," Summers said . "I crashed and went th rou gh a cou ple of cactus trees, but it we n t well apa rt from that." By th e en d o f th e fir st loop, Husaber g-mounted Bryan Folks had est ablished himself as the one to wa tch in the H eavyweight Four-Stroke cl a ss, a n d Larry Roeseler, wh o was ridi ng solo on a four-stroke Kawasak i, was leading the Lightweight Fou r-St ro ke division tw o spots behind him in 11th overall. "I was ha ving a grea t time. Casey (Fo lks ) rea lly knows how to put on a (Left) Oakley Leh man and Brian Brow n team ed up t o win the 250cc Expert class. (Right) DKTM's Russell Pearson and J im Gray rounded out the top three overall. good course and a good race," Roeseler said . "It was all just really tight, technical sing le track. It was awesome, ana the little four-st roke just hauled butt all day ." The only 125cc Pro racers in the eve nt were having -the time of their lives and brou ght their KXl25 ou t of loop one in 15th overall . "We don' t care th at we're the on ly 125. W e're g o in g fo r the o ve ra ll," laughed Dan a Van Stee, who was partner ed with Erik Griffi th . "It's rea lly fun ou t there. The di rt is we t, there are good berms - it's jus t fun rid in g, and it 's a really nice tem perature, too." Most of the specta tors would p robably have disagreed, as overcast skies , cou p led with 50-degree tem pera tu res and a chilly breeze; kep t them bundled u p in jacket s most of the day, but the racing remained ho t. Davis' sizzling pace kept him out in front of O ndas and Abbott all th e way aro und the second figure eight an d he had stretched his lead to almost 2 1/2 minutes by the time it was ove r, bu t the traffic was sta rting to take a toll on the course arid tha t was ma king life difficult for the solo rid er . " It go t re all y cho p py reall y fas t because it was so wet. Th er e wer e big w hoops and sq ua re ed ges - it w orked yo u the wh ole tim e," Davis said. 'There were a cou ple of roa ds on th e second half of the figure eig ht that yo u could rest on, b ut it wasn' t muc h of a rest. I could've used ano ther couple of road s." Eve n race rs who h ad a pa rtner n otic ed th at th e terra in was g e tti ng toug her an d tou gher. "O n th e secon d lo op I was go ing, 'Wow, is this the same course?'" Ca mpbell sa id . "I guess it was to be expec ted wi th the we t, sandy gro und but it was pretty ro ug h for the second loo p, and even roug her for the third ." The Pearson/Gra y KTM was still in third overa ll at the en d of loop two but had sli p ped a little further behin d the fro n t-ru nners on adjus ted time. Kra use and Ham el were pushin g hard in fourth o n th eir way int o th e p it bu t a rear w heel change put them back in eig ht h by th e tim e th ey headed ou t int o th e .third and fina l lap of the course. Lehman and Brown's KX250 was still leading the 250cc Pro d ivision wit h tw othirds of the race down, with Su mmers and Esposit o in second , and Roeseler 's per formance had mov ed his iron-m an effort up three pl aces to claim eig h th overall, just ahead of the Kawasaki fours troke piloted by Steve Hengeveld and Jeff Capt. "We were about four seconds behi nd Roeseler on adjusted time. We knew he had to be ge tti ng tired a nd the co urse wa s ge tt ing ro ugh," Capt said . "We kn ew w e jus t had to pull out a ll th e stops an d pin it. There was a lot of wa ter ou t there. In pl aces it was p hysically running water 6 inc he s to a foot deep. Running wa te r on a r acecourse in Lau ghlin, Nevada - we will never see it like that ag ain, probabl y." Bryan Folks' Husaberg wa s continuing to dom inate the lar ge-displacem ent four-stroke division; hi s brother Daryl Folks, who was teamed with John Rudd er on a KTM 300, was leading the way in the Over 30 Pro class; and KX500 racers Doug Chiapuzio and Casey Patterson were making their presence feIt in the Sportsman's ran ks. "I didn't ge t to rid e the bike before the race , so 1 had to get used to it on the first lap, but things we nt pretty well and we d id n' t have 'any problem s," Patterso n said . "We were the last Expe rt rid ers off the line bu t we led (the Expe rt class ) pretty much the who le time." Th e course got ro ughe r still as the racer s tackled it for the th ird and final time. "It' s rea lly getting ba d right now. It was good this mornin g and the markings are good, bu t it's ge tting so beaten and ru tt ed a n d rou g h now - it 's to o rou gh to even thi nk ab ou t go ing fast," said Summers halfway throu gh the final loop . "You have to ha ve patien ce. If I had pati en ce in m y s eco nd lo op , it would've been better. I got in too big of a hurry a nd ma de so me rea lly ro ok ie mistakes." Bu t Da vi s m ad e n o mi sta kes . H is Ya m aha p er form ed fl a wl e s s ly and, while his stre ng th was tested , it proved u p to th e task a n d he was still in the number -on e position w hen he powered across the finis h lin e af te r four hours a nd 45 minu tes of racing . 'That w as a lot of fun until the last . loop. It rea lly go t whooped ou t and 1 was just beating my br ains ou t half the time. You can 't go fast enoug h to go ove r the lop of the whoo ps; you' re going slow enoug h that yo u just h a v e to drive through each one, and that's tiring," sai d the Montclair Yam ah a-ba cked Davis. Des p ite compl eting 150 g rueli ng miles without a partner, Davi s reported that mental fatigue was mor e of a problem than ph ysical tiredness. "It's prob abl y the tough est race I' ve d one, but I'm mor e mentall y fa tigue d tha n any thi ng," sai d Davis, wh o earned $700 for the win. "It was much hard er than ridi ng 150 miles, or eve n 300 miles in Ba ja - that' s not so bad b e caus e ther e' s no bumps - but thi s just kill ed me because of th e se ve re whoops and the fact that there wa s no place to rest. Mentally, it drained me." O ndas a nd Abbott co n tin ued th eir cha rge all the way to second . The only problem th ey re ported was hav in g to contend with the extra weight of a 500cc bike. "We ju st hung in there and rode as h a rd a s we could . I guess Davi s ju st rode a bit better," Ondas sa id. "I fell a few tim es but we didn't hav e any real problems. We just d id the best we could. We are prett y happy wi th our rides." "T h e co urse was aweso me," sa id Abbo tt, "but it was so tight and techni- . cal that it was a d isad van tage riding the 500 h er e. 1 th ink Davis had th e id eal bike ou t her e but we will ge t the advantage a t th e o the r ra ces in th e s er ies, which aren't as tight. " Thi rd overall was grabbed by Russ Pea rson and Gray, who brought th eir KTM home five mi nutes behind Davis on adjusted time. Pearson said, "W e wer e las t off the line in our class , w h ich 1 th in k is a n adva ntage because we knew w here we were all the tim e, and we did n't hav e any probl ems . We had a good da y." Fourt h ove rall ga ve Lehma n a n d Br o wn th e 250cc Pro wi n, a head of Ca mpbell and Staa b's Open Pro Honda, and 250cc rivals Sum mers and Esposito. Ham el bro ught the KX500 he sha red with Krau se hom e in seventh. " Iron -m an " Roeseler was the next racer to cross the line. His finish earn ed him eighth overall and top honors in the fou r-stro ke class. "The 125cc Pro entry of Griffi th and Van Stee took ninth overall. The top Sp o rt s m an tea m of Dou g Chiapuz io and Casey Patterson fin ished hard on the 125's rear whee l to take I Oth overall and the win in the Open Expert class. Exper t cla ss racers Ben Greenwood and Tim Ryker too k 11th, an d seco nd in the Lig h t weig h t Fo u r -Stro ke cla ss wen t to the Kawasa ki p iloted by He ngeveld and Capt in 12th overall. C~ Silver State series Laughlin, Nevada Results: February 21, 1998 (Aft er 1 of 6 rou nds) O /A : 1. Ty Da vis (Yam); 2. Da vis Ond es./Destry Abbott (Ka w): 3. Rus s Pearson /Tim Gr ay (KTM); 4. Oa lde v Lehm a n /B ri an Bro w n (Kaw) ; 5 . Johnnv Ca mpbel l/Tim Staab (Hen): 6. james Summers/Shane Esposi to (Yam); 7. Paul Krause/Dave Ha mel (Kaw ): 8. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 9. Erik G riffi th / Da na Van Sh."'P (Kaw); 10. Dou g Chiapuz ioyCasey Pat terson (Kaw); 11. Ben G reen wood / T im. Ry ker IHo n); 12. Ste ve Hengevel d y le ff Ca pt (Kew ): 13. David Fr y /Sco tt Wilso n (Ka w ): 14. M ik e Hc a le y / C a s e y Lo ng ma n (KTM); 1S. Brya n Folks IHbg) : 16. C hris Fry (He n): 17. Dary l FolkslJohn Rudd er (KTM); 18. Tod d Davis / Mark Wel d y ( Kaw): 19 . Dav id Pea rs o n; 20 . Darrol Brown /Kevi n Brown (Ho n). . OPEN PRO: 1. Ty Dav is (V.1m) ; 2. Davi s O nda a/Destry Abbott (Kaw): 3. Russ Pearson / Jim Gray (KTM). 250 PRO: 1. Oa kley Lehm an /Brian Brown (Kaw ): 2. Jam es Su m m e rs / Sh a ne Es posito (Ya m ); 3. Da vi d Fry / Scott Wilso n (Kaw) . US PRO: 1. Erik Griffith /Da na Van Sn-e (K.1W). 4· STK L/W : 1. La r ry Roes e ler IKaw): 2. Ste ve Hengeveld /jeff Ca pt (Kaw); 3. John Kawe ll (Yam). 4- ST K H /W : 1. Bry a n Fo lk s (H bg): 2. Jon ah St ree t / Taber Mu rphy (Ho n);,,3. G reg Brin sl t'/ Cra ig Smith (Ho n). EX: 1. Doug C hia puzio/Cascy Pete rson (Kaw) : 2. Ben Gree nwood /Tim Ryker (He n): 3. Chris Fry (Hon) ; 4. Da vid Pears on / N ate Pearson (KT M) ; 5 . Sco tt Underwood / Sco tt Robertson (Ho n).

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