Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

beh ind th e H amel /Brown Kawasaki, an d Campbell wa s bumped back to fou rth when Russ an d Nick Pe arson 's KTM cleared the pit fourth in the physical sta nd ings but a minute a nd a half faster than the Honda pilot on ad jus ted time. " It took m e a bout 15 m il es to get u sed to th e fou r-stroke this morning, because I usu ally ride a two-stroke, but I had a blast af ter th at , an d Russ d id a great job," sai d Nick Pearson. "We were ru nni ng third most of the d ay and we had no dust in the m iddle of the rac e be cau se Ca m p be ll a n d Brian Brown were ahead of us by a minute or two ." Ty Davi s and Donnie Book were fifth on adjusted time when the y cleared pit four, and th e Yamaha racers weren 't having a whole lot of fun . "It was go ing, but not the grea test up until th e n . It was fu n, ju s t du s ty extremely dusty," said Book. "We were sixth off the line and we were there pre tty much all day, just playing catch-u p. You just cou ldn' t pass anywhere. It was hard rid ing the terrain in dust like that and hard p ickin g up m arkings. 1 was blowing a lot of corners." The te rrai n turn ed m oun tai nous around Caliente, and the transition to second gea r, and tight trees, after wideopen desert took some of the riders by surprise. "We had -a slight mishap in the trees and broke off the brake lever, bu t we )V ere ru n n i ng a big gas tank , so we didn't have to stop at any of the alternate pits, and we were okay on time," said Eron Boyer, w ho was teamed with Malt Burroughs on a KX25O. , Na te Pearson, David Pea rson and Bryan Freeman, w ho were leading the ~Occ Experts and were in the hunt for ,t h e overall Expert wi n, had si m ilar problems. ., "The trees were a b it tou gher than we tho ug ht. They ripped stu ff off," said Nate, poin ting to a bro ken hand gu ard . ·j'W e had a few problems early on, too. We lost the shi fter 10 miles off the start and David ha d to rid e with the bik e stuck in fourth. We had a rea r flat for 20 miles , too ." Something was also afoot for Da ryl Folks. "I' ve got a sore toe that absolutely killed me today," said Folks . "Believe it or not, Nick Pearson and I locked bars riding at about two miles per hour last week . I went to d ab to s a v e it and stu bbed my toe. It feels like it's been in a vice all da y." . But th ere w as n o ti me to consider anything other than the dash for the finish wh en the fro nt-ru nners rea ched the last pit in Caliente, only 65 miles from th e finish at Mayn ard Lake. Campbell had regained the ph ysical lead, but the Ondas / Abbott Kawasaki was a minute ahead on tim e when it fl ashed out o f the pit in second. The Pearsons were running third ph ysically but were 20 seconds ahead of Campbell on time, while the Hamel /Brown Kawasaki, whi ch was running fourth physically, was half a minute ahead of Campbell on time, relegating the Honda pilot to fourth overall. But t h e race was far from over. About 15 miles into the final' section of the co u rse, Abbott crashed in a highs pee d section and was uncon scious on the ground when Nick Pearson and then Brian Brown reached hi m. "It was a scary fast sec tion. 1 d on't know if he d idn' t see something and h it it or w ha t, but he wou ld 've been going re all y fas t, " said Boo k, who was the next rider to reach the wreck. "He was conscious when 1 got there, and there The duo of Ted Hunnicutt and Garth Sweetland teamed up to win the 0-30 Pro were people there to help h im , s o I wen t on to the roa d crossing to get help." While Pearson and Brown did what th e y co uld to help Abbott until aid arrived , the race th a t e ith er o f the m might have won went on around them. Campbell crossed the finish just before noon to take the overall win and $1400 Open Pro purse with a total elapsed time of si x hours, 18 minutes and 25 seconds, unaware of the d rama behind h im th a t had turned the race upside down. "Dave Ha mel made a mistake and d isapp eared ; I think he made a wrong turn, so tha t put me back in the physical lead an d I never saw anybody from pit five to the end," said Ca mpbell. "I had fres h ru bber on the bike, which made it a little more confidence-inspiring, and I di d n't kn ow how close anybody was, so I just pus hed a nd pushed and pushed all the way to the finish. "Thi s feels gr ea t," Campbell continued . "I' ve never won an overall Casey (Folks) ra ce before. I did crash once between pit two and three, and I think I must've broken m y little fing er, and 1 ran out of water about 30 miles ago, but other than that it was grea t. I like riding in Nevada; the roads here suit my rid ing style, and I learned a lot riding the rallies I did , so I d on't mind ridin g by myself for 300 mil es. My faith in God helped ou t a lot, too ." Donnie Book , w ho co ntinu ed on to the fini sh after relaying word a bou t Abbott's fall, crossed the line in second overall, three minutes behind Campbell. . " It was hard rid in g after seei ng him (Abbo tt) lying there like that. Hopefully they got to him fast and he is not hurt too bad ," said a noticeably subd ued Book "I stopped for abo ut two minutes, I guess. We didn't have that good of a race. We started back and we've just been playing catch-up in the dust all day." Eric Hallgath, w ho rode all but 35 mil es of the race on the KTM 380 he shared with Mike Healey, finished third ove rall, five minu tes b e h in d th e Davis / Book Yama ha . "I haven' t ridden a Casey (Folks) race in almost eig ht years, so it was a good learn in g experience, and th a t' s w hat I e njoyed the m ost," said Hallgath. "I came here and finished the race. I m ight not be as fast as these kids, bu t I will be here a t the finish ." Fo u rth went .to Yamaha-mounted James Summers and Shane Esposito, who finis hed with no cen ter knobs on their rea r tire but managed to hol d off the Kawasa ki pil oted b y Oak ley Lehman and Larry Ro es el er all day long. "We had a pretty awesome ride and didn't have any p ro blems, " said Su mmers, w ho finis hed - in a shower of champagne - more than 11 minutes a h ea d of Lehman and Roes eler, who took fifth overall. "They were ahead of us off the start, an d they got back ahead of us when we had a problem changing a tire and took a bit longer cha nging it than we wanted, bu t they never passed u s on ti m e . I like ra ci n g with them because even if we s tar t p assing each ot her, they are sa fe. They are no t going to take you ou t. That makes racing fun." "I could see his dust for the w hole las t section, but I coul dn't really make up any time, " said Lehman. "We had no problems, except I almos t hit a horse going up a sand was h in third gear. Ther e we re a bunch of horses running across and 1 nearly hit the last of them . I just grabbed the fron t brake and lean ed it over. But other than tha t it was a good ride." Hunnicutt and Sw ee tland broug ht their Yama ha home in sixth overa ll to top the Over 30 Pro division, two minutes ahead of the second-placed team of Honda riders Darrol Brown and Kevin Brown. The middle part was a littl e fas t, but " I liked the last section com ing in because it got a little technical, and I like the heat, too," said Sweetland, one of many rider s w ho commented on the 90-pl us degrees that scorched the finish. "I work in the heat every day, which makes it easier, so I do well in it." N ick Pears on fi n a lly brou ght the KTM he sha red with his brother Russ ho m e to the fi ni s h in eigh th overall , mor e than half an hour behind the racers he had led in to the final section of the cou rse. "Eve ry thing was going good. We 'd had a good ride and the bike was working good," said Pearson. "1 think we would've bee n second or third, the wa y things were going." Pea rson was followed home by the Jim Gray /Todd Hoy KTM, w hich took ninth overa ll and first in the big Fou rStroke division, seven minutes ahea d of their nea rest class competitors. Bria n Brown brought th e KX500 he shared with Dave Hamel hom e a disappointing 10th overall. "We were in third w hen Abbott crashed and we mi ght' ve even b een ahead of Ca mpbell on time, but I wo uld rather see him (Abbott) be all righ t than win," said Brown. "He was knocked ou t w hen I go t there. I took off his goggles and he woke up, but he was com plaining about his back an d his arm." Abbott checked o u t fine a t a local hospi tal but sti ll has no mem ory of the da y's racing. "I have n o idea wha t ha ppen ed . I remem ber being at the start and being in th e h otel room, but I don' t rem ember anythi ng in between. It's kind of fuzzy," Ab bott sai d 48 hours after th e ra ce. "I gu ess eve ry thing is o kay. My helm e t was cracked a n d mes se d up pretty good , but every th ing else looks go od . Th ey took a whole lot of X-rays a t the hospital and 1 guess I didn' t bre ak an ything, but my back is reall y bruised and m y spine is still swollen. I guess I'm pretty luck y, and I'm feeli ng a lot bet ter ." Four-s trokers Greg Bring le and Craig Sm ith fi n is hed 11 th overa ll , edgi ng Jonah Street and Taber Murphy out of second in th e big Fou r-Stroke class by two minutes . The Dar y l Folks/Jo hn Rudder KIM crossed the line in 13th , ahead of Da vid Fry and Scott Wilson, w ho topped t he Four-Stroke Under450cc class . "We had a flat tire, and we lost the rear brakes an d had to ride 40 mtles wi thout bra kes af ter pit four, so we lost some overall positions, bu t w e were so far ahead in our class, we jus t took our time," sai d Wilson. "All in all , it was a wond~rful race. I loved the water cross in g s - they were a good cool-off right by Caliente. There were four or five of them ." The David Pearson /Nate Pea rson/ Bryan Freeman KTM took 15th overall to top the Expert racers . The tri o, w hose ages ran ge from 14 to 21, stole the expert honors from Open Experts Scott Underwood and Craig Sasso by just a minute and 'a half. Gr eg Zitterkopf topp ed the Ironman Experts in 17 th overall, a nd Erik G riffith and Da na Van Stee took 125cc Pro hon ors in 21st overall. l~ Silver State 300 Mesquite, Nevada Results: June 28, 1998 (Round 20f 4) O /A : 1. Joh n ny Ca m pbe ll (He n ): 2. Ty Dav is /Do n ni e Book (Ya m) ; 3. M ik e H eal e y /Er ic Hal lgath (KTM); 4. James Summers /Sham" Esposito (Yam ); 5. Oa kley Lehman / Larry Roese le r (Ka w): 6. Ted H u n n icu tt /Ga r th S weet la nd (Ya m ); 7. Da r ro l . Brown /Kev in Brow n ( Hen) : 8. Ru ss Pea rso n / Ni c k Pea rso n (KTM ); 9. Jim Gray / Tod d Hoy (Ka w): 10. Dave · Ha mel / Bria n Brown (Ka w): 11. G reg Brin glt. /Craig Smi th IHon): 12. Jona h Stree t/ Tabe Murphy (He n): 13. r Dary l FolkslJohn Rudder (KTM); 14. Da vid Fry / Scott Wilson (Kew): 15. David Pea rson / Nat e Pea rson / Brya n Fre e ma n (KT M); 16. Scott Un derwood /C ra ig Sasso (Ho n): 17. Greg Zi tte rkcpf 18. Ben W illi ain~ /Matt Royl a nce ( Kaw): 19. Robert Laug h lin / Ja mes Di tso n (Kaw); 20. Matt Burroughs / Emn Boyer (I(.lw); 21. Erik Griffith / Dana Van Stee IKaw). OPEN EX: 1. Scott Underwood /Craig Sasso (Ha n): 2. Do ug C h ia p uzio / Ma tt M u rph y IKa w) : 3 . Ma rk • Lundgreeri/Ieff Lundgreen (Kaw). O PE N PRO: 1. Jo h nn y Ca m pbell IHo n) : 2. T y Davis / Do nnie Bo ok (Ya m) ; 3 . Mike He al e y / Eri e Hallga th (KTM). 125 EX: 1. Robert Ma rshall / Ca rl Maassberg/ Kel1on Walch (Yam). 125 PRO : 1. Erik Gri ffith /Dana Van Stee (Ka w). 250 EX: 1. Dav id Pea r so n / Na te Pea rso n /Bryan Freema n (KTM); 2. Ben William s /Ma tt Roylan ce (Ka w) . 250 PRO : 1. jam es Su mmers / Shant:' Espos ito (Yam); 2. Oakl e y Le hman / La rr y Rces eler (Ka w ): 3 . Ma tt Burroughs / Era n Boyer (Kaw ). 25+ EX: Ed Dean /Craig Hu ffer (Yam). 30+ EX: 1. Glenn Ta ylor / Ron Purvines (KTM); 2. Donald Tussing / Pau l Skeary/ Mark David ge (KTM). 30+ P RO: 1. Te d Hunn icutt / Ga r th Swe e tla n d (Yam); 2. Darrol Bro wn /Kevin Bro wn (He n), 3. Daryl Folks /John Rudder (KTM). 35+ EX: 1. Robin Rightmi re / Ja y Heyin g (Kaw). 4· STRK 0·450 · EX: 1. Rick Lun d in /Justi n Lu nd in/Ken Ap lanalp (Yam). 4- STRK 450+ EX: 1. Mi ch ael Is o n /Te r ry Wilde / Ca ry Blake (He n). 4· STRK 0·450 P RO : 1. David Fry / Sco u wi lson (Kaw). . 4-STRK 450+ PRO , J. Jim Gray / Tod d Hoy (K., W); 2. Gr eg Br in g le / Crai g Sm it h ( Ho n ); 3 . Jon ah Stree t/ Taber Murphy (Hon ). IRONMAN EX: 1. Greg Zitte rko pf; 2. Cory Ayers (Hon ). 3. Mar c McManus (KTM). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 • Las Vegas , Nevada , OCtober 1-4 Round 4 - Pahrump , Nevad a. Decembe r 4-6 29

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