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gro u p battling it out in the B split of
Sportsman SOOcc Intermediate. Firstand second -p lace fini sh es earned loca l
KTM rid er Erich Esswein the overall,
while Suz uki rid er Kelly Bird came out
second; th ird went to Bultaco-mounted
Alex Reid III, and Ga ry Gr aves' excellent rid e ea rn ed him just seventh overall
after he was penalized a lap in the second mot o for jumping the start. Graves
sho uld n' t feel too bad, though , because
even A H RMA execu tive director Jeff
Smit h got d ocked for anticipating the
sta rt in Over 60 Expert.
(Left) David Boydstun rode his
Husky to victory in the Classic
SOOcc Expert class in what is
likely to be the last-ever
motocross event held at
Steamboat Springs.
(Below) Dan Johns (SST) battles
with Rob Poole (S7Z) in Class ic
2S0cc Expert-clas s act ion.
'-
AHRMA Speed &Sport National Vintage M
X
Series,Round 11: Steamboat Motorcycle Week
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By Matt Benson
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO,SEPT. 18
he Steamboat mot ocross is so f1a tout overwhelming tha t it can be
awfully difficult to focus on individual performances.
First off, it's hard to keep one's eyes
off the magnificent mo un tains that surro und the Yampa River Valley, w he re
Stea m boat is located . Stare hard at the
m ount a in s a n d ' yo u see h ig h -d olla r
h o m es and co n dos jut ti n g o u t, and
there's the unmist akab le swa ths of ski
ru ns cu t into the mou ntainsid e. The sky
is a breathtak ing shade of blue, the air
cris p and clear. A colo rfu l hot- a ir bal loo n asce nds in the mo rn ing air.
1n th e expansive, crowded (a n d
paved !) pits are mo torcycles that you've
only read abo u t. The Premier 500 grid
has no fewer th an a dozen BSA Go ld
Stars from the lat e 1950s an d ear ly '60s,
plus the odd Matchless, Mo nark, Ariel
and Norton. The sound fro m the openpipe machines in the Twins race would
rival a sy m p hony, while th e Greeves
and thei r b loo ie pipes in the Pr emier
Lightweight ra ce make you grab for
y o u r earplugs . T here are so man y
Ho nd a EIsinores tha t it's hard to believe
these motorcycles are close to 25 years
old.
With over 460 en tries and close to 50
classes to accommodate, every moto has
a two-wave start an d so me races have as
many as six diffe ren t classes running at
the same tim e. All those ot he r distractions often make it hard to concentrate
on who is in the lead arou nd the long,
na tural- terrain track laid ou t in a big,
bowl-shaped field .
Still, so me performances at this, the
last Stea mboat MX, were hard to ignore.
In th e v ery fi r st ra ce , Cla ssic 500cc
Expert David Boydstu n fromArizona
rocketed away from the field on his '67
Husky 360 in his ongoing bid to earn a
class cha m pionsh ip . Among the Intermed iates, Paul Ha vir, riding a BSA 441
Victor, had to work hard to earn his tw o
moto wins ahead of Ken Markling in the
err
firs t race a nd Ken Bu rn ingha m in th e
second.
Classic 250cc Experts Dan Johns and
Rob ert Poole pu t on an excellen t show
in th e opening mo to as Poole and his
BSA reeled in and passed Johns' AJS for
the wi n. After finishing thir d in the initial race, Rodd Ligh thouse put his AJS
ou t front and stayed there for the second
moto, while Poole worked his way
around John s a nd into second . Poo le' s
d eterm in ed 1-2 finishes earned him the
overall .
Among the geriatric se t, Cork Root
rode fast and smooth to a pair of w ins in
the Over 60 Intermediate event aboa rd a
7 4 Bultaco 250, and co nsis ten t 2-2 finishes in Premi er SOOcc Intermediate on a
BSA B40 were good en ou gh to ea rn him
the overall there, too.
Premie r SOOcc Exp ert Matt Hilgenberg provided the day' s most spec tacular crash, g ivin g away th e fir st-moto
lea d to Mo na rk-mounted Dick Mann .
Hilgenberg d us ted himself off to finis h
second , then rode his Rickman-Triumph
to the win in the seco nd outing to claim
the overall victory ahead of Poole's 3-2
finishes .
With th e Over 30 and Ove r 40
Experts grouped in the same race, it was
impossi b le to tell w ho was r a cing
whom. But it ha rd ly mattered , as Don
, Ad a ms bat tled w it h Morrill G ri ffi ths
a nd Joh n Deemer. W h en th e score rs
so rted thi ngs ou t, it was Honda-m ounted Adams toppin g th e Over 30 grou p
a nd G r iffiths' 2- 1 fi nis hes be sting
Deem er' s 1-2 in Ov er 40. In the Spo rtsman 250c c race, Adams took th e wi n
and Deemer was second overal l.
At ti m es th e re w a s a seven- ri de r
This year's Stea mboat tra ck layo ut
was ju dged to be amo ng the bes t ever.
But what helped make it so enjoya ble - a
fairly steep hill w here none existed previo us ly - is also p ar t of the undoing of
this po pular event. Dirt excavated from
a nearby hotel co ns truc tio n project is
being used to. fill in a portion of the field
to make a level spo t for - w ha t else? mo re building .
f~
Steamboat Motorcycle Week
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Results: September 18, 1998(Round11 of 14)
PREM lJW EX: 1. Dennis Larime r (Co t).
rREM UW INT : 1. Lynn Boyer (C rt.'); 2. Dan iel
Beber (Due); 3. Timo thy Cicc ra