Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OFF-ROAD BEST IN THE DESERT SILVER STATE SERIES tweaked, the wheels w er e t~eak;'d. I was bummed, because I had worked my butt off going through all the dust, taking all th e chances, to get us into th e lead ." Whil e Da vis cooled his heel s, Russ Pearson was looking ahea d tow ard the Ond a s / Abb ott Ka w a saki - th e on ly th in g tha t stood between th e brothers and their checkered- flag drea m. "I had the lead ou t of check seven and I put so me time on everyb ody . Th en , ne xt thing I kn ow, at check nine, th e Pearsons were right there . It was a do gfight from then on, " said Abbott. "Russ and I were really going at it. It was great, but I knew I had to pu t a minute on them because of the way we started, and I was doing everything I cou ld." (Above) Although the course did have Its fair share of dust, most of the riders en joyed the layout. The Johnny CampbelVJlmmy Lewis team negotiates some of that dust on Its way to finish ing fifth. (Right) Third place went to the Ty Davis/Donnie Book pairing, five minutes behind Ondas and Abbott. , ..- C'I l-< ill .c o .... u o 18 But everyth ing wasn' t quite enough, a nd eve n a flat rea r m o u ss e was n' t about to sto p the Pearson charge. "We were going back and fort h, but we fin all y go t him for th e la st tim e abo u t 50 or 60 miles before the end, and it was easy from there," said Russ Pearso n, who crossed the finish just after 3 p.m., giving the KTM/ Acerbis/Smith / Ara i/Michelin /Dunlop /K Style-backed, Dav e Chase-prepared KTM the overall wi n, with a total elapsed tim e of eig ht hou rs and 44 minutes for the 527-mil e journey. "The on ly p rob lem we had a ll d ay was that m y eye went a little blurry for a w hile, a nd Nic k rod e a cou ple of ext ra sectio ns to let my eye rest a little, " Russ Pearson sa id . "Bu t it was fine after that, so I could ge t back on the bike. The race was kind of a riot on this bike. I'm used to rid ing the 250s, where you just leave it pin ned the whole way. Thi s thing has so mu ch power , it's kind of nice. You can p lay aroun d wit h the po we r, an d I had a lot of fun with that. I had .a blast out th ere." Abbott wasn 't quite as thrilled with second, but he repo rted an equally trouble-free rid e. "The Kawasaki worked aweso me; I ju s t wa sn't abl e to win it ," sa id th e Ka w asak i /Pro Ci rcu it / Acerbis /Du n lop-backed Abbo tt . "Some of the course was qu ite nea t. There were some section s th at were ki nd of wet, but th er e were some sections after check 11 when I was following Russ where it was jus t dust. I wasn't goi ng to let it hang ou t too much, and that made the differen ce. Bu t I' m hap p y with this finis h. It' s mu ch better th a n th e la st r a ce - I kn ock ed 'myself ou t in that one." Davis brought the Montclair Yama ha / Yamaha Mot or Corpor at ion / Cu rti s Spa rks Yama ha 430 he shared wi th Book across th eIin e five minutes behind O ndas and Abbott to claim third overall and third Open Pro. "As far as th e course goes, it was your typical Vegas-to-Ren o," Davis said . "Casey (Folks) did a better job tha n he has in the pa st an d tried to make it a little bit !wistier; but by the three-quarter ma rk, he jus t says, ' Let' s go to Ren o: and b ee-lin e s it. It ge ts reall y hi g hspeed . The bike ran really good and I'm pre tty im pressed that it stayed with the 500s and 620s." Davis was just as im pressed with the com petition. " It seems like w hen I rod e Kawa sakis, everybody ke p t brea ki ng d own, but now no bodv breaks d ow n, and there are a lot of peopl e capable of winning:' he sai d . "A few years ago it wa s just Danny (Ha mel) and me - no one was up to that level - but now the Pearsons are rid ing we ll, Abbo tt's doi ng well. Now that the se guys have wo rked ' their way up and ther e's a lot of good com pe titio n, it' s all in p rep aration and cha ng ing the wh eels at the right tim e. It's good for the spor t, bu t you jus t can' t have screw- ups anymore." Krause a n d H am el com p leted a s mooth a nd fa irlv uneventfu l rid e in fou r th overa tl. a~d "Jo hnny Ca m p be ll and Jimm v Lewis coaxed their overheating Am eri can Honda / Acerbis /FMF / Smith / Arai / PirelIi/Sidi/ Pro tape r/ Ren thaI/ Ho nda Oils-backed XR628 home 16 minu tes later to claim fifth. " It's p robabl y lean jetting on the ma in jet," sa id Campbell, shaking his h ead . " I' m probabl y my own w orst ene my. I wa n ted it to run well at the high altitudes - the course go es u p to 8500 fe et - a nd tha t mig ht be what caused the prob lems." Staab a nd Healey contin ued th eir domina tion of th e O ver 450cc FourStroke divisio n, goi ng a ll the way to sixt h overall, fini s hin g eig h t minu tes ahea d of their n eare st class riva ls , Honda pilot s G reg Brin gle and Craig Smi th. "I'm so happy to win our class - really, really ha p p y," sa id IMS/ Stroker / M on tcl air Yama h a /Pre ci s io n Co ncep ts / Hi nson-bac ked Staab. "Th e bike ran grea t, bu t wi th the carb pr oblem, it jus t d id n't have the top end. It wo u ld probably on ly d o 60 or 70 tops in the second half of the dav, and that killed us for a good overall finish . But it's still good. We onl y d ecid ed to race last week and I'm just happy to finish , especially agains t the great competition." Seven th overall and first 250cc Pro was clai med by KTM 250 pilots Bryan Folks and David Pearson , wh o completed the course in nine hou rs and 37 minu tes. " We did n't have a ny probl em s ch a n ge d a ba ck tir e once a n d th at ' s abo ut all we did except for cha ngi ng a filter because it was rea l d ir ty, " said KTM / Pro Circu it /Vosbu rg Ra cin g / IMS / Sunco / Acerbis / Moose-backed Pearson. "It was a real fun course - totally awesorne." Steve Hen geveld and Jeff Capt comp leted a steady run in eight h ove rall to tak e the wi n in the Four-Str ok e Under 450cc ~ ro cla ss a fter a' back-and- forth ba t tle w i th Yamah a - mount ed A ro n Huntington and Scott Morris that went alm ost all the way to the w ire. "I put some time on them , but then I h ad to s t o p for traffi c at so me ro ad crossi ngs near th e e n d:' H en geveld sa id . "They cau ght up, a nd w e were both w a iti ng th ere to geth er s ide b y side." "We had four minutes o n th em a t one stage, but I thi nk I mu st've floated on valves on this thing: ' Morris reported . " It hasn' t been running well for a while. It's 'down on power." Da rro l Brown a n d Kev i n Brow n crossed the line in nint h to top the O ver 30 Pro d ivision, squeaking in just eight seco nds ahead of racelong riva ls Dary l Folks and John Rud der. "It was ba ck and forth on time the whole wa y, b u t we didn' t physically ca tch them until right here at the end," sa id Darrol Brown . "It was a good course - very fast but marked well." Rudder brought the KTM he sha red with Daryl Folks home on a rea r flat. " I couldn't pull th e gearing with . th e fla t and they gradually caught me at the end ," Rudder said. " It was close all day - within a couple of minutes. We've been racing like that with the m all year lo n g . It's a lot of fun t h a t way." Doug Chiapuzio and Ma tt Mu rphy top ped the Expe rt racers in 14th overall with a tot al elapsed time of nine hou rs and 48 m inutes, a nd Ma rk Lu ndgree n an d his bro ther Jeff broug ht their KX500 home five minutes later to claim second Expert. "We fou ght with the Lu ndgreen s all the w ay," Murphy said . "A t the last pit, w e were wo nd e rin g w ho wo u ld ge t here fi rst: I think I like ha vin g a big lead better than racing so close, bu t this wa s an awesome race - it's pretty exci tin g w hen you' re only a few seconds apa rt." t ':\ Las Vegas to Reno Reno,Nevada Results: Octobe r 4, 1998 O /A : 1. Nick Pea rson / Russ Pearso n (Ka w ): 2. Dave Ondaa/Destry Abbott (Kaw), 3. Ty Davis /Donnie Book (Ya m); 4. Pau l Krause/Dave Ha mel (Kaw): 5. Johnny Campbell /J immy Lewis (Ha n) ; 6. T im Staab / M ike Healey (Yam); 7. Brya n Folb /Da vid Pea rson (k'TM); 8. Stev e Hen geve ld Zj e ff C a p t ( Ka w): 9 . Darro l Brown /Kev in Brown IHon ): 10. Da rvl Folks /john Rudder (KTM); 11. e n-g Bringle / Cra ig Smit h IHo n): 12. Aron Hun tin gt on / Scott Murris (Yam); 13. Oakle y Lehma n/B rian Brown (Kaw): 14. Dou g Ch tapu zio /Matt Murphy (Kaw): 15. Mar k Lund grecn/Icff Lundgr een (Ka w) : 16. Larry Rocseler y Mart Free man (Kaw): 17. Sco tt Unde rwood /Craig Sasso / Scott Robertson (Hen): 18. Bill y Fu lm er /Rick Da n ie l (Ya m ); 19 . Er ik Griff ith / Dana Van Stee (Kaw ): 25. Jonah Street /Ta ber Murphy. O rEN PRO: 1. N ick Pearson /Russ Pearson (K.Jw); 2 . Da ve O ndas De sb- y Ab bu tt ( Kaw) ; 3. Ty lOk Da vis /Donnie IX (Yam). 125 PRO: 1. Erik Griffith / Dana Van Stee (Kaw l. 250 EX: 1. Ben William s /Matt Roy lance /Matt Gos nell (K.Jw) . 250 PRO: 1. Brya n Folks /David Pea rson (KTM); 2. O akley Le hma n /B ri an Brown (Kaw) : 3 . Matt Burrough a/Eron Coyer IKaw) . 4-STRK 450+: 1. Tim Staa b/ Mike Heal ey (Yam); 2. G reg Br tng le ZC rei g Smit h (Ho n ): 3. La rry Roesel er / Ma tt Freeman (K.:1W) . 4-STRK 0-450: 1. Steve Hen gev eld / jeff Capt ( K.1 W); 2. A ro n H u n ti n g to n / Sco tt Murris (Ya m ); 3 . Bill y Pulm er yk lck Dan iel (Ya m ). 25+ EX: 1. Cl!cil Sch rader / Ben Moo dy/John Ruo f (Kaw) : 2. Brya n Frcernan / C h ri s Fry / Nate Pe a rson z (Yam). 30+ PRO: 1. Darrel Brown / Kev in Brown (I-ion); 2. Dary l Folks / John Rud de r (KTM). O PE N EX: 1. Doug C h in p u z io zMatt Murp h y (Kaw): 2. Mark Lund greerr/ je ft Luudgree n (K.1W); 3. Sco tt Und erwood /Cra ig Sasso/ Scott Robe rtson (Hon). IRON MAN EX: 1. Cory Ayers (Hun) . 4·STRK EX: 1. Todd Tn rver zl o hn Dieb /Ber t Reyno lds (Yam). .

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