Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GRAND PRIX l: Elsinore Grand Prix , c ;or. ," • • . ~. : By Matt Freeman ELSINORE, CA, NOV. 7-8 fte r a d ism al : 97 appearance at I the Elsin or e Grand Pri x, KTM's !-.J Lance Smail came back to town and m ore than redeem ed h im self by taking the overall win in four of the five races he en tered, includ ing the prestigious Ham el 100 Pro race, held in hon or of the late, grea t Danny Hamel. The factory-backed KTM rid er also took wins in the 125cc, 250cc and Op en classes, an d briefly led Satu rday's Unclassified race before succumbing to the advances of IMS /No leen Raci ng-ba cked Mike Healey. "I haven 't had a lot of lu ck her e in the p ast, so I' m rea l happy w ith m y resu lts this yea r," Sma il said . "Last yea r, I won the four-stro ke race bu t I flatted out in the 125cc and Ham el 100 a nd I broke a swingarm in the 250cc race. I was lead ing a few races last year, but I had so me rea lly bad luck . This yea r was much better." For the third yea r in a row, th e revived Elsinore Grand Prix drew close to 2000 entrants and tho usa nds of spectators who came to see th e bikes race through the streets of the lakeside town . Due to heavy rain on Sunday, the 6-mile course was shortened to ro ughly five miles when GFI, the event organizers, took out a freeway-overpass section that was dangerously slick for competitors to race on. Despite the shortened course , riders still had to contend wit h a highspeed, rocky race circuit that was covered with mud for bo th d ays of competition . Since 'its conception in th e ' 60s, the Elsino re Grand Prix has drawn the bes t mot orcycle racers in the country, a nd despite competing with this year' s ISDE in Aus tra lia, the talent pool at Elsinore was still very deep . Besid es AMA Western Regi o nal Four-Stroke Mo tocross cha m p Sma il and th e u lt ra v ersa tile Heal ey , severa l past a nd p res ent top pro s sho wed up to stru t their s tuff on the legend ary race course. Team Suzuki Off-Road's Pau l Edmonso n found hi mself on th e starting line twice, on ce in the 250cc race and aga in in the Ha mel 100. Japan e se mot oc ro ss s ta r Yo shi Atsuta was also onhand to try his luck at the 10o-mile premier event on Sunday a fternoo n . Bot h virgins to the even t, Edm ons on a n d Atsuta made g r ea t showings in the Hamel 100, posting second- and third-place finish es. For so me , the Ha mel 100 is definit ely reason enoug h to come to Elsinore , but Saturday' s Lege nds race brought back all the nostalgia of yestery ear. Rese rved for rid ers who ra ced th e eve n t in th e 70s, the Legend s race brought out such names as Marty Moates, Dave Ald ana, J.N . Roberts, Joh n DeSoto, «c. Bakken, Scot H a rd en a nd of course Malcolm Smith. Du e to a leg inju ry , Smi th was not a b le to ra ce, so he s erved as th e event's gra nd marshal, showing off his ear-to-ear grin fro m th e ba ck sea t of a conv erti ble instead of from under a helmet. KTM race manager Harden turned ou t to be the top legend when the 45minute race was over. Ll.S, GP legend Moates finis hed second to Harden, follow ed by Jim Be auchamp , Brent .Wa llings ford , Jim Domann and John DeSoto, who also finished second in Saturday' s Vin tage even t. The first-p lac e finis h was no t Harden's onl y good finish for the d ay, as he earned third overall in the mud-stri cken Unclassified race early Satu rday morning. Wh en th e green flag fell for Sa tu rday's Uncl assified race at 7 a.m., YZ250- j A a a ~ 00 0'\ 0'\ ,...... If) ' N M Q) ..a S Q) > o z 18 m oun ted M ike Healey led th e fi e ld d own th e pa veme nt s ta rting grid a nd into the first right-ha nd corner. O n the o t her sid e of th e secon d tu rn lay six miles of mu ck, and as He aley mad e the tran sitio n from pavem ent to soil, Smail wa s su ffering from a midpack start. "The Un clas sifi ed race w a s a lo t muddier than I thought it was going to be," sai d Smai l, who took a cou p le of laps to get into the ra cin g groove . " I caug ht Healey at the end of lap two and made a pass on him, but my arms go t pumped up a nd he p ass ed me ba ck . Ther e wasn't any money in that race, so I kind of just crui sed through and held on to second." Th ird p la ce wen t to Ha rd en , wh o piloted the same M/XC300 all weekend. The Unclassified race turned ou t to be a preview of wha t th e entire weekend wou ld be like. As the laps wound down, severa l competitors rounded the sco ring chu te wi th fla t tires, mud-covered goggles or jus t no goggles at all. The mud wa s so thick on the firs t few lap s that sc orers h ad a ha rd time read in g th e number plat es and bibs of every racer . A s th e d a y w en t o n, ho w e ver, th e co u rse began to dry. ou t and tra ct ion was nearly perfect. Th e Healey I Smail battie co n tinue d when the 125cc/Women 's race took to the sta rting line. But this tim e neither Healey nor Smail would lead th e start. YZl 25-m ount ed Gary Tra cy go t th e holes ho t a n d h eld th e top spot until ha lf w a y throu gh th e fir st la p w he n Healey once aga in found the lead . Soon after, Smail got aro u nd Tracy and set his sig hts on the lead er himself. Mike Healey (1) leads Lance Small In the Open race at the third "modern" running of the Elsinore Grand Prix; Smail won. Healey took the win In the Unclass ified race, beating Small to the line. "It took me. abou t a half a lap to get Tracy and then ano ther half a lap to ge t aro und Healey," Smail said . "On ce I got the lead, I settled into a good pace, but towa rd the end Healey s tarted ree lin g me in pretty hard . In the en d, I on ly wo n by a few seco nds . He rod e a good race, but I just hel d on and my KTM ra n stro ng." T r ac y he ld o n to third , fi ni s h in g behind Healey, who was starting to realize that bea tin g Smail was go ing to be tough . . . "He's ridi ng good today," commented Healey after the 125cc race, referring to Sma il. " It looks like I'm going to have to p ick it up a notch if I'm going to beat him." Fourth went to KX125 r id e r R.J. Thompson , w ho also claimed first in the 125cc Interm ed iate d iv ision. YZ 125 mounted Mike Baker bar ely edged ou t the SXl25 of David Reese for fifth place. Arizona's Kelly Yan cey piloted her Stroker -built KLX365 to the top Women' s sp ot. Yancey was the onl y woman racer to finish without bein g lapped by Smail. By th e tim e th e Vintag e a nd com bined Qu ad s / Sideha ck races we re over, the Elsinore circu it h ad becom e rough a n d ra gg ed , making eac h 45- mi n u te af tern oon race th at much more tiring. The 250cc race had some fresh new faces on the starting line, all g u n n in g for Smail and Hea ley, but by th e end of the first lap the running order was a carbon copy of the 12Sec race. " I go t a fo u r t h - place s ta r t, a nd before the first quarter of a lap I ou tdra g ged H eal e y up a st raig h taway an d go t arou nd him on th e inside of t h e n ext tu rn ," Sma il s a id . " It was be a t u p ou t th ere, so I spen t most of m y tim e af te r that checking ou t new lin es for the Open race and the Hamel 100." At the end of the first lap, the YZ250s of Healey and Tr acy w er e once again ru n ni ng seco nd a nd th ird . This time, how ever, Tracy ha d a little co mpany , with CR250-mo unted Brian Manley ho t on h is hee ls. Baker, Tea m G reen offroader Oakley Lehma n, YZ400-mounted Scott Meyers, Edmo nso n, Mat t Murphy and David Pearson roun ded out the top 10, with mere seconds sepa ra ting one rid er from the next. TM-mo unted Gord on Wa rd and ATK A me rica 's Joey Lanza we re bo th toward the back of the pack, worki ng their way up from bad starts . Lan za wo uld later work his way in to the 10th spot but then drop out of contention when his ATK250 s tu ck in th ird gea r. W hile Smail wa s o p en ing up his biggest lead of the day, Manley made a move on Tracy for third and s ta rted closing in on second-placed Healey. The Lehman /Meyers /Edmonson battle for fifth place went on lap after lap until the six th a nd final lap, when Lehman got the nod . Meye rs and Edmonson settled for sixth and sevent h. "I ha d a hard time ge tting used to the hig h speeds," said Eng lish man Edmonso n . "I wasn't overly pleased with my . rid e, bu t I was really ou t the re to learn the track for th e Hamel 100. My boss, Mike Webb, told me to ge t out there and rid e and con centra te on good lines: ' Ward worked his br and-new TM up to a re sp ec tab le n int h , a n d YZ2 50mounted Matt Ha rper rou nded out the top 10. Sma il co n tinu ed h is d omina nce in the Open race, but this tim e it d id no t come easily. "I was about thi rd go ing d ow n the firs t straigh tawa y a nd 1 (bra ked ) real hard going into the first pavemen t corner a nd some guys rammed me from behind and took me down," said Smail , who go t back up and started as quickly as he cou ld . "By th e tim e 1 go t going, there had to be 30 or 40 guys a ro u nd m e. It took me a lmost a wh ole lap to pass all of them . It was gna rly." Wi th Smail ca ug h t up in tra ffic , Healey foun d the large lead that he had been looki n g fo r a ll d a y. M eye rs, Lehman and Steve Drew were also out fro nt , ca pitaliz in g o n Smail's misfortu ne . But while Smail w as ma king up grou n d, Lehman w as su ffe ring some bad luck of his own. "I wa s chasi ng Meyers in third place w h en 1 tangled w it h a lapped rider," said KX500 pilot Lehma n. "I banged up m y a rm pretty good , sc re wed up m y rear brakes, smashed the pipe and bent th e bars, so it took me a w hile to ge t back up to speed . I'm bummed, because 1was having such a good rid e: ' As Lehman wa s picking him self off the ground and getting ba ck on track, Smail had moved pa st Meyers into secon d and was closing in on He aley. "1 had to ride really ha rd to get to where I could see how much of a lead Heal ey had on me," Smail said . "He had one whole side of the ove rpass on me on the first two laps. The entire time I was telling m yself, ' Let' s see how fast you can go in thi s' one: so I reall y pushed the limit. 1 caught him on the straig h t-

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