Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The sixth annual Malcom Smith No Wimps Dual Sport Ride covered about 150 miles of Southern California dirt and pavement. Batista Canyon and the first hard spli t. Rid ers w ho took th e Al essandro an d Hixon trails were treated to a tight, rockstrewn trail tha t in shaded areas was still moist from rain earlier in the week. "That wa s awesome - it was like rid ing in a tunnel at times," said Kawasa ki' s Croft Long of th e overgrown-inspo ts tra il. Th e nex t section was a smooth dirt road that eventually descended through a citrus g rove to H ig hwa y 74. A few more miles of pavemen t led to another fire road tha t took riders to the top of the mountai n and the lunc h sto p at the Tiroli Cafe near Idy llwild . Aft er lunch , it was more fi r eroad, lead ing to Highway 243 and the seco nd hard secti o n. Th is descent was heavily o ve rgrow n , a n d a t time s th e tr ail see med to disappear int o the sage brush a n d m an z anit a . One more d if fi cult o p tion re ma ined foll o w in g a hi gh speed, well-ma intained county roa d that took riders through the cent er of the site of the Mo u nt Edna wildfire th at co n- . sumed thousa nds of acres jus t a little over a month ea rlie r. Im mi ne n t da rkness forced some riders to take the highwa y bail-out route back to the start. "Th is event is definitely a challenge to com plete," said Suz uki sales developmen t manager Bob Mueller, wh o ha s ridd en all but one of the Malcolm Smith eve nts . "More d ealers sho uld do events like th is . It gives th eir custo m ers a n incentive to rid e. Malcolm just puts on a 0 first-class ride. " Action S Arena sSeries,Rounds 1 ports cros :3 Mlcolm S ithN a m oWimp sDualSport Rid e Wimps need not apply By Todd Nolan RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA, NOV. 15 his wa s no ordi nary Sunday rid e. Th is was the sixt h annual Malcolm Smit h No Wimps Dual Sport Rid e, laid ou t by the off-road legend himself. And as. its title im plies, this even t isn 't for the fain t-hearted , especia lly for those wh o chose the optiona l A-sect ion hard sp lits. Actual ly, by 'passing the A sections, the roads we re easily traversed by even the b igges t a dve n ture- to uring dun l-purpose motorcycles . It wo uld take nearly the enti re day to cover the route that started in an un inco rpora ted area o f Riversid e Co u n ty and wo und up in the San Jacinto Mountains fo r a lu nc h sto p nea r Id yll w ild before returning back down the mou ntain : O rig ina lly, thi s rid e left Smith ' s d ealership in the city of Riverside, but last year he moved the start closer to the mounta in s in order to eliminate th e mo notonous freeway run to the good road s. This year, the rou te covered approximately 150 miles, of which perh aps 20 were on pavernent .The rest was all dirt, from fast county and ' m o u n ta in fir e T , 0\ l-< Q) .o 6 Q) u Q) c 22 roads to single-track, overgrown (in portions) trails to sandy river washes. "The terra in is very diverse out here in California," said Dou g Hackney, who traveled all th e way from his hom e in Hud son , Wiscon sin , to participa te for the sixth year in a row . "At home, 1 can only rid e until mid-October." "Malcolm makes sure he lays ou t an in teres ting and challenging ride," said Suzu ki's Avery Inni s, w ho was ma nn ing the Suzuki support tru ck. "W hen you've completed the Malcolm Smith ride, you feel like a hero. " Un for tunately, the hero o f th e day, Smith himself, was un able to rid e d ue to a broken leg su stained a few weeks ea rlier on a rid e he was lead ing in Canad a. Instead , he monitored the route fro m a Range Rov er and spread h is famou s smile and cheer to the participants at the lun ch stop. Smi th d e p a r ted a t 8 a.m ., as an nounced on the event flier, but most eve ryone else had already left the staging a re a in order to have at least a cha nce of finishing before da rk. O ne Ka w a sa ki employee, who requested anonymity , nearly h ad his ride en d at the conclusio n of the opening 8- m ile tra il section . His pre-rid e pr eparation had inclu ded an oil change on a street-licensed KLX650, but he forgot to tight en the oil drain plug. Luckily, Tea m G re en tec h n ician Craig Martin wa s on e of his rid ing partners and, after a short run back to the stagi ng area for oil, he shimmed a spn re spark plug with severa l was he rs to make the trailside ' repair. From the firs t trail, sev era l mil es of road led to a wid e-open 5-mile run up a sand wash. The longes t section of pavement followed and to ok riders into Katin kashesin By David and Lora Patton DAYrON, OH, NOV. 20-22 a m es Sports / Andrews Su zukibacked Mike Katin from East Sparta , Ohio, cla ime d three Pro-class mai n events as the Action Sports Arenacros s Se r ies ki ck ed o ff t h e 1998-99 Series, s p o ns o r ed b y Com pe ti tio n Accessories . Karin ro de flawless ly, finis hing in the top th ree in eve ry ma in eve n t on hi s Pro Ci r cuit / Sin isalo / Pirelli- backe d Suzukis. Da vey Yezek , Todd DeHoop and Matt Shu e jo in ed Katin in the wi nner's circle. The Over 25 class a lso fea tu red outstan d ing action, as Ch uck Reed, Mark Musselman, Mike Morgan, Jon Schmitz, Matt Pow ers and Chris Knox made all three mai n events a n all-out war. Reed claimed Friday's win , wi th F&S Racing teammates Mik e Morgan and Jon Schmitz taking the top spot Sat urda y and Su nd ay. K FRIDAY 125ee main Katin timed the start ing ga te perfectly to take the lead in the first Pro-class main eve n t of the weeken d . Yezek ma de it tw o Suzukis a t th e front, ahead of Charl ie Dunaw a y, DeH oop an d Bra d Strunk. · Halfw ay a ro u n d th e first lap, Dunawa y, Matt Ma ximoff, Shue and • Tommy Collier wen t down in a heap, end ing their chances at the win. Katin and Yezek quickly opened up a lead over Power's Motorsports/Pro Circuit /Th or / M ars h a ll . Distributin g backed Todd Del-loop, wh o held a narrow edge over Strunk as Tommy Collier and Mark Bur kh art w orked th eir way up through the field . Katin kept the Pro Circuit /Sinisalo-ba cked RM on the gas a n d he cla imed the win over Yezek , DeHoop and Stru nk. 250ee main Katin got anothe r great start to lead the 250cc Pro cl ass to th e first turn ahead of F&S Racing /Sinisal o-backed teamma tes Shue, Yezek and Strunk, as w ell a s Maximoff. Chu ck Reed , Joe Oeh lhof and Jim Neese, who had to borrow bikes for th e weekend , were left behind after they we nt down in the first turn. Shue got the best d rive out of the first turn and d own 'the whoo p section . to take over first, wit h Katin on his rear wheel. Back in the field , Lancaster Spo rt Cycles / Wimer's Cycl e /Pro Ci rc u it backed Burkhart was flying, and he was moving up through the field on the first lap. Maximoff and Strunk were battling for fourth, and the top thr ee pulled out a lead early in the mai n. Stru nk tried to pass Ma xim o ff in the 18D-degree tu rn after the triple, but Maxim off hel d him off. Strunk kept try in g an d fina lly passed Ma ximoff. Dunaway and Burkhart were hamm erin g o n each ot her in the ra ce for fifth, ahead of Del-loop, with Burkhart making a solid pass before the triple to take the position. Shue held th e lead a t th e halfw ay point, but Katin and Yezek were only 10 feet beh ind him , looking for any kind of bobble. Burkhar t wa s hound in g Ma ximoff and d ived under him to sna g fifth. Up front, Shue wa s riding well, but he mad e an er ro r wi th tw o la ps to go and Katin took ad vantage of it to block- . pass his way into the lead . Shue, however, got a better drive over the triple and was able to take the inside line over the infield jump and retake the lead . Dunaway used Karin' s lin e to tale s ix t h from Ma xim off, a n d DeH ocp moved u p to challenge Maxim off with tw o laps to go . Sh ue, m ean while, h ad h is rh ythm back, used the lap ped riders to open up a small lead w it h tw o laps to go a nd held on to take the win . • Karin, Yezek and Strunk made it four Suzukis up front, 'with Burkhart fifth. SATURDAY 125ee main Former l~cc East Region Supercross Champion DeHoop nailed the sta rt in Satu rday's 125cc main. Shu e, Katin and Karnow were next. Yezek had problems on the start, bu t he passed fou r riders before the first lap was over, while Shue a n d Katin battled th e ir wa y up to De l-loop, wh o p ick ed up th e pa ce to once again pullou t a margin on his jJursuers. Ye zek a nd Triad Yama ha/ Prot eI/ Winters Marketing-backed Neese were cont esti ng third until Jim d ived und er Yezek in the turn after the triple and hit a lapper. Neese didn't fall, bu t he did stall his bike, d ropping back in the pack. With on e lap to go, Shue was right on . Karin 's rear wheel, a nd he set him up perfectly for a last-turn block-pa ss. Shu e took second p lace by a w heel. Karnow too k fourth,'ahead of Strunk and Yezek. 250ce mai n While Yezek had been riding well all weekend , he cou ldn't get a good start in th e finals. Saturday nigh t, Yezek

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