Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127972
Early o n in Class 50, a good race too k shape betw ee n th e Bill Nicho ls /Steve Dutton /Gene an d Sam Dempsey /Jim O 'Neal XR628 and the two-stroke KTM E /XC ridde n b y Ro n Bishop, Karl Do ne lso n , Bill Me nchme n and Bill Ro g e rs . Baj a ve te rans De m p s ey a nd Bishop passed each o ther several times in the fi rst 150 m iles . Bis hop's KTM eventua lly succumb ed to a dose of straight race gas and se ized, u na ble to cont in ue after about 550 miles of racing. Th e Nicho ls XR fini shed in 26:53:11, so me 8 1/ 2 hours ahea d of th e secondplaced XR250 ridd en by Hiroyuki Yoshi • masu and Japan ese no velist [ugat su Toi. Dempsey called th eir wi n a " relatively good run," ad di ng, "bu t w e ha d so me sus pensio n problem s." Th eir tea m mad e a lot of air-clean er ch a nges, find in g th e co u rse " p le n ty d usty ." Dust w as th e cause of several other p ro b le ms d ur in g th e r ace . Brian Sch m uckel th ou ght Ha ll ow een came lat e thi s year w he n he saw a ghostlike figure runn in g at h im fro m ou t of the desert. T he "ghost" turned o u t to be Beto Verber, w hose XR628's mo tor blew in the dusty silt around La Pu risima . Schmuckel gave Verber a lift to the next pit, but not before fall in g tw ice along the way. Unfortunately , thei r story diqn't end th ere. Verber's Open-class bike was left in the desert , and it w as go ne by morning . It was recovered in a nearby fishing villag e, but the bike had been run over and wadded up by a Trophy Truck as it lay unseen in the silt. Another Open bike - an XR600 ridden by Roy a nd Tato Buelna , a Baja highway pa trol man - had tro u bles in the silt , clogging severa l air filters along the way to a sixt h-p lace finis h. American H onda's ot he r team entryan XR628 ridden by Bringle, Sm ith and Street - had probl ems th at took m ore than an hour to correc t at Team H onda's pit 12, locat ed 568 miles into the race. A nu t had backed off the rear suspension, eventu ally caus ing the whole rear end to colla pse, necessitating th e repla cement of major com po ne nts. But the Ca mpbell/ Lewis entry sailed right along, encoun tering little in the way of "booby traps" while stayi ng ahea d of the Tro ph y Tru cks, w ho were still raci ng each o the r all ou t to th e finish . As ide from ad ding oil, sched uled tire and filter changes, all Team Honda did to the w inning bike was cha nge fron t-brake pad s at the 408-mile mark at pit nine. Thi ngs s till go t a li ttle exciti ng fo r Lewis lat e in the race. "I saw a bunch of Mexicans directing m e away from the course," he said . "I was chased and grabbed at , a nd - th er e was no race officials there." Lewis was un aw ar e of w hat was in fa c t a late co u rse change m a de b y SCORE, and he pret end ed to go in the direction to which he was being poi nted, bu t he turned at the last second and stayed o n the co urse he ha d pre-run. It all worked ou t, however, as he fini shed out the race wit h the wi n, topping every veh icle in the race. 0 Winter Series DOUBlf POlmslll I I ...."'-.a.-............._"'-.... CARLSBAD RACEWAY CARLSBAD. CA. -~ ~ _ Gates_o~: @ ~oam CITY: ZIP: STATE: AREA CODEIPHONE NO.: E-MAIL ADDRESS: TEAM RACE PARTNER:MUSTlfll·OUTSl/ARATf£NTRYfORM Pre- Entry T-Sh irt Offer • Order your CMXR "Moto X'Mas" T-Shirt With your Pre-Entry and pay only $10.00 (Shirt will be $12.00 day of race supply limited) MAIL PRE·ENTRIES TO: Pre Entry Fee for _ Classes @ $35.00 per class (Entry must be postmarked and mailed no later than Sat. Dec 5th) Team Race Entry Fee @ $15.00 per rider x 2 riders Each TM m RIder must llll-out lUIpa rll1l1 Entry Ft)rTM _ _ Pre-EntryT-Shirts @$10 .00 ea CMXR (Make Checks payable to · CMXR") 16560 Harbor Blvd. Suite "R" Founta in Valley, CA 92708 (714) 962-8806 What's happening? Cycle News calendar. _ CLU B DISCOUN T ($5 off) _ OTHG . O TM X, and SRA lI'lIIn'lt;Mw get $5 011"""ry !we !.lust enclose copy of ~Ip card WIth !hit form I Tot al Enclosedl $ PrtI-fall'l maslbe aast mal'llednolalerIhlD Sli bec s" r-----------------------~------, _ Attach Label Here Q ,.. .iiiii7 ... ~ ~ • ~ ~ CL 21: 1. Francisco Castro ! Aru no Davil a (He n): 2. Tom Grisbum (Ho n). . • CL 22.: I. John ny Ca mpbell / jimmy Lewis (Hon ): 2. Craig Smith /G reg Bringle (Bon); 3. Joel Ta rqu in (l-Inn); 4. ROlY Buelna (He n): 5. H isahi d e Un co (Yam ). . CL 30: 1. Mike Barnhill (Hon): 2. Edy Garcia (Ya m); 3. Ge ra rd o Ga rcia (H en ): 4 . Joe Bolton ; S. Sco tt For FASTEST service attach mailing label. PIe= aIJow 3 weeks for eI1aJJge to lake effed. If label isnot available print yournameandold address in ~is box. Print your NEW address here. , N AME 0\ --=--- ADDRESS _ _-'CITY STA TE l-< ---, ZIP a; ..0 S a; _ u rnmID:iJ Dun lavey (H en) . Cl 40: l. Ga ry Tcpncr/Ross C regory (Hun); 2. Chris Haines (KTM); 3. Neil Man ninen (He n): 4. Ch ris Ebberz CL 50: I. Bill Nicho ls ySte ve Dutt on (He n) : 2. JUg "t!'U Toi (Hu n). ~ ~~~~ _ ~ AOOR3S: Tecate SCORE Baj a 1000 La Paz, Baja California, Mexico Resu lts: November 13-15 , 1998 (H en ). SlglHIDS & Pre-EntrV CheCil L Mail to: Circulation Dept. ' Cycle News, Inc., 3505-M Cadillac Ave, Costa Mesa, CA92606 a; c ~ 9