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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127974
very good in the first sec tio n. Then Rick
ca ugh t 'em a n d passed ' e m , w e n t ri ght
on by th em, so that's w hen the strategy
kicked in. We got a hea d of ' e m then. We
ju st k ind of held th e m a t bay a ll d a y .
Tho se guys ro d e e xcellen t . They h ung
to ugh; they always d o ."
Actuall y , the Over 3 0 Pro class
could've b e e n a cla ss reunion of fast
g uys fro m the past. w ith no t o nly th e
Bro wns and the Bozarth /Folks tea m but
also Ted H u nnicutt a n d Garth Sweetland, a n d M ik e Hea ley a n d La r ry Ro eseler , O f these teams, th e Healey/ Roeseler du o - m ount ed o n a 2- y e ar-old
Stroker Ka w a s a k i K L X6 5 0R - we nt
fastest, fo r a while .
"If you look a t th e time sheet fro m pit
to pit, o r h o w e v e r the y were d oing it,"
H ealey ex plained, "we w ere e ither one of
th e tw o fastes t bikes going through, o r
third . Every time, we were right there
un til we had b ike problems . So w e
could've probably s ta rted off o n the Open
Pro lin e an d been really competiti ve."
A b ro ken o il sigh t g lass in th e case th e result of cli p ping a rock - led to oil
on th e b ra kes a n d a H ealey crash, when
h e discovered to o late t ha t th e bra ke s
di dn't work.
"It o nly took u s 10 o r 15 m inutes to
Bond o it , let it s i t a n d e ve ry t h i ng,"
H eal e y sa id.
The y got going agai n, p assed a few
p eople a n d e n ded up third in class a n d
15 th o verall.
A s ide fro m t he k in d wo rds fo r h is
(Above) Nick Pearson (s h own) hooked up with his brother Russell to
finish th ird overall on a KTM640 four-stroke,
(Left) Johnny Ca mpbe ll rode his Honda XR600 solo and crossed the
finish line first but lost out on adjusted time, He st ill finis hed a
res pectable second,
p artner, Roeseler spoke fo r a number of
p e op le in s ta ti ng h is o p i n ion o f t h e
course.
" I really e njoyed the course toda y,"
h e cla im ed . "To m e, it had a bi g ge r va ria tio n in terra in. It h ad some fas t s tuff,
but h e (Casey Fo lks) kept it techn ic al.
He had some cr o ss- gra in sections; it had
a nic e variety o f te rrain. I really en joyed
it . Three to fo u r was just a n aweso me
sectio n . Conditions were a little cold,
but it' s th e same for everybody."
C o ry A y ers , who soloed his Vegas
P o w er Sports H ond a C R500R t o t he
Briefl
(Rig ht) Bryan
Folks and
teammate
David Pearson
took first place
in the 250cc
class, finis h ing
fourth overall.
(Below) Steve
Hengeveld
(s hown) and
Jeff Capt
topped the
small-bore
fo ur-s tro ke
division.
James S u m m e rs made his Team Gree n debut at Terrible 's Town. .teammq up with Oakley
Lehman a nd finishing second 250cc Pro and seventh ove rall on a KX250 , S ummers will ride the
AMA National Hare & Hound S e ries and Best in the Desert's Silver S tate S eries in 1999 , And
the n? - De pe nding on how I do in them. I might get to ride a few GNCCs and try them out ," he
said, Shane Es p osito also joined Team Green: tea ming up with David Ondas on a KX5oo.
Their tea in. however. failed to fini sh , "
It was a bad day for Tea m Green in the Open Pro clas s . as both of their bikes DNFed due to suspected co ld-related engine problems . In addition to the Esposito/Ondas entry . Dest ry Abbott a nd
BrianBrown ret urned to Pahrump via truck.
·
.
.
Whi'le waiting for his brother Rus sell at pit three . Nick Pearson got worried , - Rus s passed
Ondas and Abbott because they seized going into the seco nd pit. - Pearson 's aid, -We were waiting at the third, pit and thought. 'Man, everybody got lost! Where is everybody? ' Here comes
J ohnny (Ca mpbell) he re comes Ty (DaV We thought for s ure that Russ and the ' Kawies got
,
IS).
lost. The n Rus s come s in; I gue.ss he was hurtafte r crash ing but stayed.on the bike .Just how co ld was it? Johnny Campbell said. -My iingers were numb like everyone else 's , and
" my Camelbak tip wasIrozen .Thet's how cold it was . You'd go to take a drink. and it's ice . Late in the race , brothers Jeff and Mark Lundgreen appeared to be headed for a sure win in
Ope n Expert class whe n disaster struck . " lt seized just leaving pit six, " Jeff said while waiting at
the finis h for Mark, " It was on the la ke bed . and it burned a hole in the top of the piston, so we ,
just pushed it back to the Kawi pit.- Wanting to finish but not wanting to take a chance on replacing just the piston, they drove back to Pahrump; retrieved an e ngine from a practice bike . drove
bac k to the pit and swapped motors, -We had a 35·minute lead ove r the next Expert rider. first
Expert ove rall a nd first Open ,-,Their pe rseve rance ne tted the m,fourth in clas s . "
,
Da ry l Folks rode most of the year partnered with John Rudde r. but when Rudde r bowed out
due to injuries. Ric k Bozarth filled in ably, despite not racing a Best in the Desert event since
last year . -We just purchased a house . so that' s what kept me away from the series in '98.- he
said . -We 're looking forward to next year. hopef ully coming down a couple times and hanging out ,
with everybody .- Folks praised his sub stitute, sliying.• He 's faster than what I remembered: I've '
raced against him lots of times . but it's been a yea r since I've seen him race . He just flat blew 'e m
off · 2505 or whatever what was in his Way. he just wheelied on the m, plain and simple. ,
'
' Te rrible 's Town marked the first race for several riders since the IS DE last month. Ty Da v is
said . "Yesterday, I did not feel like racing. I was like, 'You know what? Ijust don't feel like racing:
Normally. I'm ready to ·go. I just felt so lackadaisical. It was so weird, I guess it was because we
hadn't raced since S ix Days . After,Six Days . this was totally diffe ren t -two different worlds."
Tea m Gree n's Larry Roeseler had such a gOOd time that he was already making plans for the
1999 season, '- Ihad a blast today , Mike Healey and I, we 're already talking about a 125 at Laugh·
, lin (next year 's se ries opene r), We 'll go fort he overa ll on the 125.- he sa id. laughing,
.
"
As ked why he chose to solo . Johnny Campbell joked , -, fired Jimmy Lewis in La Paz (afte r,
they won the Baja 1000 last month). No. I like riding a 10L If I'm not tota lly worn out at the finish . I
don't feel sa tisfied.- Of course . after watching $1 0.000 fall from his reac h; don't be su rprised if
he reco nsiders next year..
.
Former motorcycle desert hero Da n S m ith had a topsy-turvy day. He and partne r Dave Ashley.
another forme r bike racer . won the Trick Truck class in their 10·yea r·old Ford but were ' only - ,
second four-whee led vehicle to finish .