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Parts Unlimited Off Road Series, Round 5: The Moose 100 Events By Merle Acord MORRISON, IL, OCT. 31 LI.II"H~",'. e had the fast guys fro m the Midwest and one guy from California," sa id Pro rid er Ph il C o nverse at the e n d o f th e Pll /Moose /Smith /DP Brakes /Trelleborg-sponsored lOG-miler, located amid the peat bogs, hills and d eep creeks in wes t ce n t ra l Illino is, and touted as "A meric a's Tuffest Mot or cycl e Race." That "one guy" was Rod ney Smith, 1998 and '99 GN CC Champion. After the sho tgun start in a open corn field , Smit h led the first wave of riders in a loop aro u nd a marker on th e fa r s ide of th e field be fore turnin g bac k toward the start line to give the spectator s a fina l view befor e cornering ano ther marker an d th en racin g fla t ou t for the course trail. The first few miles of the three 45-mile loops snaked throug h the infamous Peat Bog - home of the "Peat Bog Monst er." The bog has bee n d rained , bu t wit h its ditches, soft sp ots and high weeds, it is still treache rous. Smith escaped the peat bog bu t was unaware of the red plastic snow fence bein g used as a course marker and had his Suzuki pegged as he headed for th e mile-and-a-quarter m otocross tra ck th at w a s part o f th e course. Unaware of the crossing over a drainage tube, aft er a 90-d egree turn marked by the red fencin g, Smith sped on. " If he makes that co rne r , at that speed," said promoter and course referee Bill Gu sse, "he has got to be the greatest motorcycle rid er of all time." At the last possible momen t, Smith straightened the Suzuki up. He hit the fence head on and literall y blew it apart. Other than the fence, nothing wa s hurt but at least Smith now knew about the use o f red pl asti c fe n ce a s a co urse ma rker. October wa s on e of the driest months on record, with less than hal f an inch of rain , but Rock Cr eek was still flowing strong ly, and after hard use in previou s ra ces, d e ep hole s had fo r med in its muddy bottom. The Pros went through as a group at the number-on e spectator poin t, "Nig htmare at Rock Creek," stirrin g it up for th e rid er s w ho followed. The riders had been warned during the rid ers meet ing. "The creek's bad," Gusse had said, "so bad that it will only be crossed during the first loop. If you want to be sure you can get acros s, get your feet we t and walk the "machine. Otherwise there'll be someo ne on the-far bank sellin g spark plugs and air filters, and they won' t be chea p." Th e Coon Creek crossing, w ith its n a st y 30-foot drop down a s t ee p embankment and a ro ck /mud -bottom (Above) Rodney Smith cr ossed Rock Creek and set sail for the ove rall win at t he Moose 1DO, round fi ve of the Parts Unlimited Off Road Series, held near Morrison, ill inois. (Left) ISDE gold medalist Jeff Fredette, here crossing Keegan 's DitCh, came in second overall. combo, presented a chall enge. Approximately 100 yards of creek bottom had to be traversed to ge t to a rapidly deteriorating mud-bank exit. Then there was a long, tight w oods section before the gas. Sm ith ga ve up the lead in that wooded section to Mike Sampson , who onl y needed an eighth- p lace-o r-be tte r fin ish to win the series overa ll points cham pions hi p . Sampson had second thoughts about leading the field so earl y in a 100mile run, so he pull ed o ve r an d let Smith by. Tim Taber, on a KTM fro m Taber' s Funmart Cycl e Shop, th ou ght Sampson wa s letting eve ryone pass, and when Sampson a tte m p te d to pull in be hind Smith a n d in fr ont o f Taber , Taber cra sh ed into him and th ey both ended up off the trail and against a tree. Ka w asaki jockey Jeff Frede tte, ou t of Beecher, Illinois, was a close fourth, and he stopped and as ked if everyone was okay . The y we re, but Sampson's bra ke pedal was bent, which wo uld eve ntually cause him to d rop back to sixt h overall after he got stuck in a mudhole. Smith ca me in to th e first gas stop wi th a o ne - m in u te lead, to w hich h e would ad d as the race progr essed. "I had a fu n day," sa id th e GNCC champion. "O n the first lap , I was kind of laying back, because I d on't tak e air if I don 't know what's on the other sid e. It might be a hole." "It wa s a pretty good course," said multi-time ISDE gold med alist Fredette, seco nd ove rall with a time of five hou rs, 16 minutes - three minutes off the pac e. "The woods were nice and flowing and you cou ld get a nice rh ythm. The fields were ni ce , to o , th ou gh - y ou cou ld almost rest up." Yamaha rid er Jes se Klimek , fourth overall, was five minutes off the pace at th e firs t ga s stop. Klimek needed this race to win the overall series cha m p io ns h ip , but h e ca me up fi v e p oints short. Fifth o ve ra ll on the da y a n d on e minute behind Klimek was David Stickel. The Honda rid er rod e the last lap an d a half on a flat rear Trelleborg tire. "I thin k it was fl at ," s a id St ickel. "When 1 tried to ad d ai r, th er e w as n' t any val ve stem." "Most of the littl e creeks we re dri ed u p, and the w ood s, as exp ected , were tight, but it was the pace that made this a hard run," sai d Kawasaki rid er Ron Whipple, w inn er of the Vet A class, who finis hed in five hours and 54 minutes. Yama ha rid er Da ve Ed sall, former Dist rict 17 H are Scra m bles cham p io n, finished se co n d with so me good old American in ventiveness b ordering o n that of Rube Goldberg . His shift le ve r w ould not s tay up a n d each time he shift ed it wa s time lost, trying to get his boot under the lever. Da ve u sed three rubber bands and a hunk of wire as a temporary fix. "I had to do something," said Dave. "The w o od s w ere too tight to m e ss aro u nd wi th that lever." Kevi n Diam ond, the A-class winner with a time of five hours, 58 minutes, had to scramble to ge t under the 3 p.m. shu toff. Any rid er not thr ou gh the barrels by 3 o'cloc k was not allowed to go out for th e third la p . Di am ond and Whipple were the only rid er s ou tsi de th e Pros w ho rod e three laps. And re w Hogarty and Brian Witt were second and third in the A class bu t didn't make the cut-off. "There was some guy, d o n't know who he was," sai d Curtis Arpp, third in the Vet A class, "who was going like a ba t ou t of hell. He would pa ss me and th en b low a corn er , a n d I w ould g o around . Then he wou ld pa ss me again, th en fall down : The guy w as his own w ors t ene m y . Ya go t to make friends wi th the trail - ther e' s over a hundred miles oEit." CIII The Moo se 100 Morrison , Illinois Resu lts: Octo ber 31, 1999 (Round 5) O /A : 1. Rodn ey Smith (Suz ); 2. Jeff Fred ette (Kaw): 3. Tim Taber (KTM ); 4. Jess e Klimek (Ya m); S. David Stick el (H e n ): 6. Mike Sampson (TM); 7. Kevin Diam ond (Yam ); 8. Lar r y Su lli va n (H on ): 9. And rew Hogarty (Hen): to. Kirk Fo ster (Ya m) . PRO: 1. Rod ney Smith (Suz) ; 2. Jeff Frede tte (Ka w): 3. Tim Taber (KT M); 4. Jesse Klim ek (Yam ); S. Dav id Stickel (He n). A: 1. Kevin Diamond (Yam); 2. An drew Ho ga rt y IH on ): 3. Brian Witt ; 4. Ron Harrison; S. Lance Minnaert. A VET: 1. Ron Whipple (Ka w ): 2. Dav e Edsall; 3. Cu rtis Arpp; 4. Geo rge Reimers ; 5. Tom Desert . A SR: 1. Lenny Lovell; 2. Tom Co le; 3. [eff Joh nson; 4. Ed Walker; 5. Tom Montgomery. B 201 +: 1. Scott M ei n sm a (Ho n): 2. Er ic' Wheelwright ; 3. Dan Qu ick; 4. Chuck Garretson 5. Brian Heiges . B 0ยท200: 1. C h a r li e Deu tsc h er (Yam) ; 2. Ma ti Reimers ; 3. Mike Reitz ; 4. Andy Summitt . B VET: 1. Gene Ryan (Ya m); 2. Larry Cook ("'1M); 3. Rand y Covall; 4. Ga il H ake : 5. Geo rge Hayens. s B SR: 1. Ph il W.ulow; 2. Mark Shephard; 3. Tom Ed wa rds. 4-STRK: 1. Wall y Mi ka (Ho n ): 2. Tim Christen : sen 3. Gary Street; 4. Jon Curry; S. Ton y jensen. C 0-200: 1. Jon Janssen ; 2. Ste ve Simp so n; 3. Brad Bush ; 4. Jere my Smi th; S. Jeremy Ott. C 201+: 1. Jake Co lsch ; 2. Bill Co lsc h: 3. He a th Peloc k: 4. Butch Ca lvert; 5. Tony Jones . 31