Grand Prix
Elsinore G Prix
rand
By Matt Freeman
Photos by Kinn ey Jones
and Mark Kariya
LAKE El.5INORE, CA, NOV, 13-14
broke in two races and I won
two. 1 guess [ can't complain,"
.
said Mike Healey, after winning the Hamel 100 a t the Elsinore
Grand Prix , an event that in a sense
has haunted Healey since its rebirth in
1996. Not to say tha t Healey hasn't
won a class or two in the past (early
Sunday morning he won the Over 25
race) , but as far as luck goes, the premier Hamel 100 race has no t been kind
to Hea ley. Du ring the 100-mile race in
1996 h e h a d prob lems with his gas
tan k. In 1997 his frame bro ke, and las t
year flat tires and an injured han d pu t
Healey out of th e ru nnin g fo r th e
H amel 100 wi n. In fac t, up u ntil th is
yea r's event, Hea ley had n ever even
finish ed th e Hame l 100.
This yea r's ins tallmen t of the classic
gran d prix d id not start ou t mu ch better
for Healey. Riding a borr owed KX500,
h e br iefl y led Sa turday's unsco re d
Unclassified race and the Open race
befo re locking the big bore's engine up
on bo th accou nts . However, wi th
bloody palms due to riding so hard and
so fast, and another borrowed bike, this
one a KLX365 from Larry Roeseler,
\1J
U
(Above) Mike Healey passes Ty Davis en
route to his first Hamel 100 win. Davis
eventua lly dropped out of competition with
a badl y bru ised ankle due to kicking a rock.
(Left) Shane Watts came to Elsinore for
the first time and raced like a seasoned
veteran around the 4-mile circ uit. Watt s
led all the competitio n In th e 125cc and
250cc races and finished second to
Healey in the Hamel.
Healey won the 26-lap affair with plenty
of room to breathe.
Of course, Healey was not the only!
hero in town during the two-day event;
KTM's Shane Watts traveled from way
out of tow n to do battle in Elsinore . The
Australian was arguably mo re successfu l thro ughou t the weekend than any-'
one, including Hea ley, who was awarded $2500 for winning the Hamel.
Decora ted with the mos t pres tigiou s'
career-record of those p resent, Wa lts'}
the 1998 ISDE overall champion, pos ted"
three overall wins on Saturday's pro-<
g ra m and the n fin ished second in the'
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