Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

circuit, while lapping riders up to fifth place. Since the revival of the modernday Elsinore Grand Prix, organizer Goat Breker has billed the premier race of the weekend as the Hamel 100, in honor of Danny Hamel, the late off-road great - but this year the event was changed to the Harvey Mushman 100 in honor of actor and motorcycle ambassador Steve McQueen, who was known for entering the event under the name Mushman to avoid being mauled by the public. Like McQueen, Watts is a very private person and spent most of the time between events tucked in the back of his KTM box van, perhaps deciding which machine he would ride in the 100·mile event. "I like to try different things all the time," said Watts. "I've ridden a 125 in it [the Hamel 100] before and I wanted to ride the 520 last year, but I couldn't do the main race. This year it was either going to be the 520 or the 200. and just in the races before I thoroughly enjoyed riding the 520. And it's the fastest bike." With the exception of Saturday morning's 125cc race, Watts always seemed to have the fastest bike no matter what size steed he was mounted on. And even though Suzuki· mounted R.J. Thompson won the eighth· liter competition, Watts had to untangle his bike from a first·turn pile up before setting chase to Thompson, whom he came dangerously close to catching after 45 minutes and seven laps of racing. A day and five races later, and Watts had the tarmac-laced first turn figured out, but so did Plano Honda's Scott Sheak. Sheak, who had only ridden Sunday morning's unscored Unclassified race, put his brand-new CRF450R into the lead right off the bat at the start of the Mushman 100. "It started out, I was leading," said Sheak. "I knew Shane's [Watts] bike is a little bit faster than mine on the straightaways. so he was gaining on me. He passed me once and I passed him back. Then he passed me back. At that point. I was starting to get some arm pump because I was trying so hard." Behind the race for the lead was another KTM 520-mounted rider Scott Myers . in third place. Myers, who was plagued with bad luck at Elsinore this year, with the exception of a runner-up finish in the 250cc event. was being chased by Suzuki's factory off-road squad. including Greg Albertyn. who was racing a Yoshumira DR-Z436. prepped similarly to Steve Hatch and Rodney Smith's machines. The DR-Z trio tucked in behind Myers and rode together, which seems to be a team Vintage bike racers carefully negotiate one of the pavement sections. trait. Making the threat even more antagonizing was the fact that Thompson managed to scream his RM 125 to the rear of the Suzuki train. However, Myers was unfazed by the pressure and actually began to pull away and gain ground on secondplaced Sheak. A bobble on Sheak's part helped the effort. "After I got arm pump. I went down and I kind of lost it [Watts' pace] there," explained Sheak. "After that, I just stayed like a minute behind him." After approximately four laps of the 24 scheduled, riders began to spread out. Albertyn suffered a crash, which took nearly two minutes to recover from before he could get restarted, and Smith was starting to feel the effects of a month-long battle with the flu. "I got about seven laps into it and I was beat up," said Smith. "I raced with Steve [Hatch] a little bit. but then my shoulders just got real tired." Smith's efforts weren't helped by the fact that his bike stalled when he was gassing up in the pits. "It flooded out or something," said Smith. "It took me a long time to get it started, and then I was pretty much on my own." A longer-than-usual pit stop was better than the alternative. After approximately 90 minutes of racing, attrition began to be a factor and Myers was the most significant vic- ...............__....::.::..::....::.::..._..::.......:=. , second gear is my speed. I feel good that I was able to come here and go as fast as I was. I'm proud of that. It was fun, though. These bikes worked great out there." Despite feeling ill, Hatch's teammate Smith finished a respectable fourth. the last rider to finish 24 laps. Maybe even more impressive was Thompson. who piloted his RM125 to fifth. "The big bikes out-powered me a little bit." Thompson modestly understated. "I went out there to have fun and get top five. That's what I wanted to do and I did it. I just wanted to see if I could get through the whole thing. " Rounding out the top 10 was RM250-mounted Robert Naughton. Albertyn. Team Green's Shane Esposito and Oakley Lehman and TM·mounted Gordon Ward. eN Scott Sheak finished second in the Harvey Mushman 100. tim. While running a strong third and even gaining ground on Sheak. Myers' KTM 520 began spewing oil. sending a disappointed Myers back to the pits prematurely. Dudek was next to call it a day when the XR650R he was riding blew a countershaEt seal. "I thought those things were sup· posed to be bulletproof," said Dudek, who spent his race chasing the Suzuki train. Watts continued turning approxi· mate six and a half minute laps around the roughly six-mile course. while Sheak turned the minute gap into around 30 seconds at times. However. Watts had his pace carefully calculated, and after 24 laps of racing. he still had a somewhat com· fortable lead. "I kept a smooth, consistent pace," said Watts. "The only eventful stuff was running over lappers and spectators." Sheak held on to second. with Hatch making the podium for the second year in a row. "I made a little time on those guys [Watts and Sheak] just before the halfway point, but then I threw it away a couple of times," explained Hatch. "I said. 'You know what, you need to be smart. Tomorrow is another day...• "I don't really like the speed." continued Hatch. "I like trees. First and ..:=.__..;...::... -:cue • Elsinore & nd Prix .. Lake Elsinore, California Results; '4vl!lPber 10-11. 2001 Saturday 125 EX: 1. R.J. Thompson (Suz); 2. Shane Watts (KTM); 3. Ryan Dudek (Vam): 4. Mike Baker (Yam); 5. Shzme Esposito-(Kaw). 125 INT: 1. Garrett Taylor (Yam); 2. Chad Rozanek (Suz); 3. Joshua Edwards (Yam); 4. Thom8s Engelhardt (Yam); 5. Ryan Marley (Yam). 125 NOV: 1. Brian Bums Jr. (Yam); 2. Brock Harden (KTM); 3. Kenny Gold;e (Vam); 4. N;ck Melanson (Yam); 5. Mike Drown (Yam). 125 BEG: 1. D~JIVe Dunham (Suz); 2. Justin Mills (Vern); 3. Jeff Gunderson (Hon); 4. Vinnie Duvall (Yam); 5. Mike Richuisa (Yam). WMN EX: 1. Kelly Vancey (Kaw); 2. Lynette Davis (Yam). WMN INT: 1. Brenda Jankowski (Yam): 2. Amber Pickett (Kaw): 3. Monica Mora (Yam); 4. Alisa Wallingford (Yam); 5. Kim MiJewsky (Kew). WMN NOV: 1. Amber Naughton (Vam); 2. Jessica Wagner (Han): 3. Tricia Lane (Han): 4. Denise Lane (K8W). WM,N BEG: 1. Deanna Odom (Yam): 2. Carole Franks (Yam): 3. Nicole Griffith (KTM); 4. Christi Evers (Yam): 5. Jorj8 Tucker (Han). 501NT: 1. Christian havlicheck (Han). 50 NOV: 1. Gunnar Biggerstaff (Pol). . 50 BEG: 1. Steven Briggs (KTM); 2. Austin Messenger: 3. Christopher Weisenbe (KTM); 4. Chad Larson (KTM): 5. Elizabeth Coulter (Yam). 60 INT: I. Blake Baggett (Kaw); 2. George Jeffers (Kaw); 3. Bryce Stewart (Kaw). . 60 NOV: I. Travis Baker (KTM): 2. Austin Luna (Kaw); 3. Cody Jeffdes (KTM). 60 BEG: I. Stephen Kearney (K8W): 2. Justin Beerer (Kaw); 3. Warren George (K8W); 4. Cody Thomock (KTM): 5. Jackson Paquette (KTM). 80 EX: 1. Charles Pearson (Han); 2. Jake Walsh (K.w). 80 INT: I. Mike laPaglia (Suz): 2. Bart Manwell (Suz); 3. Austin Prescott (Suz); 4. William Shue (Hon): 5. Ricky James (Yam). 80 NOV: 1. Kurt Samuelson (Yam): 2. Blake Harber (Yam); 3. Patrick Pennington (Kaw): 4. Corey Coyne (Yam): 5. Jamie Lanza (Han). 80 BEG: 1. Warren DaVIS (Han): 2. Chris Harper (Kaw): 3. J.D. Myerscough (Han); 4. Tommy Scranton (Hon); 5. Dean Price (Kaw). VIN EX: 1. David Fisher (Suz): 2. Steven Furman (CZ); 3. G.ry Cass (Td): 4. Laridn W;ght (BMW): 5. Jim Peterson (Yam). VIN INT: 1. Keith Lynas (Mai); 2. Bryan Menne (Han): 3. Tony Boswell (Suz); 4. Eric Sedor (Han); 5. Craig Furman (Hus). VIN NOV: 1. AI Nawacinski (Han); 2. Darrell Sedig (Mai): 3. George Hughes (Hus): 4. Tom Grimmel (Suz): 5. Howard Sutton (Hon). VIN BEG: 1. Ronnie Shimajo (Hus): 2. George Davis (Han): 3. Bill Crisologo (Hus); 4. Gary Coliman (Gre); 5. Frank Spitzer (Yam). 250 EX: I. Shane Watts (KTM): 2. Scott Myers (KTM); 3. M;ke Baker (V.m); 4. Ryan Dudek (Kaw); 5. Robert Naughton (Suz). 250 INT: I. M;cky Gdffin: 2. Todd Gould (Suz); 3. Mike Webb (Suz); 4. Josh Edwards (Yam); 5. Gordon Keller (Yam). 250 NOV: 1. Jeff Roehm (Yam): 2. Tony Walters (Vam); 3. Che Sm;th (Y.m): 4. Tom Evans (Yam): 5. Doug Butcher (Yam). 250 BEG: 1. Travis Peterson (Yam); 2. Timothy Muto (Yam); 3. Mike Quidani (Kaw); 4. James Hill (Vam): 5. James Standard (Vam). . LEGENDS: I. Scot Harden (KTM); 2. Keith Fearing; 3. Bruce McDougal (Hon); 4. Francis Norman; 5. Bryan Menne. OPEN EX: I. Shane Watts (KTM); 2. Steve Hatch (Suz): 3. Matthew Pursley (Hon); 4. Rodney Smith (Suz); 5. Fred B;rd (V.m). . OPEN INT: 1. wm Mund (KTM); 2. Tim Marsh (Yam); 3. Tony Fox (Yam); 4. Gary Ginther (Hon); 5. Andy DO< (Hon). OPEN NOV: 1. Robert Werschey (Yam); 2. Donnie Totlli (KTM); 3. Robert Bucy (Hon); 4. Dan Krattiger (Hon); 5. Donnie Bales (Yam). ...,., e n e _ s NOVEMBER 28, 2001 21

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