Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Best in the Desert Off-Road Series Round 2: Adelanto Gra al"rix 8111ck_ ... cao.t abowed th8t he stili knows how to lJO fut. leaders and handed the 250cc machine over to Lanza, and they were fast rider, and I think we're going to hold them off and hopefully win this thing ... dominating the class, as was Healey, who was teamed with off-road grand prix standout R.J. Thompson. Two laps later, as the leaders remained in the same order, Davis remounted his machine to try to make a charge on the leading KX500, and Esposito pitted as well on the following lap, handing the bike back over to Abbott, who seemed to be pleased with the way Esposito was On the next lap, Davis finally pitted and handed his YZ426F over to Russ Pearson, who promptly stalled the machine in the pits but restarted it with one kick. "[The course) is crap," Davis said. "The quads [which had just raced] have totally destroyed the whole course. You get behind some of those lapped riders and in their dust, and you can't pin it." The late pit by the Davis/Pearson team allowed Esposito to stretch his lead out considerably. And still following Pearson was the XR650R of Hengeveld/Campbell and the KX500 of Brown and his teammate. Breker had pitted around the same lap as the riding. "It was actually nice," Abbott said later. "Shane gave us a nice lead, so I just went out there and backed it down a little bit to make sure I didn't wad it up. I felt good knowing that Shane put all that time on them. He just rode awesome today. I tried to give him just a little bit of a lead, and he just went with it. He rode really good." Not a whole lot happened after that, as Davis tried his best to chase Abbott down, but Abbott just kept it smooth and consistent and took the checkered flag by about 30 seconds over Davis. Another couple of minutes later, the Campbell/Hengeveld team finished third, and about another minute later, Brown's team finished fourth, with fifth-placed Cooper lucky not to go a lap down to the KX500 juggemaut. "There was no problems," Esposito said. "Destry gave me the bike in the lead, so I rode with it. I probably took a couple chances with lappers that I shouldn't have, but I knew the There's nothing like the w1de-open dash down a cit)' street at the start to get spectators out of their lawn chairs. more I got between me and Ty and Russ, the better it'd help us out. So I did take some chances I shouldn't have - other than that, I had no problems, and everything worked well." "There was just dust, and it got rougher and rougher," Pearson said. "We've got a first and a second now [in the series]. We ended up second There was more treachery to the Infamous water Jump than just the water. As this photo shows, one also had to worry about fallen riders (and the occasional Inattentive flagman). Women'. clan winner Kelly Yancey I. not only a fast female racer - she'. a fast racer, period. BRIEFLY••• We apologize for the facts that the race results are incomplete. but this is all that was available frem the club as we went to press. AMA Westem Four·Streke National 2001 runner·up Nathan Woods was on hand to compete at the Adelanto Grand Prix. Johnny Campbell had this to say of his injured friend and former riding partner Tim Staab: "He's making positive pregress in his rehabilitation. He's a long way from gelling to be normal. where he was. but the progress is positive.• Shane Esposito had a bloody nose after Saturday's $10.000 Pre race. When asked what happened, he said: "I know when I got behind some slower guys on the fast-speed stuff. I was getting hit [by reostJ. Thafs the only thing I can guess. Ifs when I didn't have a nose·piece. and something got in there." Goat Breker raced in the BITD Pro Team Race with Joey Lanza on Lanza's KTM 250. wearing black coveralls. leather work gloves. work boots and an open-faced helmet. Needless to say. Breker was still flying. Larry Roeseler. who has been dominant at the Adelanto Grand Prix in years past. was the Grand Marshal for this year's event. 58 MARCH 13, 2002' cue I e n • _ s

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