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Wiseco 12 Hours of Glen Helen Glen Helen Raceway Park Rick Daniels fell and knocked himself out but still got back on the bike and finished fourth In the lronman class. STORY AND PHOTOS BY KIT PALMER SAN BERNARDINO, CA, JUNE 26 hose who thought the inaugural 12 Hours of Glen Helen would be just a shorter and easier version of Glen Helen's 24-hour race were in for a big surprise. They were correct in that the race was, of course, shorter, but perhaps they weren't quite prepared for just how physically tough the race would be. A shorter 6.5-mile course (compared to last year's 9-mile 24-Hour course), much warmer conditions, and fewer team members added up to plenty of tired and sore bodies at the end of the 12-hour race. But for the four-rider team of Lee Bacon, Philip Zeigler, Jim Salazar and Fred Willert, the postrace aches and pains were far easier to accept after squeaking out the win following 12 hours of some pretty intense racing. This was Glen Helen's first attempt at hosting a 12-hour race, a logical addition to the facility's already-popular six-hour and 24-hour events, and it appeared to be a success, with 52 teams signing up to do battle. The course fully utilized Glen Helen's main track (including the Mount St. Helen uphill and downhill), the REM track, a supercross track, and some of the single- and two-track dirt roads that border the facility . For the most part, the 12-Hour utilizes the same basic format and rules as the six- and 24-hour races: Each team is allowed four riders (three for the six-hour and six for the 24-hour) and one backup bike, and the team that busts out the most laps before anyone else wins. Keeping track of the leaders throughout the day was a challenge in itself, as none of the top teams got through the day unscathed. The Mark Tilley team (Tilley, Eric McKenna, Scott Meyers and Ron Wilson) was one of those teams. They led early on and eventually had to change over to their backup bike, a Honda XR650R, when their CRF450R started acting up. The team was still in the hunt 50 JULv17,2002' e y e I • when one of its riders was caught lopping off a small section of the track. The team opted not to challenge the allegation, since the rider in question nearly ran over a race official who witnessed the infraction - case closed. As a result, the Tilley team was docked one lap. And things didn't go any better for them when McKenna crashed hard enough to call it a day. The two-man team of Ryan Dudek and Joey Lanza was also in the running. They were reported to have passed the Tilley team on the first lap and were leading well into the race when Lanza crashed their KTM. He went down hard, hit his head, and later said that he didn't remember falling. The crash put a premature end to his day, and Dudek was left to pick up the slack. From the halfway point on, Dudek was forced to man their KTM ship all alone. Another top team that went down in flames was the Willy Musgrave/ Gary Jones/Fred Conover/Andy Jefferson team; they believe that at one point they were running as high as second or third early in the race. They eventually ran into nothing but problems; and they always seemed to experience those problems when the unlucky Conover was on the bike. He suffered two flat tires, had a spark plug back out on him, and he took a lap around the track on a backup bike before realizing that it wasn't his team's backup bike that he was on; instead, it was another team's bike that he had mistakenly grabbed out of the impound area, where the backup bikes are kept during the race. Later on, the team was knocked out of the race for good when their backup bike seized. The race for the overall win eventually boiled down to a five-team battle to the finish. Tilley's team had managed to stay in the running and had actually clicked off the most laps, at 57, but the one-lap penalty put the total back to 56 laps - putting them even with five other teams. As a neVIl's result, they ended up finishing second (but still got the 250cc Expert-class win) behind the winning Yamaha team of Bacon, Ziegler, Salazar and Willert. Third place went to the Vet Expertclass winners, Mike Jansen, Quint Betts and Abe Bauman, while fourth overall went to Broc Dougherty, Kenny Miller and Bryce Oxley. Rounding out the top five overall was the duo of Dudek and Lanza. The other two teams that managed to finish on the same lap as the winners were the Chris Barrett/Jeff Trulove/Joel Nelson/Fred Hatch squad and the Craig McCall/ Earl Desiderio/Brian Cunningham team, finishing in sixth and seventh, respectively. Believe it or not, 10 riders signed up for the lronman class. KTMmounted Rick Daniels was in contention for the win until he crashed a few hours into the race, knocking himself out for a short time. He somehow managed to get back on the bike and finish out the race, compiling 34 laps, which was just six laps less than what the first- and second-place riders, Mike Rusiewski and Scott Parks, dished out. Rusiewski was credited with the Iron manclass win, while Parks took second. Third place went to Tony Underwood, who managed to carve out 36 laps. Next year, Glen Helen plans to again host the 12-Hour, but will combine the Six-Hour, 12-Hour and 24-Hour events into a three-race series to decide an overall Endurance Series Champion. I:N 61.n H.IIIII lIKnray Parll San .........ilIo, C81iforD18 llaalts: J•• 21, 211112 O/A: 1. Lee Bacon/Philip Zeigler/Jim Salazar/Fred Willert; 2. Merk Tilley/Eric McKennlll/Scott Meyers/Ron Wilson; 3. Mike Jensen/Quint Betts/Abe Baumann; 4. Broe Daugherty/Kenny Miller/Bryce Oxley; 5. Ryen Dudek/Joey l.llnze. 125-250 EX: 1. Lee Bacon/Philip Zeiger/Jim Salazar/Fred Willert; 2. Ryan Dudek/Joey LDnze; 3. Chris Berrett/Jeff Trulove/Joel Nelson/Fred Hetch; 4. Ron UJwson/Gregory Jones/Denise Boulwere/Bruce Hendel (Yom). 251 EX: 1. Merk Tilley/Eric McKenne/Scott Meyers/Ron Wilson; 2. Broc Deugherty/Kenny Miller/Bryce Oxley; 3. Jeson Higgins/Erik Wolfe/Chuck McBurney/Dennis GeJlegher; 4. Todd Gould/Jeff Phillips/Glenn Taylor/Jeff Sheet; 5. Chilly Whiterrrevis Uvingston/Enzo Pelhem/Jeff Perks. VET EX: 1. Mike Jensen/Quint Betts/Abe Bauman; 2. Crelg McCall/Eeri Desiderio/Brian Cunningham; 3. Doug Yarnell/David McCord/Pete Vetrano (TM). 125·250 SPTSMN: 1. Josh Thompson/Steve Fry/Kevin Hesten; 2. Trevis Bell/Jason Ucitra/Lee Marshall; 3. Erik Henson/Don Kelly/Lutie BoYk/l.ou Boyk; 4. Jason Daniels/Ryan CoxlRon Irby/Marcus Shay; 5. Pete Howland/Kevin Davis/Bred Davis. 251 SPTSMN: 1. Jason Lindstrom/Brian Pinard/Gertet Judge; 2. Ben Crawford/John Roof; 3. Todd Jackson/Mark Ault/Craig Sedlack; 4. Brad Oxley/Joe Johnson/Cody Stuart/Colton Hall; 5. Jake Gribbon/David Clayton/Gary Gribbon/Phouch Pungrvakearti. VET SPTSMN: I. Mike Allsup/Malt Breyer/Tim Clerk/Craig Scerborough (Yam); 2. David Herbrandson/Mike Lewis/Jerry Herling/Ched Houck; 3. Kenny Costenza/Gary Dunnevent/Vince Von/Rob Collins; 4. Micheel Mertinez/John Keefer/ Jeff Allen; 5. Rey Lackyard/Keith Mitiermeier/Ooug Forsyth. SR SPTSMN: 1. Gary Scheidler/Dave Stephens/Ken Ehlers/JeH Newman: 2. Roy Guilbean/William Banuelos/Steve Dillion. BUSINESS: 1. Kit Palmer/Chris Jonnum/Rod Hipwell/Ron Lawson (Hon); 2. Peul Carruthers/Bleke Conner/Jeff Hein/U1nce McRoberts (Yam); 3. Carlos Deharo/Terry Berry/Eddie Carlson/Ken Morgem. IRONMAN: 1. Scott Parks; 2. Mike Rusiewskl; 3. Tony Underwood; 4. Rick Daniels; 5. Kevin Sanford. SR EX; 1. Willy Musgreve/Gary Jones/Fred Conover/Andrew Jefferson. More than 40 teams were still going at the finish, including the Todd Jackson· team bike.