Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Parts Unlimited Off-Road Championship Series Round 4: Spring Creek MX Park Charlie Deutscher (2) and Jeff Fredette (1) chat before the start of the Spring Creek GP100. Deutscher rode strong and eamed the win, which even surprised him. Fredette pulled off because of heat exhaustion and then rode the final lap so as to not DNF. STORY AND PHOTOS BY STEVE BERKNER MILLVIllE, MN, JOLY 21 . . n exhausted Charlie Deutscher seemed to be a little confused after crossing the finish line. When announcer/race promoter Bill Gusse put the microphone up to the 19year-old's face and asked him, "How's it feel to win the Pirelli Spring Creek GP1 OO?" Deutscher replied, "I won?" "Yes, young man, you took the overall! How's that make you feel?" Gusse asked again. "I guess I'm speechless, 1thought I was running second." Deutscher was indeed correct that he was running second behind Husaberg's Matt Stavish, who held a commanding two-minute lead through the first three laps of the fivelap race, but he didn't realize that Stavish began suffering through a string of late-race problems and he passed the struggling rider. Deutscher said, '" don't even remember passing Stavish [which actually occurred halfway through lap four]. The last two times I came through the pits, my pit board said 'plus two minutes,' so I figured that's how far 1 was ahead of [Kyle] Nelson [who was running in third]." Instead, that 'plus two minutes' meant the difference that the Husqvarna 125cc rider held for the lead. Deutscher eventually took the checkered flag with an elapsed time of 2:32.52. Nelson, riding a KTM, finished second, with a time of 2:36.36, followed by Suzuki-mounted David Stickel (2:26.50), and Gas Gas riders Dylan Debel (2:27.25) and John Strangfeld (2:29.50). "I thought catching Stavish was out of the question," Deutscher said. "For the first three laps, my pit board showed that I was losing time to him, so my strategy was just to hold on to second place and conserve energy." And that strategy worked. Stavish, who led the first three laps rather comfortably, recalled how his day went from first to worst, as the heat and humidity ended up taking its toll on the Husaberg rider. "Riding alone out front, I knew I had to be careful and not outpace myself," Stavish said. "The extreme heat was obviously going to be the biggest factor. For the first three laps, I just cruised along at a pace that I thought would conserve energy. Then I came into the pits for a gas [while holding on to a two-minute lead on Deutscher] and the bike stalled, and we had trouble getting it started. P 50 AuGUST 7,2002' cue •• The 19-year-old off-roader beats the heat land everyone else) ~. Nelson capitalized on other riders' misfortunes to finish a strong second. n_""s Eventually, we got it going." But not until Deutscher had gone by and opened up a one-minute lead. Stavish, riding an electric-start 470 'Berg, added, "I guess I rode a little too aggressive over the next few miles [which was made up of the tightest sections of 9.5-mile course] trying to put a little more time on Deutscher. I stalled the bike maybe four or five times; before you knew it, the battery was dead and I had to use the kickstarter." And that's what put Stavish over edge. "I just used too much energy kickstarting the bike, and from there I just picked a slower trail pace trying to recover," he said. "Eventually, 1had a hard time just focusing my eyes. Trying to cool down, 1 just pulled off to the side and doused myself with the water from my Camelbak. , rode .another couple of miles but I knew my body had had enough." Somehow, Deutscher managed to survive the steamy conditions. "Normally, the heat doesn't bother me too much, but here I was sweating to death right from the start," Deutscher said. "The woods sections were very technical and very hot. I'm used to running in survival mode, especially in Gusse's races, and my riding style works best when you can't afford to make any mistakes. Here you had to pace yourself to deal with the heat, not necessarily the obstacles. " Deutscher added that he didn't know he had passed Stavish when his bike stalled the first time. "I must have passed Stavish right after the start of the fourth lap," Deutscher said. "I came up on a rider who just pulled over and let me by. At the time I thought he was a lapper. I honestly never knew I was leading until after I crossed the finish line. Good thing, I probably would have made some kind of major mistake." Nelson, who finished second, said, "When I went by Stavish, I was surprised to see him riding so slow on the trail. I knew it must have been heat related. I yelled a couple of words of encouragement to him, but you could see he was spent. "The heat was the biggest factor here," Nelson added. "Usually, it doesn't bother me too much, but here it was like riding in a furnace. Matt's a smart rider, and when you see him on

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