Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128233
G len H ele n 24 Hours Allin A Day's Work B y J OH N B ETH EA PH OT OS BY M A RK K A RIYA SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPT. 6-7 rrn o r g et su r v i v a l of I!I t he fittest. Th is yea r's version of th e HYR 2 4 Hours o f Gl e n Helen wa s ju st a cas e of su r v iv al f o r r ac ers a n d p r o d u c e r s b oth . . . And, there was th e m att er of "The Hil l. " " T he cou rse is usua ll y 10 miles," said designer Ron Lawso n b ef ore t h e d ro p o f th e flag at 10 a.m . Sat urday , " b u t this yea r i t ' s o n ly about e i g ht. We d id n ' t g et t o us e the Sheriff' s track because th ey have so m e training ex erc i ses g oi n g on . And th e ba ck secti on [on privat e propert y ] i s g oing und er de v el opm ent , so th ey don't want us ba c k th ere." _ .~ T he result was some new , ':"-' . .~ t igh t rav ine sec t ions to make th e co u rse - len ge came o n Yamaha Mountain , a transitional po int that m ov ed th e racers from th e g round -le vel motocross tra ck t o th e hilltop fir e road th at em p tied o ut to th e GP back sec tion and th e Pavilion . The So uthern Ca liforn ia area h as been un d er a d rou gh t wa rning th is summer, and Glen Hel en has been hit hard wh en it comes to wateri ng. With th e t em peratur es all week near 100 , the hill section was dry and dusty. It was go ing to be g rueling, fo r sure , but hopes were high as the start neared. "Our strat egy is, we're go ing to run u p fro nt fro m th e beg i n ni ng , r i g ht from th e sta rt and stay in the ~ hunt," said Bob Bell of Precisio n Conc epts and o f t h e fac to ry Ho nda team ente red with r i d er s Johnny C am pb e ll , St e v e He ng e ve l d , Andy Grider and Spud Ty Davis a nchore d the 2 4 Hours fo r his Montclair Yamaha-backed, VZ450F-mounted team, They won by about two m inutes. W a lters . " W e hear d th e co ur se was go ing to be t ighter this yea r, so we decide d to run the lighter 4 50 instead o f t he 650 t o ma t c h w ha t ever yo ne else is run ning . We used the 450 in Laugh lin th is year wh en we won th e o verall - it's j ust a little bet ter bik e for th e rea ll y tight co ndi tio ns ." O ve r in the KTM pi ts , th e 525cc t eam of Joe y Lan za, Kurt Ca selli, Bri an Garra h an and B en Ha le wa s eage r. Lanza, o n th e winning tea m in both the 6 Hou rs and 12 Hours earlie r t his seaso n, anti c ip at ed an ove ral l c o m b in ed c ha m p io ns hi p. Wh en h e was told by race direct or Lor i Yarn ell on Friday n ight that all they needed to do was finis h to win the titl e, Lanz a grinned , '" t old her I'll str ap th e b ike on my back , and we'll walk it ac ros s if I have to! " The Bi erm an Racing Team , sitting se co nd in t h e thr ee -ra ce series po ints , had already fac ed its fir st crisis earlier when vet era ns Craig Davis Spud Wa lters made an appearance f or Honda on the Johnny Campbell/Steve Hengev eld/Andy Grider team, and they finished second overall. n e _ os