Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

HYR 6 Hours of Glen Helen Glen Helen Raceway Park Remember the Tortoise and the Hare? By JOHN BETHEA SAN BERNARDINO, CA, MAR. 14 S o me how, Ty Renshaw alwaY' seems to be in the th ick of it when it co mes to endurance raci ng at Glen Hel en , and th e e ighth ann ual HYR 6 Hours was no ex ception . Two years ago , as an Inte rmediate, he teamed with veteran C raig Canoy to pull out the overall triumph. Last year, having turned Pro and raci ng for the Bierman Racing Team , he shared throttle du ties with another veteran, Willy Musgrave , but a miscu e - they ran o ut of gas - cost them t he win by less than a minute to the factory KTM tandem of Joey Lanza and Brett Hard in. A dispute be tw ee n BRT and race officials after last year 's 24 · Ho ur event resu lte d in Bierman not fielding a team for 2004, so this year Renshaw too k the privateer road and linked up w ith B.J. Daugherty to contest the 250cc Expert class at this event. When they immediately took ea rly control, with Renshaw tak ing the initial ride , it was apparent he was de termined to reclaim the ove rall title, as he went he ad to head with Suzu ki-mounted jeff Willow, a 27-year-old from Moreno Valley w ho was teamed with j.R. Mason . After swapp ing the lead seve ra l t imes , Renshaw 's fam iliarity wit h Gle n Helen helped h im take the point . Meanw hile, t he Open Expert tea m of Kendall Norman and Quin n C ody m o ve d int o th ird and was ready to moun t a challenge . Endurance rac es are not wo n in th e ea rly stages. As the 6-m ile course was a bit shorter t han in past cam paign s, la p t imes hovered under I I minutes. " I don't like riding long races o n a short track," Renshaw said , explaining that it ma de th e m see m lo nger. But , when they made their first gas sto p after only four lap s, they discovered how long the ir day was really going to be . The qu ick-fill r e fue ling system d id n't fit their smaller gas ta n k's mouth , and they w e r e fru strating ly re d uced to refuel ing by th e time-consuming gas -can procedure . The demoralizing first stop dropped them to fifth place, and when Norman tu rned the Hon da over to Cody one lap late r, Daugherty co uld only climb back to second place. Then they d iscove red t he ir second drawback: They'd be pitting every fou r laps, w hile the Open machines could go five between fill-up s. Less than an hour in t o the race , the Renshaw/Daugherty team already appeared to be the hares in the fable o f "The Tortoise and the Hare": They'd pit , lose the lead to Norman & Cody, scramble to ta ke it back, only to pit and repeat the cycle ove r and over again. Meanwhile. the enduranc e race had qUickly settled into a ca lmer rout ine . The Hondamou nted Op e n Ex pert tea m of Brett Daugherty. Kenny Miller and Mike Healey had climbed to a solid t hird, dropping W illow & Mason to fourth. Open Expe rt s Kris Nelson, Ryan Abbatoye & Nick Burson were ru nning fifth o verall , but they bega n to fade ne ar th e two -ho ur ma rk and soon dropped ou t of the fray wh en Abbatoye crashed and "tweaked the bike all over." Near the end of the event, on ly the top four re mained o n the lead lap. Then, w ith only about 45 mi nutes t o go, an u ph ill jam sh ut down the tra ck co ming out of Bud's Creek for nea rl y four m inutes . No rman & Cody had alread y completed th e ir sixt h (a nd final) pit stop, and they took the lead w hen Daugherty gave the bike back to Re nshaw w ith two laps to go. (It was the smaller bike 's eighth pit of King of Sa nd Hill Fou r- Stroke-Onl y Minib ike Races Race 2/MX: Sand Hill Ranch The Mini-Cross By RENEE ROBERGE-ANDERSON BRENTWOOD, CA, MAR. 14 There was more perfect spring weathe r in I store as the ride rs geared up for day two of the King of Sand Hill Four-Stroke-Only Minibike Races at Sand Hill Ranch in Brentwood, Ca lifor nia. Sand Hill track directo r and eve nt promoter Phil Anderson built a special "m inicros s" course spec ificallyfo r th is eve nt. Factory Suzuki's Rodney Smith had as big a grin on his face going over the jumps and railing the be rms as did 4-year-old Gavin Tomberlin o f Half Moon Bay, riding his Honda XR50. "Riding in an eve nt like this means more to me t han you know," commented Smith after the races. The crowd -please r o f the day was the 50cc Modified Ope n/Advanced class. Mike Northrop, r iding fo r Fast 50s o n his Ho nda , w on both mo tos eas ily. G etting t he hol e s ho t in both motos, Northrop pulled away from the pack. Then , s ecu r e wi th h is co m fortable lea d , he proceeded to p ut o n a big-a ir show for t he spectators. The fight fo r second was a real battl e between closely matched josh Fittro , on th e DPMmx.co m/Scott/H RP Ho nda, and Mike james , r iding t he 50 Nutz Honda. T he two passed each other back and forth o n each of the 10 la ps o f both motos. In moto o ne , James prevailed for second place , but in mota two Fittro got sec o nd , giving him second for the day. After so me great racing in all the classes , the riders , with smiles on the ir faces , headed to the sponsors' product raffle for day two. Just before the ra ffle , t he awards ce r emo ny was he ld . Eve ry kid 10 and under received a trophy, and At this year's HYR 6 Hours of Glen Helen, 251 eelOpen Expert riders Kendoll Normon & Qu inn Cody were the overa ll winne rs . the race.) There was just too much ground to make up , and Renshaw w as resolved to finish second , less than a m inute back at the checkers . "We came up short - that's all you have to write ," Renshaw commented. "We won our class. Th at was good." As for Norman & C ody, they had to be happy to have proved once again that smooth and steady can still win the race . CN GLEN H ELEN RACEWAY PARK SAN BERNARDINO, C A U FO RN IA R ESULT MARCH 14 , 2004 S: O/A : (l4 Iap» I. Kendall Notnw\IOum Cody (Han ): 2. Ty Renshaw/B.j . Daughe rty (Kaw ); 1. Jeff Willow/J.R. Mason (Suz); ... Brett DaugherTy/KerYly MillerlMike Healey (Ho n); (ll laps ) S. Doug Hei V Jon Ortner/Kurt Sofka. Jr. (Hon ); 6. jeff i

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