Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cycle News 2005 07 27

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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rocky sand wash right away," Norman's partner, Bell, said. "Steve caught up to me right there - that was right out of pit four, right at the end of the rock wash. Right after that was a silt bed, so he just blitzed it to get by me, because he knew it was there. As soon as he got by me, it was just fog. Icouldn't see a thing, so I dropped back there. Then in his dust, he slowly started pulling away from me. I tried to keep him in sight as long as possible, but I'm still getting used to how to read the terrain, read the arrows, not knowing where I'm going. But it was a fun day." Hengeveld su rprised many when he chose to stay on the bike instead of handing off to Campbell at pit four. It was, however, an option they'd both considered earlier. "We were planning on changing at pit four," Hengeveld said after day one, "but we also discussed that if everything was going good for me and I wanted to stay on, then I'd just stay on the bike. That way, I was already warmed up. "We didn't have to pass them physically, but I knew that once I did pass them, I could break away from his dust and start putting time on the rest of the field," Hengeveld added. "I think right now we have an almost six-minute overall lead on second. We're pretty happy with that." But he wasn't happy later that evening when, at the riders' meeting, he was informed that he'd been assessed a fIVeminute penalty for getting on the throttle too soon after one of the paved road crossing. This reduced his and Campbell's lead over Childress to just under two minutes. Bell and Norman held down third. Still, that didn't compare to the frustration felt at the Red Bull KrM camp. Chris Blais and Andy Grider also got hit with the same penalty for the same infraction at the same place. Instead of finishing the day second fastest, which would've earned them the second starting position for day two, the Michelin/MotorexlPrecision Concepts 690 LC4 Rally-mounted duo dropped to sixth for the day. The second Red Bull KrM pair of Marc Coma, the Spanish rally star that was making his U.S. debut, and Kellon Walch were fifth aboard their 525 MXC. They had run out of fuel in a 62-mile section, the longest of the race, and got passed by two bikes. Ironically, the same thing happened a few miles later to Team Green's David Pearson on the Pro Circuit/Dunlop/Moose KX500 that he shared with Shane Esposito, though it cost him very little time since he was able to refuel on the fly, via a bottle a fuel that he carried with him. They would claim fourth for the day. Day two, Hengeveld was first off the line at 5:30 a.m. With 331 miles on the schedule, it would be the longest day of the race. Starting and finishing in Tonopah (same as the final three days), this loop made a large clockwise circuit to the northwest of town. This time, Campbell got a tum at the controls, and the N I machine again ran away from the field, finishing in 5:55: 19 despite having an unplanned wheel change due to a flat rear tire. Childress again soloed strongly to second in 5:57:54. "I just kind of got into a pace that I knew at the end, where Steve and I would still be kind of close, but no one else would corne up and pass me," Childress said after day two. "In four of the sections, Steve was fastest. In four of the sections I was fastest, and in four of the sections Kendall was fastest. We're all right there in the ballpark, so it's just going to come down to who doesn't have any mistakes, I think." Bell and Norman again rode cleanly to finish third in a time of 6:00:36. They were followed by EspOSito and Pearson's KX, which made it to the finish despite having broken engine mounts. Blais and Grider finished behind the Coma,lWalch duo, with Open Experts Nick Fain and Josh Wilson separating the factory KrMs on their 10year-old Sierra Roofing/D IH/Moose CRSooR. Day three consisted of 323 miles in a counterclockwise loop southwest of Tonopah. Campbell and Hengeveld again started and finished in front, adding another couple minutes to their cumulative lead with a 5:29:33. Even a chunked tire and an unplanned wheel change didn't slow them down much. Esposito and Pearson took advantage of a mistake by Norman in the final miles to steal second for the day, followed by the Blais/Grider and BelVNorman teams. "I felt good," Norman said. "I was riding good. I got confused with the markers that the wind had blown, but I looked up the road and there was Espo [Esposito], so I hopped in behind him." As for Childress, he discovered that the clutch he'd replaced at the end of day two was faulty. "There was nothing wrong with it, we were just doing a little [preventative] maintenance," he said. "So I leave the start line, and it starts slipping right off the bat. I'm like, 'Oh man!' I kind of just took it easy to make sure it made it to pit one so I could change it. I got to pit one, and the thing was just smoking hot! Nobody could touch it." After finally replacing the clutch, Childress had his work cut out for him and managed to get back to sixth for the day, dropping him in the overall standings. With a relatively short I 19-mile sprint on the final day, no one expected much to change - and things didn't for the leaders and eventual winners, Campbell and Hengeveld. The same, however, could not be said for several of the other teams. Esposito and Pearson couldn't get their bike to start, Brief'Y··· The McMillin Nevada 1000 marked the first time in a Pro class for Paul Emerson and Gil Grieve, and the duo from Nevada rode steadily, avoiding major mishaps and ending up with the 40-Plus-c1ass win. Grieve admitted, "We weren't geared tall enough. We were a strong 10 miles an hour slow on the fast stuff, but we could make it up when we got up into the twisties. Anything that would slow the speed averages down we were able to gain ground on." For 18-year-old Ryan Hanna, the McMillin Nevada 1000 was his first-ever race, and he entered the Ironman Amateur class on his well-used KrM 625. Buoyed by a third-inclass finish on day one, he had an unpleasant day two, crashing and taking a DNF. So what caused the crash? He said that he was overcome by gas fumes from his own fuel tank and passed out while riding. which advanced Blais and Grider to second. But en route to the first pit, Grider hit a square-edged hole, swapped, hit a rock and went down hard at speed. He was able to remount and get the bike to Blais, who'd forge on to finish fifth for the day, but Grider went to the hospital to get treated for a lacerated elbow, a tweaked knee and shoulder, and other assorted injuries. Their Red Bull KrM teammates, Coma and Walch, had similar luck when their bike quit before the first pit, and Walch was unable to get it restarted. Of course, once they got it back to the main pits, the bike fired right up, though it did emanate a loud, ominous rattle from the bottom end. This put the BeIVNorman duo into second, despite the Childress bike passing them. On adjusted time, they knew they had room to spare. "Mikey caught us, which was fine, because he had a reason to push to try to catch the KrM," Bell said. '1\11 we wanted to do was finish second overall, and we were stoked!" Childress did indeed push hard enough to catch the KrM in the week's standings, finishing second for the day, even after hitting a rock and breaking his foot a couple miles from the finish. "It is broken," he said. "It's swollen up big and nasty, but we're on summer break now, so I'll be all right. We'll make it for the next one, no big deal." CN NEVADA 1000 TONOMH, NEVADA REsull5: JUlY 7-10, 2005 (ROUND 4) OVERAll: I. jo/vvly CampbeIIS<""" ~ (Hon) 17:27:00; 2- Robby IleIJKtophe.- 81a;s/Andy Gride<' (KTM) 18:02:44; 5. P.uA Eme<>ooVGiI ~ (ICTM) 19:!iO'5S; 6. Nkk FairV}osh Wolson (Hon) 20:01:31; 7. Nkk Daiey/Mil.oiIy/MiooVGH ~ (ICTM); 2. Owl.. 8amey/SaM! Pitts (AT!<). OPEN EX; I. Nkk Fa;nIJo'lesIRoben R. Watts (Hon); 3. ~ GraIlanVCumes E--., (ICTM); 3. !

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