Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Adele,.,to, CA . Febi'Usry 5~6, 2000 District 37 Big Six Grand Prix Series Round 1 : Adelanto Grand Prix (Left) American Honda's Johnny Campbell (left) outdragged Larry Roeseler (right) and nearty everyone else he competed against at the 20th annual Adelanto Grand Prix. Campbell entered four here are few races in the United States that equal the fanfare and entry list of the Adelanto Grand Prix. Not only does the amount of entries exceed the 2000 mark, many of America's off-road elite line the pavement of Bartlett Street several times throughout the weekend to do battle on the approximately 14-mile Adelanto course, which consists of dirt and pavement roads, virgin desert and a lengthy motocross track. In all, there are 13 events, starting with Saturday's 8 a.m. Unclassified race and ending with Sunday's 2:15 p.m. Open race. The year 2000 marked the event's 20th annual running, and every year more sponsors are gained and the purse for Saturday's Pro race gets larger. Five major motorcycle manu- facturers all signed up to back the event, helping this year's Pro purse bulge to a guaranteed S10,000, plus 100-percent payback for the overall winner, class winners and even for some competitors finishing as far back as third in their respective Pro classes. Some years at the Adelanto Grand Prix, it's hard to decide who really came away as the most successful rider throughout the weekend. Is it the guy who wins the most 45-minute races throughout the two-day event, or is it the guy who wins the 90minute Pro race? Sometimes that person is one and the same, and it's an easy call. That was the case this year, as American Honda's Johnny Campbell entered four races and won T 14 FEBRUARY 23. 2000' cue • e n e _ s weekend. Abbott was looking to start the day off with a win aboard his KX500. "His Honda was running really good, but my KX500 was running just as fast," Abbott said of pursuit of Campbell on the first lap. "We were hanging together on the roads." As it turns out, Abbott was the only non-Honda XR650 rider to hang with Campbell all weekend, but things weren't going as perfect for the rest of the Red Riders, including Steve Hengeveld, who started the Unclassified race on a stock version of Campbell's XR650. classes and "It was so dusty that once those won three of first two guys hit the dirt, everybody them, else was on the brakes," Hengeveld including said. "You couldn't see nothing. Saturday's Pro race. There was pink ribbon tied around Joshua trees that you couldn't see until it was two feet in front of you." The first two guys to exit the pavement starting strip were indeed Campbell and Abbott, but they, too, had to deal with dusty and dangerous conditions as lapped traffic and Adelanto in general came into the Unclassified race equation. "He [Abbott] actually passed me out on the first pavement ~..;;=:::::x section," Campbell said. "He out-broke me at the end. An oncoming car was coming the other way, just like in Mexico. I backed off, and he passed me. Then I got him back before we got into the back section. That was really dusty. I led all the way until we got into the motocross track, and he started pulling some (Above) Team Green's Destry Abbott put time on me. We went back out into the hurt on the competition by claiming the desert, and he got me out there. wins in the Unclassified and 125cc races. Then we got into bad lapped traffic, and it was so dusty you just couldn't see anything. It was like riding blind." The dust was so bad on the third and final lap that Abbott, who was indeed leading, thought that Campbell had somehow passed him back, but as the KX500 passed through the finish chute, the checkered flag came out. "We got into this last part where it's really dusty out there and silty," Abbott said. "It's pretty dangerous. I three of them, one of which was Satactually thought Johnny might have urday's Pro race. gotten by me because I couldn't see All six of the District 37 Big Six where I was going, but when I came Grand Prix events are timed from the in I still won it. I guess they're going split second that each row starts, to change the course out there meaning a rider in the back row can because a lot of guys were really actually overall the race if his race complaining. If not, someone is going time is faster than a rider in the front to get hurt bad." row. They also all start out with an CR500-mounted Todd Hoy, Unclassified race that some use as a KDX200-mounted Kurt Caselli and practice session to view the track, Hengeveld survived the dusty condiand others as a potential feather in tions and rounded out the top five. their cap. XR650-mounted Campbell The hosting club, Desert Vipers definitely started out the weekend in M.e., did shave about two miles off race mode, as he headed the huge the original course, diverting riders pack right from the get go. Campbell, down dirt roads instead of the chalky however, was not alone as Team desert section that was the cause of Green's Destry Abbott made it known so many crashes during the Unclassithat he, too, was not just looking to fied race. scout out hot lines for the rest of the

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