Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

BRIEFLY••• Thumper Racing was on hand with a Suzuki D R5 01 that was ridden by Ron Lawson for an upcoming magazine test. Gary Hazel. owner of Thumper, said his company had stroked a 480cc motor and performed some in-house suspension mod ificat ions . A total of nine differe nt grass track s and terrain tests were laid out across the Harris Ranch. Club members Archie Taliaferro and Brian Storrie (a former ISDE Junior-team rider) were primarily responsible for the course layout. Ea test was well-marked and - safe.- and the trail ch p.ace was kept at a reasonable spee d to allow riders so me time to cool o ff . Trailriders of Houston member Chris Hardy was on hand as a volunteer course worker and as the AMA Representative. Many know Hardy as a Team USA supporter at many ISDE eve nts . Kirk Simmons, owner of EventScoring. was on hand WIth his very accurate bar -code scori ng system. Scores were postedpromptly, and each test scorecan be seen at www.eventscoring.com. After beating themselves up in the heat. several club members and participants headed off to nearby Dallas to catch the K i d Rock /Metallica c oncert held at Texas Stadium. sync with t he T ex as su n . Paul Kra use Luca Trussardi put h is TM int o second place i n the 12 5 c c c lass. w as keep in g the pa ce on h is WR 4 00 . Th e M ontcl air Ya ma ha /M S R/ F M F / Race T e c h /B r i d g e st o n e /T subak i / Ace r bis/G o at /FE.L Fu el s/ IM S - sp on - some ti me in t h e m o re o pe n g ra ss t racks ," sa id Ho ess, wh o sat 20 sec o nd s in ba ck o f T ru ssardi. so red Krau se was p rep ar ing for t he Neva da 200 0 . " I hit t h e w a ll," sa id K raus e , " b u t a t le a st I' ll ha ve a bit OAYTWO t or y Connection /White B rothers / MS R-backed Haw k in s. W hile Hawki ns and K T M /Moose / End uro En g in e er in g - sp onsored Lafferty w ere b attl in g for p o ints , t h e A ussi e stayed wi thin st r ik ing d istan c e o f th e en d uro pair. After fou r tim ed test s, Ha wki ns held a se ve n -seco n d l e a d o ve r L affe r t y , W a tt s , a n d I ta l i an TM r i d e r L u c a T r ussardi. Bei ng on ro w o ne d id no t seem to slow Trussard i do wn at all. His t rac k s w ere u su al l y th e f irst throu gh th e t est s , ye t h e st il l kep t h is T M 12 5 pinn ed and was wit h in one sec ond of w in ni n g a d ay -o ne test . W h en a ske d a second th at my da y was o ver until I saw what h ad happened and was ab le to re p air it without lo si ng any route points, " sa id th e Yamaha r id er. As im pou nd si g naled the end o f the firs t d ay , Ha wk in s ended u p wi n ni ng day o ne , ca r ryi ng a nin e - sec on d adva nta g e over W att s, L aff ert y , T ru ssard i , an d B rian Garrah an . KTM -m ou nt ed and M ax x is/Moti on Pro / WER/Fo x / M ax im a/ FM F / N o to i l/ 1 OO%/ RK- su p porte d G arra h an h ad a b ig c rash in a t erra i n test th at cos t him the 125c c Let t er of In t ent -cl a ss lea d to Trussardi. " I made a p oint t o ab out h is ex pe r ience in T ex as , Lu c a t ype thing ," th e fa st Ca liforn ian st at ed . re p lied - i n r are Ita li an u nd ersta t e ment - " Ho tl" Aft er a secon d t im e throu gh eac h t e st , Haw ki n s co n t i n ue d hi s d omi nan c e by wi nni ng thre e of th e fou r remai n ing t ests, w ith Watts snagging t h e o t her. In a n o n -t im ed " p re -r id e" th rough a terra in test, Hawk ins had a chain de rail m ent that sent v isions o f D NFs th rou gh h is h ead. "I th oug ht fo r miss o ne t ree an d did n 't see th e ot he r Keeping th e 125cc cl as s interest i n g was IS DE v ete ran Fred Hoess . Husqvarna /WER / Answer/ Sc o tt/ Ara i/ Du nlop / Fre de tte Rac ing/Pierce Prod u c t s / S p e c t r o -b a c k ed Ho ess h ad so me d eb r is in h is c ar b u ret or, caus ing s o m e lost th rottl e r e sp on s e . " Som e sand or so m et h ing felt like it wa s i n th e m a i n j e t , an d c ost m e m ore o f a br eez e [ at le ast 5 0 m p h This day st art ed at 7 :00 a.rn., as t he fi rst had, and included some new terrain t ests and grass tra cks, incl uding a tight and twisty grass t ra ck that m or el in Nev a d a [ f or th e N eva da 2000] . Th e RRDR h a v e done an excellent job wi t h the course con sid er ing the d at e that they had to w ork lay half a m ile fro m th e start. Wi t h Hawkins and W atts trading fas t t imes with. " K TM -mou nt ed W a t t s b ega n t o sho w hi s versatility by chi p pi ng in t o ea rly o n , so me other ISD E hopeful s were m a k i n g a p us h on d a y t w o . Texa n L ynn B ai l e y , w ith h e lp fro m Hawk ins ' day -o ne lea d, and a terr ain t e s t t i me 2 0 seco n ds better th an Ly le Lo vet t Mo torsp o rt s/KT M / M o o se/ Pro Cl ean , was " t ry ing to stay on th e ev ery o ne else's t u rned so m e heads. Lo st in al l th e sh uffle on d ay two was fi rst page," t hough some b ou t s w it h some ba rb ed w ir e k ep t t hi ngs in te r- L a ff ert y . Alrea dy ha mpered w it h th e stom a ch flu , L afferty 's condit io n wa s es ti ng . "You r ide on a ranch in T ex as, and b ar b ed wi re is a preval en t d an ge r , n o t on ly o n f e nce s , b u t al so sc r ap s t hat are o n t h e gro und ," h e n ot a id ed by the i nten se hea t , nor were h is sp irits. " I wa s j us t try ing to fi n ish ," he confessed. Th e l ig htwe ig h t four - st ro ke c la ss ex p lain ed . T eam Green m ember Kurt C ase lli, b a cked by Answe r , FMF, CTi , Scott, IM S, GPR , Sil k ol en e and Ra c e T ech , co m p le m e n te d th e h o st cl u b on a g r eat c o u r s e and show ed that his w a s led w ire - to -w i r e b y n on e othe r than long -time v ete ran Cu rt W ilcox. T h e XR250 r ider had a successful weekend , sa yi ng , "T he h eat w as cer ta in ly a facto r , but the club did a fa bulous j o b of h av ing plenty of water 125cc W est Coast number one p lat e availab le and a trail pa c e that was is n o accident. Wh ile th e two -st ro k es w er e c uttin g lin es th r ou gh t h e t e st s , th e f our st r o k e classes were h e a t i n g up i n forgiving ." Meanwh il e , d a y t wo b elong ed to Watts . Lo ok in g effo rtless d u r in g th e grass-trac k t est s, t he KTM p il ot k ept i nc h i ng aw ay fro m the fi e ld wi t h a r!ll!JD@ fJr;s U@G!J[? @@@]@]wF se c o n d or t w o h er e a nd there . Six tests la ter, W atts emerged as t he daytw o an d co mbined wi n ne r wit h 3 4 s econds to spa r e . " T h e heat w a s rough , but I'm happy wi t h m y KTM an d th e results ," sa id Watts . eN Act ually , that's a good questio n, since a full five days after the event, it still hadn't been officia lly determi ned whether or not Mike Lafferty ( pictured) had clinched the 2000 AMA jFMF Nat ional Enduro title. Most people's unofficial tabulations had the KTM rider clinching his third championship, but with "throw-away" rides confusing the issue, no one from KTM wanted to put their neck on the line by making the announcement. As for the AMA, when contacted on Friday, J uly 14; a representative said that official results had still not been received from the promoting club, so points standings could not be figured out. When conta cte d by phone on the 14th , Lafferty said that he hoped he had clinched it. Still , the New Jersey native had over-heated at the event, and his primary concern was with his health. At any rate, only one round remains in the series, and if Lafferty hasn't yet reclaimed his title, chances are very good he will do so come midSeptember. RROR Two-Day Muenster, Te .as Results: July 8-9, 2UUU O/ A : 1. Shane Watt s (KTM ); 2. Randy Hawk ins (Yam) ; 3. Fred Hoess (Hus) ; 4 . Luca Trusserdi (TM ); 5 . Brian Gar rah an (KTM); 6 . Patrick Garr ahan (KTM); 7. Kurt Caselli (Kew) : 8. Rona ld Sc hme lze (Yam): 9. Craig Holasek (Hus}: 10. Mik e Laffert y ( KTM ); It. Rodney Judson (G-G); 12. Rich Lafferty (KTM) ; 13. Matt Sta vish (G-G); 14 . Mark Fa ulk (Hon); 15. Mark Stevens (Kaw ); 16. Alex McE ly ea (TM ); 17. Nolan K nigh t (G -G); 18 . L yn n Ba ney ( KTM ) ; Ig . ra ul Kra use (Ya m ); 20 . Cody Potts (Kaw). Upcoming Rounds: Final Round - Wolverine, Michigan. September 17 c ue I e n e _ S • JULY 26 , 2000 53

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