Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

¥ "In the valleys, I wasn 't rid in g as good as I could have been be c a u se Richardson and those guys we re re eling me in ," e xpl ai ned Abbott. "Da n [Richa rdson] actually passed me right he re at the p it, coming in. He wa s rid ing rea lly well. I thoug ht I m issed a check so I stopped, and he went by and they waved me on . I kept go ing and t he n pas sed h im o n a big hi ll about tw o m iles aft er the sta rt of the second loop." T h e seco nd loop was a 40 - mile j a unt tha t st a rte d o ut th ro u gh th e vast vo lca n ic ro c k of Lu cern e Valle y. W hi le runn in g in s e v e nth p la ce , Fo ur-Stroke class le a de r Andy Grider let the vo lc a nic roc k get th e best of him , as h e got off hard e no ugh t o k n o ck hims e lf s ill y . Ba u m ann stopp ed fo r th e d o wn e d rid er and t end e d to h im until a d di tio na l he lp was o n si t e, b ut not b ef ore 25 0c c c la s s le a d e r Eri k Griffi t h , Kr au s e , He n g e ve ld a nd a n u m b er of o t h er r id e rs mo ved ah ead of Ba uma n n . The good S a m ari tan re mount ed and m a de a grea t ef fo rt to make up th e positions he ha d los t while te nd ing to Gride r, wh o rode back to th e pits on his own , c a lling it a d a y. Ultimately, Ba um an n wo rke d his way t o nin t h p lace, passi n g Hen g e ve ld after t h e Hon d a rid er h ad a s pi ll of h is own that a lso let Kra u se by . "I go t out on the s econd loop a nd s ta rted p ulling a wa y un til there was reall y n o o ne behind m e , " s ai d He ngeve ld , wh o inhe rited th e Fo u rS t ro k e c lass le a d when Gr ide r dropped ou t. "I ca ug h t up to Capt a nd got in right behind h im , a nd th en I just ate m y lunch , Right a c ro ss a va lley, I dec ided to go down . I picked m y s e lf up, a n d ev e ry t hi n g wa s all twea ked o n m y bik e . I was just c ru isin g along , an d th en Paul [Kra u s e ] caught m e. At th at point , I jus t figured come in , get the bike in and get the Four-Stroke win." Ou t front , Abbott fina lly m an aged to put s ome time in between himself a nd Ric h a rdson , who - tha nks to a (Left) Pu ni shed early by a lon g, fa st bomb run, Ty Davis could push hi s four-stro k e Yamaha no hi gh e r than second place by race's end. (Right) Vet ri de r Dan Richardson wades t h ro ugh t he du st a nd sand to thi rd overall. He challenged for the win, but was held back by a sore knee. (Left) Wearing his numbe r-one plate for t he fi na l t im e, Brian Brown rounded out the top five. (Right) Shane Esposito, who will most likely contest the 500cc class next year, rode his new KX500 to fourth overall. so re kn ee inc u rre d p laying s occe r with his kid - fell s ubsta ntia lly off the pa c e , allowing Davis to move into the runner - up s p o t. Unfort u nat el y fo r Da vis , howeve r, it was too litt le to o late . "The y were real c rea t ive , but tha t Yamaha go ing ac ross tho s e va lleys wa s rea lly ha rd on m e ," s a id Da v is abo u t t he co urse a n d h is effort to ca tch Abbo tt. "It to o k e ve ryt h ing I ha d; from t hat va lley to th is valley . The y c ouldn' t come straight across they ha d to get in as much va lley as they cou ld. The second loop , it wasn 't extre m e ly to ugh. It wa s fun. It wasn 't too te c hn ic a l. Spu rts o f gnarly stuff and then back a cross a va lley ." Abbot t kept it togethe r in th e te c h nica l, gna rly and high -speed se ctio ns , desp ite the p re s su re from h is n e w attacker. "I s tarted pulling away , and I wa s fe elin g really good , bu t I look ed ba ck a nd sa w T y b a ck there ," sa id Ab bott, "s o I turned it up and rode a s hard as I could th e rest of the wa y. I ke pt m y dista nce fro m him ." Abbott , Da vis a nd Richa rd s on all crossed th e finis h line with in s trik ing dis ta nc e of o ne another, but a p proxi mate ly three m in ut e s sep ara ted th e p od ium fin is he rs fro m fourth -pl a c e fini sh e r Esp osito , wh o s w it c he d to a KX50 0 fo r the final round after wrap p ing up the 250cc Na tiona l c ha m p ions hip a ro und ea rlier . Brow n g ai ne d his s a n ity to fin ish fifth a hea d of Capt an d Griffith, wh o ha d no c lose c o m pe t it io n for 2 50cc hon o rs a ll d a y. Kra us e p artly o verca me his fu e l mishap , fin is hi ng e ighth on th e da y. "I rea lly o nly los t one or two spots , but I lo s t th e chance t o stay w ith E sp o s it o and to g e t Brown , " e x pl a in e d Kr au se . " I' m bumm e d becau s e I thoug ht, ' Fin a lly a Na tion a l t hat I'm go ing to be ab le to ha ve a g ood rid e in and go with no p rob lems ,' a nd t he n I run out o f ga s ." Ninth -place finisher Baumann re ste d e a sie r a t th e fini sh when h e learned that Grid er had escape d m a jo r inj u rie s , while SCORE Baj a 2 0 0 0- bo un d Henge ve ld wa s a p precia tive of the len gth of the e ve nt , finishing 10th . "Th e y defin ite ly p ut a lot of time into the c o u rs e ," sa id Heng ev e ld . "Yo u c o u ld tell th e y just didn 't go th ro w a co u rs e t og ether th e da y be fore ." cue. e n New c ha m p ion Abbott confirmed. "The c lub d id a rea lly go od jo b with mark ings , and they ma de it a Nat ion a l-cali ber ev en t , which was re a lly c o o l, " sa id Ab bo tt , who ha d bee n vocal about round se ve n's s hort and easy course layout. "I have to th a nk them for putting o n a great e vent. It's nic e to s ee so me one pu t a lot of work into it and ha ve it pa y off." 100's M.e. Lucerne Valley, California Results: October ZZ, ZOOO O /A: 1. Destry Abbott ( Kaw); 2 . Ty Davis ( Yam); 3. Da n Richardson ( Kaw) ; 4 . Shane Esposito ( Kaw); 5 . Brian Brown (Kaw ) ; 6 . Jeff Capt (Kew) : 7 . Erik Gr iffith ( Kaw) ; 8 . Paul Kr au se (Ya m) ; 9 . Ab e Bauma nn (Ka w); 10 . Steve Hengeveld ( Ha n) ; 11. LucCI Tru sardi (TM ) ; 12. Tom Willis (KTM); 13. Ron Shuler (Kaw ) ; 14 . M ike Baskin ( Ka w); 15 . Kenj i Gauthier (Yam ): 16 . Eran Boyer (Hus); 17. Jon Parks (G- G) ; 18 . Kirk Stephensen ( Yam) ; 19 . Beau Hayden ( Ha n) ; 20. Charlie Barney (G ·G ). AMA NA TIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HA RE s HOQND SERIES A NAL POINT S STANDINGS (A ft er 8 of 8 round s) : 1. Destry Ab bott ( 180 / 6 wins); 2 , Bria n Brown ( 15 5 /1 wi n) ; 3. T y Da vis ( 13 8/1 win) ; 4 . Russell Pearson (l OS); 5 . Dan Richardson ( 101) ; 6 . Shane Esposito (94 ); 7. Andy Grider (75); 8 . David Pearson (6 6 ); 9 . Kurt Case lli (66 ); 10. Ed M cC oy (56). e vv S • NOVEMB ER 8 , 2 000 2 1

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