Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Lucerne Valley - Red Mountain - Plaster City - Searchlight - Sidewinder Road - Superstition Mountain - Jean - Rand Mountains - Lucerne Valley - Red Mountain - I Desert Hotline Chuck Stearns won the Jackrabbits' 0-37 season-ender. Stearns hot in D-37 dez finale By Shirley Upp FREMONT VALLEY, CA, DEC. 12 Honda riders Chuck Stearns and Howard McCasland .turned it loose in the Jackrabbits M.C.'s annual Last Chance Hare 'n' .. Hound, taking first overall and first 250cc Expert, respectively. The final D-37 desert race of the year featured a fast, fun 35-mile first loop. Two miles past the smokebomb Stearns had the lead with Open Amateur Tom Willis (Hus) running second. Larry Roeseler, in his first ride since rejoining Husqvarna, was running third ahead of Chris Crandall (KTM)." Bill Mattox was running first 250cc Expert and Andy Mathews was first 250cc Amateur. In the Novice/Beginner start it was pie plate #53 leading. Troy Swafford, a 250cc rider, was second and off to a wild ride today - no back brake. C bike ace Hans Giese was in third out past the bomb. Jim Bryant (Open) came fourth with Roger McCabe (Open) at fifth. Ricky Jackson, on his Honda CR80, was off to a super ride running first Mini. Back with the leaders things were staying about the same except McCasland had moved to first 250cc position. Dave Wasden was on the move and was picking off riders as he was moving in on the leaders. Gary Charters was running first Open Vet. Richard Jackson, another Vet ace, . was recovering from a bad bomb run, moving up and overtaking riders. Coming in home check, it was Stearns urging his Honda out for the next 70 mile loop. Willis was still second with Roeseler third. Wasden had worked his way up to fourth. McCasland was now at fifth. Morris Norman was running first Open Senior with Charlie Goodban the first 250cc Senior. Dave Kersting was leading the Senior C bike class. Motocross rider Roxie Klatt was leading the Women's class. It was Giese and his C bike leading the hard charging Novices with Bryant se£ond. The last 70 miles had more hills but for most riders, it was an excellent loop. A lot of riders had trouble with the downhills. Ray Conway really had a spectacular getoff that some of his friends saw and they stopped to help. Ted Hunnicutt also ot off and Mi~e ~itzgerald stopped .........I;.lrfl'''... help. After Fitzgerald got going again, he got off hard. It was a rough race! At the finish Stearns was in first with another trouble free ride, thanking his sponsors American Honda and O'Neal Racing Products. Second overall was super fast Open Amateur, Tom Willis on his trusty Husky. Tom wanted to thank his mom and dad for all their support this year, along with the Shamrocks M.C., Eric Samelson and Russ Darnell. Taking third overall was Larry Roeseler; he said he's sitll getting used to his Husky. Fourth was McCasland with a front flat, but he still managed to take the 250cc Expert win. Speedy Dave Wasden earned his fifth today. Second 250cc was hard riding Bill Mattox. John McCormick really did some hard riding and came in for the seventh overall position. After another super ride, Richard Jackson worked his way up through the pack and finished his ride at eighth and first Open Vet. Ninth was Keith Tuller and rounding out the top 10 and taking a third in class was 250cc rider Tom Mattox. At II th Morris Norman took first Open Senior. Twelfth overall and first 250cc Amateur was Brett Shanner, moving up from 20th after the first loop. First 250cc Senior Expert washard riding Don Whitehorn, who just managed to get Goodban and Guzman as they. finished 1-2-3. In the 250cc Vet class, it was Jeff Vaughn taking the win .today. Firs'! woman was speedy Diane Holeman. First Amateur was Laurie Hammel and first Novice was Sharon Dietz after a 'seven kick sta,rt. . the fastest Novice today was Rodger McCabe on his hot Suzuki. First 250cc Novice was Troy Swafford, who rode both loops with no back brake! In the Begiimer class, it was hotshoe Ron MaIm (Hus), another rid~r who loved the course. First C bike Novice went to Norm Howard: Like father like son,' as Ricky Jackson (Hon) turned in a super ride to take first in the Mini class. I wa'nt to thank Brett Shanner and the Stump Jumpers for the beautiful plaque that they gave Larry and me for just being there! You'll never know how !Ouch it was appreciated. to . ~ Results OPEN EX: 1. C. Stearns;. 2. L. Roeseler;' 3.: D. VVasden. .' • OPEN AM: 1. T. VVillis; 2. J. Rapp; 3. S.Sp'ragle. OPEN NOV: 1. R. McCabe; 2. S. G.ildea; 3. J. Bryant. . gP~N BEG: 1. R. M.a.m; 2. O. Pu~ahl; 3. B. Kelly. Scot Harden recovered from a late start to win the Silver Dust 400. loon, riders left the start line and headed south below 1-8 for a fast warm-up first loop through fast sandwashes and along tight, twisty trails in rolling hills. Most memorable about the first loop was "the hiH." Straight up, very narrow, covered with loose dirt and right into the morning sun. Fun. A long sandwash shortly after gave most everyone time enough to get back on schedule. The second loop headed west towards the mountains through washes and canyons at 24 mph. Towards the middle of the loop, the going got tighter and rockier. At the end of the tough section was the decisive tie-breaker. The betterriders made it to within a few seconds of a perfect score. Loop three lead north, winding towards the rockhouse area. The course hit the sand hills and tight canyons with a vengenance. The several nasty, but makeable uphills that liberally laced the course were enough of a challenge for most, but for the truly hard core there was the dropof£. A 30-foot downhill with a lO-foot drop at the top fully illustrated various riding styles. The cautious ones (quote, ."I ain't gonna ride down that!") threw their bikes down, others dropped. off astraddle while the realy good riders simply jumped off. 250 EX: 1. H. McCasland; 2. B. Manow; 3. T. Mattox. 250 AM: 1. B. Shanner; 2. S: Stearns; 3. P. Gorgone. 250 NOV: 1. T. Swafford; 2. H. Allen; 3. R. Hall. 250 BEG: 1. P. VVood; 2. G. Tamura; 3. D. Posson. 200 EX: 1. B. Jones. 200 AM: 1. J. McGrath; 2: J. Braasch; 3. R. VVaters. 200 NOV: 1. H. Giese. 200 BEG: 1. N. Howard; 2. S. Patterson. VET OPEN EX: 1. R. Jackson; 2. Gary Chaners. VET OPEN AM: 1. G. Campblel; 2. S. Martin; 3. R. Burski. VET OPEN NOV: 1. R. Smith; 2. B. Murray; 3. Tim Gilligan. VET OPEN BEG: 1. J. Correll; 2. B. VanDyke; 3. W. Sanders Jr. VET 250 EX: 1. J. Vaughn; 2. W. Anderson Jr.; 3. B. Eisele. VET 250 AM: 1. R. Paproski; 2. J. Sheehy; 3. D. DeSimone. VET 250 BEG: 1. V1 01x; 2. R. Alexander; 3. M. Villanueva. SR OPEN EX: 1. M. Norman; 2. R. Surber; 3. W. Cooper. SR OPEN AM: 1. L. Milton; 2. B. Healy; 3. H. Reed. SR OPEN NOV: 1. B. Kraft; 2. D. VVilcox. SR OPEN BEG: 1. P. Marsik. . SR 250 EX: 1. D. VVhitehorn; 2. C. Goodban; 3. A. Guzman. SR 250 AM: 1. R. VV. Tanter; 2. T. Blackstock. SR 250 NOV: 1. H. VVaddell. SR C EX: 1. D. Kersting; 2. M. Teney; 3. T. VVebb. SR CAM: 1. R. Hansing; 2. J. VVilson. SR C NOV: 1. J. Ligan. WOMEN EX: 1. D. Holeman. VVOMEN AM: 1. L. Hammel; 2. C. VVaggoner. VVOMEN NOV: 1. S. Deitz. MINI: 1. R. Jackson. Roeseler takes Desert Dog 100 Enduro win By Larry Woodruff IMPERIAL VALLEY, CA, DEC. 5 Debuting on his new XC500 Husky, Larry Roeseler brought home to his new employers the overall trophy at the first annual District 38 Desert Dog 100 Enduro, losing only four seconds at the tiebreaker check. The winner of the last D-38 enduro, Randy Liebig, rode his trusty KTM 250' to second overall, first AA Vet with a loss of seven seconds. Tied \,Vilh Randy was first Open C Vet Arnold Gruner, who was blessed with riding on the same min'ute as Roeseler. These were the only riders to zero the event. The ride was billed as a true enduro, challenging enough to bring out Roeseler, ISDT and Baja veteran Chip Howell, and one of the most famous of off-road racing's great competitors, Malcolm Smith. Riding a new 250cc Husky, Malcolm used this enduro as a warm-up for the highly competitive Rocky Mountain Enduro Championship series in 1983. Evidently, the bike checks out as Malcolm won his class. Under blue skies, warm temperatures and a helium filled weather bald!n"L.:,I1,~l':~ .• Harden takes Nevada State Championship By Wayne Gales LAUGHLIN, NV, NOV. 27 Factory Husky ace Scot Harden made it two wins in as many weeks, as he took his Husqvarna/Pat Friel's Valley Plastering- I' sponsored XC500 Husky to the overall win in the Gamblers' Nevada State Championship Hare and Hound. Harden's victory wasn't an easy one as the lead changed hands no less than four times, in the 11O-plus inile point to point event. At the start it was Maico West/ Vegas Cycle's Jack Johnson taking an early lead with Kevin Welch, Billy Hill and Harden hot on his tail. The pre-rac.e favOIites were Johnson, Harden and Welch, and all were surprised to see young Hill keeping his 125 Suzuki at the front of the pack. Shortly before the first gas the three big bikes missed a turn and went several miles off the course, putting Hill J-J;' I Y it'~H '1..' W: \

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