Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

bottomless ruts, as the course wound its way up to the snowline of the Cascade Mountains. "I caught a cold in Idaho," remarked Webb. "We get worked really hard in the special tests down low so we're sweaty and soaked, then the trail goes up into the mountains to the snow. It's cold'" In addition, bottlenecks resulting £rom slower C-class riders who were stuck on obstacles became a common source of frustration for the Intentclass riders. As with the first day, though,. nearly every Intent class rider completed the course without dropping points, though some had difficulty in doing so. "It was tough to get through," said Hough. "I had no rear brake. I'm trying to play it smart to win, but I did a big auger in the second special test and bent my handlebar mounts." The crash cost Hough about 20 seconds in the test. Scott McLaughlin nearly dropped route points when his chain's masterlink broke. "I just got a new fanny pack and that's the one thing I forgot to put in it. I borrowed a new one on the trail, but there was so much mud and gravel in my chain that it was hard to get it going." The most notable part of day two was the second special test. This section became known as "the slot-car test" due to the presence of several deep ruts. The test proved to be the end of the enduro for Hrehor, who buried his big DR one too many times. Ady also called it a day when his knee popped out of joint during the test, and Oregon's Dan Harte dropped out as well. Rhodes spent some time mired in a rut and found that good deeds are not always rewarded. "I got stuck by Rhodes in a rut," explained Ron Lawson, "and he gave me a boost out of it. I figured, I've been in that situation before, so I just roosted off. It didn't matter too much because he caught me anyway." In reference to the incident, Rhodes laughed, "I help him out and he leaves me! I could have gone a lot faster in that test if I didn't have footpegs on my bike. They just got in the way!" Canadian Guy Perren was yet another rider to have trouble with the ruts. "I just got back £rom Baja, and came here lO have a good time. I was up for 40 straight hours in order to get my bike prepped in time. While playing slot-cars in the second special test, I got stuck up to the handlebars. I'm pooped," exclaimed Perrett. Hawkins put together the fastest test times of the day in the three special tests, taking a two-second lead over Eriksson after the first test and extending it to 47 seconds, and 51 seconds over Hough by the end of the day. Hatch maintained some of the fastest times to gain a hold of fourth overall, displacing Smith and Roeseler. Pepper nicked his 125cc through the mud to wedge himself in sixth overall and secure a tight grip on his class lead with a three-minute advantage. The Open class saw Dahners continuing to build a cushion over Lathrop. Webb, who had been running in third, dropped to fifth as a result of the second terrain test, while Hamel and Bruce Field both made cleaner runs through the ruts to overtake him. Though only seven seconds separated Hines and Rhodes in the 350cc Four-Stroke class for the day, Hines still had a minute to spare on Rhodes as a result of his superior day one performance. Dwain Taylor took over the lead of the Senior class as J.D. Bentley, class leader from the first day, dropped over 20 trtinutes at the day's final check. Taylor also had about nine minutes on second-place Bruce Rust. For day three the rain backed off, and as the day passed the sun came out, startling the participants who had resigned themselves to yet another day in the rainy, foggy, dark Washington woods. The riders completed a single 30-mile loop twice, encountering only two terrain tests along the way. As with days one and two, most riders completed the course without difficulty. Unfortunately the very technical first special test, which featured several punishing water-bars, caused some problems for Eriksson. "It was a bad day!" he exclaimed. "I made a mistake, fell down, and lost 30 seconds in this special test." The crash dropped Eriksson to third overall. Hawkins used the two special tests to expand his advantage on Hough to over a minute. Hough's final opportunity to retake the lead would be in the final . motocross in the afternoon. The Senior class was assigned the first moto on the twisty grass track that wound between the trees and through several sloppy mud and water sections. Taylor brought home the only gold medal in the class, as he put together a winning moto over Bruce Rust, Tom . Ebersole and Dave Bowers. "Everything went fine all weekend," stated Taylor. "I had no problems and just tried to be smooth." Ebersole however, had a rough go in the morning when he unloaded into a tree and received a black eye. Nevertheless, he remained up-beat, stating, "This enduro is much more fun than Tulsa." The 125cc class moto immediately turned into a slug-fest between King, McLaughlin and Lewis. King holeshot, while McLaughlin followed closely, attempting to pass in each corner. Three laps into the five-lap moto, King had managed to put a liule breathing room on the raging McLaughlin. On the last lap however, McLaughlin had caught King, and made a do-or-die attempt in the final turn. "I just turned as hard as I could," related McLaughlin, "and I almost passed him in the last turn, but I tied his score." After spending the whole moto in third right behind McLaughlin, a frustrated Lewis commented, "There's no space to pass." Pepper, the class winner, cruised through the moto ahead of Donnie Simone. Rodney Smith holeshot the first 250cc moto with Hough right beside him, while Roeseler, Hatch and Hawkins followed. Roeseler fell and dropped to last, while Smith suddenly lost it over a drop-off, breaking off his clutch lever, and finding himself behind Roeseler. Hough inherited the lead, never to relinquish it, while Hatch held off a determined Hawkins. Remounted, Smith was able lO catch and pass Roeseler in the trees, but was unable to overtake anyone else. Nonetheless, Smith had topped day three. Dan Richardson charged ahead in the second 250cc class moto as Lance Richoue, Neilson, Steve loll and Dale Walsh followed. Richardson bobbled, allowing Neilson to grab the lead and the eventual moto win. Richardson and Richoue battled throughout the rest of the moto, but could not catch Neilson, who eked the last remaining moments of life out of his clutch in the moto. "I £ried the clutch on day two, took it apart and found I had some adj ustment left inside:' explained Neilson, "but I've been riding without ino save it for the motocross. 1 stalled my bike all the time in the terrain tests today'" In the final 250cc class moto, Sanford battled with Michael Haas until ISDE gold medalist Kelby Pepper smvived the wet conditions to win the 125a: dass. David Rhodes (left) finished second to Kevin Hines in the 350cc Four-Stroke dass. the latter fell. Haas got back up to enduro with Sanford, trying to make a spectacular last-turn pass stick. Unfortunately for Haas it didn't, but he still came out ahead Sanford in the overall results. Perrett, the only rider on a full 500cc machine, took off and railed the first Open class moto,· smoothly winning it over Hamel and Webb. "I think 1 surprised Hamel when I passed him on the outside on the first lap!" exclaimed Perrett. Bruce Field came out on top of a three-way battle behind them with Scott Lathrop and Jason Dahners. Lathrop, who finished at the tail-end of the battle, but second in the Open class war, laughed and said, ''I'm not a motocrosserI" Having repaired his motorcycle for the final day, Krause won the second Open class molO over Chris Wilbanks, Robert Johnson, Mark Prince and Ken Leard. The final moto, which combined the Four-Stroke classes, was easily won by Eriksson, who seemed lO be in a class all his own, but Eriksson's fast time could not change the overall results. Hines finished third in the moto and wrapped up the 350cc Four-Stroke class win. After the moto, Eriksson's Husaberg teammate Rhodes stated, "I think I- should be declared winner of the moto because Eriksson was so far ahead he couldn't have been in the moto I rode'" m Results 0/A: 1. Randy Hawkins (Suz); 2. Kurt Hough (Kaw); 3. jimmie Eriksson (Hbg); 4. Steve Hatch (Suz); 5. Rodney SmiLh (Suz); 6. Kelby Pepper (KTM); 7. Larry Roeseler (Raw); 8. Kevin Mines (Hus); 9. David Rhodes (Hbg); 10. Ken Brown (Raw). . OPEN: 1. Jason Dahner (Raw); 2. Seoll Lathrop (Suz); 3. Danny Hamel (Kaw); 4. Tom Webb (Raw); 5. Bruce Field (Hon); 6. Guy Perrell (Raw); 7. Chris WilbanKS; 8. Ron Lawson (KTM); 9. Robert johnson; 10. Mark Prince; 11. Paul Krause. (Raw). 250: 1. Randy Hawkins (Suz); 2. Kurt Hough (Raw); 3. Steve Hatch (Suz); 4. Rodney SmiLh (Suz); 5. Larry Roeseler (Kaw); 6. Ken Brown (Raw); 7. Lance Richoue; 8. Dan Ne.ilson (Hus); 9. Dan Ridl<.,.dson; 10. Dale Walsh; II. Michael Haas (Suz); 12. Darren San[ord (Suz). 125: 1. Kelby Pepper (KTM); 2. jon King (Suz); 3. Jimmy Lewis (Raw); 4. Kevin Davis (Hon); 5. Donnie Simone; 6. Rob Riley; 7. Scoll McLaughlin (Raw); 8. William Perkins (Yam). Sa.: 1. Dwain TaylorXHon); 2. Bruce Rus<; 5. Tom Ebersole (Hus); 4. David Bowers (Suz). 550 4-STIC: 1. Kevin Hines (Hus); 2. David Rhodes (Hbg); 3. Rob Holmes. OPEN 4-STIC: 1. jimmie Eriksson (Hbg); 2. Curt Wilcox (Hon); 3. john Moody (Hus).

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