* Location: Plaster City West Ca 1st Overall * 1st Open 2 Stroke Motorcycle
Jim 'Preacher" Loh, Scott Morris, Garth Sweetland, Ron Lawson (Editor of Dirt Bike Magazine) and Dana VanStee 1st ATV * 1st 2 Stroke ATV 250 ATV: Triple EEE * Miles: 976.9 @ 40.70mph * Ave
Time/Lap: 14:40 *
zombies stumbled towards the finish line. Deprived of sleep, cooked by the heat and dirty from dust these crazed creatures of the wasteland were smiling, the longest day of 1997 was about over. 24 hours earlier their goal had been to win the 1997 24 hour off road endurance world championships, now they just wanted to be called finishers, proud finishers.
every other year. Over the course of the next 24 months the agony and misery is slowly forgotten and plans are made for the next one. This no Baja race where there are long periods of smooth fire roads where both body and bike can rest. This is 110% full on racing over and over and over 10 miles of the nastiest terrain to be found. Plus you don't go anywhere, and then there's mother nature. She has blown the racers away, rained on them, froze them and in 1997 tried to melt them as the temperatures climbed over the century mark.
Motorcycle Hi-lites
privateers scourging for the crumbs. Paul Krause led the Kawasaki effort while Bruce Ogilvie managed the Honda effort. Krause threw down the gaulant on the 1st lap with the quickest time of the event, 10 miles in 9 minutes and 4 seconds, no one would catch up. Team Honda stayed close for many hours, however when Casey Longman went bouncing and bent up himself and the bike, team Honda never seriously challenged again for the lead. Meanwhile Kawasaki was cranking. In the past their bewitching hours were around 11:00pm where parts were commonly spread over the desert floor. Not this time, while they were having early light problems that caused them to change lights many times, this problem finally went away and they went back clicking off fast laps. Their winning margin was nearly 90 miles. Meanwhile, privateers Craig Hunter, Erik Wolfe, Brent Farrell, Robert Baehir and John Kawell were going along without any problems. Their consistent laps eventually landed them in second place, In the wee hours of the morning their voltage regulator melted. Somehow they found a seeing eye coyote to guide them back to the pits. While the pit crew was working on the lights, they sent out Brent Farrell with only a small helmet light. While he floundered around with the teams slowest lap he also saved the race. Team Honda was roaring back on the wings of Ron Wilson. Three riders were hurt, one had never ridden at night and when Ron's relief developed a severe case of monkey butt it was up to Ron to save the day. All he got was the 1:00am to 7:00am time slot. Team Craig Hunter had been over 30 miles ahead when Wilson found new life. At 6:00am he was on the same lap and soon only 2 minutes down. It was a shootout on the last lap with the spoils of victory going to Craig Hunter's team. After 24 hours only 1.8 miles was the difference between 2nd and third. If Farrell had not gone out with only the helmet light they would not be second overall.
person earning the admiration of everyone was Senior Ironman Gil Capianco. While teams were struggling he calmly rode all by himself with nary a wink of sleep and into the record books, 594. 9 miles all by himself. ATV Hi-Lites
team of ATV racing finally had their day in the sun. Even their problems were minor. The stator shorted out, but not at nite in some remote corner of the world, but in the afternoon within sight of the pits and they nursed in without a tow. They bent a footpeg, but were able to straighten it with minimum downtime. They won by over 140 miles, in other words it was a rout! The open ATV team led by Jason Sparks melted down a top end and then were just plagued by nagging problems that prevented a run to the top. They won the open class and finished 2nd ATV. Team Kevin Lucore recruited a bunch of rookies to this event plus even an old motorcycle rider to happily finish 3rd O.A. and 2nd open. Fast Juan Gregory tried to win but had a serious handicap, Rocky Tervino. However, when your boss foots the bill and the wants to ride, how can you say no. They finished 2nd 250, 4th O.A. Our helmets off to the teams of Ken Osborn and Chuck Ott. Old duners they strapped on a six pack cooler with cold refreshments and went round and a round until the sun came up and they went home proud finishers. Others
break their old world record. Instead they broke parts they didn't even know they had. While they didn't finish they claimed victory by declaring they had more fun then anybody else. Team "Alleyes" Saasta pulled their Ptyerdactile Desert Superlite (Number 961) out of the LaBrea Tar Pits for one more go around. It went and went and when the sun came up and the finish only a few miles away became extinct again, DNF. Heartbreak. The senior class motorcycle world championship team waited for months as a major manufacture rebuilt their motor. They got it just a few days before the event, installed and headed out. It didn't work. Want to buy a bike cheap!
entry. Let me get this straight. 24 hours, hot, sand whoops, no sleep. Completely destroy a bike and turn wheels into stop signs. Plus it's Mother's Day. Sounds great!! Can't wait!! See you there!
on Mother's Day in 1999
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