Cycle News

eDIRT TRACK e AMA E astern Regional Short Track Expert main event winner Dan Ingram holds hi s troph y high. He's flanked by runner-up Ronnie Jones on th e right, and third place finish er Will Dav is. Patrick Behr le pull ed th e holesh ot at the start of th e Junior ma in event and stayed in front 10 the finish . H e's seen here enjoying h is victory lap. Ingram romps in Daytona Regional ST By Donn Maeda DAYTONABEACH, FL, M 5 AR. t was a ni ght for new teams a t the AMA Ea st ern Reg ion al Sho rt Track held a t Da ytona Beach 's Municipal Sta d iu m, as three famili ar rid ers aboard new m ach in ery topped the field. Sta nd ing a top th e hi gh step o f th e winner 's box was In d ian a's Dan In gram , wh o p iloted hi s Mi ke Morr tuned M&M Racin g/Rock y Mountain Rem an uf a c tur ing /Sh o ei/Tsubaki / Bl o om in g ton H on d a /H on d al in e/ Skip Eak en-backed H onda RS600 to th e wi n in th e 15-lap Expe rt main event. Ronnie J on es fini sh ed second aboard h is new-for-'92 Gar dn er Racing H arl ey-Da vidson, a nd Will Davis rounded o ut th e top th ree fin ish ers o n h is Moth er Ft et ch ers -spon sored Wood-Ro ta x. Rather tha n ti me trial s, a series o f scra tch heats were used to th in down th e 69-rider Expert a nd 55-rider Junior fields, Riders wh o qualified for th e eveni ng's event co mpeted in one o f six heat races th at transferred th e top six finish ers in to th e sem is. Each of th e three sem is o ����ered four transfer po sitions to th e main event. T erry Poovey, Ingram , Dave Camlin, Mik e Hale, Chris Carr a nd Steve Morehead won th e Expert heat races, Ingram , Carr and Ha le co nt in ued th eir ' winning ways in th e semis, and th e l2-rider field for th e main event was set. Ingram 's winning sem i time of two minutes, 42.522 seco nds was over four seconds faster th an Carr a nd H al e's, and th e 27-year-old rid er sat on the pole a t the sta rt o f th e main event. Wh en th e feature staged a t 10:45 I 38 p.rn. , Carr , Moreh ead a nd Davi s proved to be a bit too a nx io us a t th e sta rt a nd were sent to th e pen alt y lin e, leavin g In gram , H al e a nd Poovey o n ro w one. In gram wasted little tim e, a nd q uic kly pu t h is H onda into th e lead a t th e flash of the green ligh t. Poovey wen t down in the first turn and spe nt th e rest o f th e race ge tti ng a feel for th e track. "The front end j ust tucked under," said Poo vey. " I figured I might as well get up and ge t some practice for th e rest of th e weekend. " O ut fro nt, In gram began to add to his lead th a t wo uld stretch 10 a ful l stra ig h taway by th e end o f the race, " T he bike was hookin g up reall y well . I just rod e th e low line and pu lled away,"said Ingram. "At about the halfway poi nt, I looked back and sa w wh at a lead I had a nd backed o���� a little." H al e ra n seco nd for th e firs t few laps, but event ually dropped o ff the pace and fini sh ed six th. "The bike worked great earlier a nd I smo ked m y heat a nd sem i," said H al e. " Bu t mo isture started co mi ng u p o u t of th e track in th e main and my front end would pu sh ." J ones inherited second wh en H al e began to stru gg le, a nd a ltho ug h he fail ed to gain on Ingram , he managed to put a gap between himself a nd th e rest of th e field. " O nce I sta rted goin g good, I think I started to ca tch Dann y, b u t I ca ug h t a rut in turn three and abo u t sp u n o u t," said J on es. " T he n I figured tha t I'd better coo l it. Bett er to fini sh seco nd and mak e some mon ey th an risk go ing dow n." Mo reh ead ra n th ird fo r a few laps befor e slipping back 10 sevent h wit h th e same han dl in g problems as H al e. " I co uln' t get the bitch to stick in the turns," said Morehead . " T he track go t rea lly slick in th e main." On la p eigh t, Da vis seem ing ly blasted out o f no where an d into thi rd, where he stayed 10 the fi nis h. " I was in th e posit ion to win , but stupid me - I jum ped th e gu n," sa id Davis. " Everyo ne else's fro nt ends were pushi ng so bad tha t I was a ble to mo tor righ t by. T his is o ne o f th ose tracks tha t you have to go slow to be fast on." Fo urt h o n the ni ght was Ca rr, who teamed with Davis in th eir charge fro m ' the pe nalty line. " It's just o ne of th ose things," sai d Carr. " It was m y fault for jumping th e line. I felt good coming th ro ugh th e pack, tho ug h. " T he l 2-lap Junior ma in event saw Pat rick Behrle bl ast o ff th e line with th e hol esh ot a nd fend o ff th e cha rges o f hi s co mpetitors to score th e win. J am es Hart ran a close second for most of th e race, but co uld n ' t fight off th e cha rges of Patrick Landes, who fou ght hi s way u p from th e penalty line, Landes had jumped the sta rt and sta rted from the ba ck row , but sliced through th e field quickl y. Landes pressu red Behrle fo r th e last few laps, but th e Western Hills Honda-backed rid er held on for th e win. " I j us t tried to ride my own -Iines a nd sh u t th e 'o ther guys o u t o f my head ," said Behrl e. "The insi de was slick, so I would jus. stay right in th e m idd le wh er e th e y co u ld n' t p as s me. cw Results EX: I. Dan Ing ra m (H em); 2. Ro n ni e Jo nes (H �� D ): 3. wm Davis (\\, �� R ): 4. Chris Carr (H �� D): S. Bill y Hern do n (Ha n ); 6. Mik e Hal e (H�� D); 7. Steve Mo rehead (H -D): 8. Brian \' illella (H�� D): 9. Steve Asehine (H�� D); 10. Dave Camlin (W�� R ); II. Don \\'ilson (H�� D): 12. Terry Poo vey (H �� D). JR; I. Patrick Behrle (Ho n ): 2. Bren Landes (\ \'0 R ): 3. J ames Han (W�� R): 4. Sco u Swoop (W�� R ): S. Bill Newkirk (Ho n ): 6. Kyle Long (W�� R): i . Bret Beyer ( H- O); 8. Thomas Danietle (W-R ): 9. Kevin Varn es (H �� D): 10. Kenton Longcor (W�� R ); II. Todd Sharples, (H ��D): 12. Doug O 'Boyte (\\'�� R ). Pro-Am/Junior Regional ShortTrack Newkirkinherits Daytona Regional win By Da ve Hoenig P h o tos by Flat Trak Fotos DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 4 he AMA Pro-Am/Junior Regional Championship Sh ort Track a t Daytona's Municipal Stadiu m was full of surprises from start to fini sh, In practice the track turned very rou gh , but tr ack prep before the heats left a relat ively smooth, wid e, slick track th at had riders trying high , low a nd middle lin es. Bill Newkirk was th e bi g winner, putting hi s J erry Phipps/Yamaha/ T

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