Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126065
Phoenix-based Drey Dircks (Yam , 3-3 -4 ), and Florida's Karl Jordan (Yam, 2-2 -7) . , Murphy was . impressive in his sweep o f the 9-11 83cc Modified, but yo u n g Dar in Eames of Mesquite, Texas served notice fo r things to come, by gassing to an inspired 4 -1-3 and taking second overall, while third and fourt h went to Antonacci and Jordan. A grueling set, for sure, as quite a few riders competed in th ree · classes. Antonacci held a blistering 1-1-2 pace in 83cc Stock to win it over Theriot (2-2-3) , and west coasters Randy Harden (2-2- 7) and Rick Johnson (1-12-1). Naturally, . the universal bike in the Stock classes was the Yamaha YZ80C, the fastest mini off the floor to date : Unfortunately, the NMA Championship program involved · two mo t o s for each divided class on ' Saturday, with the top ten from each division meeting in a . single moto final o n Su nday to fill in a three-mote score. Riders made points in each race separately, but m o re important, there was all of Saturday night available for modification of the machines, in addition to the fact that only frames were marked-with a plastic' strap at Tech inspection. No seals pu t on or serial numbers taken from the engines. In case you haven't got the drift, a machine could, a nd no doubt in some cases did, run anything in the world on Saturday and still, at the impound-teardown area Su nday eve ning, be as pure as the driven snow. A written protest accompanied by sufficient cash was presented on behalf of Mablevale, Arkansas rider ' S tormy Gartrell against Brian Myerscough's stocker on Saturday, but was refused by NMA pres Ron Henricksen. Mr. Henricksen flatly denied to us Saturday evening t hat this ever happened: As it turned out at the finish lin e, Californians Myerscough, Mike Brown, and Jeff Ward swept the 83 Stock, while Gartrell took fo urth and grumbled a lot. The shame of it is that the same riders would have won anyway, even without any alleged extra horsepower. One must keep in mind, though, that many of the "name" riders are representatives of accessory firms bearing their names, and winning means a living to them and their families, and not just a bigger trophy. In another incident, two well-known California riders got into a fistfight Sat urday, in . full view of the crowd, over a centerpunch during a race, but were no t kicked out of the meet by NMA, although the ru les clearly prohibit unspo rtsmanlike conduct. Speaking of rules, it's really sad that they seem to change in NMA racing so frequently. A sore spot in particular was the "DNF" scoring procedure, which went from confusing to ridiculous. In the Regional qualifiers we attended, any r ider not finishing the required number of laps for any reason (lapped riders = DNF) got a score corresponding to the n umber of riders t hat started the moto, plus one. At this National, everybody got a finish position in relation to h is number of laps co m p le ted, regardless of whether or not he . took the checkered flag. This practice is similar t o that of flat track, but unheard of in motocross, until now. T he three days ' were 'f illed with stories of inequity and unfairness, at least a percentage of which are probably true. Would you believe 20 black-fl agged m o t o starts? Believe it . How abo ut one or two flat tires in every moto caused by jagged ro cks and shredded wood? Or the high injury rate , including Texan Derek Wedding, who snapped a collarbone after h it t ing a large ro ck in the track. Derek had more points from his Regionals in all three 12+ Expert classes than any rider in the country , but went d own in his first prac tice session on Friday. Four to six laps practice, if you were ' Iucky. Nine minute motos (six I V minute laps) t o , determine Nat ional Ch ampionships, while 10-1 5 minutes we re t ak en w ith in tro d uc t io ns a nd " parade laps." Sticks and streamers to m ar k th e co u rse. Annou ncer blar ing constantly to go buy stl!ff . ~~o~, th e c~ n.c/e~sjc~,,! . st~"!d! ,, the T-shirt stand, the track photographer, and the Bel-Ray m an. A race track geared for speed and spectators. The local fo lks probably got a big kick out of the show. . A little harder to notice am ong t he big boys in the p rogram, but every bit as serious, were the 0 -61cc classes. 'At least the kids' pare nts were serious. In any case, some of these little boogers could sco o t pretty well, including micro-mini ace Randy Jones of Woodbine, Maryland, who smoked both stock a nd modified classes in the 6-8 age group. Ray Co llin s of Tennessee and Todd Inzin na of Tickfaw, Lo uisiana buzzed in for second in stock and mod, respectively, while in'· the 9 -11 bracket, Italjet powered Paul Denis of California took the stock w in o ver Houston's Shannon Kelley , and the modified group saw the world's fastest Ho nda MR50 only from behind, with .JonJon Belisle taking a no t h er firs t for the Californians. ' In 12+ Intermediate action , southern states riders John Moore, Art Rollins, and Scott Moore dominated th e 83cc Stock class, while in 83 Mod, Reid Barnt of San Gabriel, California to ok a one-point decision over Clay Cauthorn of Del R io , Texas, as Reid's 1-3-2 edged Clay's 5-1-1 marks. Some of these dudes lo o ked as good as many of those in Expert, showing great improvement ov er just a few months. Fo rmer Min i Champion Shaun Kelley of HOuston barely missed a sweep of both the 100cc and 12 5cc Expert motorcycle classes, as a slow start and rough go ing in the pack put him third overall in t he 125 after a winning 1-1-2 se t in the 100 class. Darren Rhote n of Dodge City, Kansas burned the 125cc third moto to ' t ake the overall at 4-1 -1 over Scott Hitt (4 -1-3 ) of Berwick, Louisiana, Kelley, and brother Troy Rhoten ( 1-2-6). The only hope for Honda XR75 fans in the 12 + 83 Mod Expert died along with Jeff Wards' ultimate 4-stroker in his firs t moto. Cause of de ath was undetermined, but was probably suicide . in light of the recent Yamaha o n sla ugh t. Jeff was running with Brown and the rest, but pulled to a halt after only a co uple of laps. Then it was all Flying Mike Brown and Brian Myerscough in their respective Saturday d ivisions, except for Pedro Perales' upset of Brown in their second go. After this flash of brilliance, though, the Tennessee rider faded to 15th in the final after going in with 4-1 finishes. Brown dominated Sunday's moto to lock up the victory while Myerscough h ad an unusually tough time with the . pack and could reach no more than fifth behind Brown, Texan Kevin , J o n es, Califo rn ian Scott Burnworth, and Troy Fitch of Las Vegas. Brian's 1-1-5 was still good for second, with Burnworth third (5-2-3), and Jones' terrific second place r ide netting him fourth at 4-12-2 . O ne of the best races of the meet had come Saturday between Myerscough and Paul Emerson of Las Vegas, but Emerson eventually broke and ended a dismal ni nth overall. Rarely, maybe never has anyone ridden a m in icy cl e better than Jeff Ward in the 105cc runoff. I mean, that kid ain't shut off. y et! Trailing Brown and . Myerscough for the first lap or two , he was out to prove that his 100cc mini-Elsinore would blow the Yamahas away , and I'm here to tell you that he picked them both o ff with sheer guts and daring, and w as leading with less than 300 yards t o go to the checkered flag when his front wheel hit a rock and dumped him o n . his nose. In a daze, Ward just sat and hung h is head , while Myerscough drove b y with it in the b ag with 1-2-2 finish es. Brown had a shaky Saturday score, though, (9-3 ) and the moto win brought him only to fifth. T he shocker proved t o b e Rand y T ys or of Iowa, whose .1-5-3 put h im so lid in second o ver Scott Bu rnworth and Georgia-b ased J eff McGraw , who ca m e b ack fro m a sever e endo o ff the stra igh ta way jump to run sixth in the restarted fina l. • Resul t s in Results Se ction . j ,, ~, .. . ~ ~ • • '~ ' ~ " • • • • •k ... 2nd Annual Veterans Nationals Saturday, Sept 25111111"""II1 II"""""""III:"Grand Prix Shadow Glen Course Sunday, Sept. 26111~,"1II11mu","IlIIIIIIt1:IIII"IIII1l'1II11IlIIIMotocross International Track gates ope n 7 am both days Indian Dunes, Valencia, Calif . . Championship troph ies - Patches to all entries Special Pit Tootsie class for women -: entry $8.00 General admission $2.50 Adu lts $1.25 Jun iors - 5 & under FREE FR EE PARKING Special classes fo r 4 stroke - Old Timer Club - Over th e Hill Gang Club Classes:. 125 Beg - Nay - A m - E x 250 B eg - Nov - A m - Ex 500 Be g - N aY -Am - E x • Comb ined p oint w inner f or bo th d ays to be Nati onal Vete ran Champ ion Entry fee $12.00 pe r class - per day . • . T w o eta sses o r more $10.00 per c lass - per day ~ • Co-Sponsor Bosch Spark Plugs Co ntin gen cies from : - _. 'WI •• - • Bosch Spa rk Pl ugs Bill Walters Leathers AME U ni Filter T ire Man T orqu e Eng. . Elect ro Helmets - • .. . + many. man y o t hers • f or campin g reservations pho ne 805·2 57- 27 00 f or mot el reservations p hon e Ranch H ou se M otel 8 05 ·355·0555 . mail o. try t o A. 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