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/126302
.. I _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.---._._._._._._._._._._. I: Western hotline - -Stev e Fortune holds off Keith Day 1 22z) and Joe St effan at Corona. South beats North at Corona mini-war By Elaine Jones CORONA, CA, FEB. 22 It looked like a Nonh-South chal- lenge as a large contingent of Northern California riders invaded Corona Raceway Wednes- 46 day night with the majority of them mounted on brand new Harle yDavidsons and all looking to take home money. As the best-laid plans of men do not always turn out as expected , the Northern boys found that the South did indeed rise again and they almost convinced them that they did win the Civil War, or at least the mini war at Coronal The first skirmish did got to the North as Kenny Robinson drew the battle lines in the IT Money race. It was Robinson off first followed by fellow Northerner. Ronnie Day. Dylan Neihart. carrying the colors for the South, came back on the second lap to get under Day and move into second. He didn't get any further and had to settle there. Dan McWhorter, who had been the odds-on favorite for the South. went out with bike problems and was the only casualty of the race. Things got serious when the 250cc Money boys took their places on th e line . After a few opening shots . everybody settled down and the flag fell. It was the red and wh ite of Eddie Lawson out first with Rob Selvy and Ronnie Day in the two -three spots. " Sp eedy" Pete Hames cam e fro m fourth a nd moved into second as they came around on lap two . Day a nd Northern er Kenn y Rob ins on had dropped Selvy to fifth a ng wer e setting thei r sights on Hames and Law son . Lawson was turning near reco rd times as he started playing "c a tc h me if you can." Nobody could a nd everyb od y forgot about Joe Steffen as he started sniping his way toward the top. As the Northerners dropped dow n the ladder under Steffen's attack, Laws on and Hames continued to hold the battleground and when th e checkered came out Steffen was there to collect the third and the South had a clean sweep. The score was tied one all going into the 750cc Money race and the nineman field was a strong one. Steve Fortune . with the Open Expert win already under his belt , was looking for a repeat but got a big surprise when Craig Armstrong ju m ped out on top with Rich Yolk in , second. Fortune took care of Volk by the second lap but Armstrong held Fortune at bay. It wasn 't until the seventh l a p that Fortune finally found a hole and put his b ig Harley through it to take over the lead. The South again had another clean sweep with Fortune , Armstrong and Yolk upholding the honor. Dylan Neihart got on with h is winning ways as he took both 250c c Expert goes , topping Eddie Drake and Ben Meyer on the IT and Rob Selvy andJoe Steffen on the half m ile . Jon Clark breezed to an ea sy victory over Eddie Drake and Ed Steffen in th e Open Amateur/Expert IT. Results in Results Section . Whe/chell tops' NMA GP qualifier By Keith Clem o ns ORA N GE , CA , FE B. 26 It was a nother grea t day for the Nation a l Minicyc1e Association, since well over 300 mi ni moto- -- crossers came to race in the second W orld Min i Grand Prix qualifying event. The race was held a t Saddleback Park and incl uded a range of bikes fro m the 50cc Junior cycles to th e not-so-Min i 250s . In th e first race of the 100cc Stock Expert class , J ohn Whelchell showed wh y he 's one of the sele ct U.S. Suzuki factory riders by making it around in the number one spot for an unchallenged win. Tom Wilson picked up his tail wind and followed him across for second and Tim Hines galloped across for third . In the second moto Hines led off the line with Whelchell following close behind. Whelchell had to bulldoze h is wa y out front to get the number on e spo t wh ich he d id . Hines , riding bike number 57 . was catching up fast. If only he and someone else had sandwiched Whelchell , I could ha ve come up with a great line like, "H ines 57 poured it on to catch-up and sandwich Whelchell. " But th a t's not th e wa y it happened . H ines did pass Whelchell again though, and pulled wa y out front to win . Whelchell still got first overall and H ines took second for the day. Wilson finished third . Dery Dircks came all the wa y from Phoenix. AZ . to dominate the first r a ce of th e 125cc Modified class. Dircks. riding for DG , pulled way out front and won uncontested. Tim Hines landed in second behind Dircks, but went home with fir st overall because he won in th e second moto. Dircks fell back to third for second overall place spot a nd T om W ilson finished num be r two in the second race for t hird overall. The first moto of the agcc Modified Expert event saw Eric Kehoe jump to the holeshot but misfortune grabbed the wheels rig!tt out from under him and he slid out early in the race. Steve Schmitz captured the lead and diced with John Whelchell and Ted Brady to hold it . The order at the end of the first race was Schmitz, Whelchell, a nd Brady. Overall the results were just the opposite . Br a d y came out first. Whelchell held onto second and Schmitz took th ird. An in te resting race with unexpected results developed in th e 50cc Modified class when Mike Healy blew everyone away by rolling up to the line on a RM50 Suzuki . The field was dom inated by Italjets , which supposedly outclass the Suzukis, bu t Healy flew through the checkers in the number one spot both times around proving that the rider, not the bike, makes the difference. The World Mini Grand Prix will be held at Raci ng World March 24, 25, and 26 , and will include racers from five countries and 50 states all trying for the $10 ,000 in trophies. prizes, awards and bikes . The event is sponsored by Yamaha and sanctioned b y the NMA. R id e rs who have participated in two qualifiers ar assured a spot in the grand prix lineup. Those who ride in on ly one qualifier have a one point priority and all others will be entered on a first come, first serve b asis. Applications must be pos tma rk ed no later than March 15. A pre-grand prix event will be held at Racing World on March 12, and will be the on ly tim e that entries can run t he course before th e actual race. Goat has hey day at Racing World MX By Ke ith Cle mons TRABUCO CYN. , CA , FEB. 26 Four of a kind is a dam good hand in poker and it isn't too bad in motocross either, that is if you' re talking about wins . And that's just the hand Goat Breker was dealt at th e lat est of Ca lifornia Racing Club's continuing even ts a t Ra ci ng W orld. This one included $1 ,000 in prize money. In the Open Pro race Breker aced the holeshot and blazed trail to victory both times. Then he turned around and repeated th e performance for the 250 cc boys; the only d ifference being that he m issed th e hol eshot in the last race and had to work his way up from a third-place start. Husqvarna furnish es Breker with b ikes and parts and top Husk y me chanic Pyen Johansson keeps th em all together. David W illiams hopped off the line right behind Breker in th e firs t turn of the Open Pro race and went all the way to fini sh second with Mark White trailing him for third . The next trip White grabbed second followed by W illiams bu t W illiams was able to pull a switc h before the end of the first lap pu tting White back on his rea r fender. White , not to be pushed mildly asid e, chewed th e dirt until he fou nd a lin e by W illiams and regained his former position. White whipped his Husky in second for th e overa ll. Williams on his Maico m ade third his . pa y for th e day . Pat Hubbs dominated the first race of the 125cc Pro class with Dean Ca tes burning rubber right behind him and . Ron Tu rn er p lacing third . Ra ce two for the 125cc Pros found Craig Dale in the number one spot. Bob Kline holding down number two , Steve Pot ts running third. and Ro n Turner fourth . Bu t it was Turner whc