._._._._._._._._._.Staten and Miller
dice at Corona MX
By Ron lawson
CO RONA , CA, APR . 20
Marty Miller's domination of th e
Corona Friday night Pro MX
scene ran into a for m id a ble obsta cle last week in the form of
Ya ma ha's Rex Staten , who came out
a rmed wit h both a production 250cc
and a brand new works 47 0cc . Bu t
Miller and his Redl a nds Suzuki-tuned
RM 250 were still determined to tak e
-rhe mon ey in th e 250cc Pro class and
so it prom ised 10 be an exc iting race.
. In ro u nd one, Miller g ra b bed th e
ea rly lead and began setti ng an a ll out
pace , bu t Stat en was rig ht with him .
By the en d 'of th e first lap , the two
riders had left the rest of the pack far
behind , 'a nd every lap th ereafter th e
gap d id noth ing bu t grow . T hird pla ce
belon ged safely 10 Rick Rodgers (Ma i)
t hro ug h most of th e ea rly laps , but
Scott J ohnson (Hon) was close beh ind
a nd waiting for a ny o pe n ing . At th e
hal fwa y point , the lea d was sti ll in th e
hands of Mille r , a n d Staten was
gelling serio us. In several turns , th e
Yamaha rider st uck his front wheel
right under th e leader , just 10 let
Miller know he was still there , but in
ot he r sections Mill er was able 10 pull
a he a d slig h t ly , d emonst rating hi s
superior knowled ge of the co u rse . It
came down 10 th e final lap and Staten
shoved his machine on the inside in a
last d itc h effort to ga in th e lead . It was
just 100 close , though , and both riders
tangled a nd went d own. Staten was
th e first 10 remount and he went on 10
rhe checkered fl ag whi le Mille r
followed , sti ll a safe dis ta nce a head of
Joh nso n, who was now in th ird ahead
of Ted Hoyt (Yam ) and Rodgers .
oJ ' T he
second ro und was ha rdl y as
exciting as t he fi rst , wit h Sta ten
p u lli ng th e holeshot and Mille r
ro undi ng th e firs t tu rn in t hird . By the
time Miller took ove r second, St a te n
was go ne a nd t he ra ce m ight j ust as
well have been over. J erry Raymer
(Ya m) was thi rd whi le J ohnson was
fou rt h , Overa ll it went Stat en , Miller ,
J ohnson , Rod gers a nd Raymer.
Staten's victory in th e big bo re class
took co nsidera b ly less effo rt. Da ne
W ig in gton (Ya m) a n d J im H oove r
(Ya m) followed him ac ross the line in
both rn otos at a respectable d ista nce ,
Result s
MINI BEG: 1. Bob St. John (Suz): 2. Steve
Mo
