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/126476
; Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Wash ington-ldaho-Uteh-Alaska-Canada- Northern California-Northern Nevada-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Uteh-Alaskl ,., NORTHERN DATELINE ~ E o 00 (j') 1"""'4 "McMuffin" Mahan took it easy in the Vet Novice class at Watsonville. Ellis flies at improved Watsonville track By Gerry Reagan WATSONVILLE , CA ,JVNE8 Suzuki rider Jim Ellis of Fresno put it all together and came away with two Expert classwins on the much improved Ridge Runners' track in Watsonville. " • • 46 . The Ridge Runners got hold of a big tractor " ...d did some extensive work on their motocross track , bringing it back up to their usually high sta ndards. T he surface was ripped , disced and widened . At the beginning of th e d ay it was smooth and fast and the dust was kept down pretty well all day. The track had deteriorated in th e las t couple of races due to problems of getti ng a large enough tractor . bu t that has been solved and th e race su rfac e will be excellent as usual for the rest of th e season. Ellis began his assault in the 125cc class . getting off th e line in seco nd pla ce , but slipping past Jeff N ichols (Ya m) near the middle of th e first lap . Ellis pro ceeded to pull awa y from th e rest of the Expert class riders a nd held a secu re position until lat e in th e ra ce when he was cha llenge d by ha rdcha rgi ng Jeff Watts (Ya m) who caug h t upon the last la p and stole th e lead more on that mo ve later. In the second moro, Ellis had to work hard to get the win . Watts was ~,,!~.o.u.t. ~f ~~e_~a~c; ~n. ~ !i~t _t~~~ ~~a.sh , and Jon Nelson (Suz) gra bbed the ea rly lead with Ellis chewing a t his rear fender. Nelson rode a great race. holding Ellis off and keeping the gas on . Ellis kept trymg to find an opening, but was unable to do so until the last lap. Just as the two were negotiating the tu rn at th e end of the lower straight, heading into the back section of th e tra ck, Ellis made his move. He charged just a little deeper into th e tu rn and twisted the th rott le just a little harder, squeezing by on the outside to take the lead and the moto win . H is second and first place moto fin ishes gav e him the overall victory. The 250cc class was pretty easy pickin's for the Fresno flyer . He took the lead in both motos before reaching the first comer and held on to go wire to wire in both events. He fin ished th e first moto more than 15 seconds ahead of second place and held another long lead in the second round. As mentioned earlier. J eff Watts put on a tremendous ch a rge in the first 125cc Expert moto, slip ping by Ellis on th e last lap to get the mot o win . Watts got out of th e first turn in poor sha pe , somewhere around l Oth, and it took a cou ple of laps to ge t himself sort ed ou t . He moved into th e top five on the fifth lap of th e nine-lap race when he sho t past two riders to take over thi rd . A lap later he jumped in to seco nd and set his sigh ts on Ellis who had a good lead a nd was ta king it easy. W atts moved closer during t he next couple of laps and on th e white flag ro und , he ea sed up beh in d Ellis an d sta rted look ing for a chance to ge t aro u nd . Ellis went wid e on a tight off• .. cam ber turn and Watts took th e inside .. Chip Chapman styled to third 125cc Expert at Watsonville. line , movin g up beside Ellis a t the exit of the tum . The two ride rs touched a nd Ellis went over the berm and off the course . It only slowed him down a little bit , but it was enough for Watts who grabbed the lead and went on to take th e checkered. Watts was involved in a first turn crash in moto two and was put out of the competition . It looked like little Rick Ryan of San Jose was going to do a number on th e 125cc Junior class , but he overcooked a corner in the second moto and blew h is cha nces of a class sweep. Ryan (Yam) ran off with the first moto, outdistancing the other 22 riders with apparent ease. He was setting out to do it again in the second round whe n he overshot t he tight , offcam ber V-tu rn just past the check stands at th e beginning of the second lap. That error cost h im two pla ces a nd he finished off his chances a lap later with an endo that put him out of the ra ce . Dion Kn epper of Santa Cruz put his Yamaha into t he lead wh en Ryan bowed out and put on a good race with Allen Silhanek (Yam) for the second moto honors. Silhanek hung on Kn epper 's tai lpipe throughout th e moro , but just couldn't find the needed open· ing to make a pass . Knepper, who had finishe d fourth in rnoto on e , en ded up with th e overall victory . The next event at the Ridge Run ners' track will be th e big CMDA Ben efit Ra ce on J ul y 13. That race. as you p robably know by no w, will be held to help raise mone y for th e California Motorcycle Dealer' s Association Off Road Park Pr oje ct. The CMDA has engaged the services of a professional consulting firm to. help ~ - California counties to get green sticker money and build motorcycle parks. The program has been pretty successful so far and all proceeds from the next Watsonville race will go towards that project. The R idge Runners want to do their part for the motorcycle riders of th is state so do yours and show up for the big CMDA benefit on July 13. Who knows , you may win a new motorcycle in the process. Results 125 NOV I: 1. Scan Feodor! ISuzI; 2. Bren Lafayen e !Yaml; 3. Scan Keller IHon!. 125 NOV II: 1. Tony Souza !Yaml; 2. Andy Tresses (S uz); 3. Joe Macch iarella IHonl. 125 JR: 1. Oion Knepper (Yam); 2. Eric Mashbir (Honl ; 3 . Allen Silhanek (Yaml. 125 EX: 1. Jim Elllis ISuz); 2. Jon Nelson ISuzl: 3. Chip Chapman IHonl. 250 NOV I: 1. Kirk W eb".. IYaml: 2 . Bradley Stoke IHonl: 3. S idney Frankosky lVaml. 250 NOV II: 1. Eric Conrad IYam); 2. S teph en Long IKaw): 3 . S can Feo dor! IYam). 250 JR : 1. Tim Tremaine ISuz); 2. Robert Mill. . {C-AI; 3. Greg Pennington (Hon). 250 EX: 1. Jim Ellis tSuzl; 2. Ken Netto (Yaml; 3. J ames Cunningham (Yam I. OPEN NOV: 1. Jim Ow ens (Mai); 2. Tim Hunt er (Cll; 3. Kirk Carter (Mail. OPEN JR : 1. John Scruggs IMail; 2. Robert St o ne (Ma i); 3. J eff M axw ell (Husl . OPEN EX: 1. Neal Snar, IYam); 2. Pat Riehl.. {Mail; 3. Tim Dias (Mai) . VET NOV: 1. Bob Bow ers IHusl; 2. Darrel lawson IYaml. VET JR: 1. Donald Swearin gen (Yam ). VET EX: 1. Dean Brown (He n). OLD TIMER NOV: 1. Ma x T. Goode !Yaml. Beier, Langley and Heiberger score at Carnegie By Mel White LI VERMORE , CA ,JVNE8 Some serious rid ers arrived at Carnegie Cycle Park today to compete on the steep. challenging track and they found it well