Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Rex Staten goes into tum one of the second Open Pro moto aheed of Oavid Gerig. Bill Grossi 1981. Jeff Jennings (66)and Dan Turner 130 . 1 Grossi, Gerig grab CMC Four-stroke Championship I By Mark Kariya CARLSBAD , CA, JULY 20 A short break in the National motocross scene provided the chance for several riders to take part in the Continental Moto-sports Club Fourstroke Championships, sponsored by the Horsepower Factory and Pro Lube by Wax Research. Yamaha-mounted Bill Grossi scored the Open Pro win and majority of the $1200 purse while David Gerig on a Honda won the 500cc Pro class. Both campaign Huskys on the National circu it. t'10st of Carlsbad Raceway's USGP track was used and graded for this event. In addition to the two Pro classes , 10 Sportsman classes were contested , from Minis to Sidecars and Old T imers. Wooden plaques with valves from a 351 c.i.d. Chevy and contin gencies went to the winners , SOOcc Pro 12 T he first moto belonged exclusively to Da vid Gerig on the Horsepower Factory Honda. After th e first tu rn , no one ca me close to him . Honda- mou nt ed Dou g Boyd was secand for a while , b ut went down hard on the downhill on lap two putting him out for the day. Pete Eunice, also on a Honda , clipped Boyd 's bike which sent him sprawling a lso. Though out of the mota, he was able to return for the second round. Lance Moorewood put his Suzuki into second at tha t poin t and remained there to the finis h. The battle of th e race was for th ird . Bill Keefe kept his Suzuki th ere for th e first seven laps. In fourth and mov in g slowly up was Lee "Damage" Ramage on a Horsepower Factory KLX , a 246cc midget among t he 500 cc monsters which cle arly lacked power in comparison , By the halfway po int , Ramage was just behind and waiting to get by whil e Kenny Sisler, on a BP Ra cingl Aberg Yamaha , was within striking distance of Ra m age . With four laps to go , Ra m age found the opportunity and winged it past Keefe. Once he got by, however, "Da m age" was una b le to open u p a ga p bet ween himself and Keefe . O n the white flag lap, Keefe blasted by on the u phill , snatching third back. Ra mage kept it dialed , th ough, and just before the d ro p off as they headed toward the checkered, he slipped underneath Keefe and squeezed by. In the second mot a , Gerig again had the lead by th e first turn with Moorewood and R amage in tow . He cli pped a haybale , though, dropping him several places and snapping the rear brake pedal off. WhileMoorewood and Ramage led th e firs t few laps, Gerig busied himself by getting back to the front of the pack , He flew past several riders on the downhill for third at the end of two la ps. After shutting down a passing attempt by Ramage, Moorewood's bike began coughing and sputtering as they began lap three. The Suzuki rider re o tired a lap later with a split tank that was allowing gas to spill on the air filt er , effectively choking the engine. " I thought I had the championship in the bag," he said afterward , " bu t that's racing." The put Ramage in the lead, but it was only for a short while as Gerig was right behind and the re was no way th e KLX was going to hold off the 500. The inevitab le happened a la p and Gerig rod e away with the R am age hel d off Sisler for th ird Keith Petrangelo on a CCM Eunice trailing them in . later win . with and Ope n Pro "Rocket" Rex Staten, on a TT500 punched out to 600cc, led the pack out of turn one with Gerig and Franks Honda -mounted Jeff Jennings booming behind him, Gerig went by Staten on th e downhill to lead the first lap. Following were Jennings , Bill Gross i on a 600cc BP Racingl Aberg Yamaha and Australian Stephen Gall on another Franks Honda . Grossi was on the gas, picking off Jennings on th e downhill on lap two and then Staten the following lap. Staten said later, " I' ve n eveT been passed on the downhill before, but I was going down and (motioni ng with his hand) th ey went by so I thought, 'Da m n, Rex , you got it in reverse>" Grossi ducked under Gerig in Ratt lesnake Gulch but got passed back as they exited. Go ing into the corner at the bottom of the downhill on la p five , Grossi slammed into the berm on the outside a little ahead of Gerig, a n d bo unced off, ta king Gerig's line and forcing the Honda pi lot to shut thi ngs down moment a rily. Grossi too k it in the rest of the wa y despite a b rok en from wheel. Jennings a lso passed Gerig to fin ish second . Sta ten , hampered by poor gearing a n d bars wh ich kept falli ng, was a close fourth followed by Gall a nd Da n ny T urner on a four-speed version of Grossi 's BP R aci ng bike . Staten got the holeshot in the second mota with the rest of the first mota players - Gerig, Grossi and Jennings - quickly fall ing in behind.

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