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/126497
I I o 00 0') ~ ~ (N 1-0 ClJ ..0 8 ClJ > o Z Ron Turner leads overall winner Rex Steten 16&1. David Gerig 121. Jeff Jennings (&II and BII Grossi (98) at the St8rt of the finn 9pen Pro moto. Sixth Annual Four-Stroke Nationals Bad breaks for Jennings and Turner leave Staten in the winner's circle By Jim Gianatsis CARLSBAD, CA, NOV. 16 Grey smoke from raging brush fires to the east blackened the skies over Carlsbad Raceway, setting an ominous and eerie palor to the thundert 6 ing of .f?~r..~~~~~~",~~ri.I]g. t9:~•. f7~[.l¥, (~HP.~,~Y 1 morning practice session. Within an hour, though, the falling ash and smoke had cleared, but the real battle was only about to flare up again. It was the Sixth Annual Four-Stroke Nationals sponsored by Moto-X Fox and Horsepower Factory. Plastic, leather and nylon dad certif"JCd crazies straddled earth-wrenching twowheded bulldozers and did the best thq- could to shake anything west of the San Andreas fault into the Pacific Ocean. In the Open Pro class of the CMCsanctioned National Championship, it was Team Yamaha rider "Rocket" Rex Staten who proved to be the sole survivor of the two-moto main event of the afternoon, thumping off with a major share of the $1200 purse on his Pro-Tee factory 600 Yamaha while Motocross Action test rider Lance "The Trance" Moorewood proved not to be speechless over his win in the 500cc Pro dass on a White Brotherssponsored KLX250 Kawasaki. The main confrontation of the day was certainly in the Open Pro dass where all the nationally-ranked profestional riders were thrown together, despite the displacement size of their bikes, in hopes that expertly guided tons of hot iron careening the Carlsbad Freeway would provide the big show. No fence choking four-stl'Oke fans were left disappointed. The top stars included: of course, Yamaha's Rex Staten on the Pro-Tee bike; factory Suzuki test rider "Radical" Ron Turner on a Horsepower Factory machine fined with an "off brand" C I. J ~ j .. ', . . . v.: I I I " ~ \,1 JJ.: L' Honda XR500 motor; Honda Team rider Donnie Hansen with a C&j-framed XR500 built by the Honda enduro team; newly-signed Honda factory rider johnny O'Mara on a Mugen modi· fied XR500 Honda with C&j frame; Moto-X Fox rider jeff jennings and David Gerig teamed t~her on Kelvin Franks-built XR500 Hondas as well; and Billy "Bear" Grossi on a Bruce Porter built and sponsored 600cc Pro Tee Yamaha. Four-strokes may have a reputation for reliability, but that reo putation was literally destroyed today along with most of the bikes as those who proved to be the fastest riders also got to do a lot of walking and pushing. By the time the smoke had cleared it was Staten ... certainly steady, but not as fast as last year when he banled with eventual champion Pierre Karsmakers for the win before blowing up ... left sitting this time with the first place trophy. The first moto Open Pro excavation of tum one at Carlsbad saw Ron Turner churning away from his holeshot to claim the lead over Gerig, Hansen, Staten and jennings. The first casualty was johnny O'Mara who pulled into the pits at the end of the first lap, telling Mugen team manager AI Baker that the big Honda had suddenly lost most of its power, probably caused by havoc in the valve train. Meanwhile, Turner may have held the lead but it was jennings who was about to steal the show, dicing past Staten to draw sights on the leaders. On the second lap, Gerig blew past Turner to claim the lead on his home turf. Turner stayed with Gerig for another lap in hntV'll of ret~"inll the lead C5'NI" ~ 1T]',i7;>.1 'rr-"I7~ ~ 1\'