Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Winner of the 500cc class - Danny Chandler. Greg litterkopf (inset) almost won the 500cc overall. but his M-Star broke. . Broc Glover (3B) tangles with slower traffic while leading the 250s. CMC PioReer Electromes/Traas-Cal series ROaD. 1: Factory riders dominate Trans-Cal opener By Kit Palmer HURON, CA, SEPT. 23 The Third Annual Continental Motorsport Club's Trans-Cal Series, this year sponsored by Pioneer Electronics, was dominated by factory riders on production machinery. Team Honda riders Johnny O'Mara and Danny "Magoo" Chandler topped the I25cc and 'I Y h' 5O Occ cIasses,.w h 1 e ama a s 16 Broc Glover naIled the Win In the 250cc class. In the 80cc Expert class, Yamaha's Eddie Hicks - last year's Trans-Cal Champion - was untouchable .in both moLOS, claiming the overall VICtory. After passing Mike ~ascarella during the first lap of the fITst moLO, Hicks set sail for the checkered nag -unchallenged. Ho~da-m.ounted Shaun Kalos worked hIS way InLO the second spot at moto's end ahead of Yamaha-mounted Colin Karcher~ Kawasaki rider Kyle Lewis and Suzuki pilot Pascarella. In the second moLO, Hicks gated poorly and was nearly dead last entering the firstturn; however, by the end of the first lap, Hicks already had command of the lead. Lewis spent the entire moto in second, which combined with his first-moLO fourth gave him second overall. Third in the moLO went to Kawasaki rider Shaun Wooten followed by Honda pilot Ty Davis, Darcher, Pascrella, Kawasaki rider Steve Lamson and Yamaha pilot Mike Wiese. 125cc Pro Kawasaki rider Steve Stewart stole the boleshot i~ the first 125cc,moLO, but hot on hIS tracks was 0 Mara. During the first lap, O'Mara new past Stewart through the triple-jump section taking over the lead. After completin~ one lap it was O'Mara, Stewart, Kawasaki's Bader Manneh, Honda rider Bryan Abmathy, facLOry Yamaha rider Keith Bowen, and Yamaha-mounted Tyson Vohland. As expected, O'Mara quickly extended his lead LO a comfortable margin leaving the rest of the pack to fight for second. Dunng the second lap Manneh found a way around Ste~art, as did Bowen a lap later. A heated battled developed between Manneb and Bowen that carried them away from Stewart and Vohland. Vohland. moved in. o~ Stewart and passed the Kawasaki nder for fourth, soon after. As the moLO neared the end, the duel over second between Manneh and Bowen was still in high gear. Bowen constantly kept the. pressure on in every turn and straight, but Manneh held his own, not givi~g.an i~ch. ~fter O'Mara c~ossed the ftntsh hne With the e!1sy W:In, Manneh a.nd Bowen were sull at It, and at the fln- ish, it was Manneh who took second; Bowen third. Fourth went to Vohland ahead of Honda's Erik Kehoe and Stewart. The second moLO turned out LO be the most exciting of the day. Suzuki R&D rider Rick Ryan shot to the front pack, while first-moLO winner O'Mara was back around 15th with Bowen right in front of him. Pursuing Ryan in second and third were Yamaha rider Dennis Daft and Suzuki R&D rider Mike Healey. Vohland slipped past both Healey and Daft by the end of the second lap and reeled in Ryan. However, Ryan managed LO keep Vohland back once again and extended his lead by the sixth lap. Meanwhile, Bowen and O'Mara were engaged in a dogfight while trying to make their way through traffic; doing so at a slow pace. Halfway through the race, Bowen dropped his Yamaha in a deep-grooved right turn which gave O'Mara a clean shot through traffic. O'Mara quickly passed A.j. Whiting, Eddie Warren, Daft, Healey and Vohland within a few laps, but found himself almost 10 seconds behind Ryan with four laps remaining. Ryan, who finished 12th in the first moLO, was aware that O'Mara was closing quickly. Within three laps, O'Mara closed the gap, and as the two took the white flag, less than two seconds separated them. Every time O'Mara tried to pass Ryan would slam the door shut; but with one turn left in the race, less than 100 yards from the finish, the duel reached its climax. "I could tell he was get,ting a little nervous with me so close behind him, because I could see him looking back at me a couple of times," said O'Mara. "So I just set him up and went outside, then cut inside to take the lead. I had a better drive coming out of the turn for the jumps, and that was about it." "I tried a different line in the turn by using the sweeper," said Ryan. "But I couldn't get back on my usual line coming out of the turn, and when I looked over to see where Johnny was, he had already gone by. " Vohland settled for third ahead of Healey, Warren and Bowen. 250cc Pro Another Suzuki R&D rider George Holland - was the one to beat at the start of the first 250cc moLO: He stole the holeshot easily, while Yamaha-mounted Jim Anderson, Glover, Honda rider Bobby White and Yamaha pilot Russ Wageman followed. . Holland jumped to a huge lead over Anderson, who managed LO keep Glover behind for three laps. Once into second, Glover set his sights on Holland and started LO wittle away the distance between the two. O'Mara", who had a poor start, fell in the mud w here a section of the track was freshly watered and recovered about 20th. During the sixth lap, Glover was glued to Holland's rear fender, but a lap later, the lead was his. Glover then stretched his lead over Holland by a few seconds, while O'Mara was' making time quickly through the pack. With two laps to go, O'Mara slipped past Anderson for third place but was 30 seconds behind Holland. Glover took the win followed by HoIland., O'Mara, Anderson, Yamaha rider Scott Manning and White. O'Mara had the lead after exiting the first run at the start of the second moLO closely followed by Holland and Glover. But halfway through the first lap, Glover took. control of second. Following Holland were Manning and Wageman. All eyes watched the O'Mara/ Glover duel as Holland began LO drop back. "The shock wasn't working very well," said Holland. "We made some adjustments LO the shock between moLOs and it didn't work. I was bouncing all over the place, and I just couldn't keep up." O'Mara and Glover were never more than a few bikelengths apart on their way to setting the fastest lap times of the day. During the first two laps, O'Mara seemed to be in control, then Glover out-braked O'Mara heading into a fast left turn and dove inside of 0' Mara LO capture the lead; however, it wasn't going to last for long. "I overshot the next turn, which set me up badly for the next straight," said Glover. "I kept making mistakes and he went right on by. Making such mistakes, I deserved being passed." Regaining the lead, O'Mara opened up a lead; the largest yet of the moLO, but Glover wasn't through. GLover eventually caught back up LO O'Mara and passed him in the exact same spot where he had previously passed O'Mara. This time, though, GLover made no mistakes and held on to his lead. Glover began pulling away, taking command the rest of the moLO. Glover took the win over O'Mara, who finished 45 seconds ahead of Holland. Fourth place went LO Manning who started the moLO in fourth and took fourth overall. Fifth in the moLO and overall went LO Anderson. "I was just beat," said O'Mara afterwards. "I feh I could go as fast as Broc, but I was just beat after that I25cc race," 500cc Pro The first 500cc moLO was clearly dominated by Sunwest-sponsored