Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-fJ B ~ Eddi e Raas (4 0) and Rick W eayer (8 2) get close at C RC MX at DeAnza. Rodney Sm it h won the 1 25cc Pros and Dash for Cash at the Cow Palace. o a: w '" Z w o ..J J: ~ ~ >- '" o .;o :l: a.. Smith, Nelson split Cow Palace Arenacross By w. H. Spencer SAN FRANCISCO . CA. JAN. 25 Arenacross came to the 1/10m ile oval a t th e Cow Pal ace. as part of the Great Am eri can Motorcycle an d ATV Shows 24 Great Am eri can Sh ootou ts. Rodney Sm ith. ret u rn ing to racin g a fter a four-m onth layoff, took th e win in th e I25cc P ro class. while J on Nel son di sappeared right a t th e sta rt of th e 250cc Pro event. In a ll . 165 rid ers took part in both a ma teu r and Sem i-P ro events on the indoo r track. Jim Cressa a nd his Pa cific Racing Honda won th e first 125cc P ro heat over Willi e Miller an d Smith. whil e T im Aston topped th e second heat o n hi s KX; besting Nel son a nd Denn is Ostri ern o r Wash ington Sla te. Tom Wetzel su rp rised a few by wi n ning th e first 250cc Pro heat over Greg Penningt on. wh ich Sm ith had no tro u ble in the second heat. Smith fini sh ed ah ead o r R usty O tt a nd Brett Ca hors. In the final heat . Eri c MeKenna too k first o n hi s H i-P o int Ka wasaki. wit h Larry Wosick finishing seco nd ove r Vern Forsyth. After the hea ts. the rive Pro heat race win ners were brought o ut Ior a Mik e Kidd-insp ired event called th e Dash for Cash. The cro wd donated nearly 800 in a winner-lake-a ll heat. Di ck Bra n dt (Co n co rd Yamaha ). sponsor of the show alo ng wit h Ya maha Interna tion al . sp iced th e purse O to SIOO a nd the stage wa s set. Smi th would h ave been happ y eno ugh with the first start as th e o ther four riders cras hed - Tom Wetzel a nd Cressa su rIered mo st o r th e pain. Wetzel was rem oved o n a stre tche r wi th a possible brok en co lla rbone . Sm ith go t a good sta rt a lo ngsi de of Cressa a nd McKenna but by th e en d o r th e first lap he d isappeared an d eas ily took th e cash. In th e mains. it was Todd H icks ho lesh ot in g th e 80cc Am ateurs but succu mbed to th e ha rd cha rges or Mike Bittner. Ch ris You ng a nd Dou g Duston . These three Yama ha riders had a good battle wi th Bitner and Duston swa p pi ng th e lead early on. wh ile Young seemed to have tro u ble wi th one spot on th e track th a t sta rted to show co ncrete. At the th e checkered it was D uston over Yo u ng and Bitn er. with Obie LeH in four th. T he first try or the l25cc Amateur sta rt saw nearl y the whole field dow n in th e half lap. After untangl ing. Geo ff Woods got th e lead a nd it looked like a runawa y. At the end or the second la p it wa s Woods ove r Steve Weyrau ch a nd Rod H a big. T hen, over the finish jump. H ab ig got o n top o r Weyrauch a n d crashed. T he n Wood s dropped h is RM and it was a whol e new rac e. Fi rst heat winner J on Kin g rode out o n h is Honda but got chased down by Mike McLa in 's Yamaha by th e chec kered. Kin g held on for seco nd while Woods rem ounted [o r third o ver Craig H amilt on 's KX with Mike La ndgraff fifth . Roger McCoy had th e easy hol eshot in the 250cc Ama teur ma in af ter taking seco nd in th e hea t to Mike H arrim an . He wa s ridd en d o wn quickl y th ou gh by Bob Sha fer in an ins p iring ride that reall y go t th e cro wd going. Sha rer mad e an insi de pass just befo re th e Iin ish j u mp and led the last lap 10 win. In the Pro Semis. T on y Fl or es took th e win 10 mak e th e ma in whi le J eH Pestana and T y Earl crashed. p uttin g John Cook a nd Sout h Afri can Gary Butch er in th e main. Troy Bradsh aw o r H in sdal e. Ill in o is, won th e first of two 250cc Pro sem is ove r Nelson wh ile J ero me H eiberger to pped the o th er on his Mike La ne- tu ned CR250. Andy T ressor led Dannv Bol es in for the fina l two transrer spots. In the 125cc P ro main . Nelson go t the lead o ff the sta rt. but Smi th clos ing fast o n the Sierra-s upported YZ. Smit h made the pass on the seco nd la p and was go ne with Ti m Aston laking seco n d and then Tony Flores closing gro und quickl y on his Mot oX Fox /Pal o Alto Yam aha. Flor es' ride en ded q u ickl y th oug h. when o n th e th ird lap. he tangl ed wi th a haybal e a nd st rea mers a nd was o u t Ior th e ni ght. Nelson took ove r th ird an d [ini shed in front o r But ch er. Nelson learned th e hot way to get o rr th e line. as he hol esh ot th e 250cc Pro show with McKenna close in secon d over Bol es. Smith hadn't gotten a good start yet but worked hi s way to fou rth on th e second lap a nd then got by Bol es an d pressured MeKenna; makin g a pass on th e fourth lap in turn one. With Nelson encou nter ing lappers past th e halfway point. Sm ith coo led o ff and sett led in for good. co nsistent laps. Th is brought McKen n a back in to th e p icture. On th e last lap. he tri ed a pass that didn 't work. Nelson coasted in for th e win ove r Smith. Between the two. th ey had a rea l good payda y. McKenn a took third over Bol es. with J ero me fourth over Ott. Zirbel double trouble at Corvallis ST By Cla y Light CORVALLIS. OR. JAN. 26 Marty Zirbel proved to be too much for the competition, as the Town Center Yamaha pilot smoked the 250cc and Open Pro main events o n hi s Yam ah as a t Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis. Zirbel won his 250cc heat race. with Expert Ryan Fish er nabbing the Open heat race an d the 250cc Pro trophy dash. Zirbel cam e back to win the Open P ro trophy dash . Washington's Scott Chappell (Ha n) led th e 12-lap l25cc A main and sh u n ned o rr Bri an Ril ey (Han) and Don Ka spe r (Han ) o n lap one . Chappell yielded to Kasper wh o cras hed himself ou t o r firs t and put Chappell int o first a t th e flag. acmg ou t Riley by a wheel. The 250cc A mai n event was dominated sta rt to fin ish by local Steve Loraine (Han ). Loraine did a number on Rex Fish er (Yam ) a nd Gerry Otto (Yam ) Ior the win. with Don Davidson (Yam ) a nd Joe R il ey (Bu l) four th and fifth . Zirbel sa t the pole position Ior the 25Qcc Pro main even t a nd pulled th e holesho t ahea d o f Ryan Fish er (Yam) and Nat ional number 73 Del Schnitzer (Han). Zir bel pulled away from the Fish er /Schn itzer duel but lu ckil y for Sch n itzer. Fishe r threw a chain and dropped back. moving Schnitzer in seco nd. Zir bel pulled away a t a spectacu lar rate to gi ve TT specialist Schnitzer fit s and make th e finish or der Zirbel, Schnitzer an d Pat Munyon (Bu l), Fisher inher ited th e pole in the O pen P ros' 20-lap thriller. which was by far th e most exciting ma in event o f th e 1984-85 season in Corvallis. Row one resembled th e Pro race o r two weeks ago. with four AMA J un iors a nd two Ex perts lining up. Turn one saw a massive p ile-up sto p th e ac tion. and o n the restart it was Jim T orpey (Yam) puttin g h is motocrosser into th e lead o n ly to tangle with Zir bel. The th ird ta ke was for real as Fish er jumped int o the lead - a head of Schnitzer (Han). Mike Huff' ma n (H a n) a nd Steve Kendig. Zirbel wa s in dead last wh en th e eigh t-rider fin al came past the sta rt / fini sh line on lap o ne , but a fter three laps had worked himself into range o f th e Schn i tzer /Fi sher d ue l. Sc h n i tzer worked int o the lead a t the half. tha n ks to h is speedway riding style. but j ust as qu ickl y Zirbel had motored in bet ween himself a nd Fisher. Zirbel soon sto le th e lead a nd pulled away con vinc ing ly to beat Sch ni tzer. Fisher a nd HuHman. Result s OPENPRO, 1. MartyZirbel(Yaml; 2. Oal Schnitzer (Honl; 3. Ryan Fisher (Yam). 250 PRO, 1. Marty Zirbel (Yam); 2. De' Schnitzer (Hon); 3. Pat Munyon (Bul). OPEN A: 1. Jim Torpey (Yam); 2. Tricia Lyons (Yem); 3. Karey Krahel (Yam). 250 A: 1. Stuve Lora ine (Suz); 2. Rex Fisher (Yam~ 3. Gerry Otto (Yam). 125 A: 1. Scon Ghappell (Hon); 2. Brian Riley (Honl; 3. Don Kasper (Hon). BO A: 1. Ryan Anderson (Kaw); 2. Man Zirbel (Yam). Davis crushes Last Chance Qualifier By Na t e Rauba SUNNYM EAD. CA. J AN . 27 There was a large turnout today at DeAnza Cycle Park for the California Racing Club's "Last Chan ce Qualifier" for the ama teur supercross to be held at Anaheim Stadium next Sunday. Suzuki mounted Craig Davis assured h imself a spo t on th e line at Anaheim with a win in the 125cc Novice class. Jody Tap ia ( Ka l-Gard / O' Nea l/ Pro Circuit / Ka w) sta rte d o ff the first mota with a holeshot followed by Robert Beaty (Kaw), Ron McKiernan. and Daryn Walls (Kaw) . Sunwest Yam aha 's Ron Thomas took fourth from Walls on th e first lap. and a lap later Roger Hauptman had the position as both riders displaced McKiernan to fifth. At mid-mota Tapia held th e lead with Thomas. H auptman. a nd now Davis trailing. On lap five T apia went down , handing th e lead to Thomas. But the Yamaha p ilot held first for only a lap before Davi s was into the lead and

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