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/126806
w ~ ~ CIl W W .. a: 1;) a: > '" CIl 0 0 I- :z: Q. lr:> CX) Ci') ~ c<"l > ....('j ~ .... .r:J ili ~ Phil Larson (2 8) flew to perfect mota scores for the 500cc Pro overa ll win. Scott Manning (6) was second overa ll . CMC/Skoal Bandit Golden State Nationals: Round 5 Repeat wins for Larson, Holley, Whiting By Rex Reese HU RON . CA, FEB. 3 With two more Pro rounds to go, support riders Phil Larson, Jim Holley and A.I Whiting moved closer to wrapping-up titles in th eir respective classes as all three rode to 1-1 swee ps at H uron Cycle Park in t he CMC /Skoa l Ba n d i t Golden State Nationals. This series round saw a larger contin- 8 gent of foreign riders: Team Honda had European G. P. rider Eric Geboers and their Japanese National MX team there. and Suzuki's Michele Rinaldi was entered. They joined Swedish riders Jonnie Nelson (H us) and Andy Eson (Ya m) who have been riding th e entire series . Eson helped mak e th e second 250cc Pro moto a hair-raiser by almost ruining Holley's da y. Not present at Huron was anybody from Teams Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki. even though the usual big names had been pre-entered for the event. The 250cc Pro class points leader Holley (Ya m) was able to drive up from the previous night's supercross at Anaheim to get to Huron just in time for three laps of late practi ce. The first round was a runaway for Holley. but moto two was another story as th e Yamaha P ro support pilot found himself squared-off against Eson in the final laps. Jim Tarantino combined two thirds for second overall. Whiting (Su z) co n tin ued his domin ation of th e l25cc Pros with two hard-fought moto wins over South African 250cc National Champ T ar antino. wh o just returned to the series after a layoff due to injuries. Th e form er "King of Saddleback" was a n early leader both times. but aggressive riding by Wh iting relega ted Tar- ami no to second for the day in this class as well . With brother Mike out for the duration of the series due to injuries sustained last week . Phil Larson moved into the 500cc Pro class lead after putting in a strong I-I performance. Scott Manning (Ya m ) was a force to be reckoned with in both bigbore rounds as he constantly battled Larson for the lead. In the 80cc Expert class , Honda riders Kvle Lewis and Scott Brown traded moro wins to keep th e class all to themselves. 125cc Pro When the starting gate dropped for the first moto, Kawasaki-mounted Rodney Harriger jetted into the lead . followed by Willie Surratt (H on) , Tarantino and Russ Wageman (Suz) with Whiting also in the front part of the pack. A couple of laps later Whit ing worked his way into third. At th e quadruple jumps, Surratt got by Harriger, who was then quickly passed by Whiting and Tarantino. Soon after th at Whiting and T arantino knocked Surratt into third. Suzuki-mounted Doug Dubach began pi cking up on Surratt and eventua ll y passed him as well. Wageman th en got by, making it Suzuki in th e top four places. At the mid-moto mark. Whiting began building a giant lead over Tarantino, who locked himself into seco n d. Dubach slipped ou t o f thi rd, "Gentleman Jim" Holley moved one step closer to the 250cc Pro title with two mota wins on his Yamaha support VZ250. apparently due to mechanical problems, allowing Wageman to take third. At the end of the first rnoto, it was Whiting well ahead of Tarantino, with Wageman a distant third. Tarantino took the lead at the start of the second moto, chased by Billy Frank ( Ka w ) an d Whiting. Harriger was fourth with Wageman fifth. A number of riders tangled in the first turn a n d went down wi th a t least one rider out. T arantino soon built up an impressive lead over second place which Whiting eventually took away from Frank. In fifth place, a vicious cutand-thrust battle raged between Harriger and Wageman as the Suzuki rider made several attempts to snatch the position from Harriger. Wageman got by and went to work on Surratt in fourth; by the end of the moto , Wageman beat Surratt. Up front, Whiting was dicing with Tarantino for the lead, and after severa l laps Tarantino was on ly a bikelen g th ahead of Whiting. A lap later. Whiting was leading, but on the last turn before the checkered, lost h is line and a lmost blew his lead. Instead of doubling, Whiting had to gas it through both jumps as fast as possible . At the flag. Tarantino was ha lf a bikelength behind Whiting with Frank third; Wageman 's fourth was good for third overall. 250cc Pro Because of the large number of entries in this class (about 40) two four-lap qualifiers and a consolation moto were run off to determine who would start in the 250cc Pro finals. The first qualifier had Honda's Japanese National MX team, consisting of Yoshinobu Shiga, Yasuo Tohfukuji, Isao Ida and Atsushi Genji. Also on the line wer e the Swedes Nelson and Eson and Suzuki's Rina ldi on a very stock-looking RM250. The win went to John Nelson (Hon ), with Rinaldi second, Eson third and Ida fourth. Tohfukuji was among the riders who didn 't make the cut. Tarantino was the winner of the second qualifier, followed by Geboers and Mouse McCoy (Hon ) third. Manning was fourth, with Glen Bell (Yam ) fifth . Only five riders showed up for the conso la tion race, with four going on to th e finals. The winner was Don Turk (H us), second was Dave Welty (Su z) with Randy Maga (Suz) third and Mike Yenerich (H on) fourth . Leading the first 250cc Pro final race was Danny Boles (Ya m) , followed by J eff Hicks (Ho n). Bell , Nel- son and Rinal d i. Holley was caugh t in heavy traffic, as was Tarantino; Manning got off dead last. Soon Hicks had the lead , with Boles second, followed by Tarantino. Holley and Rinaldi. On the fourth lap, Rin aldi, while running fift h, was claimed by th e quadruple jumps in a crash that retired him for the day. A lap lat er, McCoy crashed hard at the end of a fast right-hand sweeper. detuning him for th e rest of the moto. Hicks als o encountered some problems and was next seen toward the back of the pack. Bo les had his lead back, but a fastmoving Holley soon put an en d to the situation. As they went through a series of turns, Holley made his move to secure the lead. Bell took secon d. and Geboers la n ded in third. A few laps later, Tarantino began fighti ng Geboers for third. and the Belgi an rider was displaced to fourth place. Holley took the first moto well ahead of second placer Bell with Tarantino third. Ma n n ing and Tarantino were in th e lead of the seco nd moto with H olley fifth . Manning grabbed the lea d. with Dave Coupe (Kaw) second and Tarantino third. Jeff Hicks was fourth. Two laps later Tarantino scooped second but was then d umped into third by Holley. In another lap the hunt was on, and Holley began to work on Manning. briefly taking the lead then losing it . Another lap passed and Holley got the lead. but at about the same time, Eson worked his way into second a few bike lengths behind. Eson began shaving seconds off Holley's lead. but there didn't seem to be any doubt that " Gentlema n Jim" could hold on to the lead. On the white flag lap, Holley emerged from th e back section of the track over the quadruple jump, and Eso n held the gas wide open and passed H olley as they landed. Holley stabbed back. regaining his lead, and Eso n tried another pass on the sweeper, but was cut off. Holley took the checkered flag by the narrowest of margin s. Eson earned the ti tIe of top-rankin g foreigner of the series with a secon d for third overall; second for the day' was Tarantino. 500cc Pro Local rid er Tim Worth (H on ) took the first rnoto holeshot, and by the end of the first lap. Larson had worked his way up from a so-so start into second place. Not far behind was Manning. trailed by Scott Sargent (Kaw ) and Will y Simons (Ha n ).