Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ w U 0 '" (JJ a: ::t e u > '" (JJ o ..... o ::t U"':l CL. 00 0") ...... ~ 0 C\l >- l-. C\l ~ l-. ..0 Q.) ~ J eff Matiasevich (2 8 6) lea ds Jeff Cap t (2 8 1) and the rest of the 125cc Intermediate class on his way to the win . He'll be riding Pro from now on. CRC Amateur Su~ercross Amateurs invade Anaheim.Stadium By C hris Bo ice ANAHEIM . CA. FEB . 3 O ver 500 a m a teur riders came to Anahei m to test their skills on basically the same track that all of the factory stars had raced on the night before. Most of the riders found the track challenging a nd the racing fun . T he riders may be pi nt-sized, bu t the raci ng was fierce in the 16 Pee Wee division . T heclass was dom in ated by eight-year-old Jeff Will oh. Yama ha-mounted Willoh led the first moto from wire-to-wire. with sevenyear- o ld Jason Lentz (Ita l) moving up 10 pass h ard -charging six -year o ld Robb y Hamm ond (Ya m ) for seco nd . Six -year-old Chris Wh eeler (Ya m) a n d fiv e- year- old Kenn y H omman (Ya m) finish ed fourth a n d fifth . In th e seco nd m ot o , H amm ond stormed o u t of th e gat e in front of \Vill oh . but before th e end o f th e first lap Will oh had tak en o ver th e lead 10 go on fo r th e overa ll win . C ro ssing th e line behind Willoh wa s Ham m ond. whos e 3-2 tall y gav e him seco nd overa ll . Lentz fini shed with a 2-3 sco re for third. with Wh eeler a nd H omman fini shing fourth a nd fifth . There were so man y riders in th e 125cc Beginner class that th ey were divided into four divisions of qualifying motos. The top five riders in eac h division were th en transferred to a fina l l25cc run-off race. The 125cc fina l provided a lot o f exciteme nt. with five riders battling for positions lap after lap. As the gate dropped . Kevin Yamaguchi (Kaw) jumped to th e lead , but was quick ly overtaken by Bra dl ey Beama n ( Ho n ), S teve Flanders (Kaw ), Joey Cox (Ka w), and David Biesiada (Ya m ). By the second la p. Kawasaki-m ounted Rick Weaver had fought h is way th ro u gh the pack from a slow start. lancing right in the middle of the five-rider battle for first place. Lap after lap Beaman held off the other four riders . Cox mounted a charge on the third lap , but bailed over the finish line jump a nd lost several positions. Meanwhile secondplace rider Flanders tried to snea k by Beaman o n th e inside of the 18wheeler jump, but lost his bid as h e collided with Beaman. Biesia da was waiting. and took adva n tage o f Fla nders' mistake to move in to seco nd. Flanders regained his composure an d went by Biesiada 10 retake second place. While Flanders tried to pressure th e even tua l m ot o win ne r Beaman into a m istak e. Biesiada h ad hi s h ands full holding orr Weaver . wh o was p ushing him hard for third pl ace. The last lap sa w some fierce racing . but n o positio n cha nges. T he to p five fini sh ers were Beaman in firs t. Flan ders seco nd . Biesi ad a thi rd . Wea ver fourth. a nd Co x chargi ng back u p 10 fini sh fifth overa ll. The 125cc Intermed iat e class was dominated by Kawasaki ride r Jeff Matiasevich. Mari asevi ch passed Jeff Capt (Kaw) over th e double jumps 10 take ove r th e lead o n th e first lap a nd then began to pull a way to an easy IO-second victory over th e rest of the field. Merced es G onz al es (Ka w) ga ted next to last. ' bu t by lap three had fought her wa y 10 eigh th . Un fort u natel y. she clipped a ha ybale and went down hard. She was unhurt. but a lso out of co nt ent ion in the first rnoto. Ma tiasevich glided 10 an easy wi n. Greg Vowell (Kaw ) was seco nd, La rry Benedi ct (Kaw) was th ird , Mik e You ng (Yam) fourt h, a nd Robert Hale (Ya m) was fifth . The second moro saw Mati asevi ch br eeze 10 another easy victory. Th e ra ce for second wa s very exciting. with five riders swapping positions ba ck and forth . Young held on to second pl ace until th e la st la p wh en a determined Jerr Capt shot past him to take over In ' the 2 50cc Pro class, Lance Rieman (52 6) leads Brent Sh ury. Rieman finished second. while Shurytook fifth. Shury also placed third in the 125s. seco nd. Bened ict pi cked up the pace and bega n press uring Cap t for second, but time ran out and he had 10 sett le for a third-place fini sh. Young had dropped back to fini sh fourth, with Mer cedes Gonzales fini shing fifth. The overa ll top five rider s were Mariasevich first ( I- I). Ben edict seco nd (33). Young third (4-4). Vowell fourth (2-8), a nd fifth going 10 Capt (9-2). The 250cc Beg inner fin al wa s made up o f the top six riders from eac h o f th e three.qualifying division s. Division one riders Jim Peters (Yam) a nd Don Moore (AH K) began th eir ra celong battle at the drop of th e gate. Moore did get a better sta rt than Peters . but Peters kept th e pressure co n sta nt until lap four when he was able to slip by Moore and take the lead. Moore stayed right on Peters' fender. but was unable to pass him because of very good defensive riding. Bob Dempsey (Yam ) rode very consistently to finish third overall . Scott Chandler (AH K) moved through the pack 10 fin ish fou rt h. followed by Ph il Wurster (H o n) in fifth p lace. Ka wa sa k i pi lot J eff "Chicken" Matiasevich co nti nued hi s wi n ni ng ways as h e led the fi rst moto of 250cc Interm edia tes fro m wire-to-wire, Steve Pfarr (Hon) got an exce llent start. but a lmost immed ia tely fell vict im 10 heavy duty press ure from bo th Steve Piattoni (Hon ) and Kevin Bro wn (H on) . P ia tto n i and Brown p ushed their H o ndas past Pfarr on lap two. and co nt in ued their combat for the rest of th e moto, Pi auoni was able to hold Brown off and finished second. Merced es Gonzales (Ka w) overcame a slo w sta rt . an d began a charge; movin g from 10th to fourth in th e final two laps. Pfaff continued to lose grou nd and ended up with a fifth in the fir st rno to. Mariasevi ch gave a repea t performance in th e second rnot o with ano ther easy win. Yamahamounted Mich ael Rehm was runnin g seco n d until he wa s passed by a no the r Yamaha rid er. Tim Wahlberg. Pia tton i began hi s move to ch alle n ge Wahlberg and on the fifth lap got by him 10 take over second. Brown had come up to try 10 push P ia u o n i as he had done in the first rnoto, but he co uld no t find a way around him. The fina l resu lts p ut Matiasevich first with his perfect I-I . Pia u oni was second wit h a 2-2, Brown third with 3-3. Den nis Hu len four th wit h a 7-5. and Pfa ff fifth wi th a 5-7. Arizo na rider Bryan Bruner took comp lete co ntrol of the 250cc Pro class . The first-rnoro ho leshot went 10 Kawasaki rid e Todd Campbell, but h e promptl y bailed and allowed the who le fie ld to go by. Bru ner came orr the gate in sixth place. and began picking orr his competition until h e took the lead in the fifth lap . Dean Welsh (Yam) had inheri ted the lead from Campbell . bu t Welsh co u ld n' t hol d orr the agressive Oakl ey/ PJ 1/ KMC / La n ce Lea thers-sponsored Bruner. The top six riders put o n quite a show with a very close race. but when th e chec kered £lag ca me o u t it was Bruner wh o was th ere first. Welsh ca me ac ro ss second with La nce Rieman (Ya m) following in third. Dennis Parker (Ya m) was fourth, and Yamaha-mounted David Townsend was fifth . Bruner blasted into the lead in the seco nd m oto and he was not serio usly ch a llen ged for the entire ra ce. Second place was he ld from start 10 finish by Townsend. but the" race for the next three positions was close and very exciting. Welsh was ha nging o n 10 third p lace until lap four. when he was passed by Riema n. Ho nda rider Bren t Sh ury moved up to pass Welsh also. a nd the n set h is mark on Riema n . He attempted severa l passes, but cou ld not p ull off a successful pass before the motoended. T he ove ra ll winner was Bru ner with a I-I . R iema n was second with a 3-3. Townsend third wit h 5-2. Welsh fourth with a 2·5, an d Shury in fifth with a .6-4 score . - Results PEE WEE: 1. JeH W illoh (Yam I: 2. Robby Hemmo nd (Yam); 3 . Jason ente (118 1). 60 0 -8 : 1. JeH W illo h (Kaw); 2. Judd Scanlan (Kawl; 3. J ason Len tz (Kaw). 60 NOV: 1. Ryan DalY (Kaw): 2. Jo sh Kuc hta (Kaw l; 3. Juston Ura ta (Kawl. 60 INT: 1. J ustin Rich (Kaw); 2. Dennis Dah lin (Kaw) ; 3 . Craig Decker (Kaw) . 60 EX: 1. Soan Thorn ton (Kaw): 2. Damo n HuHman (Kaw) . 80 STK 8EG: 1. Loui e Ramo (Yam); 2. Gary Bri nkm ey er (Yam); 3. Shad Lara (Yam). 80 STK NOV: 1. Larry Laye (Yam): 2 . Ryan Hughes (Yam); 3 . Robbie Perez (lta w). 80 STK INT: 1. Crai g Miller (Kaw) ; 2. J immy But ton (Han); 3. Ken Arnold (Kaw) . 80 STK EX: 1. Jason Langford (Kaw) ; 2. M ike Wiese (Yam); 3. S1eve Furuya (Kaw). 80 MOD BEG: i . Scott Bagshaw (Yam); 2. David Parker (Yam). • 80 MOD NOV: 1. Brian Gipson; 2. Doug Hu ston (Yam); 3. Lance M urray (Han). 80 MOD INT: 1. M ike Bitner (Yam); 2. Kerry Mulligan (Hont, 3. Bubba Erickson (Kaw) . 80 MOD EX: 1. Jason Langford (Kaw); 2. Mike W eise (Yam); 3. Steve Furuya (Kaw) . 125 BEG: 1. Bradley Beaman (Han); 2. Stev e Flanders (Kaw); 3. David Biesiada (Yam). 125 NOV: 1. Todd Anders (Yam); 2. Doug Allen (Kaw); 3. Jody Tapia. . 125 INT: 1. JeH M at iasev ich (Kaw); 2. Lar ry Ben edict (Kawl; 3. M ike Young (Yam). . 125 PRO: 1. Bryan Brune r (Kaw); 2. Kurt He nricksen (Kawl ; 3. Brent Shury (Han). 250 BEG: 1. J im Peters (Yaml; 2. Don H. Moore (AH K); 3. Bob Demp sey (Yam). 250 NOV: 1. J im KunlZ (Suz); 2. Todd Lehmann (Han); 3 . Darr en Paley (Suz). 2 50 1NT: 1. Jeff M at iaS8vi ch (Kaw): 2. Steve Plat ton i (Hon); 3. Kevin Brown (Han ). 25 0 PRO: 1. Bryan Bruner (Kaw); 2. Lance Rieman (Yam); 3. David Townse nd (Yam). 500 BEG: 1. Russell Garc ia (Yam); 2. Donny Moore (Han): 3. John Ax elson (Han). 500 NOV: 1. Bob W atso n (Kaw l; 2 . Terry Anderson (Han); 3. Eric Barr (Hon) . 500 INT: 1. Gr egg Blechman (Han); 2. J im Harris (Yam); 3. An Oliv ier (Honl . 500 PRO: 1. Dave FollZ (Hon );2. Chris Craft (HonJ; 3. J im Georg e (Kaw) . VET JR: 1. Jac k M iller (Han); 2. Jo e Whiteley (Yam); 3. Mark Dennis (Han). VET INT: 1. R.D. Cushman (Yam); 2. Danny As h craft (Kaw); 3 . St uart Dou glas (Han). VET EX: 1. Ken RatzloH (Han); 2. Jim O'Nea l (Han); 3. Mark Hell er (Han).

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