Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

so n had to sett le for fifth a nd a tra ns fer to the B main. Arney Wi ck' was th e h eat winner a head o f Bru ce Sear les; third pl ace was Steve Haug. H eat two was o ne fa th e n igh t' s better races. Kirk Strong used a H onda CR250R to h old off Sullivan for th e fir st nin e o f 10 laps. while Paul Pi ero li successfu lly fought fo r thi rd j u st behind th em . At th e white flag , Strong pu lled a hea d o f Sullivan a bo u t a bikelength . Th en Su llivan pulled up beside him on th e o u tside a nd so me how managed 10 ge t hi s Panth erframed H onda X R500 back on th e inside lin e. Thev ra n neck-and-neck until Sullivan look th e win by a whe el. Th e fast est h eat o f th e ni ght wa s heat three, a nd Fit zhugh. spon sored by Seaule Honda an d Brian Billings, rod e a Kn ig h t-fra m ed XR 500 10 beat Ron Yamam ot o . In the B main , Pa tterso n led. fo llo wed by Jim Darby with Renton Yamaha's Pa u l Pi eroli in third spo t. On th e next lap, Patters on was still lea d in g . but now with Lawren ce O 'Co nner seco nd . Darbv third an d Mi ke Kea rn ey fourth . On la p fo ur , Dick Masch er wo rked past Piero li int o fi fth posi tion . a nd th en took fou rth from Darby a few laps lat er. Pat ter so n was runnin g a way wi th the B ma in , when he h ad som e bad lu ck that hit him las t vear, When a back ma rker cras hed onlap eig h t, th e starter held up th e yell ow a nd whit e flags in th e sa me hand. Patterson didn 't know there wa s a lap 10 go a nd slow ed down , thin king he had won. Lawren ce O 'C onn er bagged the o fficia l vic to ry, Mike Kea rn ey and Di ck Wascher ea rned second a nd third , . respectively. Twelve rid ers transferred to th e final . Ch ri s Fitzhugh 's fast heat win put him o n th e pol e next to Arn ey Wick. Nex t wa s Mike Sullivan , Ro n Ya ma mo to . a nd Bru ce Searles. Th e on ly 2500n rhe Iron r row belo nged to Kirk Strong, o n th e o u tside. O n the second row was Del Sch nitzer. Stev e Haug , Travis Babcock, Da ve Steering . Amateur Nationa l Champion Da rrell Davi s and Mark IlI ia n . A t th e g ree n fl ag , Fitz hug h 's Kni ght -framed H on da th umper grabbed th e lead wi th Lyn nw ood Cycl e Barn' s Kirk Strong on hi s tail. S u ll ivan ra n in thi rd with Yam am o to, Wick , Bab cock, a nd Da vis trai li ng. Su lliva n event ua ll y worked u p to seco nd by la p th ree. an d Fi tzhugh was four or five bikelength s a hea d. O n lap four Fitzhugh slip ped a nd Su llivan squeezed by him in a turn to tak e th e lead ; Fitzhugh recov ered to reta in second. Strong held onto third whi le Wick and 'Ya ma m o to argu ed over Iourth p lace unti l la p II wh en Yam a m o to h it Strong in a turn . After th at Yamamoto held onto third ahead of W ick. Davis, a nd Stron g wh o stag ger ed into.sixth. Results A MAIN: 1. M ike Sull ivan; 2. Chr is Fitzhugh; 3 . Ron Yamamoto; 4 . Ar ney W ick ; 5. Darr ell Davis; 6 . Kir k Strong; 7. Travis Babcock; 8. Bruce Searles; 9. Mark lili an ; 10 . Si eve Haug ; 11. Dave St eering . B MAIN : 1. Law rence O 'Conn er; 2. M ike Kea rney; 3. Dick W ascher; 4 . Jim Darby; 5 . Paul Pierol i; 6. Don Paul ; 7. J ohn Clayton. C MAIN: 1. J im Carlew ells; 2. Todd Hagmann; 3 . Aaron Wa ggon e; 4 . Ken W heat on; 5. Dan Gunderson ; 6. Ka m Todd; 7. Cli n t Cluzel. Shepard sharp at Circle WMX By Brad and Sharon Jones HEP L ER . KS. MAR. 24 In hi s first visit to th e Circl e W m ot ocro ss races, Mike Shepard co nv inc ingly won bo th m ot os o f th e 250cc In terrnedi ate class. Wh ile Sh epard wa s o u t front in th e firs t mo ro, Roger Bell a m y a nd Pa u l Merr ifield were batt ling it o u t . f~r seco nd. Merr ifield ma de a last lap charge to overta ke Bell am y for seco nd. Me-rrifield was ho t in mota two as he took the ho lesh o r and led th e p ac k through th e first tum . Sh epard was glued 10 Merr ifield 's rear fender and slip ped pa st in a sweepe r o n lap two. Merrifield tri ed 10 pass Sh ep ard bac k, but Sh epar d was just too quick a nd won the mot o . In th e 12Scc Intermedi at e, S teve Brack took rhe st art o n hi s new KX with J on J ohnson in second. T he IWOrid er s pulled away from th e p ac k whil e J ohnson tried several moves 10 ge t by Brack . J ohnson tu rn ed his effort s i n to vict ory by sl ipp in ~ by Brack o n th e last lap for th e win . In moro IWO, J ohnson got th e hol esh ot with Brack close behind . Brack ga ve his best effo rt 10 ove rta ke J ohn son, but, wa s n ot quit e fast eno ug h a nd sell led for second pla ce. Thompson, Kane, Dove double at Corona ... By Ela ine Jones CORONA, CA . MAR. 23 RogerThompson had his hands fu ll in th e O pe n Mo n ey shon track wi th J ohn Ma ttoch s from Spoka n e. Washi n g to n . Mat rochs got th e jump o ff th e lin e a n d held Thompson a t bay for. two laps befo re th e local rid er was a ble 10 ge t a ro u nd h im . Muuochs kept the pressu re on, bUI was unable to mak e Thompson falt er. Kenn y Kin g rounded OUI th e field with th e th ird . On th e half mil e Thom pson was readv for ac tion wh en th e sta rte r's flag r-n. H e rook th e lead. bur o nce ag-ain Mau ochs was putting on th e pressure from his second p lace position. Th ompson wort , M a r roch s was seco nd . a nd Ross Klatt finished th ird . Da n Kane ha d an exce llen t nigh t as he pi cked u p a doub le win in th e Open Expert ra ces. In the sh ort track even t. Ka ne a lm ost went wire-to-wire whil e th e baule for seco nd and third was left u p for grabs. between Ken Kin g a nd Ri ck Reed . Jim Kesler , wh o was seven th o n th e sta rt, got a ro u nd Rusty Ca irn o n th e th ird la p. But it took . Kesler tw o mo re laps to p ass Reed a n d pl ace hi msel f in the to p thr ee. On the seven th lap , Ka ne ~o t a scare when Kin g too k over th e lead. Bu t Kin g baubled on th e whit e flag lap, and Ka ne and Kesler wen t by, leaving King in th e third. On th e ha lf mil e Ka ne d id not leav e any room for surprises as h e went to the front and n ever looked back; Reed was second with Ron Sheets in th ird . King mov ed up th rough th e field a n d found h imself in second bv th e third lap, bnt heet s fought back'an d dropped King 10 third. . . L yle Don,a lso sco red a double Will Saturda y night in th e Open Amateur s. provin g that he is going 10 be hard to ca tch. Th e short track h ea l was u nev en tfu l. wi th o n ly o n e pa ss made during th e whole ra ce. At the finish it was Dove, Ri ch ard Schroed er and Bo b Craves, O n th e half m ile the bailie wa s a !.i ll ie m,?re i nt.~ nse , ~,ut o n ly for the p lace, and show spots. Graves W:lSin seco nd p lace behi nd Do ve. but . Schroeder ca me o n 10 ta ke ove r on th e seco nd la p. Fro m back in th e pack . Edd ie Dod ge was making h is debut as a n Amateur. a nd wh en h e di al ed on h is big H arl ey it responded ; he moved fro m six th to third in five la p s a nd dosed o n Schroeder fast . At the finish it was Dove first a nd Schroeder by a Iire over Dod ge. In th e Open Novice half mile, Lenny Rod riq uez o f Pape Ra cing T eam gOI the lead, fol lowed by J o<; r L7 O·

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