Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a:: w ::!; .... ~ ..... iii: > '" en ~ o :I: Co .00 ..-. (A bove) Open Pro winner Willy Simons (48) and Phil Larson battle for the lead in the first moto. (Below) Russ Wageman (25) holeshots the first 250cc moto. W illie Surratt (10) won both outings, CMC/Skoal Bandits Lady Liberty Trans-Cal Series: Round 1. Kehoe, Surratt, Simons head Trans-Cal opener By Kit Palmer G O RMAN , CA . SEPT. 8 The opening ro u n d of the seven-race Continental Motosport Club/Skoal Bandit Lady Liberty T rans-Cal Series attracted hundreds of riders to Hungry Vall ey's SVRA Quail Canyon motocross track where Suzuki's Erik Kehoe and Honda riders Willie Surratt and Willy Simons went home with th e 10 125, 250 and 500cc Pro clas s wins. Kehoe , who placed seco nd in th e 125cc National MX Series this year, ca me from behind in th e first 125cc rnoto 10 fini sh seco nd a nd led from start to finish in the second to nail th e overa ll. "T he first m ot o I got a bad sta rt and banged handlebars with a bunch of riders in th e first turn and ca me out of it at midpack," said Keh oe. " 1worked m y wa y into seco nd and was pretty ti red after passing all those people. The second m ot o was a lot eas ier; I got th e h ol eshot a nd pulled away. " Surratt swept both 250cc rnotos but not witho u t a battle from Suzuki 's R uss Wageman . Wageman, o n th e mend from kn ee surgery, led th e early stages of th e first rnot o befor e ge tt ing passed by Surratt. Once into th e lead, Su rratt n ever looked back a nd won. Mot o two wa s a ll Surratt's; he led wire-to-wire, unch allenged. Simons had 10 work hard for hi s win. In th e first m ot a , he traded places a n umber of tim es with Kawasaki rider Phil Larson a nd H onda rider Ed Arnet before tak in g th e m ot o win, a nd a secon d in mot o two was just enoug h to clinch th e overall. " I was kind o f sur p rised I got the overall ," said Simons. " In th e seco nd moto my pit board read ' pass Arn et (who was third ) for overall,' I thought, that co u ld n' t be. With Larson taking second in th e first moto and runnmg seco n d in the second, I figured his 2-2 score would beat m y 1-3. then I remembered that (Eric) Eaton beat (Ma rk) Barnett last year with that score, so I gassed it up and passed Arnet." In the 80cc Expert class, H o nda rider Scott Brown had two so mewhatshaky motos after crashing a couple of times but went home with the win . His 2-1 narrowly beat Chris Young's 1-2 score. 125cc Pros Kawa saki rider Tyson Vohland n ailed a perfect holeshot in the first moto, beating the rest of the pack 10 the fir st turn by a couple of bikelen gths. As the y headed up the first uphill . Suzuki's Bobby Moore a nd H onda su p port rider Shaun Kalos foll owed. There was a fir st-turn pileup that claimed H onda support rid er La rry Brooks, who quickl y remounted in last pl ace. Du ring the first lap, Kalos crashed a nd dropped o u t of co nten tio n for th e rest of th e race. Th is put Su rra tt into th ird , follow ed by J eff Ma riasevich (Ka w) a nd Keh oe, wh o quickl y mad e up for h is midpack sta rt . Meanwhile, Vohland enjoyed a huge lead over Moore, who held a co m fortable advantage over the Surratt /M at iasevi ch /Kehoe du el for th ird. A co u p le o f laps la ter, Matiasevich fell an d lost two positions, leav ing Surra tt an d Kehoe to ba ttl e between th emselves. Kawasak i rider T im Rutherford m oved into fifth whe n Ma tia sevich fell. The Surra tt/ Kehoe dogf ight ca rried th em cl oser an d closer to Moore a s th e moto wore on. Eventually, Kehoe slipped by Surratt then started to reel- in Moore. (By this time Matiase vich had repassed Rutherford for fifth. ) Seven laps from th e fin ish , Keh oe fin all y stu ffed Moore in a left turn before a drop-off jump and took over second. However , there wasn't much time left for Keh oe 10 cat ch Vohland, who he ld about a seven -second lead. At th e che ckered flag it was Vohland, Keh oe, Moore, Surratt. Matiasevic h a nd Arnet. Kehoe jumped out to an early lead at th e start o f th e secon d rnoto follow ed by Kawasaki rider Dennis Daft. Kalas , Matiasvich, Vohland a n d R u th erford . . Vohland 's cha nces at taking the overall ended early when he hit a lar ge. squared-off bu m p at h ig h speed a nd endo ed . H e was shaken up in th e spill and d id not re-enter the race . A few turns later. Kalos crashed again and dropped 10 the back of th e pack. Moore missed the start of the rnoto when his Suzuki fouled a spark plug. After installing a new plug, he reentered th e ra ce, well out of contention. Duri ng th e th ird la p . Ma tiasevich passed Daft and settled into second, while Daft was followed by Doug O ' Donnell ( Kaw ), Dennis Parker (Yam) and Qigiva rider Ron Turner. From th is point on, Keh oe cruised way out in front over Mat iasevich , wh o held a co m fortable di stance over Daft . However , three laps from th e fini sh , Matiasevich hit th e same bump that Vohland had hit earl ier and en doed hard, p utting an end to his day. This gave second to R u therford ahead of Daft, O'Donnell and T u rn er. Kehoe cros sed the ch eckered flag with a huge lead and th e rest foll owed in th e sa me orde r. 250cc Pro Wagem an a nd h is Su zuki jammed 10 the front of th e pack at the start of the first m oto with Surratt, Yamaha rider Scott Manni ng, Honda-mount ed Tracy Oswell and Yamaha pi lot Bill y Frank in clos e pursuit. During the first la p , Frank slip ped by Oswell, then the top four riders began pulling away from the pack in a four-way battle for the lead . Surratt made the first move and passed Wageman on a downhill d uring the fourt h lap, but Wageman retaliated a turn la ter. However, less then a lap after th a t, Su rratt tried aga in a nd passed Wageman over the doub le jumps - this time the mo ve stuck. Surratt started pulling away slightly as positions stayed the same for th e next six laps. Then Frank came alive. passing Manning on the outside at the top of th e downhill, th en passi ng Wageman on a n u p h ill section . Shortly after, Manning also slipped by Wagema n. As the race dr ew to a close, Frank wa s noticeably gaining on Surratt. but tim e ran o u t as Surratt crossed by th e che ckers with the lead, followed by Frank. Manning, Wageman , Oswell.and Yamaha rider Gordon Ward. Surratt holeshot the seco nd moto in ch es ahead of Wageman, Manning,

• Cover