Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Husky-mounted Jim Bacon (4 4 01 leads t he charge in 125cc Junior action at round four of the Trans-Cal series at Sand Hill Ranch; Tony Branson was the top 125cc Junior in division one w hile Rob Sassen won division two. CMC/Skoal Bandit Lady UberfyTrans-Ca1 series: Round 4 Sassen two for two at Sand Hill Ranch By Troy Scott BRENTWO OD , CA, SE PT. 28 Sand Hill R anch hosted the fo u r th round of the Continental Mo tosp ort Club (CMC ) Skoal Bandi t Lady Liberty Trans-Cal Series, wi th racin g conditions a bi t on the dusty side. Bu t a ble to overcome tra ck conditions was Ca iva rider Rob . Sa.sse n ! w h a wa Igked a way w it h WInS In both 125 and 250cc 10 J un ior division-two classes. In the I25cc Intermedia tes, Honda speedster T y Davis had an easy day , slammi ng down h o leshot s and never lookin g back. H e used a I-I ta l ly for the overa lI in the seco nd division. A bad firsr-mot o sta rt ended his hopes for th e overa lI in the 250cc In terme~iates .seco nd -d ivisio n . but he finished first 10 the secon9 mot~ . . . T he 250cc In termedia tes dl vl s ~ontwo class had ac tio n-pa cked racing. whi l ~ Suzuki rider J oe ~.I elt on used co ns istency 10 na b the Will . He ro de to a seco nd in eac h mot o , beat ing Jeff Reynol d 's 1-3 scor e. In th e 500cc' Interm edia tes. Greg Smith a nd h is H o nda posted a 2-1 combo. good enough for th e overa ll. When th e ga te dropped for the first 250cc Intermediat e moto, divisiontwo, it was Jeff Reynol ds (Hon) taking a n ea rly lead but closely pursued by Brad Torns j Ka w ). Husky-mounted Mike Hooker, Suzuki rider Melton and Tim Wh itlock. As th ey co rn p leted th e first lap, Reynol ds had a Sli~ht lead ove r Toms. Melt on. was ab e lO move past H oo ker lort h trd as H ooker started to slow. Hooker th en went down in fifth , but recovered in time to sa lvage e ig h th . Up front Reyno lds was safe in the lead, whi le Toms , in seco nd, was gelling pressure fro m Melton , who fin alI y made the pass o n a n inside move. Rou nding ou t the top five were Wh itlock and Ma th ue Bra n ch , in fourth a nd fifth, respect ivel y. The race remained the same unt il th e midway point, wh en Toms was a ble to sli p by seco nd-p lace Melt on , wh o then re ta liated by taki ng back seco nd two tu rns la ter. In fourth. Wh itlock wa s secure, but fifth p lace had been taken over bv J im Perry (Ka w), . . When th e white fla g ca me o u t, Davis, runn in g in seventh, reeled in Perr y and passed h im for fifth , as Reyno ld s led wire-to-wire for th e win . followed by Melt o n and T om s. When the second moto la un ch ed orr the line, Honda rider T y Dav is nabbed th e hol esh ot. In ho t p urs uit were S uzuk i pi lot Melton , Perry, Re yn o ld s a n d Yama h a- mo u n ted Branch . By the third lap, Davi s was wa y out in front a nd untouchabl e. AlI a lo ne in second was Melton, bu t fighting for third and fourth was Perry a nd Reynolds. Holding a solid fifth was Branch . By the fift h la p , Bran ch was sta rting to tire. H e dropped a place as J ohn Garcia (Hon )slip ped by; Bra nch even tua lly dropped to seventh. At th e finish it was Davis. Melton (wh o took the overa ll), a nd Reynol ds. The first 500cc Intermed iat e rn or o had Kenn y Wo lcott (Hon ) rocket to th e lea d, cl osely foll ow ed by Greg Smi th (H on ) a nd Aaron Pi pes (Hon ) As at the end of th e first la p , Wo lco tt s till led but wa s bein g ser io us ly hounded by Pipes. T he top three riders p u lled away fro m the rest of the field, a nd by the third lap, Wol cott wa s ru n ni ng o u t o f ene rgy a nd sta rt in g to fade. But eager to ta ke over the lead . Pipe s moved past Wo leoll on th e o u tside . Mo ving u p fast in fifth was Yamaha rider Steve Piattoni , wh o was a ble to ge t into th ird. A lap later Wo leOIl wa s passed again; th is time it was Sm ith for seco nd. At th e end , P ipes took th e win a head of Smith a nd P ia tton i. Mo to two saw Smi th grab the holesho t, but was chased by Loren Poch owski (Ho n) , P ipes, Wo leo ll and Pi atto ni. By the seco nd lap, Smith had stretched h is lead to five seconds over Poc h owski, who was passed by a ha rd-eha rg in g Pipes. Every thi ng was fine for Pi pes, unt il he slid o ut a nd drop ped to fo urt h . Poch owski took over second, once more, whi le Wo lCOll con tro lled thi rd, P ipes ha d four th a nd Piauon i had fifth. By th e fifth lap , the top five had spread th em selves five seconds apart. Th ey stayed the same u nti l th e finish wit h Sm ith takin g the wi n a nd the over a ll. Th e 125cc Intermed iat e first moto seco nd- d ivisio n had Ka wa sa k imounted T erry Szucsko lead in g th e wa y on the sta rt, follow ed by Davi s, J im Spotts (Ka w ), Ch ris Yo ung (Yam ) a nd Honda rider SCOll Brow n . Da vis slid into the lead during the firs t la p . 'a nd ha d a Iive-second lead after th e seco nd lap. Bro wn mo ved up and passed You ng a nd Spotts , goi ng into th e n um ber-th ree posi tion. However, Brown sudden ly disa ppea red from th at posi tion , a nd was fo u nd in fifth. At th is poi n t. round in g o u t the top fiv e wer e Da vi s, Szucs ko , Spot ts, Young , a nd Brown . Brown q uickly dis pens ed of Youn g for fo urth , a nd slipped by SPOilS a turn lat er. Workin g on seco nd pl ace, Brown sta rted to hou n d Szucsko, a nd o n th e next lap, he made a smooth pass on Szucsko o n th e inside. Bro wn cu t Da vis' lead to IO seconds. but didn 't hav e enough time to bec ome a th reat. The fin ishing o rder wa s Davis, Brown and Szucsko. Davis aga in gra bbed the ho lcshot in th e second moto follow ed by Szucsko a nd Brown. O n th e first lap , Bro wn reeled in Szucsko a nd moved bv h im for seco nd . T hen the stage was set for a heated ba ttle between Da vis and Bro wn . With a five-seco nd cush ion over Brown , Dav is was com forta ble, but Brown was put tin g time betw een himself and Szucs ko for thi rd . Fo urt h wa s co ntrolled by Young: a nd fifth by Welt y. By th e last la p , Davis had a IS-secon d lead a nd took th e win with Brown takin g seco nd ; Szucsko fin ished third. In the first 125cc Jun ior di vision two mo to , Cagiva rider Rob Sassen shot into the lead , followed by Mik e Durb in (Ho n ), Steve Parent (Ho n ), BilI Gi lbert (Ya m) a nd J on J am es (Ka w) , J ames moved int o fou rth by passing Gi lber t over a j ump. but G ilbert pa ssed h im rig h t back o n the inside. Up front, Paren t was pu tting the pressure o n Sassen a nd attempted a pas s b ut fai led ; Sa ssen held h is ground. Soon a fter, the two entered a turn side-bv-sid e with Sassen on th e outside; Pa ren t had the better drive o u t o f th e turn a nd took the lead a nd went o n to win . followed by Sassen a nd Du rbin. Sassen moto red into th e lead a t th e start of th e seco nd moto , tra iled bv Gi lbert Wh ite (Ka w) a nd Todd Swea'ney (Suz), By th e second lap . Sasse n had a five-second lea d over Gi lbert. T he race rema in ed th e same until the fini sh whe n Sassen cru ised in for th e win ta king both 12S a nd 250cc victories. Secon d went to G ilbert and third to Swea ney. • Results 60 0 -8 : 1. David Ochoa IKaw ); 2. Bea u Ju dge (Kaw); 3. J ohnny Cipol lin a (Han). 609·1 1; 1. Jesse Jam es (Kaw); 2. Jacob Swain (Kaw ); 3. Ja son Carroll (Kaw ). BO BEG: 1. Rob M yer (Kaw); 2. Matt Harr ison (Kaw l; 3 . Bruce Bleecker (Yam). BO JR 9 -11 : 1. Tyler Hum mel (Kaw); 2. Chri Stoc her M cCalli e (Yam); 3 . Ben Phalen (Kaw) . BO INT 9-11 : 1. Butch Smith (Suz); 2. Jesse J ames (Kaw) . BO JR 12-16: 1. Mark Easley (Han); 2. J oel Alb rech t (Kaw ); 3. Grayson Goodman (Kaw). BO INT 12- 16; 1. Raben Shipman (Suz); 2. Pat Weide (Yam); 3. Craig M ill er (Kaw). 125 BEG DIV 1: 1. David Halem (Kaw): 2. Dar in Dr iscoll (Suz): 3. Jimmy W ilkey (Kaw). 125 BEG DIV 2: 1. Eri c Johnson (Vam): 2. Gary M COelland (Kaw); 3. Neal Taylor (Hon). 125 JR DIV 1: 1. Tony Branson (Vam); 2. Rodney Correra IHon); 3. Shawn W ilson (Yam). 125 JR DIV 2: 1. Rob Sassen (Cag); 2. Todd Sw eaney (Suz); 3. J on J ames (Kaw). 125 INT DIV 1: 1. Je ff Reynol ds (Han); 2. Dallen McKennv (Hon); 3. Danny Palad ino ( Kaw ~. 125 1 DIV 2: 1. Ty Davis (Han); 2. Scott Brown NT (Han); 3. Terry Szucsko (Kaw). 250 BEG; 1. Br ian Patt erson (Han); 2. Ralph DaVIS (Han ); 3. Steve Norda hl (Yam). 250 JR DIV 1: 1. Raben Sassen (Cag); 2. Randy Okada (Han); 3. Graham M iller (Yam). 250 JR DIV 2: 1. M ike Durbin (Han); 2. Brian Sw eaney (Suz); 3. M ike Brown (Yam). 250 INT DIV 1: 1. Doug Belche r (Kaw ): 2. Gilb en Valdez (Suz); 3. Tony Starg io (Kaw). 250 INT DlV 2: 1. Joe Me lt on (Suz); 2. Jeff Reynold s (Han); 3. Ty Davi s (Han). 500 BEG: 1. Paul Flor es (Hon); 2. Baron Sumter (Vam); 3. Patrick Vacch ieri (Varni . 500 JR: 1. Kirk Smith (Vam): 2. Ken Small (Han); 3. Tony Ow en (Vam). 500 INT: 1. Greg Smit h (Han): 2. Aaron Pipes (Han); 3. Kennv W olcott (Han). VET JR : 1. Mark A n hur (Suz); 2. Dan Nelson (Suz); 3. Gary Jaghn e (Kaw ). VET INT: 1. Kare l Kr am er (Hon); 2. Rich Will iam s (Kaw) ; 3. Eric Hall gr en (Hon). VET M STR: 1. Phil Douglas (Han); 2. AI Posey (Honl; 3. Du a ne Hughes (Hon ). OT JR: 1. Don W ill iam s IKTM ); 2. Frank St e· cnieclc 3. Norm Arms t ro ng ISuz). OT INT: 1. Jim Rice (Suz); 2. Roland Thompson (Suz); 3. Geoff rev Fox (Yam). OT MSTR: 1. Terr y DaVIS (Han): 2. Bob Collin s (Vam); 3. Jim Holmes (Vam).

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