Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Highland, Harsha haul at Medford SX By Clay Light ME DFO RD, O R, JAN . 19 Kawasaki riders Sh awn H ighland and J eff H a rsh a were among th e win ners at the co m pl etion of indoor supercross Tracy Oswell led w ire-to-wire in both motos of the combined 250 / 500cc Intermediate and Pro class at LA Co unty Raceway in Californ ia . Specia l a wards a lso reco gnized peo ple an d g ro ups wh o helped mak e th e 1985 series a g rea t success . Mike Po wer s was named Sportsman of the Year fo r his conduct a t the Sonoi ta to Rocky Poi nt race in part icu la r, and hi s great attit ud e in ge ne ral. Dirt Unli m ited proudly received the Sponsor of the Year award and Casebeer Motocross T eam earned th e Off R oad Pit Support Team of the Year award . Dave Crawford or Arizona Off Road was voted Off Road Mechanic of th e Year a nd Daryl Drake earned th e titl e AD RA Off Road Journalist o f th e Yea r. The Williams Gang (Murle, Donna, et a ll received th e Thad Cul kin s Memorial Trophy for their outstanding effo rt s to promote m otorcycle racing in the desert. Turner tops Perris SMX - By Te rry Whytal PERRIS, CA, JAN. W Yamaha-mounted Ron Turner posted a 2-1 score to best the 250cc P ro class at this week 's SMX event. Turner battled with J apanese factory star T etsurni Mitsuya su in both rnotos , a nd th e outco me was in doubt throughout most of eac h race. Mitsuyasu pushed hi s Yamaha to the ear ly lead in moto one with Turner chasing from the number two slot as H o nda pilots Matt Tedder and Bill Scott argued over third pl ace . T urner pressu red Mitsu yasu for most of th e round before working his way into th e lea d. On ce o ut in fro n t, T urner opened a five-second lead o n ly to fall in th e hor seshoe o n the fin al lap th at gave Mit su yasu th e lead back as T urner rem o unt ed . The tables were turned in moto two as Turner p ulled th e hol esh ot a nd Mit suyasu had to give chase from th e run ne r-u p posi tion. T u rner ma de no mistak e this time, however , a nd despite Mitsu yasu 's efforts, Turner 'reachedrhech ecker fir no-earn th e overall win a head of the Japa nese pilo t. Tedder picked up the thirdp lace sha re o f the purse as h e h eld off cott in both rounds. Scott finis hed fou rth a nd Suz uki r ide r Kevin Mo ntgomery placed fifth. Honda riders Kirt Goldie an d Ro n Lawson battled in both Open Int ermediate motos wit h eac h rider grabbing o ne win and o ne bridesmaid finish . Lawson 's second -m ote victo ry broke the tie and gave him th e o vera ll win. Goldie had to settle for seco nd ahead of Yamaha pil ot Ken Ehlers. Chris St. Marie pushed hi s Yamaha to th e 125cc Nov ice class win . St. Marie wo n bo th motos going aw ay as Honda rider Craig Monty sliced h is wa y to second overall ahead of Buddy Morgan, also riding a H o nda . Dan Lewis proved fast est in th e Vet Novice race, winning both mota on bo ard his Can-Am . Lewi s mad e th e win look eas y, but a three-rider duel for the number two slot kept th e ac tio n behind the leader fast a nd furious. Suzuki rider Wa yn e Cummins ca me o u t o n top o f the battle to ea rn second overall with Honda pilot J ohn Hueg el pl acing third a nd Ya mahamounted Reid Fr anke taking fo urth. Result s 250 PRO: 1. Ron Turner IYam); 2. Tetsum i M it· suyasu (Yaml; 3 . M an Tedde r (Han). 12 5 PRO; 1. Tomoyuki Kawasaki (Yam); 2. Takeshi Tat uichi (Yaml ; 3. Willy Musgrave (Hon ). OPEN INT; 1. Ron Lawson (Han) ; 2. Kirt Goldie (Han); 3. Ken Eh lers (Yam ). 25 01NT: 1. ToddJohnson (Yam); 2. Ken Erb (Suzl; 3. Ron M owry (Yam ). 12 5 INT: 1. John Begin (Kaw) ; 2 . Ern ie Becker (Han); 3 . Steve Donovan (Han). OPEN NOV ; 1. Ma rk Gibbs (Han); 2. John Ad ams (Han ); 3 . Craig Gall oway (Han ). 250 NOV : 1. Rob Carpenter (Yaml ; 2. Br ent Roun e (Su z); 3. Grego ry Berg (Ma i). 12 5 NOV: 1. Ch ri s St . M ar ie (Yam ); 2. Craig M onty (Han); 3 . Buddy Ma rogan (Han). VET EX: 1. Reed M ay ne (Han) ; 2 . Keit h Ehl er s (Yaml; 3. A lan Olson (Yam). VET INT: 1. Lee Amaradio (Yam); 2. Raben Fort ier (Han); 3 . Dav id Chu nn (Yam). VET NOV ; 1. Dan Lewis (C· AI; 2. W ayne Cum mins (Suz); 3 . John Huegel (Hon l. OPEN BEG: 1. Ray Flor ian (Suz); 2. Kenny Kopecky (Kaw); 3. Eric Gooselan (Han). 250 BEG: 1. Andr ew Tretter (Su z); 2. Gu y Leri viere (Han); 3. Ken Scovill (Suz ). 125 BEG; 1. Bob Anzaldi (Yam); 2. Danny Stym ache r (Kawl; 3. Rodg er Doggrell (Han). 80 INT: 1. Sloan Cooper (Yam); 2. Dust i n Evans (Su z); 3. David Barr en (Kaw) . BO NOV : 1. Ray Hins ley (Yam ); 2. Mark Ehr hardt (Han ); 3. Stanton Barren (Kaw). BOBEG; 1. Kurt Rood (Kawl; 2. Ryan Dity (Kaw); 3. Tony Ama rdro (Yam). • 60 1li0'1;1 .lravis PreSton (Han). ac tion a t th e J ackson County Expo Pa rks Comp ton Ar ena . H ig hl a n d motored a wa v wi th th e 60cc A main , wh ile I-I a rs h~ co llected two wins, topp ing th e 250cc A a nd Open P ro finals . H ig h lan d hauled into th e lead in th e 60cc final to lead Joe Do n Ir eland (Yam) and Kevin O 'Conner to th e checkers. H arsh a (Pa u l' s Sport Cenr er /Kaw) had hi s work cut .o u t for him in the 250cc A ma in, but like in his heat race. H arsh p ut h is new '86 KX250 int o the lea d a t th e snap of the ru bberba nd. H a rsh a held of f seco nd p lace finis her R and y To reso n o f Ph oeni x, w ho is a seaso ned MX P ro , wh ile third ' went to Yamaha ri der Mike H am il ton. The Open -A ma in fell to loca l P ro Mark Mauh eison o n a H on da C R50 0. Mauheison manh an d led the 10-lap fina l wh en it co u nted fo r to p brass, w hi le M ike Casper took second over H onda ri de r Dev in Madi son. In the O pen P ro mon ey main , H a rsh a agai n p rov ed to be too m uc h for th e competit io n in th e 12-lap shoorout for the big bucks. Nat ional n u m ber 85 flat tracker Frank Wo rd 111 had high h o pes o f putti ng the stops on H a rsh a , but had m ech an ical wo es a nd watched fro m th e sidel ines a s Harsha sett led in to the lead a head o f fell ow 250cc pilot Toreson, aboa rd a Yam aha . T oreson and H arsh a tangled for top loot, whi ch went to H a rsha a t th e co m p letio n o f the race. Mauheison ca m e through traffi c to settl e into third wh ere he would finish . S uzu ki-mou n ted Brva n Steel e stole th e show in th e 80cc ' A mai n , winning th e la rges t class o f the even ing . A B m ain event took th ose that didn 't make it from the semi, won by Conrad Schrabkega l. Steele beat Californian J oi e Def'e w and Sha wn Cox to th e checkered n ag in th e BOcc fin a l. In 125cc actio n , Troy Co burg (H a n) too k top br as s by ho ld in g off a lai c in the m oto ra ll y fro m H o nda -m o u n ted Don Peterson, who finished in the number tWO slot whi le third fel l th e wa y o f Tony Spr angle (S uz), Resu lts OPEN PRO: r . Jeff Harsha; 2. Randy Tor esan; 3 . Mark Ma nheison. OPEN A: t . Ma rk M att hei son; 2. M ike Casper; 3. Devi n Madison. 250 A : 1. Jeff Harsha; 2. Randy Toreson: 3. Mike Ham ilton. 12 5 A: t , Troy Coburg; 2 . Don Pet er son ; 3 . Tony Spra ng le. 80 A : t , Bryan Steeie: 2. Jo ie DePew; 3. Shawn C Olt. 60 A ; 1. Shawn Highland; 2. Joie DePew; 3 Kevin O'Conn er . Lara, Hammond duel at CRC MX By Te rry Rezek PALMDALE, CA, J AN . 12 CRC's new season sta rte d today at LA Cou n ty Racewa y Palmdal e, Ca liforn ia with th e tWO mai n co n ten de rs a mong th e little bi kes co nt in u ing last year's battle. Pabl o L ara III an d Robby H am mond sp li t mo to s in th e Pee Wee class with Lara ge tti ng th e o vera ll fro m hi s second m or o win . Ex a ctl y th e sa me thi ng happen ed in th e 60cc class, La ra agai n tak in g th e seco nd m ot a over H ammond a nd picking u p anothe r overa ll. "',. • • Ronnie Den sford ' was 'ho t today .. a nd bega n with a two-m o te swee p of the BOcc Stock class. Joel Tokars kv kept Densfo rd in sigh t for most of mota o ne, but Densford was long gone by the en d of the firs t lap in mota two . Tokarsky rook seco nd overa ll. A lot o f posi tion swapping i n the Novice class fou nd Scott Connelly taking the overall o n poi nts. T here wa s no need to add scores in the Beg inner class, as M icha el Lackey was well out in front in both motos. Den slord a nd Tokarsky were bac k a t it in th e80ec " (odifi ed ra ce with th e same resu lts. Den sfo rd had to work a litt le harder, coming from last in moto o ne and about fifth at the beginning of mota two to take both wi ns and another overa ll. Da m on H u ffman reco vered from his S toc k class third to g et bo th motes of th e BOcc Modi fied Novice class. Matt Wi nk el started moto o ne of th e 125cc class in th e lea d a nd was holdi ng it well unt il the tri cky tableto p . A little stu m ble let Cha rl ie Wadde ll, Du ane Benner, a nd Russell Clutter by. Waddell led for three laps until Benner figured a way past a nd took th e lead a nd th e m ota. Waddell a nd Clutter follow ed . Benner g ra bbed th e h ol esh ot in mot a tw o a nd built up a co m ma ndi ng lead . H e was well o u t in front wh en every thi ng stop ped . Wh ether he ran o u t o f gas or seized, th e res u lt wa s th e sa me a n d Ben ner was o u t. C lu tter had fo ugh t h is way to seco n d by m id race a nd now had th e lead . With o n ly half a lap to go, Winkel sq ueezed by for the lead and th e possible win . Cl u tte r pulled o ut th e sto ps a nd p assed o n th e to ugh last turn to regai n the lead , tak e th e mota and wi n th e o verall in o ne of th e best co ntests o f the day. In the combined 125cc Intermediate/Novice race, a no vice, Da vid Noel. got the holes hot and led th e pack fo r th e entire ra ce. H e took the Novice w in in th e second mota wi th eq u a l ease and ea sil y ea rned th e Novi ce o vera ll. Eri ch Broesel totaled a seco nd and a third for second overall. Troy Welt y stomped o n th e Int ermedia tes, finishing just behind Noel in moto o ne a nd stayi ng wa y out in fron t o f everyone in mota two. Ga ry Cariva u co llected a pair o f stea dy thirds for seco nd o vera ll Intermediat e. M atth ia s N i ko la po los h ad the q u ickest thrott le in bo th mor os of th e 250cc Novice a nd Beginner event, taking a n im media te lea d in both. In moto one, Craig McCon nache a nd Steve Sibe ll were double-teaming h im , wai ting for an openi ng. McConnache found his in lap six a nd slipped by for th e lead . ibe ll fo llowed a lap later to run seco nd but a ll three were still o n ly yards a part. McCon nach e tripped on the terrible ta bletop i n th e last lap and Sibell zipped p as t for th e win, with Nikola po los third. Mo ta two was decided sooner; Sibell took th e lead from Nikolapolos in lap two w ith McConna che fo llowing and tha t' s the wav thev finished. . The Beginners were more positi ve; R ussell C lutter positively took th e lead at the start a nd positively won both moros wit hou t problem. Tom Smith and Dan Stilwe ll started both mo tos of th e Open Nov ice race lik e clos e friends, inseparable. In mota o ne, Smith held the lea d fo r only o ne lap . St ilwell ma de a very n ice tight inside pass righ t at the beg inn in g of th e seco nd lap to tak e the lead . Sm ith spent th e rest o f th e race look in g fo r a pass in g spo t th at never app eared . In m o ta two , Smi th was not lett in g it ha p pe n agai n a nd held o ff Stilwe ll fo r eig h t la p s to tak e th e moto a nd th e o vera ll. Ken McAll ister took both mot osof the Vets class w ith Ken Rat zlaff havin g th e lead occas io na ll y but, unfortunat el y, not at the end. In 1986, C R C wi ll be scorin g' th~

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