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Some bri ef track co nd it io ni ng to
th e a lready well-groomed Iacilitv and
th e Experts were brought to th e line.
Th e hol esh ot was S p ring steen 's, but
Chris Evan s was up front aft er o ne
to ur. Estep mo ved o n Roeder after
di sposing o f Zumbrun. With five
la p s to go, Evans wa s in co m ma nd .
Sp ri ngs teen circ u la ted in seco nd with
Est ep slo w in g dosing. Brya n Hardin
was fourth a he ad o f Roeder. Du ring
th e rem aining lapsthe o n ly rider s 10
make signifi cant m oves were Hardin
o n R oeder a nd Estep o n Springsteen .
At th e flag Sp ringsteen held o n to
seco nd as did H ardin for fourth.
Results
PRO/AM : 1. David Rayburn (W ·R); 2. Chance
Darlin g (W -R); 3. Scott Stump (W -R).
JR : 1. Rod Comer (Hon ); 2. Donnie Mye rs(H -D}; 3.
Mark Ash ton (H-D).
EX: 1. Chri s Evan s (H-O); 2. Chuck Spr ingsteen
(H-D); 3 . Donni e Estep (H-D).
Nelson bags two
at Baylands
James Kelly Byrd captured both the Superbike and Production class wins
at Firebird Raceway on his Yamaha FZ750.
By Mike Vancil
FR E;VIONT, CA, AP R. 23
J on Nelson took a p air of well
prepared CR Hondas sponsored
by All American Honda, MoLOX Fox, Duralubeand Jones Boys
(Left to right) Experts Chuck Springsteen. Bryan Hardin, winner Chris
Evans, Tim Johnson and Larry Zumbrun battle in Springfield. Ohio.
Evans smokes
in Springfield
By Bert and Deanna Shepard
SPRINGFIELD, OH, APR. 27
"This is my first Expert win
ever in the states," exp lained
multi-time Canadian cha mp ion
Chris Evans. " I just rea lly want
26
...
it. My dad a nd I a re al so gelling o ur
engi ne problems stra ig h tene d o u t at
last." Buckeye's Rod Co mer a nd David
Rayburn joined Evans as winners in
th e junio r a nd Pro/Am divi sions,
Us ua lly beaut iful weather crea ted a
promoter's dream for Championship
Racing Enterprise's earl Dice. The
Oh io R acing. Season 's o pe ner at
Springfield wa s a stand ing room only
affair. Scott Parker's 1981 tra ck record
(25 .089) was safe as resurfacing of th e
Cl ark Co. Fairgrounds has taken
p lace , Only three Experts dropped
into th e 26 second bra cket: George
Roeder jr. (26.821), Randy T exter
a nd Doug Davis. Mark Cook 's 27.865
ledth e junior qualifiers .
The Prol Am heats were won by
Scott Saunders, Mark Roop, Tom
Ikey and David Rayburn . Ra yburn' s
victory was th e quickest a nd ea rned
him the pole for th e main.
C h uc k Springsteen mad e short
wo rk o f th e fir st Expert hea t. "I put
thi s en g ine togeth er my self, but I
need to thank j a y & Tom my Cummin g s/Bell /Ca strol /Di am ond/Hi Point/ and K&N. George Ro eder and
Tim j ohnson fill ed in th e top th ree.
Mike Moore, Cir! Rehrnert a nd Dan
Knecht swapped th e last three transfer s, Moor e ended up in from of
Knecht and Rehmert a t th e flag.
The seco nd a nd qui ckest heat went
to Larry Zumbrun, after a three-year
layoff. " I bo ugh t all o f Gary Scott 's
eq ui p me n t. This C&] XR750 is o ne I
built for Ga ry,"
T he Prol Am fin al was all Dav id
Rayburn 's. The Wintersville Buck eye took hi s brand new Woods-Rotax
from th e outside pole to th e p oint
pos itio n . Shad ow in g Rayburn were
C ha nce Darlin g , T om Ikey a nd Scott
Stump, Sco tt Sa un de rs wa s fifth in
front o f Mark Roop , Bryan Pankey,
Ri ck G iova n net ti, N ick y Ste rling and
Scott Knecht. After five lap s, Ray burn 's lead began to sh ri n k as Darling
charged . Ikey a nd Stu m p were sid e by
side for third , whil e Roo p circu la ted
iri from of Saunders an d Pankey, At
th e flag Ra ybu rnp u lled aw ay from
Darling as Stump did th e sa m e to
Ikey.
Mark Ash ton got th e ho leshot but
cou ld o n ly hold Rod Comer for two
tur n s. Comer drove under Ashton a s
th ey en tered turn three a nd th e race
was his. At th e crossed flags Donnie
M yers had worked h is wa y pa st Ashton to tak e over second spot. Ashton
would next fall victim to fa st qualifier Cook. With a l ap to go, Ashton 's
drive o ff o f turn four all owed h im to
recl aim his p lace in th e victory circle .
" It reall y feel s good, rela ted Comer. I
co uld use th e low line off th e co rne rs."
Th e o n ly thing th at upset Come r was
" that thi s is th e last year for th e tw ostro ke 500cc, accordi ng to th e AMA .
They arc going to o ut law th ese things
next year! This engine is bone stoc k!"
Racing to im p ressive double 'mo lO
victori es in the 125 and 250cc Pro
classes even though his competition
wa s both m any a n d ta lented. Nelson
impressed the Baylands regulars on
severa l occa sions during th e 1985 sea son, but hi s ap pea ra nce a nd success
on this evening was nothing but aw esom e. By there being 10 riders in both
hi s classes the p ayout wa s co nsidera ble a n d will probably inspire him to
becom e a regu lar at th e cha llen gin g
Ba ylands co urse.
In the first 125cc Pro moto Mi ch ael
Minj ares , popped out to an early lead
followed by jack Hu lse. Nel son was
third as th e pack completed la p one.
By the second la p Hulse had displ aced Minjares and so had Ne lson.
Two laps la ter Nelson zapped H ulse
a nd th ey finish ed in that order. Nel so n was using th e second half of th e
rnot o to choose different lines and try
10 establish difficult "do this if yo u
dare" styl es o ff the high er jumps.
In the second mota h e ended with
the sa m e result, but o n th e start he
first had 10 co n tend with Brett Cahors'
CR Honda sponsored by Hi-Point,
j ones Boys Racing a nd Marin MOlOrspo rt s. Cahors kept the lead for one
a nd a half laps before Nelson go t him
with a long double, qui ck brak e and
a m ove to the inside under Cahors in
a 1600 high berm turn . This particu la r turn had been a real problem for
th e Amateur classes a ll even ing , Late
in th e mot o Danny Paladino ga l by
j a ck Hulse to start harrassing Cahors
for seco nd, but time ran o ut and he
had to settle for third o n hi s Kawasak i.
T he 250cc Pro moto number one
saw Tony Ri ch ards an d hi s San j ose
based KX Kawasaki sponso red by
O 'Neal , Max ey Enterprises and Mo tors West Kawasaki jump out to an
ear ly and impressive lead. It was on ly
. two weeks prior that Richards suffered a rath er severe mouth lacerat io n
from being roosted and having no
mouth guard. jack Hulse at hi s h eels
bade a formidable advisary for any
non -Kawa saki to penetrate th e front
running KXs. It took o n ly tw o laps
for Nelson 10 fir st put Hulse behind
him th en Ri chards. j ohn Dau rh , CR
H onda from San j ose, sh o wed form
and mixed it up with Richards for
awhil e prior 10 sett li ng for fourth .
Th ey finish ed Nels on , Hu lse , who
p assed Ri ch ards at the line. Ri ch ards
a nd Dauth . In th eir second 250cc Pro
batt le th e ea rl y leader wa s la st seaso n 's high point Pro cha m p io n off
the line on th e rear wheel of Nels on .
Though Hulse and th en Daut h and
th en Hulse aga in tried to displace
Ma shbir 's Ni ck Deffeo Ra cing-sponsor ed KX, neither was su ccessful. Nelso n 's perfect even in g o f four straight
Pro motos was kept intact. Hulse's
co ns is ten t finish es in th e 250cc class
gave him a seco nd while th e last
m ot a second pl ace for a quickly returning to form Mashbir gave h im a
third overall o n th e even ing.
Results
PEE WEE (5Occ): 1. Nick Pappas (Yam) .
PEE WEE (SOcc): 1. Dan ny Nelson (Kaw) .
MINI NOV : 1. Sau l San Filippo (Yam); 2. Dwayne
Newman (Yam).
M INI JR ; 1. M ike McCloud (Yam ).
M INI INT: 1. Je ro me Smith (Suzl .
MINI EX; 1. Chris Neal (Yam) .
125 NOV : 1. Mike Wheeler (Hon): 2. Kurt Pingle
(Kawl; 3. Leo DeAn da (Kaw) .
125 JR DIV t: 1. Jim Ricci J r. (Suz); 2. Todd Hicks
(Yam); 3 . Georg e Kosovilka (Hon ).
125 JR DIV II : 1. J im Leh ments (Kaw); 2. J ose
Sanchez (Yam); 3. Brian Rogers (Hon).
125 INT : 1. Shawn Wilson (Yam); 2. Rick W hite
(Kaw ).
125 PRO: 1. Jon Nelson (Hon); 2. Jack Hulse
(Kaw ); 3 . Brett Cahors (Ho n).
250 NOV DIV I: 1. Ted Pippin (Hon ); 2. SIeve
Garci a (Yam); 3. Nick Hall (Kaw).
250 NOV DIV It: 1. Gene Cardella (Kaw); 2. Pau l
Balcita (Hon); 3. Bilt Goddenow (Hon) .
250 JR : 1. Grego ry Fox (Hon); 2. Don Tolfi (Kaw) ;
3 . Dave Matheson (Hon) .
250 INT: 1. Tony Peixoto (Yam) ; 2. Ron Day (Hon ).
250 PRO: 1. Jo n Nelson (Hon); 2. J ack Hulse
(Kaw); 3. Eric Mashbir (Kaw) .
OPEN NOV : 1. Tony A lves (Hon); 2. Denn is
Whee ler (Hon); 3. Ted Pippin (Hon).
OPEN J R: 1. Brian Patterson (Yam); 2. Bill Bloom field (Hon) .
OPEN INT: 1. John Carege (Hon); 2. Steve Zanone
(Hon).
OPEN PRO: 1. Ja ck Hulse (Kaw) ; 2. Brett Cahors
(Hon); 3. Tony Richar ds (Kaw).
VET SPTSM N : 1. Reid Go yett e (Kaw) ; 2. Van
OaPiero (Hon).
VET MSTR : 1. M ike Lane (Hon).
aT SPTSMN : 1. J im Ricci Sr. (Suz).
OT MSTR : 1. Don SW8ar in ger (Yam).
Byrd soars at
Firebird RR
By Michael Ross
CHANDLE R, AZ, APR. 20
J a m es Kell y Byrd proved to be
virtua lly u nbea table a t Firebird
Raceway today, as he took overall wi ns in the Superbi ke a nd
Production class races on his Eastside
Cycle-sponsored FZ750.
I n t he P ro d u c t io n race , By rd
grabbed the holeshot from Mike Williams GSX R II 00 and raced to an easy
win . Mike Williams took the A division win with Byrd taking B class
honors.
Carlo Rao (Yama ha) holeshot the
Stock Ca nd D races, but Dal e Kieffer
(Yamaha ) and Michael Ross (Yamaha)
quickl y passed Rao and 'diced back
and forth, until R oss faded on la p
fiv e a n d let Kieffe r take th e ch eckered
flag. Norm Ben edum (Yam aha) captured first in D Stock and thi rd overa ll during that race.
It wa s jeff Anderson's firebreathing
900F taking the early lead during the
Superbike ra ce, but Craig Martin
(Ya ma ha) , Byrd and David Wright
(Yamaha ) were soon past Anderson.
Martin h eld Byrd o ff for three la p s,
but on lap four, Byrd went past Marti n to take th e overall win with Anderson taking th e Superbike A crown.
Superbike C went to Bob Smith
(Yamaha ) a fter an exc i ting di ce with
Eric Seward (Yam a ha) .
Superbike D is usually a fiercely
competitive class and Tim Bergstrom
(Yam a ha) continues to dominate it.
R ick Williams put up a good fight
but Bergstrom got around for good
o n lap six. " My motor seized ea r lier
tod ay, but I just added a little mar
oil and rode it anyway," said Tim
a fter th e race.
The last ra ce of the day was th
Formula even t. Mike Williams too
th e hol esh ot a nd pulled out a hug
lead until BobSmith's tum-one eras
brough t out th e red flag . William
was swiftes t at th e restart and agai
started 10 o pen up a lead over Willi
Adams and Byrd, Byrd was chargin
but slid off turn four o n lap three