Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126962
Dale Gingrich (94) leads Georgie Price (1 N) and Jim Haas (01 H) in the 250cc Expert class at Pine Grove short track. Price took the win. Jeff Stanford flies his Suzuki RM250 to the 250cc Pro class victory at Los Angeles County Raceway's CRC motocross . were very close , never more th a n two bike len gths apart. Chuck Abbi tt rode his YZ250 equally as hard and was close behind in third position. With only one lap 'to go before th e white flag lap, Hammer st u ffed Guilmette in a berm and took over first place. With Guilmett e right o n Hammer's rear wheel and less than one and a half laps to go , the pressure was on. As th e two entered the north berm before th e finish line, it was Hammer in th e lead. Just as quickly as Hammer took over the lead, he almost lost it shortly after receiving th e white flag. Hammer, doing a kicker over the finish line table top, landed on the handlebars. Although Hammer appeared stunned and lost some time, he went on to nab the ch eckere d just in fron t of Rick Guilmette. Chuck Abbitt rod e steadil y throughout th e en tire race wh ich earned him th ird-place points. Moto two sa w Merle Hammer rock et h is YZ250 righ t int o th e firstpl ace position where he remained the entire race. The real race was between Chuck Abb itt a nd Rick Guilmette. Abbitt, who took third in th e first mo to, was no w in second just ahea d of Guilm ette. As th e chec kered flag dropped, Ha mmerr smoked across taking first a nd th e overa ll with his I-I poi n t co m bi nat io n. Chuck Abbitt was able to stay a hea d of Ri ck Guilmette. Abbitt's 3-2 tally beat Gu ilmette's 2-3 score gi ving him second place overa ll which mea nt Guilmett e woul d ha ve to set tle for th ird . In th e 250cc Pro class J eff Stanford totall y dom inated both motos as he rock eted hi s Suzuki RM250 around th e track. Not far behind in second was J on Ortner who rode th e entire race with a fla t front tire. Ortner took the checkered in second foll owed by Ron Meyer, J eff Black and Chris Radzinski. With Stanford far ou t in front in moto two, th e real race was for seco n d. Yamah a-mounted Chri s Radzinsk i nabbed th e runner -up spot with Ron Meyer on his Yamaha close beh in d in third. Between rnotos in th e p its Ortner was able to fix th e flat he su ffered with in rnoto one, but was only a ble to pull off a fourthplace start. Ortner wasn 't about to give up and remained clo se beh ind Radzinski and Meyer. With on ly a few laps to go, Ortner go t th e break he needed and double-jumped right over Meyer 's head. Chris Radzinsk i still took second pl ace but h is 5-2 score was not eno ug h to beat Jon Ortner 's 2-3 score and Ortner went o n to take second overall lea ving thi rd po sit ion to Radz inski. Results PIW B; 1. Gus Voun iozos. 60 0-8: 1. Ryan Klassen . 60 9-11 : 1. Travis Preston (Kaw ): 2. Pablo lara III (Kaw): 3. Terry Parsons (Kaw). 80 STK 8EG: 1. Jonah Joyner (Kaw); 2. Travis Mullins (Hon); 3. Cunis Heintzman (Hon). 80 STK NOV: 1. Nick Mairose (Hon). 125 BEG: 1. Shane Peterson (Hon): 2. Chris Walker (Hon); 3. Chris Evans (Hon); 4 . Rick Smith (Kaw); 5. Maria Gonzalez (Kaw). 250 BEG: 1. Mike Schwake (Hon); 2. Pat Ballard (Hon): 3. Doug Neuhouse(Kaw); 4. Jim Gabel (Hon); 5. Pat McDonough (Hon). 500 BEG: 1. Danny McKae (Hon); 2. larry Ashton (Suz): 3. James (Gumby) Holman (Hon). 125 NOV: 1. Josh McRobens(Hon); 2. Cole Gres s (Kaw); 3. lance Goodman (Yam); 4. lance Sloan e (Cag). 250 NOV: 1. chuck Abbin (Yam); 2. George Pennington (Yam): 3. larry Henry (Hon): 4 . Rick Ga.. (Hon): 5. Rick Guilmene (Kaw ). VET BEG: 1. TIm Lumas (KTM): 2. larry Kirsc h (Hon); 3. John Tanag lia (Hon). VET EX: 1. Bob Dahlgren (Hon); 2. Greg Wint ers (Hon). . 125 PRO: 1. Tom Holt (Kaw). 250 PRO:: 1. Er ic Marnoch (Kaw ); 2. J eff Stanford (Suz); 3. Ron Meyer (Yam); 4. Chris Radzjnski (Yam); 5. Jon Ortner (Hon). ' 125 1 NT: 1. Peter Bird (Hon); 2. Nick Youn g (Hon). 250 INT: 1. Randy Owen (Hon); 2. Saan Bradley (Suz). 500 INT: 1. Dewayne Ray (Hon). Gingrich, Cerciello top Pine Grove ST By Len Breech PI N E GROVE, PA, APR. 26 Dale G in gr ich and Tom Cercie llo agai n to pped the la rgest Expert classes of th e da y as the' Flying Du tch men M.C. launched th eir '87 short tra ck seaso n o n a beautiful afternoon. Gingrich 's win in th e 250cc class was ver y simi la r to Cerciello's victory in the 500cc fin al ; both jumped into the lead as their class head ed down th e curving back strai ght and had to survive a cou ple of rnidrace restarts th at kept th e lead in doubt u p until the chec kered flag a t th e end of th e 12-lap fina l. Gi ngrich pu t hi s Zechman 's Cycle Cen ter Yam ah a in front of Joe a nd Bill y Bromley, Dave Duhain e a nd Cerciell o. By th e time th e red flag was di spl ayed after th ree laps for a hard get -off by Dave Lesnick, Cer ciello and Georgie Price had moved into third a nd fourth. By th e sevent h lap , Pricehad d isplaced Bromley for second, wh ile J im Haas took th ird from him th e followin g lap . In th e la te Ja ps, the two yo ung Experts had cl osed the gap on the seasoned vetera n, as Price tried the ou tside and H aas the insi de as th ey head ed out of four for the flag, wit h Gingrich winning over Price by a len gth. Cerciell o put hi s J oe Cerciell osponsored Yamaha in front of a pa ck of h ungry Rotax-based machines led by Rob Maj eski, Eric Sassaman a nd Bob Sweeten . After the race was sto p ped just shy of halfway, Sweeten h ad m o ved i n to seco n d. Afte r a nothe r resta rt a few laps later , Majeski took second from Sweeten and pressured Cerciello until th e end of th e race. In o ther Expert' act ion, Mike Sponseller just edged a fast closing Kevin Varnes by a len gth to claim th e 90cc win. Georgie Price had a n easy time winning the 200cc Expert cl a ss from A.J. Sn oop a n d Sp onseller. Price's win in th e Expert class was the second win of th e day for the sa me machine, as Harold Dor sey needed every one of the 12 laps in the 200cc Amateur fin al af ter falling a t the start. Paul Sou thard took th e lead from Mike Walton, Ji ll Lauten bacher a nd Sco tt La ke. By ha lfway, Dorsey was up to fifth and charging fast. Beginning the final lap, Dorsey too k second fro m La ke and clos ed in o n So uthard, slip ping under him a s they en tered th e th ird t u rn , winning by a length . Dorsey loo ked like he was goi ng to be the first Amateur of th e year to score a do ub le wi n as he jumped into a quick lead in the 250cc fin al a nd started to pu ll a way from Da ve Smith, Todd Hu rst a nd Wa yn e Fra nkli n. But on the third lap , he got u p into the marbl es on the seco nd turn, going down and bending hi s shift lever to the ground. Th is gave the lead to Smi th wh o too k his third stra ig ht win of th e young and wet seaso n. Results 55: 1. Ricky Winsett (Yam); 2. John W insett (Yam); 3. Josh Young (Yam). . 90 AM : 1. Je rem iah Al exander (Kaw); 2. Ricky Winsett (Kaw); 3. Jason Lheureux (Kaw,) . 90 EX: 1. Mik e Sponseller (Hon); 2. Kevin Varnes (Suz): 3. Georg ie Price (Kaw). 200 AM: 1. Harold Dorsey Jr. (Hon): 2. Paul Southard (Kaw): 3. Scon lake (Hon). 200 EX: 1. Georgie Price (Hon); 2. A.J. Snoop (Kaw); 3. Mik e Sponseller (Hon). 250 AM : 1. Dave Smith (Yam): 2. Todd Hurst (Suz); 3. Wayne Franklin (Yam). 250 EX: 1. Dale Gingrich (y am); 2. Georgie Price (Kaw); 3. J im Haas (Hus). 500 AM : 1. Johnny Bow er s (Yam); 2. Dall as Baer (Yam); 3. Roy Collings (H-D). 500 EX; 1. Tom Cerciello (Yam); 2. Rob Majeski (H-D); 3. Bob Sweet en (H· D). SR: 1. Harold Hillard (Yam): 2. Jo e Heberl ing (Yam); 3. Wa yne Frankl in (RlX). Strong stomps VSF Dirt Track By Joe Kelly RICHMOND, VA, AP R. 29 The opening racing program at the Virgi n ia State Fai rgrounds in Richmond looked like a repeat of 1986. Bri an Strong, ridin g a Yamaha, moved up from th e Minicycle ra nks and bested th e field in the 125cc competition. J eremy Lucy, aboard Kawasaki machinery, gave Stro ng so me stiff co mpe titio n in the early go ing. Lucy looked like he might persevere on severa l occasio ns, but second was all he co u ld garner. Defending track champion, Kawasaki-mounted Ra y West made a sh ambles of the 250cc events . West won the qualifying heat and feature by a half-lap margin. Rusty Rogers, Camel Pro compe tito r, won th e other qualifier, but co u ld o nly manag e a third in the fin al. ·Robert Lewis, on a H onda, held off the repeated char ges of Rogers ' Su zu ki , but neither rider cou ld ge t close to the flyi ng West. The best racing of the night was held in th e 500cc class. Ch ns R ickman, riding a H onda, got the jump off the lin e in the first q ua lifyi ng heat, Clayto n Oliver also Honda mou nted, gave a good account of hi mself, but was just recovering from a severe bo ut of bron ch iti s a nd was down on h is strength to fin ish second. Gl enn Baar rode his Yamaha to win the seco nd heat, aga in Oliver fin ished second. At the turn of th e light in the main , O liver go t h is ad renali n up and charged to th e fro nt . 0 Iiver held off th e pack until Baar mad e a n in side lane pass work to tak e th e lead. Ol iver kept the ba ttl e alive with cons tant pressure being ap p lied by Chris Ri ckman. On th e ninth circu it, Rickman go t by to tak e second, but th e laps ra n out before he co uld make a serious lead challe nge. J ohn Ni cken s rode his Suzuki to , win the 50cc main with Chris Copley taking seco nd o n a Yam aha. Brian Strong had a big night in winning th e 60 and 80cc even ts, along with his vict ory in th e I25cc com pe ti tio n . Results 125 : 1. Brian Strong (Yam): 2_ Jeremy Lucy (Kaw ). 250: 1. Ray We st (Kaw ): 2. Roben Lewis (Hon);