Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Yamaha -mounted Larry Ward (4 6) holeshots the 250cc Pro -Am class. He is closely chased by Mike Morris (26 ), Wendell Simmons (16), M ike Kiedrowski (3 6 ) and w inner Jeff Matiasevich (2 9). Ward went on to f in ish th ird overall. Tony D iStefano (right) gets some post -race advice from Bob Hannah after taking second in the Sen ior class. wh ile Ant u nez and Missouri Kawasaki rid er Ben H eibel rounded o u t the fir st three in the Mods. Controversy cro pped up if) th e 85cc Stock 7-11 class. Georgia's Ezra Lusk, wh o lost th e 65cc titl e wh en he banged up hi s leg in th e fin al heat after two mot a wins. was ho ld ing tight with a seco n d moto win . Ob viously inj ured, Lusk a ttem p ted to rid e the th ird hea t a nd was blackflagged after j ust ' one lap in the interests of hi s own safety. Justin J arrett , 4-3 after two rnotos, carded an other th ird to tak e home th e titl e ove r Fl orid a 's C hris Brown a nd Yamaha rider Matt Shue, Washington's J ason McCormick racked up a 2-2-2 score to tak e the 65cc tit le, while Oklahoma's Robbie Reyna rd, th e 7I I first moto winner , took seco nd with Ryan Reynolds third. Dement won a heat in eac h cla ss, but bad lu ck left him in fourth and fifth overall. In th e 51cc Automa tic class, Mar yland's Tom my Sch ue ller posted o nes all th e wa y across th e board to nail down the crown. Kentucky's Jake Morris was next , with Ohio's Ru sty H ann in g in third. J esse Atk in son a nd J osh H atfield ro unded ou t the top five. In Sch oolbo y actio n Kaw asaki 's T allon Vohland a nd Suzu ki pilot Junior J ackson sp lit titl es and mo to wi ns, with Vohland's 1-1-2 good for th e Stock titl e and Jackson's 2-1-5 meaning the Modi fied titl e. J ackson a nd Pennsylva nia's Steve Herman went 2-3 in th e final Stock class tall y whil e Flor ida 's Chris Marlin and Roy Schell enberger ran second and third in the Modified results. Sche llenberger 's upset third moto win was th e only heat J ackson and Vohla nd did not sp lit. So u th Carolina's Robbie Neeley, defending cha mp in the Seni or +30 ranks, found himself next to threetime professional king Tony DtStefan o o n the starting gate. T o ny D., 10 years past hi s last Pro title, entered th e Amat eur Nati onal s for th e first tim e thi s seaso n, but Neeley held hi s ground a nd took the first rnot o win. H eat two proved to be .the race of th e week as Neeley made a do-or -d ie Jeff Emig (48) leads J immy Gaddis in 125cc B Stock action. Emig collided w ith Damon Bradshaw. giving Gaddis the championship. . triple jump pass o n T on y D. a t th e chec kers , ca rtwhee ling himself into the tra ck-side fen ce - with th e win in hand. The third heat was rather a nti-cl imac tic as Tony D. led ri ght up until a last lap sli p, allo wing Neeley to score a three mota swee p. Io wa 's Ri ck Munson was third overall. Neeley had a sho t in th e Senior +25 cla ss as well , bu t a third moto fourth aft er two wins counted him ou t in the title cha se. Former MX Pro Troy Bradshaw took th e crown with a co nvincing 2-2-1 ride, with Vir ginia 's T omm y Walker th ird. ISDE regular Tim Sh ephard was fourth overall with New J ersey's Keith Mann fifth. Doug San ger success fu lly defended hi s Senior +40 Ch ampion ship . withan impressive 2-1-1 co unt . Barry Hi ggin s, anoth er Ameri can motocross legend, took th e first heat and ran third on hi s KTM in th e second but scra tched with a final mota 40th, leaving Idaho 's Bob Krah and Gary Peck to second a nd th ird. Michigan 's Brian Swink was one of the most dominant winne rs of thi s year's Nationals. He racked up five straight mota wins in 85cc 14-15 Stock and Modified racing before conced ing th e fin al Modified heat to Iow a Yamaha rid er Ch ad Pederson, who ran third in th at clas s and runner-up in , th e Stock div ision. T ex an Gra yson G oodm an al so scored seco nd and third place tro phies, th ough o bviously opposi te of ,p ederson's rankings. Tommy Clowers a nd J eromy Bueh l ro unded ou t 13

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