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/126988
~ 00 CN ~ Q.) ..0 o ..... u o Dean Matson (34) leads the .250cc Pro class into the first turn at the start of the f irst moto. . Watts won the 500cc Pro cl ass w ith 3 -1 moto fin ishes . Bader Manneh (6) and Ty Davis f in ished 1 -2 in the 125cc Davis holds a command ing po int lead for the series t itle. CMCLDodge Trucks Trans-Cal Series: Round 6 Manneh, Mats~n, Watts score wins"at Baylands By Troy Scott . FREMONT, CA, ocr. 11 Bader Manneh, Dean Matson and Kawasakimounted Tommy Watts scored the overall wins in the 125, 250 and 500cc Pro classes , resp ectively, at Baylands Raceway Park. With one round of the TransCal Series remaining at Carls. b a , Ca .l I'forrua, b at h W~llS d . and DaVIS boosted their points lead in their respective classes. Willie Surratt, who leads the 250cc Pro points chase, IJ:.lan~ged. a fourth at Baylands to rnamtam hIS lead. Watts has been engaged in a serieslong battle with Mike Larson for the 500cc crown and gained eight points after today's racing ended. Larson looked to hav e the win in the bag when he smoked the first mota and then gated well in round two only to get taken out by a nasty rut. His crash ended any hopes of catching Watts and he finished the day with a 1-9 score and fifth overall; points are awarded ' based on mota finish and not on overall position. Honda rider Doug O'Donnell holds third in the series and finished second overa ll with 2-4 rid es. Kawasaki-mounted Gordon Ward was third for the day but doesn 't hold a top spot in series points. . The 250cc Pro class has been close throughout the series, and today Matson took away valuable points with his 2-1 winning score. Michael Craig finished second overall, but is out of the top five in points. Jon Ne lson picked up some points on Surratt with his 3-2 rides which were good for third overall. Ty Davis remains third in the points chase. Davis has also been contesting the l25cc Pro class and has been doing very well in it. Today he took second overall behind Manneh and has pretty much wrapped u p the title since no one is even close. Manneh is just five points shy of Chris Young, who holds second in the standings and is 78 points behind Davis. Surratt took third overall for the day but is out of the top five in points. Round one of 500cc action saw Kawasaki rid er Dan Berg grab the holeshot ah ead of O 'Donnell and Ward. Larson started out fourth, but got by everyo rie by th e end of th e first lap. Watts recovered from a bad start to move into sixth behind Honda-mounted Ri ch My then. Watts qui ckly moved by Mythen then moved in on Ward and followed him for several laps before passing him on th e sixth lap. Larson was riding at an incredible pace and by this' time had generated a IO-second lead. On the next lap th e top five riders began to spread out. Larson held a huge lead over O 'D onnell , who was followed by Watts , Berg a nd Ward. Kawa saki-rnounted Brett Cahors moved up and found a way past Ward to take control of fifth until lap 10 when Ward moved alongside through a tab le-top jump section and repassed him. There were no other changes and Larson easily took the win followed by O 'Donnell, Watts, Berg and Ward. O 'Donnell jumped into th e lead at the start of moto two followed by' Watts, W'ard , Berg and Mythen. Larson started off third but got out of shape and went to the ground. He was dead last. Up front Watts took command early when O'Donnell went down a nd remounted in fifth. Ward tra iled Watts and the two riders moved out ahead. For three laps Ward trai led Wat ts but just co uldn't get by . Berg held thi rd with a comfortable margin over Hondamounted Jon Ortner. O'Donnell trailed Ortner for a lap until he got by on lap five. The order was now set and Watts went on to take the win ahead of Ward and Berg. O'Don-, nell came home fourth and wrapped up second overall. Ward got third overall, just edging out Berg . Larson finished the moto in ninth for fifth overall. Matson nailed the holeshot at the start of th e first 250cc Pro moto but was quickly passed by Nelson. They were trailed by Rich Taylor, Brian Pryor a nd Watts. Watts was the first to strike as he began surging forward. H e closed in on Pryor a nd followed until Pryor popped ou t of a berm and let Watts slip by. Next Watts moved by Taylor and was in for third. Taylor dropped back and Craig moved up, making "the top five Nelson, Matson, Watts, Craig th en Pryor. Nelson and Matson mov ed ah ead as they battled for the lead . Matson was trying anything to get by and the two were never more than 10 feet apart thro ugho ut the mota. Craig also began an aggressive charge and in less than a lap had moved past Watts. Up front Matson took a n in side line before some whoops and got by Nelson, brake checked him and moved away in the lead. At the same time Craig closed in on Nelson and passed him on a straight, then three turns later took the lead from Matson. With two laps left the order was set and Craig took the win followed by Matson, Nelson, Watts and Surratt. At the start of the second rna to Matson once again nailed the holeshot and was passed by Nelsonthree turns la ter. Surratt was third followed by H onda rider Kelly Andris and Craig. Watts went down near the start and was dead last. On lap four Matson pulled to the outside of Nelson down the long straight and neither rider shut off for the next turn. Nelson stuffed Matson