Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ti m Whitlock rode the second 500cc Intermediate mota with a sepa rated shoul der and took the class t itle by two po ints over Jamie Morabito. Steve Lamson wrapped up t itles in both t he 12 5 and 250cc Intermediate classes at Carlsbad . CMC/Dodge Truck Trans-Cal Series: Final round ' .Lamson takes two Amateur titles at Carlsbad By Ken Faught Phot os by Jimmie O'Dell and Faught CARLSBAD. CA, OCT. 18 Yamaha-mounted Steve Lamson wrapped up both the 125 an d 2S0ccIntermediate class titles today at Carlsbad. Lamson finished second overall in the 125cc class behind P h il Lawrence, and in th e 250cc class he ended the day sixth overall after win ning th e first rnoto then crashing back 18 to 16th in the second round. Going into the final round Lamson trailed Erick H ilto n by J4 points in the hi ghly attended 125cc Intermediate class. Lamson knew that in order for him to win the series he must put in two consistent rid es a nd hope th at Hilton finished back near midpack, wh ich is exactly wha t happened. FIrst rn oto actio n saw Lawren ce pi lot his Yamaha ahead of Lance Barnett, Randy Moody, and Paul Cortez. Lamson had gated poorly and found h im self back near 10th , workin g furi ously to catch up. Wh en th e pack came aro und on th e second lap Lamson had moved up to third and was pressuring Moody. Lamson soo n found hi s way around Moody and began chasing after Law rence. Lawrence continued his pa ce and took th e win a head of Lamso n , Mood y. Kerry Mu ll iga n, a nd Cortez . Hilton finis hed a d isappoi nting eigh th. The second time out of the first corn er Lamson was ahead of Lawrence, Moody, Barnett, and Mulligan. Lawrence was on th e gas and quickl y passed Lamson and began to gain a few bike lengths. Hilton was back in the pack near 20th and wat ch ed his hopes of a series cham- pionship slowly slip away . As the race continued the top five riders spaced themselves apart and a battle for six th began shaping up between Ryan Hughes and Pat Bennett. The battle contin ued with th e position changing every lap with Hughes event ua ll y taking a well ea rn ed six th. Lawren ce went o n to tak e th e win ah ead of Lamson, Moody, Barnett a nd Mulligan. Hilton finished 13th, destroying any hopes of th e series titl e. A I-I tall y gave La wren ce th e overall for the da y a head of Lamson, Moody, and Barnett . Lamson took th e series win with 292 points and claimed a new Suzuki moto rcycle. Lawren ce was second in the series with 284 points and Hilton settled for third just one point behind. Honda-mounted T im Wh itl ock entered the final round-leading th e 500cc Intermediat e class by a slim two points over Sun West Yamaha's J amie Morabito. Wh en the gate dropped for th e first moto it was Morabito with th e holeshot followed by Phil Douglas , Whitlock, and Greg Pierce. Wh itlock quick ly began to increase his pace and soon wo rked his way around Douglas and Morabito and into th e lead. Mike H oo ker, who ga ted sev~nth, was also on the mov e and at th e halfway mark was up to third looking for a pi ece of Morabito. On th e fin al lap o p po rt u n ity ca me kn ock ing at th e door for Hooker as he sa w Morabito run out of gas a t the bottom of th e freeway. Whitlock too k the moto win a head of Hooker, Douglas, David Bagwell , and Alan Coa ts. . Before the start of the eco nd moto Mora bito saw hi s ho pes of th e series titl e aga in come ali ve as Whitlock crashed hard in th e 250cc Intermediate clas resu lt ing in a painful separated shou lder. As th e field of 500cc Intermedi ates prepared for their second moto, Morabi to wa s stu nned to see that Whitlock was going to try a nd rid e with the'heavily ta p ed left sho u ld er. The gate dropped an d Hooker grabbed th e lead a hea d of Morabito and Bagwell. Whitlock wa s cruising painfully around the track trying to earn th e much needed points. Morabito was eager to gain points and chased Hooker the ent ire race but never getting to within striking distance. At the fin ish -it was H ook er wit h the win, Morabito second, a nd Bagw ell th ird. Whi tlock finished 20th a hea d of three riders, ear ning 17 points . Hooker's 2-1 gave hun the overall, Bagwell captured second with 4-3 sco res, and 5-4 equaled thi rd for Coats. Amazingly, Whitlock took the ser ies win with 284 points and Morabito finished a close second wtih 282. Do uglas was third with 276. Things could have been different if Morabito would have passed Hooker. First would have earned Mor abito a n ex tra three points and the seri es title. JT-sponsored Jeff Grafton was the early lead er in th e 80cc Intermediate 12-16 year-old class. Grafton was being pursued by Derek Natvig, seri es point leader Trevor Meagher and Spud Walters. Shortly into the rac e Meagher passed Natvig but crashed on th e uphill , returning Iatvig to second. Grafton went on to take a convincing win ahead of Natvig, Walters, and Brett Comer. Meagher finished 10th , alt hough he sti ll maintained h is lead over Walters by a single poi nt. To ma ke th ings more interesti ng, Grafton's first place finish pu t him two poin ts behind Meagher, and he now had a shot at the serie s win . The second mota saw Walters !?et the hol esh ot followed by Natvig, Meagher , and Grafton. Shortly into the race Dirt Rider magazine test rider Natvig passed Walters a nd began to pull away. Whi le Natvig was on the move , Grafton passed Meagher and began chasing after Walters. In th e closing laps Walters had dropped back to fourth and was not abo ut to get passed again. Natv ig piloted hi s Kawa saki to the win a head of Grafton , Meagher a nd Walt ers. Natvig's 2-1 gave him the o vera ll, a 1-2 score netted Grafton second, a nd Walters' 3-4 added up to third. Controversy eru pted a t the end of th e day wh en Grafton and Meagh er both had a total of 294 points for th e seri es. CMC declared Meagher the seri es winner because of the fact he had more overall wins than Grafton. Entering th e final round, Orange Count y Cycle-sponsored Sloan Cooper had a one point lead over Eric Bush in the overcrowded 250cc Junior class . With the drop of the gate in moto one it was Coo per followed by Dan no n Bu rg , J eff Bu blavi, Scott McCoy and Eric Bush. O n th e second lap Bush began to work his Suzu ki an d tra nsferred into fou rth. On the' th i rd la p An d y H ern andez had moved into fifth and began to catch Bush. With three laps to go, Bush and H ern a ndez -passed Bublavi and set after Burg. The fin al two laps became a four rider battle for the lead with Cooper never losing his position. Cooper took the win ahead of Burg, Bush, H ernandez and Brett Yahne. In the second moto Burg grabbed the hol esh ot followed by Bush , Yahne, and Cooper. Yahne passed Bush and Cooper quickly passed them .both and set after Burg. Before the end of the first lap Cooper had th e lead followed by Yahne and Burg. Yahne wasn 't pl eased with his second place position and began to catch up to the fast-moving Cooper. Time ran low for Yahne and at the finish it was Cooper taking the win ahead of Yahne, Burg, Bush and McCoy. Cooper took the overall victory, Burg was second and Yahne third. T he win also gave Cooper the series wi n a head of Bu sh an d Bublavi. Mercedes Gonzalez was by far the ' fast est woma n at Ca r lsb ad. She grabbed two mot o holesh ot s over Tami - Ri ce, Bonnie Warch , a nd Mindy Smith. Alt hough never challenged for the lead, Gonzalez stayed on the gas and put a good minute between her and the pack. On the final laps Gonzalez started to toss her KX around on the jumps impressing the crowd and showing the men what a womari could do. Gonzal ez too k

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