Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The start of the 125cc Stock B class. during the motocross segment. John Kitsch (219) jams inside of Keith English (39) and Goodman. Joel Albrecht (72) and Swink (257) dice it out for the lead in 85cc (14-15) Modified motocross race. Swink won it. In the 125cc Modified B motocross class. Yamaha rider Grayson Goodman (491) chases winner. Kawasaki-mounted Jeff Emig . lengthening their point lead. In l25cc B Modified action. Eric Hilton and Steve Herman jammed on a jump and Herman 's leg was trapped in Hilton's swingarm until the Team Green guys freed him by removing the rear wheel. ' Motocross The Gatorback Cycle Park National Championship motocross . track was in . perfect condition and the vast majority of riders considered this " th eir event. " Kerrie Fleenor and Robbie Scaggs scored the 65cc (7-II ) moto victories, with Greg Rand's fourths keeping him in the hunt. Skaggs sai d later, ''I'm only here becau se Doc Medsker was abl e to speed the healing of my ' broken arm. " Dennis Medsker and his mobile clinic helped dozens of kid s during the event. Craig Decker maintained his lock on the 85cc (7-I1 ) guys by kn ocking off first moto winner Kevin Decker in bo th final goes. In the 85cc (12-13) Stock motos , Honda of West Palm Beach-b acked T immy Ferry topped J eff Dement and Ezra L usk. Bu tch Smith revenged hi s Stock clas s fifth with a Modified class WIn. 8 Marty Vaug hn, Joel Albrecht an d H eath Kirkland led 85cc(14-15)motos at times, bu t Brian Swink aga in rode precisely and ra pidly to sweep all four motos. Eric " Lear J et" McLear rebou nded from a coma suffered here two years ago to win the l25cc (12-15) title. McLear said, " I followed David Beckington and Mike Brown for the first motos and then scored the wins when it counted." Yamaha/MX Fox/ScottlBarrsponsored Damon Bradshaw stalked Jeff Matiasevich in the first laps of the l25cc Expert moto, then swung inside on a left sweeper for th e moto win. Bradshaw said between motos, " I trashed my shoulder in the 250cc ' moto and hope it holds out for the final. " Mike LaRocco took ' cIi.arge from David Dye's moto two start signal, leaving th e dramatics for second. LaRocco said , " My radi ator ho se was almost worn through. One more lap would hav e put me out. " In the final, Matiasevich worked . on Denny Step henson before moving by on lap th ree. Brad shaw moved up and held off Michael Craig for third to take th e overall win. Pr ior to the 250cc Expert moto, Matiasevich returned to the Team Green tent and cranked up his secre t weapon - a Walkman loaded with a punk rock tape. That worked as the Kawasaki/ MX Fox/Bell / Max im a/Scot t-spon sored Cal ifornia rider ruled all but one lap of bo th motos. Ear l May led lap one, then held off LaRocco un til lap three. Bradshaw and Crai g were both taken out by ot her riders. La Rocco comme nte d la ter, " I got alongside Jeff in the back but he had the inside line." Matiasevich twis ted the throttle on hisJ erryCampbell prep ped Kawasaki Yamaha rider Mike laRocco gets the checkered flag while wrapping up the TT overall. He also took second in the GP competition. and again set the pace in moto two. LaRocco moved up from 10th to clip Kizzar and Craig before sighting in on Matiasevich's fender. On the final lap LaRocco closed, but dumped his Yamaha and could not restart it . " I ran up on him and had to tap my front brake in a turn," explained LaRocco. "I fell, the bike was upside down, and wouldn 't start." Kizzar took the runner-up spot behind winner Matiasevich. John Kitsch rode four motos in the Bdivision, splitting I25ccmotos with Jeff Emig and claiming a pair of wins in the 250cc action. Kitsch said, "It's kind of hard for me to switch back from riding the 250. On the 125, I hi t a tire and it threw me down hard. " Grand Prix The final anddecidingcompetition of the event washeldon the new Grand Prix course. Riders could mount eit her a Stock or Modified bike in their divi sion. On a 10-acre pasture, near the entrance ga te, riders form ed a single. line 50-feet in front of the ir bikes, stretching out for near ly 100 yards down the field. At J erry Fox 's signal,asp ri n tpreceded the confusion of hastily stabbed kick starters and jammed gear levers. The pack then swep t aro u nd a gradual sweeper in the grass , then entered the motocross track. At the far end of th e circuit it was off into a thi ck brush path punctuated with pine trees. The . woods tra il led back in to the stadium MX ci rcuit, through the scoring barrels, and back onto the remainder of the MX track, with lap times runningaroundthesix-minutemark. Fuel consumption became an issue as many competitors feared their machines would not run the 30-' minute to one-hour race duration. q In the 65cc (7-11) wave, Greg Rand.' made sure that he kept Kerie Fleenor behind. Randy's Barr/Gear Kawasaki held the point and took the Olympic title back to Ohio. " I stay in shape by playing a lot of basketball.s', explained a happy Rand. Craig Decker, after whipping the 85cc (7-I1) guys, said, "Yamaha's . Tom Halverson gave me a lot of . attention and help this weekend. He stayed up last night to reseal my cases and we really appreciate all his efforts ." . In 85cc (12-13) competition, Butch Smith held onto a four-point lead ahead of fellow Californian Sean Thornton. Smith said, "I tried to be consistent out there. One bu sh taken the wrong way can wreck a wh ole week of racing." Brian Swink, the 85cc (14-15) Champion, said, " I like ridi ng in the woods. You have plenty of time to make up for mistakes and a good star t helps but it 's not everything. I want to thank my dad, Gary Swink, for doing such a great job on the bikes." .In th e 125cc (12-15) class, Eric McLear continued his momentum for the win , but David Beckinl$'ton's work ear ly in the week earned himthe class title .. , Eighty riders ran for their bikes in the 125cc/250cc Expert event and

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